Actually that is a great short to middle range deer/bear/elk rifle. I probably wouldn't consider it for shooting much more than 250yards, due to poor trajectory, but it's a great gun with fairly low recoil. Many of those guns have been sporterized and used to roam the deer woods, and many still do. I know all of my uncles started hunting with sporterized version of the 7 & 8mm military Mausers. I killed my first deer/bear with a 7x57, what you most likely have is a 8x57, which is just the 8mm version.
