Oh god, not another caliber debate thread.

[MudRunner2005]

Do you need to have factory brass or are you ok with having to form/fireform?

Lets look at the capacity numbers...

7mm/378 Wby - 130gr
Lazzeroni Firebird - 126gr
7mm-338 Lapua Improved - 120gr
7mm-338 Lapua - 113gr
7mm RUM - 112gr
7mm-338 Norma - 105-108gr
7mm STW - 100gr
28 Nosler - 100gr
7mm Dakota - 93.5gr
7mm-300 Winny - 92gr

So as far as factory available brass/ammo, the Firebird has the next closet beat by 14gr. The 7mm-378 Wby bests the Firebird by 4 grains but will take custom dies and forming brass to do it.

There's no replacement for displacement...especially when shooting big heavy bullets. The Lazz has approx 26% more capacity than the STW...

And I'm sure he'd like to have more than a 500 round barrel life...

And Lazzeroni's are nice, but expensive as hell for brass and ammo, and it's not easily found everywhere...I think it's pretty much exclusive to Lazz selling it on their website.

STW brass and reloading dies can easily be found, and even Midway has it in stock right now...

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/910017/nosler-custom-reloading-brass-7mm-stw-box-of-25

 

[adam32]

And I'm sure he'd like to have more than a 500 round barrel life...

From the original post...

I dont care much about barrel life,

 

[BigGrizz]

Big bore magnum. Period. End of story, and whatever that bullet hits. LOL.

 

[TwoMore]

I have a few big .284's , I do all my own building so doing a wild cat is very fun for me. I hardly ever recommend anything that you have to fire form or more processes unless you like to spend time with it... I think a plug and play round like the rum, stw, 28 nos. maybe a 7mm-300 wm , are good choices , I have shot them all but I still seem to keep picking up my WSM with a 168 or 180 grainer lol. I do think I will build a variant of the 7-338 Lap. improved but I think with that kind of powder load a 26 in barrel wont be enough, I have a 30 inch 5r on my 7mm ultra rogue and love the fact that is loving the pull down powder at 6 bucks a pound if i can just get my WSMs to like it lol
Good luck on the build

 

[adam32]

And I'm sure he'd like to have more than a 500 round barrel life...

And Lazzeroni's are nice, but expensive as hell for brass and ammo, and it's not easily found everywhere...I think it's pretty much exclusive to Lazz selling it on their website.

STW brass and reloading dies can easily be found, and even Midway has it in stock right now...

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/910017/nosler-custom-reloading-brass-7mm-stw-box-of-25

Less than a buck per brass difference...if that's gonna make or break a build then this discussion is definitely going to be about factory rifles and cartridges...

Nothing wrong with the STW, but if maximum performance is what the OP is after then it falls behind a bit.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Less than a buck per brass difference...if that's gonna make or break a build then this discussion is definitely going to be about factory rifles and cartridges...

Nothing wrong with the STW, but if maximum performance is what the OP is after then it falls behind a bit.

You have to also look at the point of diminishing returns... And you can only fit so much powder through a 7mm diameter hole before it causes too long of a flame and then fire-cracks and erodes the throat... Not to mention all the unburnt powder spewing out of the end because you don't have a 36"-40" long barrel on it to get a complete burn for all that powder. All that in the name of 75-100 FPS gain... Seems a bit ridiculous to me. But to each, his own...

 

[42769vette]

Thanks for all the responses. A little more info I should have started with.

When I say "I dont care much about barrel life, what I ment was, Im fine with 1000 rounds of life. I dont want to get to far into the wildcat stuff like the Lazzeroni's. Ive done that in the past, and now have a WSSM rifle that is completely worthless unless I want to run a single shot, ad turn it into a WSM caliber.

When I say I care about speed, Im not going to load hot enough to notice something that is 20 FPS faster. Any of the calibers I listed is fast enough. I just want to make sure Im not missing something that is much more "efficient" with the same results.

As of this post I think the RUM is off the table. Like some here have mentioned, I think your burning a lot of powder for a little speed difference, especially in the barrel length I will be running.

Thanks for the help so far guys.

 

[adam32]

7mm Rem Mag, 7mm Hart, 7mm-300 Winny, 7mm STW and 28 Nosler sound just about right to me...flip a coin, an animal won't know the difference...

Anything above a 7mm-300 Win is burning a lot of powder for not much gain.

For your barrel length, especially the 24" option, I would stay away from anything over about 95gr capacity. 26" you can go up higher...just my opinion of course.

Have you decided what bullet/s you want to shoot? I pick the bullet I want to shoot, then the maximum speed the bullet can handle then I choose the casing to shoot it out of.

 

[adam32]

7mm Rem Mag, 7mm Hart, 7mm-300 Winny, 7mm STW and 28 Nosler sound just about right to me...flip a coin, an animal won't know the difference...

Anything above a 7mm-300 Win is burning a lot of powder for not much gain.

For your barrel length, especially the 24" option, I would stay away from anything over about 95gr capacity. 26" you can go up higher...just my opinion of course.

Have you decided what bullet/s you want to shoot? I pick the bullet I want to shoot, then the maximum speed the bullet can handle then I choose the casing to shoot it out of.

 

[smithjasona1978]

Anybody ever heard of a company called Weatherby?
They have a pretty fast 7mm.

 

[42769vette]

I would love to shoot a 168gr Berger VLD, but to be honest, I've tried them a few times, and never could get them to shoot straight so Ill probably go with the 175gr ELD.

 

[smithjasona1978]

Oh and the wby been around since about ww2. Components won't go away.

 

[adam32]

7mm Rem Mag, 7mm Hart, 7mm-300 Winny, 7mm STW and 28 Nosler sound just about right to me...flip a coin, an animal won't know the difference...

Anything above a 7mm-300 Win is burning a lot of powder for not much gain.

For your barrel length, especially the 24" option, I would stay away from anything over about 95gr capacity. 26" you can go up higher...just my opinion of course.

Have you decided what bullet/s you want to shoot? I pick the bullet I want to shoot, then the maximum speed the bullet can handle then I choose the casing to shoot it out of.

 

[Edd]

Im stuck between 7mm RUM, 28 Nosler, 7mm STW.

Im going to build a do all hunting rifle. I know I want a HOT 7mm which has led me to these 3 options (if Im missing a no brainer speak up). I dont care much about barrel life, being a hunting rifle it will take 10 years to shoot 1000 rounds. I have other rifles that I will shoot match's, etc with. What I do care about is

Brass avaibility
Speed
Recoil (distant 3rd)

I will use a 24/26 inch barrel.

Thoughts?

Of those three cartridges, the 28 Nosler is the best choice.

For brass availability, its boring but a 7mm Remington Mag is the best choice.
For speed, a 28 Nosler is the best choice.
For recoil, 7mm Remington again.