Old drilling obsolete cartridges just make them that much more interesting. This is a drilling I picked up broken, extractoe was jammed, the action wouldn't close and the safety didn't work. I had to weld extensiont to the extractor legs and file them to , re-bed the trigger plat to make the safety work. Bertram still makes 6.5x58R Sauer brass for it but it is junk, too thin at the mouth and brittle. C&H die company had dies on the shelf and I form brass from 9.3x72R. The Groovediameter is only .260 so I swage .264 bullets to .260, C&H had the bullet swaging die on the shelf. It is one of my favorite coyote hunting guns.
!oz of NP BB's in a 2.5" 16ga hull roll crimped is deadly on coyotes inside 35 yards.
Both these were taken with the shotgun barrels
It is very accurate with the rifle barrel. I was experimenting with .257 bullets in it when I shot this group, swaged .264 90gr shoot just as well.
2.5" 16ga shells are very effective, I use 1 oz of lead shot either 5's or BB's for upland/coyotes and 3/4 oz of ITX 6's for waterfowl
For me half the fun is getting them up and running again.
6.5x57R, 7x57R and 8x57R are readily available at very reasonable prices over the counter, I buy at Graf & Sons, C&H has an incredible list of old and obsolete dies again at reasonable prices.
This old girl 16ga/16ga/7x57R with 1.5x Weaver in low claw rings, using factory PPV 139gr.