Hornady 275 Rigby 140gr InterLock SP – Great Classic Ammo

Description

The 275 Rigby and the 7×57 Mauser are the same cartridge wearing different names, and it has one of the longest hunting records of any round still in production. The Hornady 275 Rigby 140gr InterLock SP is Hornady’s modern loading of it. A 140 grain InterLock soft point at 2680 feet per second, which is mild to shoot and considerably more capable than the numbers suggest.

• Two names, one cartridge
• Full specifications
• What it handles and how it feels
• Honest notes before you buy
• A word about old rifles
• The bottom line

Two names, one cartridge

Mauser introduced the 7×57 in 1892. John Rigby and Company imported rifles chambered for it into Britain and marketed the round as the 275 Rigby, measuring the bore rather than the groove. They are dimensionally identical and interchangeable, so the Hornady 275 Rigby 140gr InterLock SP will chamber and fire safely in any rifle marked either way.

The cartridge earned its reputation in Africa, most famously with W D M Bell, who took a great many elephant with 7×57 solids through precise brain shots. Nobody sensible would recommend that today, but it says something about penetration and shootability. The Hornady 275 Rigby 140gr InterLock SP is the sporting descendant of that history.

Full specifications

• Caliber: 275 Rigby, also known as 7×57 Mauser
• Bullet weight: 140 grain
• Bullet: InterLock soft point
• Muzzle velocity: 2680 fps
• Muzzle energy: 2233 ft-lbs
• Ballistic coefficient (G1): 0.392
• Case: reloadable boxer primed brass
• Quantity: 20 rounds per box
• Part number: 8070

The 0.392 ballistic coefficient and 140 grain weight give the Hornady 275 Rigby 140gr InterLock SP the good sectional density that 7mm bullets are known for. That is what produces penetration out of proportion to the modest velocity, and it is why this cartridge has always killed better than its paper ballistics imply.

What it handles and how it feels

Deer of every kind, black bear, hogs, and the full range of African plains game are all well within what the Hornady 275 Rigby 140gr InterLock SP does. Recoil is genuinely mild, noticeably less than a 30-06 and closer to a 243 in feel, which makes it one of the pleasantest big game cartridges to shoot accurately from field positions.

Zero two inches high at 100 yards and the Hornady 275 Rigby 140gr InterLock SP is close to point of aim at 225 and about seven inches low at 300. That is a simple field trajectory that needs no chart. For the kind of hunting this cartridge suits, which is deliberate shooting at moderate range, it is entirely sufficient.

Honest notes before you buy

Ammunition supply is worth thinking about. The 275 Rigby is not rare, but it is not stocked everywhere either, and production comes in runs. If you hunt with one, buying a few boxes of the Hornady 275 Rigby 140gr InterLock SP when you find them is a sensible habit.

The honest limitation is reach. This is not a long range cartridge and the Hornady 275 Rigby 140gr InterLock SP is not a long range load. Past 300 yards the drop gets steep and the wind starts to matter a great deal. Used inside that distance on the animals it suits, it is superb, and the low recoil means most people shoot it better than they shoot a magnum.

A word about old rifles

This is the one thing to be careful about. There are a great many 7×57 Mausers over a century old still in circulation, some of them small ring actions, some rebarreled, some of uncertain history. Modern factory ammunition including the Hornady 275 Rigby 140gr InterLock SP is loaded to current SAAMI pressures, which are higher than the original 1890s loadings.

If your rifle is an antique or you do not know its history, have a competent gunsmith look at it before firing the Hornady 275 Rigby 140gr InterLock SP through it. This is standard advice for any old rifle and it is not specific to this ammunition. Rifles built in the last fifty years will handle it without a second thought.

The bottom line

For a 7×57 or 275 Rigby you actually hunt with, the Hornady 275 Rigby 140gr InterLock SP is a well made and widely available load with more than a century of results behind the cartridge. You can read more about the bullet design at swiftbullets.com, or browse the rest of our stock on the MAG5 Firearms ammunition page.

MAG5 Firearms keeps the Hornady 275 Rigby 140gr InterLock SP in stock and moving, and we are glad to talk through bullet choice before you order. If you are working up a load for a new rifle, a single box of the Hornady 275 Rigby 140gr InterLock SP is a sensible place to start.