7mm STW Brotherhood - For those who shoot the 7mm Shooting Times Westerner

[7stw]

I think the new Lapua cip mags by Accuracy Int'l are 3.9", I converted my bdl to a seekins dbm with those mags. My bdl had the extended Wyatt box too. I'm not a big fan of hinged floorplates anyway. I actually like blind mags the most.

I'd like to convert all of my field rifles to blind mags, simpler and sleeker.

Ed, I agree with the blind mag being sleeker, and simpler too. My new toy is going to be blind. No regrets either. It also provides a stiffer foundation for the action.

 

[WildRose]

Amen to the two holes are better than one, but I have never been part of " let the bullet dump it's energy " inside philosophy . Shoot a well constructed bullet at a good velocity, and send it true, and it will do it's job. Just like sex, in and out!
I'm very impressed with the Barnes bullets, for doing just that, AND dumping a shock load to boot. The partition is a classic bullet, and although they are sometimes not the most accurate bullet, the terminal performance is usually predictable.
I do like the Hornady bullets of late, and they have came a long way. I like both the interlock, or Interbond, and even though I haven't hunted with them, I have faith enough, partly from feedback, that if I had one in my chamber, I would be confident that something is about to go for a pick up ride! Just my 1.5 cents.

The partition is without a doubt one of the most proven bullets of all time when it comes to getting consistent penetration even through thick hides and dense muscle and bone.

They problem with them though is two fold.

First they have a flat base and their real bc's are pretty low compared to the other bullets we're talking about and they get squirrely as hell at transonic speeds to boot.

Secondly if they don't hit something pretty solid they are famous for just punching straight through with very little damage resulting in a lot of run off and walk off animals that sometimes show little or even no signs of being shot. This results in a lot of lost game especially at long range where a guy is not likely to spend half a day just getting to where the animal was shot before beginning to attempt to track it if you are in rough terrain.

I've never had that problem with the Interlock, Interbond, or Siroccos or for that matter even the Accubonds. Make note I have far less experience with the latter two on game than I do the Interlock and Interbond but so far with dozens of critters shot with both of them they have not failed me.

The one knock I have on the Sirocco is that at 400yds or less they occasionally over expand and do a little more damage than I'd like to see but not as bad as the Hornady SST.

 

[SFR292]

I'm with WildRose on this one. I'm a huge fan of energy transfer, from my combat days I can tell you I wish I had every ounce of energy transfer on targets. From a physics stand point, if the bullet leaves the target then it had energy that did not transfer. The other side of the table shows that some bullets that come apart on impact can, in many cases not penetrate the vitals. Somewhere in the middle is the happy ground and it's our job (as shooters/hunters) to understand our external and terminal ballistics and choose the correct bullet for the job. Keep in mind at the expected engagement ranges and choose a bullet that is designed to operate within the chosen FPS of the engagement range and you can't really go wrong.
I too have great luck with Accubonds and Ballistic Tips Noslers (if used in the aforementioned scenarios) as well as Sierra Game Kings and Hornady SST's. I have taken some with Match Kings, Custom Competition Noslers, and Hornady HPBT and Amax's. Either way, they put a hole in that alows blood to come out faster than the body can plug it so to some level they work. I have not however took anything with a Berger yet, but hopefully that will change soon.
I have person political reasons for not using Barnes, but if you use them and you like them then great, I'm sure they're a great bullet but I won't ever know.

 

[Big Jake Duke]

Amen to the two holes are better than one, but I have never been part of " let the bullet dump it's energy " inside philosophy . Shoot a well constructed bullet at a good velocity, and send it true, and it will do it's job. Just like sex, in and out!
I'm very impressed with the Barnes bullets, for doing just that,

In parts of California we have to use non lead bullets. I have had the opposite experience with Barnes in a 30-06. I shot a 250lb boar at 60 yards and he started running uphill. I shot him again about 100 yards up the hill and then I just shot him in the head at about 200 yards. The hills in SoCAl are very steep. He dumped and rolled to me at the bottom. Two holes thru the lungs and he ran straight uphill. It did however, do the job when I shot him in the noggin.

This argument is as old as Elmer Keith and Jack O'Conner. As long as your happy, just keep shooting straight.

 

[etisll40]

Elmer and Jack did do battle over the subject, ironically they both ate well.

Nuff said...

 

[GEG]

I have my first 7stw on the way. Its a new plain jane REMINGTON 700 26 inch sporter barrel, camo SPS stock, Jewell trigger, Zeiss scope Z800 reticle Leupy dual dove tail 2 piece base and rings. Idea was to have a lighter rifle set up. We have been reloading for years, never this caliber. Our range is down in the back pasture and we can shoot out to 800yds. I have a 6.5-300 Weatherby that needs a trailer to move it so this will be my new long range hunter on deer as my health will not let me carry the other one now. Can someone please tell me where to get the best most accurate brass(we weight all our brass) and I think we need to shoot around a 160 gr. bullet of some sort that has a high bc.
If need be we will buy factory ammo to break in and shoot hogs with if there is any good factory ammo to be had. I have looked at most of the back post and have some ideas but hope some one has a
(magic pill) load for this set up. Thanks for any help I can get on this.

 

[Black67]

GEG

Welcome to the group. The STW is a great round, and is really good for long distance hunting. Nosler will have some new Accubonds out soon, as they hare made for the long distance hunters with high BC. The 150 gr starts out above .600 BC. they will also have a 168 gr and a 175 gr. bullets once all out. Midway says they will be out around March or April. I myself like the 150 gr loads, or better yet my one rifle likes them best. Some have had good luck with the new Barnes LRX bullets.

As for brass, Remington made a large production run last year. As of right now, Cabela's still has some left. Nosler and Quality Cartridge both make brass too, but they are both expensive for just 20 - 25 pieces. I just bought some loaded Nosler rounds so that I can eventally get the brass.

 

[GEG]

Thanks for the info. I am going to break in with the Nosler factory till I can gather bullets, powder and brass. We have Federal Match primers for days. If someone has a favorite powder that the 700 likes, please pass it on. Thanks.

 

[SFR292]

Retumbo works well as does some of the Reloaders. I'm a big fan of using as much of the case volume as I can get away with which is why I use retumbo a lot. We started playing around with 50BMG as well, not enough to really give you solid data yet.

 

[GEG]

I need to call your shop and get a muzzle brake lined up. We have 6 KDF brakes now that will tame anything but the problem is noise. If you forget your muffs, your ears will ring for 2 days. I need the least amount of bang possible and still get some help against my bad shoulder. I can get to your shop in about 3 hours. Thanks.

 

[7stw]

Thanks for the info. I am going to break in with the Nosler factory till I can gather bullets, powder and brass. We have Federal Match primers for days. If someone has a favorite powder that the 700 likes, please pass it on. Thanks.

GEG, as was said before, " Welcome. To Brotherhood". For years, and up til last year, I was a die hard RL22 user, and was able to get what I wanted out of it. It was / is temp sensitive. I decided to try RL25, as I had heard good things from some other of my chronies, so I gave it a try. Well, long story short, that is my " go to " powder for my STW's . It seems to be less temp sensitive, than the 22.
Another great powder for the STW is H1000. It simply works well with all bullet weights, and typically, ES, SD are low.
Your choice of primers is probably the best overall in this round. Those Federal 215 GM primers are like gold now. Nobody has them! Good luck on your new toy, and if any problems arise, you'll likely find your answer here somewhere. No body hear bites!!

 

[WildRose]

I need to call your shop and get a muzzle brake lined up. We have 6 KDF brakes now that will tame anything but the problem is noise. If you forget your muffs, your ears will ring for 2 days. I need the least amount of bang possible and still get some help against my bad shoulder. I can get to your shop in about 3 hours. Thanks.

GEG where in Texas are you?

If you're within a decent drive you're more than welcome to stop by and I'll let you shoot my STW with the Snowy Mountain Rifle brake on it.

It will begin an instantaneous love affair with that particular piece of equipment I assure you.

EDTA: oopse I see you are in Kennedy down near Houston. Oh well, if you're up my way the offer is still good.

You'll also like being able to shoot prone with these and not have to worry about all that dust and debris blowing back in your face.

 

[GEG]

7stw thanks for the info. Wild Rose, I am with the oil field now and spend a lot of time half way between San Antonio and Corpus Christi. I very much thank all of you for your help. Please keep the info coming. Thanks.

 

[kakorb]

so i have a abolt laying around in my cabinet. 7mm mag i purchased it to make a long range rig but after reading about barrel changes being a pain i racked it. recently i seen interest in modifying abolts. my question is what to do to it....after purchasing my 7mm stw no 1 i love the stw more than my mags. should i rebarrel it to stw and replace trigger and stock. true action. or find diff donor. if i rebarrel i would get a new barrel with a heavier contour. and i know it would cost more than finding one already done but half the fun and esteem is being a part of ur build. any gunsmith recomendations welcome. i live in pa