Douglas A. Twitty
Well-Known Member
Let us know what Hornady says about the "rings" on the brass I've seen them on my 7mm STW also.
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7mm STW Hornady vs Nosler Cases
- Thread starter RomeoJim
- Start date
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Just spoke with Jordan at Hornady regarding the "rings" that I've found just above the belt on Hornady 7mm STW after a single firing. He told me that by my description that ring appearance is almost always a headspace issue. He suggested comparing the lengths of the fired versus unfired brass and if the difference is greater than .008" that also indicates a headspace problem. He also suggest that I try cases from one of my other boxes od new Hornady brass, provided the are a different Lot # and try firing some of those to see if there's any difference. The rifle and ammo is presently at our cabin in northern Michigan and we won't be back up there until June 1st for me to measure fired vs unfired case length. (I know that the fired cases are longer but can't remember by how much) I will also measure the case length difference between the fired and unfired Nosler cases to see how much they stretched during firing compared with the Hornady cases. I also plan on ordering a Hornady headspace guage from Midway to check it for myself when I get back up there. Once I've done my analysis I will post my findings.
Douglas A. Twitty
Well-Known Member
Thank You for the update!
I'm not certain of the barrel twist on this Blaser 93 but will check it (along with case dimensions fired vs unfired) when I get back up to our cabin
Over this past weekend, I checked about a dozen each of my Nosler and Hornady 7mm STW fired and new cases, using a Hornady Headspace Guage. I found out that the difference between the fired and new cases measured at the shoulder by the Hornady Headspace gauge is .014" for both the Nosler and Hornady brass. The tech
support guy at Hornady states that they consider this too much headspace, which is likely the reason for the ring showing up just ahead of the belt and with someone having mentioned previously that he found the Nosler cases to be thicker that likely explains why there seems to be less of a ring on the Nosler cases, even though the measured expansion is the same. Corsair4363 mentioned previously that he has found variances in increased headspace in various rifles that use belted cases and it sounds like that's probably the case here as well. This rifle is a Blaser Model 93, which was lightly used by it's previous owner. I have yet to determine the barrels rate of twist but will do so soon. The load that I've recently worked up for it is very accurate at 100 yards, but I've yet to try it on the 200 and 300 yard range at our club.
support guy at Hornady states that they consider this too much headspace, which is likely the reason for the ring showing up just ahead of the belt and with someone having mentioned previously that he found the Nosler cases to be thicker that likely explains why there seems to be less of a ring on the Nosler cases, even though the measured expansion is the same. Corsair4363 mentioned previously that he has found variances in increased headspace in various rifles that use belted cases and it sounds like that's probably the case here as well. This rifle is a Blaser Model 93, which was lightly used by it's previous owner. I have yet to determine the barrels rate of twist but will do so soon. The load that I've recently worked up for it is very accurate at 100 yards, but I've yet to try it on the 200 and 300 yard range at our club.
