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

[7stw]

Sawyer,I agree with sleepy on the smith,But if yor commited to him IMO less is more I prefer a tight chamber with a minimal head space but thats just me......I assume your reloading so you know about shoulder bump.....Im sure 7STW and Fred Ea will have some good avice Im sure they will post something directly,Hope this helps,Once again like Sleepy said if your smith is asking you, I would do something else

UMMMMM, I'm a little alarmed by the comment, " how do want it chambered" thing. The short answer is " I want it perfect, square, smooth, and plum" . The other option is do you want a tight chamber,( no)' , but a minimum SAAMI spec wil do just fine. Insist on NEW reamers, not rentals, even if you have to buy them yourself. Pacific makes fantastic reamers, and the finish is superb. They are really not that much $ if you do buy them. Sometimes the rental reamers are NEW, but be sure they are before they are used. One final thought, and I say this after thinking that I wasn't going to say it, but if your smith is your friend, sometimes it is best to not mix business and friends. Building a custom rifle is serious business, and if you are doing this just to give him work, that's one thing, but with the questions you've been asked, I'd be a little nervous.

 

[WSM]

I agree with everyone else, I can attest to dumping money in a bad smith. I'm wondering did your smith mean what caliber did you want it chambered?

 

[7stw]

Thanks Ed,

I'm leaning toward the H1000 as the propellant of choice for both 162's and 180's.

Dan

Brother Dano, what's happening? Yup, that's the way I would go, and even try my old go to powder, RL22. Those darn 162 A maxes really shoot well, in fact, they shoot in everything I stick um in to. I have not had much luck with the Retumbo, but the H1000, works awesome. Don't know what the new rifle will shoot, but that's part of the fun. It will be done soon. No hurry. Take care and have fun!

 

[7stw]

I agree with everyone else, I can attest to dumping money in a bad smith. I'm wondering did your smith mean what caliber did you want it chambered?

I was thinking that too, but I didn't get that from the initial opening statement.

 

[ButterBean]

UMMMMM, I'm a little alarmed by the comment, " how do want it chambered" thing. The short answer is " I want it perfect, square, smooth, and plum" . The other option is do you want a tight chamber,( no)' , but a minimum SAAMI spec wil do just fine. Insist on NEW reamers, not rentals, even if you have to buy them yourself. Pacific makes fantastic reamers, and the finish is superb. They are really not that much $ if you do buy them. Sometimes the rental reamers are NEW, but be sure they are before they are used. One final thought, and I say this after thinking that I wasn't going to say it, but if your smith is your friend, sometimes it is best to not mix business and friends. Building a custom rifle is serious business, and if you are doing this just to give him work, that's one thing, but with the questions you've been asked, I'd be a little nervous.

7Stw.......i should not have said"tight".....minimum SAAMI is what I was refering to......my bad (go ahead slap me) but we are all on the same page on the smith I think I would do something else

 

[Dano1]

7 stw,

Not much is happening, just getting some test loads ready, hopefully I'll get the opportunity to get to the range on Monday. I've got quite a few test loads to shoot.

Hopeing to find what makes my stw sing....

Dan

 

[7stw]

7 stw,

Not much is happening, just getting some test loads ready, hopefully I'll get the opportunity to get to the range on Monday. I've got quite a few test loads to shoot.

Hopeing to find what makes my stw sing....

Dan

Well, good luck to you, and I hope that you do get some time and weather to go and get the lead out. I'm happy for ya dude. That thing is a shooter, and bad ***!! I went to a gun show two weeks ago, and picked up some 7mm, 154 Hornady spire points, which in the past have shot well in a few other lucky sevens. Also just bought some 150 BT's, and of course some 162 " maxes". Love them things!!!!. Getting geared up for the " new arrival".
Just a thought, if you still have 7828,that is a good powder that you can still use, particularly with the 162. You can go about 1/2 to 3/4 grain more than the RL 22. All else being equal. I know you will work it out. Take care and good luck my friend, my Brother!!!!!

 

[Fred Ea]

I'm new to this forum so please dont crucify me if I do something wrong. I'm in the early stages of doing a 7STW build. My doner gun is a Sendero chambered in 300RUM. I am planning on staying with the sendero barrel contour and using a 28 inch Hart barrel with a 1 in 9 twist. I plan on shooting the 180 Berger VLD's. My gunsmith who admittedly doesnt do much work on customs asked me how I wanted it chambered. I didn't know what to tell him. That is what my question is to any experts that are "in the know" about this cartridge. Any and all feedback will be greatly appreciated...

Dennis

Dennis,
I am with 7stw on this one and he said all that needs to be said. I with the others on the smith also, you are spending a lot of money and be sure you don't be the Ginny pig for a novice when it comes to this custom build. I don't mean to "bad mouth" someone I don't know, but it would be a pricey mistake you come out on the short end of the stick. Just be sure that he knows what he is doing and don't go into it guessing, I was a novice one time also and the only way to get better is to work and get the experience and don't quit until you've got it. I am no master gunsmith by a Long shot, but I've been around a good one long enough to know what to look for. Farming, machanicing, and taxidermy, now I can square you away on those.lightbulb
FE

 

[WSM]

Was wondering if anyone has used a 1-8.5 twist for their 7mm STW? What bullets did it like. Any problem with gruouping? What loads and bullet combination worked for you?

 

[gamehawker]

Was wondering if anyone has used a 1-8.5 twist for their 7mm STW? What bullets did it like. Any problem with gruouping? What loads and bullet combination worked for you?

I do not have any experience with a 1-8.5 twist in a 7mm STW but I would think the 180 gr. bergers would work well. Also, I would think the new 7mm 195 gr EOL Hybrid Hunting Bullet would work real well too.

http://www.longrangehunting.com/for...e-7mm-195-gr-eol-hybrid-hunting-bullet-85792/

 

[Jim Oliver]

I went through some once fired (factory load) Rem brass today---8% of the cases (8 out of 100)were rejected because of neck defects; some split (I call a "split" when the neck is cracked parallel to the length of the case) some cracked (something other than parallel to the length of the case) and some with lengthwise ridges or grooves that showed up on the inside and outside of the neck.

I'm not a happy camper

Hope my Win brass is better than this........

Jim

 

[etisll40]

Who made the factory loads, and what bullets were in them. New stuff or old stuff?

Check out a few sites like the one below. I've generally had better results with new cases. The Federal cases I have from factory ammunition have some cracks and seem light and flimsy to me?

Varmint Al's Handloading/Reloading Page

 

[GIBO76]

Gday Gents, I purchased a new Rem700 375h&h last year, pulled the barrel straight away then started to piece things together. It has a 28"maddco #8 profile barrel matched to the trued and lapped action and purchased a pacific tooling finish reamer for future barrel changes when the need be. Fitted it to a mcmillan bakers special sitting in epoxy with a jewel trigger and topped with a nightforce nxs 3.5-15x56 scope. With the 168 vld's and rl25 it is one hell of a fringe country sniping rifle for the deer. Nosler custom brass after four loads of various extremes is holding up very well. Also have a custom muzzle brake by my local gunsmith fitted making it as pleasant to shoot as a .222rem. Good reading through the other articles fellas.

 

[Jim Oliver]

Ed, the brass is from Rem factory 140 Corelock---I bought a bunch (200 rounds) when I got the first Sendero---so, the brass is several years old but I fired the stuff soon after getting the rifle.

The other 100 rounds went to a friend who bought a Sendero at the same time. He doesn't load or shoot much (hardly any!!) so his ammo is probably still intact. I need to check with him on it's condition.

One thing I noticed about the Rem 140 velocity, two different PACT chronos gave velocity about 100 fps faster than Rem catalog. I posted it here at the time but nobody seemed interested in that fact. I used .22 std velocity fps to check the chronos and both were right on whatever the velocity should have been for the .22 stuff; don't remember the fps now.

This is not the only time I have fussed about Rem brass quality, just the most noticable.

I went through a lot of old Frontier .308 brass some time ago---many cases had split necks, probably from lack of anneal when made.

Guess I'm just a cranky old man.........

Jim