7mmSTW brass??

[Len Backus]

I don't know what 7STW brass is available.

As to the 7 Lapua, I am a couple months away from doing my project. I think the case capacity will be about the same as the Lazzeroni but the brass will be Lapua and I think Lazzeroni uses Norma. The performance of the Lapua version will be about the same.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Even though 7STW brass is readily available, I buy 8mm mag brass and run it into a 7STW die. I do this so that the reduced neck is a little thicker & leaves more room for neck turning. As you would for any SAAMI neck, I turn off just enough so that the cut can be seen about 75% of the way around the neck. (leaving 25% untouched)
My Hart barreled rifle will regularely shoot .5 moa @ 200yds with turned & preped Rem brass and maximum loads with hunting bullets.
If there was quality match brass available, I'd buy it, but I do not know of any source for quality 7STW or 8mag brass. It is one of the down sides to having a custom rifle built in 7STW.
It may be possible to reform Norma 300Wby or other brass but it would not be worth the trouble to me.

VH

 

[Sako7STW]

Hello all, First post here, I am sure some of you may have seen me on a few other threads.

Well I figure the LD shooters would know there stuff on accurate big boomers. My question is do any of you know where one could find some high quality 7mmSTW brass or 8mm brass?

The brass I have now, not sure of make, is not that impressive. The knecks seam to vary greatly. I am going to pick me up a case trimmer and was also thinking about turning my knecks. I have never done that before. Is it difficult to do? Do you recommend doing this? And lastly what neck turner do you recommend?

Thank you for your time and consideration.

PS I have read on here a bit about the 7mmLapua Wildcat...Whats the difference between that and the Lazzeroni Firebird??

 

[Sako7STW]

Thought I should add, I already uniform the primer pockets and form the flash hole.

 

[Sako7STW]

Thanks for the replies guys!!

VH, Last night I sized and then trimmed some brass down to 2.840". The next step would be to turn the necks. I bought a neck turner by RCBS that goes on the trim pro trimmer. I seen where you said you trim to where you see 75% of trimming done. Can you elaborate on this some? I have never turned necks nor seen it done. So this is a new adventure for me.

Does anyone know of a good link on how to turn necks?

My purpose of this is to try to push my current STW to its accuracy limits. I have the Sako TRG-S. It shoots really well as it is but I feel it could do even better. I just had a KDF brake put on it and that should help me shoot my best as well. My goal is MOA to 400 yards. The bullets I am trying are the Lazzeroni Lazzerheads which are 120 gr version of the Barnes TSX that is coated as well and the other bullet is the 127gr Groove Bullet. The Grooves shoot excellent in my .243 Win.. Groups hang at around .62" @100 and with the new scope on it I think I can do mouse ears with it. Too cold though so I am waiting till spring to really get after it.

Ohhh what powders have you found to respond well to the STW? I have been running H-1000 with the 140 gr Ballistic tips. I have RL 22 and 19 in my possesion and have thought about trying RL 25 as well. Any others you would suggest?

 

[Varmint Hunter]

When you are turning necks only for concentricity rather than concentricty & fit, you do NOT want to reduce the neck wall thickness any more than necessary. Only the thickest area of the neck should be turned off so that it is as thick as the thinner area of the neck. If that makes any sense.

If you turn the necks and get a cut 360deg around the neck then you cut too deep. Within reason, you should be turning just enough so that 75% (more or less) of the neck is actually cut. Some of the neck (about 25%) should remain untouched by the cutter. It will take a few adjustments to get the cutter adjusted properly so plan on scrapping a few pieces of brass.

The powders that you are working with are fine.

VH

 

[Mysticplayer]

I have been using the Rem STW brass for lots of my 300Wby shooting and can say it has been very consistent and accurate.

This will go against the grain but the limiting factor in accuracy is the chamber/bore relationship and your ability to align bullets down that pipe. Mucking about with brass may fine tune a very little bit but in a factory rifle, gains will be small.

Check the concentricity of a fired case, sized case, loaded case. If within a thou or two, that ammo will shoot as well as the barrel and you will allow.

Try loading "better" bullets to test the accuracy of the rig. Better powders, match primers help too.

I did extensive testing with my Wby to compare the effects of brass. I even got some Norma stuff. The bottom line is that the Rem brass was every bit as accurate and a whole bunch tougher at 1/2 the price.

I do suggest turning the necks to clean up a bit (around 60% of circumferance). pay attention to runout. Test the cases on paper to see if any case flyers. Compare volumes after firing.

I have found these to really help. Most of the BR tweaks apply to BR rifles and pay little dividends in production rifles.

Jerry

 

[Varmint Hunter]

My position would be a little different than Jerry's.
I did extensive testing with my 6mmAI, Hart barreled rifle. In nearly every test, with any given load or bullet, I could measure a reduction in group size between the loads fired in Remington cases and those fired in Norma cases.
While the difference was not always dramatic, it was measurable. For a custom target or longrange varmint rifle the smaller groups made a tangible difference. For a hunting rifle this would have been nothing more than a learning experience.
There is generally so much slop in a factory rifle chamber (and neck) that I can not see the benefit of concentric necks. Except of course, for the shear pleasure of working up the best loads that you are capable of regardless of the rifle in which it is fired in.

VH

 

[Sako7STW]

Thanks again Guys. I have all my brass trimmed down now and will try a few for turning maybe tonight and see how it goes. I think these brass will preform pretty well, now that I have put some time in them. I will let you know the results.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Thought I'd add one thing.

Turning by hand is a laborious task that may not give you the best results. I turned thousands of cases that way and it was torture. A few years ago I bought a Sinclair case turning (spinning) tool, It has different case holders to accomodate a variety of case sizes. The little tool can be put in a cordless screwdriver for a slow, consistent rotation of the case as the cutter makes a clean, even cut on the neck.
Very fast, easy & consistent.

VH

 

[Sako7STW]

Thanks again. I consider this pretty much experimental so if I get good results and decide to do it all the time I will probably look into something that isnt purely by hand.

 

[6.5/06]

sako 7stw I have stw also. I use 140gr noslor bt's and 162gr amax's. 140s with 76.0gr of rl22 and cci250 primer.162s with 72.0gr of rl22 and cci250. both bullets are moly coated and not touching lands .start out lower than this and work up.162's shoot .1 at 100 140 shoot .25. good luck,I love my 7stw.

 

[Len Backus]

Sako75STW

Ok, I'll bite!

Did you really mean to type:
140 grain bullet at 3,990 fps?

 

[Sako7STW]

6.5, What kind of case preperation do you do? What gun are you shooting it in as well? I have the Sako TRG-S(model m995)with 26" bbl. Previously I was shooting the 140 gr Combined Tech Ballestic Silvertips with 84.5 gr of H-1000 at 3990 FPS. I am not happy with these bullets ability on game at all so I am trying the bullets I listed above. The accuracy was sub MOA but that was prior to the muzzle break and I had developed a terrible flinch from it. Worked that mostly out with the .243 so ready to move back to the STW again with the break in place.