7mm STW Reloading Thread

[Halleywood]

Safari,
I'm getting under .5" groups at 100 and under 1" groups at 200 with the best being in the 3's at 100 and 5's at 200. These are all 3 shot groups.

 

[ButterBean]

I've been working up loads for my STW and Berger 168 grain VLD. best accuracy I've found is with 76 grains of R25. My velocity is 3,110 average. I was hoping I could get 3,200 out of it.

The Berger manual says 75 grains is max load but I'm sure they are conservative. My question is how much over their max can I expect to go? I see a bunch of people going 5 grains over Berger published max with the H1000 and 168 grain VLD but nothing with R25.

Details of my setup are: rem 700 with 9twist 26" bartlein barrel. 76 grains R25; rem and win brass; cci 250 primer loaded to 3.670 COAL.

I haven't seen pressure signs at 76 grains but just want to get an idea of how hot I may be able to go to get to 3,200 fops or so.

79 to 80 gr should be safe with the 160's ..... But as I have said many times before on this site ...... If it's shooting like that "leave it be" ..... Run your tables off of those numbers and call it a day

 

[Halleywood]

79 to 80 gr should be safe with the 160's ..... But as I have said many times before on this site ...... If it's shooting like that "leave it be" ..... Run your tables off of those numbers and call it a day

You are absolutely correct. I have a very good load in my pocket and if I can't get the velocity and accuracy by moving up I am going to go with the "slower" load.

 

[bobs]

I've been working up loads for my STW and Berger 168 grain VLD. best accuracy I've found is with 76 grains of R25. My velocity is 3,110 average. I was hoping I could get 3,200 out of it.

The Berger manual says 75 grains is max load but I'm sure they are conservative. My question is how much over their max can I expect to go? I see a bunch of people going 5 grains over Berger published max with the H1000 and 168 grain VLD but nothing with R25.

Details of my setup are: rem 700 with 9twist 26" bartlein barrel. 76 grains R25; rem and win brass; cci 250 primer loaded to 3.670 COAL.

I haven't seen pressure signs at 76 grains but just want to get an idea of how hot I may be able to go to get to 3,200 fops or so.

I would suggest you calculate the fps gain you have been getting per grain or .5 gr of powder as you worked up to 76. In my experience, I have found that as your load gets too hot you will see a definite decline in the velocity you are getting relative to the charge increase (diminishing returns) Accuracy may begin to degrade also, but you will definitely see an increase in ES & SD after you reach that point.

 

[fishmasterdan]

Settled on a load.
Cooper model 52 26 inch barrel

83g rl 25
145 lrx Barnes
.25 off land's
Critical item for me was switching primers. Winchesters would leak gas at 3200fps rem 91/2 m are fine.
3500 sea level chronnyed.
Scared to try for anything faster. I believe I am at max velocity.

 

[savage1103006]

Remington 700 Custom 26 inch stainless fluted barrel it 1 and 9 and a quarter twist. Pillar and glass bedded built of a Ultra mag chassis 6.5 -20-44 weaver
Seating Depth is set 3.685
Sierra 140 gr Pro Hunters
74.8 gr of IMR 7828 running Federal 215 primers at 3250 Not a hot load but accurate
My bear Load 154 gr Hornady Spire Points
Seating depth 3.740
71.8 grains of IMR 7828 running Federal 215 Primers at 3097 Not a hot load but accurate.

 

[ddgo]

81 gr Retumbo Cecil 250's 168 berger vlds 28.5 Kreiger barrel. 3260 fps remington senders action and stock. 18.6 minutes of come up at 1k

 

[ddgo]

Make that cci's 250's

 

[Rent Outdoor Gear]

Anybody tried RL33 yet? Picked up a couple pounds recently as I saw that Alliant listed some loads for the STW using RL33... Just curious what guys are seeing. It's a good slow burner and uses a lot of powder for higher fill %. Just curious to see what kind of velocity & ES variations guys are seeing. My next step is trying some ladders hoping to find some low SD's for better long range vertical groups with the 175 accubond long range bullets.

 

[Rent Outdoor Gear]

The LRAB doesn't have a real-world higher BC. It's been tested and proven inflated.

MudRunner - do you have a link to these tests? I'd like to see what the real world BC's were on these.

Thanks!

DC

 

[MudRunner2005]

MudRunner - do you have a link to these tests? I'd like to see what the real world BC's were on these.

Thanks!

DC

It was here on the forum last year. The guy who did the BC tests said the real life drops weren't matching the ones for the advertised BC.

However, recently Brian Litz did a test on them, and i think his results were that they were close to their advertised BC..... But I can't remember.

You'll just have to do a search.

 

[ddgo]

Have not tried RL33. Have had really good results with Retumbo with the 168 ABLR' and 168 vld's.
Have tried to keep my LR guns on the Extream powders. One of my STW's holds less than 1/2 moa at 1k with vld's. The other holds about 1/2 moa with ABLR's at 30 degrees or 85 degrees. Don't think a powder change would better my deal. Can't hold it any tighter than that.
I do a lot of guide work for whitetails and also a lot of culling and I do know the stw is their worse nightmare. One heck of a cartridge.
Ddgo

 

[ddgo]

Kind of drifted off the subject. When I worked up the ABLR I didn't have to adjust my BC but about 5 points to land at 1k

 

[Rent Outdoor Gear]

It was here on the forum last year. The guy who did the BC tests said the real life drops weren't matching the ones for the advertised BC.

However, recently Brian Litz did a test on them, and i think his results were that they were close to their advertised BC..... But I can't remember.

You'll just have to do a search.

Thanks Mud - I'll try to hunt them down and post some info here for others with what I find.