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

Even IF you can identify the powder, the factory loads generally use powder lots that are not "canister grade" powders (what we buy for our loads)------so, be very careful about using the same charge weight as in factory loads.

Another "gotcha" possibility is in the use of reduced loads of slow burning powders. There were cautions about the possibility of very erratic burning of slow/very slow powders when used in reduced loads.

Jim
 
I'll make a couple points.

It is only prudent for you not to hurt yourself or anyone else with pulling factory ammo apart. Weigh the powder exactly and start 20% lower.

At that point, work up accordingly. You don't know exactly the purity of their powder or if they mix it with another, or the primer. That's something to consider.

Someone told me and I believe them, that factory loaded MAGNUM ammunition is hard to beat for velocity. I believe that to be gospel. In fact in both my stw which is custom, made by a benchrest gunsmith and my 7wsm, my guns shoot 1/2-3/4 inch to start with fantastic velocity, 3450 with 140 grain bullets. To me, the improvement from there is going to come not so much the powder but other factors, me, bullet, ogive consistency, possible pointing them, concentricity. The big deal is, MAGNUM factory ammunition from Rem, Federal, Win and others I've shot, have great velocity. I'd love to have their powders, I really don't think we do. We may find a better one and be able to improve accuracy, but their velocity's are pretty good to start with. You may be onto something good by trying their powder with your bullets, and maybe the powder you bought is the same, but be careful to start. Let us know how it goes, I like the general idea if it turns out that you can use their powder and maybe in the same amount with your bullets and other techniques for accuracy. But start lower...
 
ricky b said:
baldhunter said:
When I first got my 7STW,I began trying different powders and bullets working up loads for it.I was getting great accuracy,but I was not getting the velocities I knew it was capable of.The guy I bought my 7STW from gave me a box of factory Winchester Power Point 150gr ammo,so just for the heck of it,I shot a round over the chronograph.It read 3450fps for that 150gr factory round!Now that's what I was hoping for.I pulled the bullet out of one of the factory rounds,weighed the powder,80.0grs.I did a little research and found Winchester was using WXR powder.I went down to the local gun shop and bought a pound to try it out to see if I could duplicate that load.It did.I use that load for my bullets 139-150grs.It's close to max load for the 150gr bullets in my rifle.I dropped down to 77.0grs for 154-160gr bullets,getting 3300fps with the 154gr and 3200fps with the 160gr.WXR is a discontinued powder.I bought quite a bit of it while I still could.From what I researched,it is the same powder as Reloader-22 and they were lots of Norma MRP that didn't meet the specs.I was only getting 15fps less velocity with Reloader-22 than I was getting from WXR and the powders grouped the same,so I guess it may be so.[/Q


Not the only one that thinks the powder was WXR
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I've put the win 150 power point load through a barrel with a strain guage, and it peaked at 71,000 psi + in that barrel. It is not a good load to use for reference. Plus wxr isn't rl22, it is right between 22 and 25, and the load data loads it either closer to 25 or 19 depending on caliber. You can use factories as an idea for your own load, but they aren't load data because you do not know what grade of powder is in there; they may be using off spec powder as a cost savings and they will not tell you.
rl22 and 25 are close, but a top 25 load may damage a rifle with 19 or 22.
Click to expand...
 
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ricky b said:
I honestly think that the powder that Winchester used in the Fail Safe 140 ammo I am shooting is the WXR. Whats wrong with pulling the bullets out of a few of those and seeing what the powder measures. Ok I can see about decreasing the powder by 10% and working up. Does anybody have any reloading info on the WXR powder. I got 8lb keg thinking that is what Winchester used and I sure hope I'm right. Seeing they don't even make the powder anymore I can't find anything. Rick
Click to expand...
If you are reducing 10% or more I don't see much of an issue as they are all relatively close(19,22, wxr, and 25). I'd start there with a chronograph and be careful. It seemed as though you were foregoing any pressure run-up which you HAVE to do here.
 
It seemed as though you were foregoing any pressure run-up which you HAVE to do here.[/QUOTE]

Lefty7mmstw what do you mean by this
 
ricky b said:
It seemed as though you were foregoing any pressure run-up which you HAVE to do here.
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Lefty7mmstw what do you mean by this[/QUOTE]
It sounded as though you weren't going to start with a lower charge and work up. You need to do a normal work up because you aren't sure on the powder; thinking it is a powder isn't good enough.
 
Jim Oliver said:
Even IF you can identify the powder, the factory loads generally use powder lots that are not "canister grade" powders (what we buy for our loads)------so, be very careful about using the same charge weight as in factory loads.

Another "gotcha" possibility is in the use of reduced loads of slow burning powders. There were cautions about the possibility of very erratic burning of slow/very slow powders when used in reduced loads.

Jim
Click to expand...
Once again I second Mr Oliver
 
OK guys I've finally got my STW!!! Nothing fancy, BUT BOY DOES SHE SHOOT!!! It is a Remington 700, that was a 7mm Mag that developed a headspace problem.. therefore I bought a USED Remington barrel from this site for $40.00, that was orginally a 7mmMag, rechambered to 7mmSTW. (THANKS HOOKTURNR) I then put that barrel on my Rem 700 classic with one of those "Ole Plastic Stocks" that was glassbeded and floated, topped out with a Bushnell Elite 650 DOA 3-9 x50mm scope! I painted the stock. I started building my loads with 140gr CT Ballistic Silvertips went up from 78grs IMR 7828, with Federal large magnum 215 primers, with COL of 3.662. I went up one grain at a time. She shot well with 82 grs at 3/4inch at 100yards, BUT BOY DOES SHE SHOOT 81grs!! Just one big hole!! Going out 2morrow to shoot it out to 400 yards...gun)

100_2089.jpg
100_2091.jpg


here is 82grs
100_2087.jpg

NOW HERE IS THE LOAD!! 3 SHOT GROUP AT 100 YDS!
100_2093.jpg
 
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Sackett said:
OK guys I've finally got my STW!!! Nothing fancy, BUT BOY DOES SHE SHOOT!!! It is a Remington 700, that was a 7mm Mag that developed a headspace problem.. therefore I bought a USED Remington barrel from this site for $40.00, that was orginally a 7mmMag, rechambered to 7mmSTW. (THANKS HOOKTURNR) I then put that barrel on my Rem 700 classic with one of those "Ole Plastic Stocks" that was glassbeded and floated, topped out with a Bushnell Elite 650 DOA 3-9 x50mm scope! I painted the stock. I started building my loads with 140gr CT Ballistic Silvertips went up from 78grs IMR 7828, with Federal large magnum 215 primers, with COL of 3.662. I went up one grain at a time. She shot well with 82 grs at 3/4inch at 100yards, BUT BOY DOES SHE SHOOT 81grs!! Just one big hole!! Going out 2morrow to shoot it out to 400 yards...gun)

View attachment 10759
View attachment 10762


here is 82grs
View attachment 10760

NOW HERE IS THE LOAD!! 3 SHOT GROUP AT 100 YDS!
View attachment 10761
Click to expand...
Nice rig Sackett, It looks really great and you did areally good job on the stock,I like it..........Awesome shooting......Congrats
 

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