Category: All About Guns

All I know for a fact is that it’s very pretty & out of my price range!
Grumpy
 
Wilhelm Brenneke 98 Sporter 7x64mm caliber rifle. Rare pre-war commercial sporting rifle made in 1937. Case-colored receiver with light border engraving and scroll-engraved floorplate

When you finally want to get really serious about upping your pistol skills for on or off the range. Then you might want to think very hard about getting one of these puppies!

And no I am not kidding about this!
Grumpy

7×64mm
From left to right 7×64mm, 7.92×57mm Mauser, .243 Winchester and .222 Remington
Type	Rifle
Place of origin	Germany
Service history
In service	Never issued
Production history
Designer	Wilhelm Brenneke
Designed	1917
Produced	1917 – present
Variants	7×65mmR (rimmed)
Specifications
Parent case	8×64mm S
Case type	Rimless, bottleneck
Bullet diameter	7.24 mm (0.285 in)
Neck diameter	7.95 mm (0.313 in)
Shoulder diameter	10.80 mm (0.425 in)
Base diameter	11.85 mm (0.467 in)
Rim diameter	11.95 mm (0.470 in)
Rim thickness	1.30 mm (0.051 in)
Case length	64.00 mm (2.520 in)
Overall length	84.00 mm (3.307 in)
Case capacity	4.48 cm3 (69.1 gr H2O)
Rifling twist	220 mm (1-8.66″)
Primer type	Large rifle
Maximum pressure (C.I.P.)	415.00 MPa (60,191 psi)
Maximum pressure (SAAMI)	379.21 MPa (55,000 psi)
Ballistic performance
Bullet mass/type Velocity Energy 9.1 g (140 gr) SP 914 m/s (3,000 ft/s) 3,810 J (2,810 ft·lbf) 10.0 g (154 gr) SP 880 m/s (2,900 ft/s) 3,901 J (2,877 ft·lbf) 11.3 g (174 gr) SP 820 m/s (2,700 ft/s) 3,841 J (2,833 ft·lbf) 11.2 g (173 gr) RWS HMK 867 m/s (2,840 ft/s) 4,209 J (3,104 ft·lbf)
Source(s): “Cartridges of the World” [1][2]

The 7×64mm (also unofficially known as the 7×64mm Brenneke, though its designer’s name officially never was added as a part of this cartridge name) is a rimless bottlenecked centerfire cartridgedeveloped for hunting.
As is customary in European cartridges the 7 denotes the 7 mm bullet caliber and the 64 denotes the 64 mm (2.5 in) case length.
The 7×64mm is a popular hunting cartridge in Central Europe and can, due to its 11.95 mm (0.470 in) case head diameter and 84 mm (3.3 in) overall length, easily be chambered in Mauser 98 bolt action rifles that were then standard issue in the German military.

History

At the start of the 20th century the famous German gun and ammunition designer Wilhelm Brenneke (1865–1951) was experimenting with the engineering concept of lengthening and other dimensional changes regarding standard cartridge cases like the M/88 cartridge case.
Then used by the German military in their Mauser Gewehr 98 rifles, to obtain extra muzzle velocity.
In 1912 Brenneke designed the commercially at the time rather unsuccessful 8×64mm S cartridge (again in production since 2001).
It was intended as a ballistic upgrade option for the Mauser Gewehr 98 rifles that were then standard issue in the German military.
The German military chose however to stick to their 8×57mm IS rifle cartridge. Avoiding rechambering their service rifles for a cartridge that due to its more favourable bore area to case volume ratio ballistically. That would outperform the .30-06 Springfield cartridge of the United States Army.
Brenneke’s engineering concept to enlarge exterior cartridge case dimensions like overall length and slightly larger case head diameter compared to the German 8×57mm IS military cartridge case.
Coupled to an increase in maximum pressure to create new for those days very powerful cartridges was essentially sound and he persisted in the development of new cartridges along this line.
In 1917 Brenneke necked down his 8×64mm S design of 1912 to 7mm calibre and introduced it as 7×64mm and achieved a major commercial success.
The 7×64mm offered, compared to the 7×57mm Mauser, about 10 to 12% extra muzzle velocity. This results in a flatter trajectory and better performance at longer range.
In the years between World War I and World War II the 7×64mm was often regarded by German hunters as a “miracle cartridge” and dozens of different factory loads were available on the German market.
It was that highly regarded the Nazi German Wehrmacht (Army) during the 1930s even considered replacing the 8×57mm IS in favour for the 7×64mm for their snipers.
The Wehrmacht decided — just like the German army in 1912 — to stick to the 8×57mm IS cartridge for their Mauser Karabiner 98k to keep things as simple as possible in their logistical chain.
Beside the 7×64mm rifle cartridge Brenneke also designed a rimmed version for break action rifles such as double rifles and combination rifles as well as for single shot rifles in 1917. The rimmed 7×65mmR variant of the cartridge was also immediately a commercial success.
In countries where military service cartridges are banned for civil ownership (like previously France), the 7×64 Brennecke is a successful cartridge for hunting and marksmanship.

Cartridge dimensions[edit]

The 7×64mm has 4.48 ml (69 grains H₂O) cartridge case capacity.
A sign of the era in which the 7×64mm was developed are the gently sloped shoulders. The exterior shape of the case was designed to promote reliable case feeding and extraction in bolt-action rifles, under extreme conditions.

7x64mm maximum C.I.P. cartridge dimensions. All sizes in millimeters (mm).
Americans would define the shoulder angle at alpha/2 ≈ 20.42 degrees.
The common rifling twist rate for this cartridge is 220 mm (1 in 8.66 in), 4 grooves, Ø lands = 6.98 mm, Ø grooves = 7.24 mm, land width = 3.70 mm and the primer type is large rifle or large rifle magnum depending on the load.
According to the official C.I.P. (Commission Internationale Permanente pour l’Épreuve des Armes à Feu Portatives) rulings the 7×64mm Mauser can handle up to 415.00 MPa (60,191 psi) P_max piezo pressure.
In C.I.P. regulated countries every rifle cartridge combo has to be proofed at 125% of this maximum C.I.P. pressure to certify for sale to consumers.
This means that 7×64mm Mauser chambered arms in C.I.P. regulated countries are currently (2014) proof tested at 519.00 MPa (75,275 psi) PE piezo pressure.^[3]
The SAAMI Maximum Average Pressure (MAP) for this cartridge is 55,000 psi (379.21 MPa) piezo pressure.^[4]
The American .280 Remington cartridge is probably the closest ballistic twin of the 7×64mm.
When compared to the 7×64mm, the .280 Remington has a slightly lower maximum allowed chamber pressure and as an American 7mm cartridge has a slightly smaller groove diameter.
European 7mm cartridges all have 7.24 mm (0.285 in) grooves Ø diameter.^[5] American 7mm cartridges have 7.21 mm (0.284 in) grooves Ø.

Contemporary use[edit]

As noted, the 7×64mm is one of the favorite rifle cartridges in Central Europe and is offered as a chambering option in every major European hunting rifle manufacturer’s products palette.
The versatility of the 7×64mm for hunting all kinds of European game and the availability of numerous factory loads all attribute to the 7×64mm chambering popularity.^[6]
Loaded with short light bullets it can be used on small European game like fox and geese or medium game such as roe deer and chamois. Loaded with long heavy bullets it can be used on big European game like boar, red deer, moose and brown bear.
The 7×64mm offers very good penetrating ability due to a fast twist rate that enables it to fire long, heavy bullets with a high sectional density.
The 7×64mm rimmed sister cartridge, the 7×65mmR, is also very popular in Central Europe for the same reasons as the 7×64mm.
The former legal banning of (ex) military service cartridges like the .308 Winchester, 7×57mm Mauser, 8×57mm I, 8×57mm IS and the .30-06 Springfield in countries like France and Belgium also promoted acceptance and use of the 7×64mm and the 7×65mmR.

 



















 The Frontier Scout is a scaled down version of it’s predecessors/grandfathers.
The SAA and Frontier Six Shooter. Still made by colt and true to the original design, this one was made in 1959.

The .45-60 Winchester is a centerfire rifle cartridge intended for 19th-century big-game hunting.^[4] Nomenclature of the era indicated the .45-60 cartridge contained a 0.45-inch (11 mm) diameter bullet with 60 grains (3.9 g) of black powder.
Winchester Repeating Arms Company shortened the .45-70 government cartridge to operate through the Winchester Model 1876 rifle’s lever-action.^[2]
The Colt Lightning Carbine and the Whitney Arms Company’s Kennedy lever-action rifle were also chambered for the .45-60.^[1]
These early rifles’ advantage of faster loading for subsequent shots was soon eclipsed by the stronger and smoother Winchester Model 1886 action capable of handling longer cartridges including the popular full length .45-70.^[4]
The .45-60 and similarly short cartridges designed for the Model 1876 rifle faded into obsolescence as 20th-century hunters preferred more powerful smokeless powder loadings of cartridges designed for stronger rifles. Winchester production of .45-60 cartridges ended during the great depression.

For the Folks with large Wallets!

 




The Lloyd Rifle was the 1950s brainchild of English deerstalker, rifleman, metallurgist and engineer David Llewellyn Lloyd.
His objective was to create a high-quality, scope-sighted, magazine-fed sporting rifle capable of dependably high accuracy at long ranges, of retaining its zero despite rough handling, and of firing modern high-intensity, flat shooting cartridges such as the .244 H&H Magnum(which Lloyd himself developed) and the .264 Winchester Magnum.

Design[edit]

Requirement

As an enthusiastic stalker of Highland Red deer on his family’s own deer forest at Glencassley, and elsewhere in northern Scotland.
He grassed more than 5,000 Red deer stags in a career lasting some 60 years. Lloyd sought a rifle which would shoot high powered cartridges giving an exceptionally flat trajectory and significant long range hitting power.
To make it straightforward to take shots out to 300 yards and more on very sloping, mountainous terrain, without the need for very precise range-judging.
A very early convert to the use of scope sights in the conservative world of British deerstalking, Lloyd was impatient with the weak scope mounting systems available in the early 20th century, and sought a solution.

Mauser action

For his preferred rifle action Lloyd selected the Mauser 98 bolt-action, for its inherent strength and proven potential for accuracy, and on his rifles only the bolt face (to suit the cartridge) and the back-swept bolt handle were modified from the Mauser norm.

Telescopic sight

Integral to the Lloyd rifle was a telescopic sight – indeed, Lloyd rifles came with no iron sights, and no provision for fitting them without some difficulty.
The majority of Lloyd rifles were delivered to their owners fitted with fixed-power scopes, usually of 4× or 6× magnification, by makers such as Habicht, Zeiss, Swarovski and Hensoldt.
The scope was held in a specially designed, integral, immensely strong, receiver-enshrouding mount which positioned it very low over the action, and gripped both the scope and the rifle action in massive rings of steel.
Lloyd held UK Patent Number 646419 for this design.
With this scope attachment – indeed, integration – system, Lloyd’s intention was to create a rifle. Which was, so far as humanly possible, immune to the shocks, bumps and jars that so often knocked the scopes on other rifles seriously out of alignment.
The objective was to have a rifle which, once completed, could be zeroed for a selected cartridge load and a chosen zero distance, and which would faithfully hold that zero from outing to outing, and even from one shooting season to another.
“I want a stable platform from which to shoot,” Lloyd said. In his quest for this tenacity of zero, he was largely successful, and many of his customers reported that they had never found it necessary to make any adjustment whatsoever to their rifles’ sights over many years of use.
There are also reports of Lloyd rifles having successfully survived serious mishaps such as falls from considerable heights, and even being run over by vehicles, without losing zero.

Barrels and stocks

Most of Lloyd’s barrels were made under contract by Vickers Armstrong Ltd. and the Mauser 98 actions were prepared by Holland & Holland.
Although Lloyd enjoyed sourcing the walnut for the rifles’ stocks himself, visiting growers and dealers across Europe, many of the rifles were stocked-up by Wisemans.
In making rifles, Lloyd also had close working relationships with the firms of W. W. Greener, Webley & Scott, W.J. Jeffery, John Rigby and John Wilkes.
Externally, the Lloyd rifle is distinctive for its very streamlined profile, with the scope mounted very low above the action, and a very elegant but ergonomically efficient stock, invariably of selected dark, well-figured French walnut.
Lloyd sourced the best available walnut on personal trips to parts of Europe, and was actively assisted in this by his wife Evadne (“Bobby” – the longest-serving governor in the history of the Royal Shakespeare Company)

Influence

The Lloyd rifle was initially marketed as the “David Lloyd Telescope Sighted Deer Stalking Rifle”.
David Lloyd had a private 400-yard rifle range in the grounds of his ancestral home, Pipewell Hall, Northamptonshire, and used it to set the zero of all his rifles before delivery to their owners.
Lloyd rifles, and the .244 H&H Magnum cartridge, were influential in sporting firearms and cartridge design and development in the mid-20th century.
Both were widely admired by British deer-stalking enthusiasts and international sporting arms experts.
Which were owned and used by, among others, Bill Ruger, Roy Weatherby, Lord “Skips” Riverdale, the Marquess of Linlithgow.
Also Mrs Patricia Strutt, doyenne of British lady stalkers with a lifetime’s bag of over 2,000 stags, who ordered one for her 75th birthday and used it up to her death aged 89.
Shooting Times magazine voted the Lloyd rifle number 8 in its lineup of the Top 12 Rifles of All Time (the Kalashnikov AK-47 came number 7), and Country Life declared Lloyd himself to be a “National Living Treasure”.
Lloyd rifles are generally accurate, with most shooting to 1.5 MOA or better; but the massive scope mounts integral to the Lloyd concept had the effect of bending and torquing the rifles’ actions out of blueprint.
This inevitably caused stresses and imperfections, preventing the rifles achieving the full precision accuracy potential of the cartridges used.
But within the approximately 300 yard ranges for which they had been designed and zeroed, Lloyd’s rifles in fast magnum calibres performed very well.
The majority of Lloyd rifles were chambered in .244 H&H Magnum, .264 Winchester Magnum and .25-06 Remington.

Company

Lloyd’s wife Evadne took over the Lloyd Rifle Company in 1996 on David’s death, and ran it until her own death in 2003.
The company was then briefly owned by John Shirley, a former Technical Director of James Purdey and Sons of London, and its name, goodwill and records were later offered for sale by him at auction in London on 14 December 2006.

References

• Brown, Nigel : British Gunmakers (vol. 2) Birmingham, Scotland and the Regions (pub. Quiller Press, 2005) – rifle records, serial numbers and calibres
• http://www.auction-net.co.uk/viewAuction.php?id=300&offset=250&PHPSESSID=02dc66f39ebefeae5e80cb12b(Auction Sale Catalogue, sale of Lloyd Rifle Company, 14 December 2006)
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