I'm thinking this case requires a long action, but am unsure. It seems to me many 6mm's are a short action, but...????

Any comments ?

Regards, Vic

Remington chambers the 257 in their 721/22 (can't remember witch one is the short action). Mom has one and it has to have the heavy bullets seated deep, so yes you can use a short action, if you want to shoot light bullets. Find an old Military Mauser 7 or8mm and you have a correct length action for the cartridge

...To the best of my knowledge and experience, every 7x57Mauser I have owned, or seen built has been on a long/standard sized action.

The 57 is an intermediate case, and Mausers are intermediate actions. Longer than you need for x51 cases and they need to be opened up for 06 length cases. So most short actions won't fit the 57 case but a few, that are closer to intermediate length actions will fit them if you keep them short.

Ron

My 7x57 is on one of the shortest actions available... the Ruger No. 1... :D

The 7mm Mauser is on the standard length action. Asstated the 6mm Rem and .257 Roberts are on the short action for some companies.

This is mostly due to the combination of bullet length and case length. The 7mm with heavier bullets (especially175 grain) will not feed through most short actions.

Regards.
Gene

As mentioned previously, the 7x57 'family' are on the 'border' between short and 'standard' length actions. I've actually heard that .257 Roberts has been chambered in a 'short' action. If that's the case, 6mm Rem could obviously be as well. Not so with the 'parent' 7x57 itself though. It is possible that it is so 'close' that the longer heavier 7mm bullets would not allow the use of a short action. If that's the case, it might in theory be possible to chamber a 7x57 on a short action by limiting oneself to the lighter, shorter 7mm bullets. However, that would obviously have to be a custom job. In that case, one might as well get a custom intermediate length action more closely tailored to the 7x57.

The 7x57 as with the 8x57 were both originally full length actions. The Yugo's use an intermediate action, 3/8's of an inch shorter I believe. There are no advantages, or disadvantages using either action. Both are basic 98 designs. I have both in 8mm and when cycling you can't tell there is any difference. Jim

My Remington .257 Roberts is a long action. No problems with feeding, oal in the magazine or anything else. The extra ounce or two of weight with the long action is not an issue to me.

The old 722 rifles were a short action. The 721 was a long action. I have 3 722's a .257, .244 (6mm Rem), and a .222. If you hand load the .257 or .244 you will wish the action and magazine were longer. For many load & bullet combinations you will not be able to feed the rounds in the magazine and will have to use the rifle as a single shot. This of course is not an issue with the .222. Years ago there were many articles etc about 3" .257 loads and custom rifles. Depending on the chamber and barrel you may need the length to get the desired .015 or .020" off the rifling. If you have a choice, use a long action for these 7x57 based calibers. You will not be limited. If you are going to use a caliber like a 250/3000, the short action may be fine.