Chapter One
The 7x57 Mauser – A Classic
Among Classics
By Ganyana
he 7x57 or 7mm Mauser as it is commonly called must
be the most “classic” of all the African cartridges. It
was (and still is) a brilliant cartridge, and three things
actually scaled it as the best of the best. The British
reverses at Colenso, Spion Kop and Magersfontein (10th Dec 1899 to
24th Jan 1900) during the second Boer War; the American problems
with the Spanish at San Juan Hill in 1898; and Karamojo Bell’s
book, The Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter. The outcomes of the
four battles caused both Britain and America to adopt Mauseractioned rifles (the P14 and Springfield ’03) and Britain to try and
adopt a 7mm military cartridge which was only dropped due to the
outbreak of WWI (and the P14 similarly not superseding the Lee
Enfield as intended). Consequently every soldier or adventurer who
stepped into Africa for the next fifty years knew that the 7mm
Mauser (a.k.a. .275 Rigby) was suitable for everything up to
elephant.
When Paul Mauser created the 7x57 in 1892 by necking the German
military 7.9 round down, he knew he was on to a winner. Even with
the 173gr round-nosed bullet, the 7mm’s velocity of 2300fps was
higher than any contemporary military cartridge (2100fps for the 7.9,
2050fps for the .303 and 2150fps for the 30-40 Krag), and this
combined with the excellent sectional density of the bullet ensured a
very flat trajectory. The velocity was also above the critical
threshold (about 2200fps) at which explosive wounds in flesh occur,
and this gave the 7mm a very real advantage in stopping power in a
close range fire-fight. The explosive wound effect also made the
African Hunter Magazine – Classic African Cartridges
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