Should I build a 7 Saum or 7-300 wsm?

[Timnterra]

No sir, OEM is the ticket for flush mount. The advantages are longer COAL, if users are not intending to extend their COAL then OEM is plenty good.

BTW, I'm surprised your long action factory mags don't feed WSM rounds. I have had customers running SAUM rounds out of the factory long action mags with success.

I don't have any older mags at the shop to measure, makes me wonder if a change was made recently.

It was a t3 mag pre T3x that was too tight for the wsm case. Fed the PRC cases just fine but that little extra girth was just too much I guess. I'll have to pick up a new long action magazine and see what happens

 

[North Idaho Hunter]

It was a t3 mag pre T3x that was too tight for the wsm case. Fed the PRC cases just fine but that little extra girth was just too much I guess. I'll have to pick up a new long action magazine and see what happens

I've got 300 wsm rounds here and a factory t3x long action, ill check and see if it feeds for ya.

 

[Starbuck]

Tim:

Been following this thread because I intend to do a very similar project but have been going back and forth on a few things.

One I direction I might go is to take a LH Savage 16 in 300 wsm and go 7mm-300. I am curious as to why you selected a 1:9 when you intend to shoot 180's? I have ran a couple 1:9 7mm's that did OK with heavies, but I was thinking of going 1:8 or so for the next .284.

Also, I haven't started looking into it that far yet, but would be looking for a recommendation on available left hand stocks for the Savage.

Have 2 700's sitting on the shelf awaiting reassignment, and I wouldn't be against picking up another Tikka to build on, so like I stated, I'm in the contemplative stage and just weighing options based on attributes and availability of accessories such as stocks. Kinda leaning towards a 280 AI on one of the 700's, but not set in stone.

 

[tooth doc]

have 3, 7 wsm rifles. two are dedicated hunting rifles, one is a pierce action, carbon barrel comp/hunting rifle, about 9.5 lbs. all shoot superbly, .5 moa or better. have used the comp rifle up to 1450 with 168 bergers and it does very well. for me the winchester brass has performed very well. 5 or 6 loadings and still going. have a good stock on hand , but it can be hard to get, im not quite sure why. i think saum is a good but wsm just flat out has better performance potential. my other 2 rifles are winchester 70 actions, that i prefer over rem. im primarily a hunter. if it hits where i want. kills quickly im happy. in the end , saum or wsm will both do it. i just like wsm better. esp if new brass is available. lastly, if someone is necking and fireforming 300 wsm to 7 wsm isnt it just a 7 wsm? why call it a 7 300 wsm? just want some clarification.

 

[Timnterra]

Tim:

Been following this thread because I intend to do a very similar project but have been going back and forth on a few things.

One I direction I might go is to take a LH Savage 16 in 300 wsm and go 7mm-300. I am curious as to why you selected a 1:9 when you intend to shoot 180's? I have ran a couple 1:9 7mm's that did OK with heavies, but I was thinking of going 1:8 or so for the next .284.

Also, I haven't started looking into it that far yet, but would be looking for a recommendation on available left hand stocks for the Savage.

Have 2 700's sitting on the shelf awaiting reassignment, and I wouldn't be against picking up another Tikka to build on, so like I stated, I'm in the contemplative stage and just weighing options based on attributes and availability of accessories such as stocks. Kinda leaning towards a 280 AI on one of the 700's, but not set in stone.

I have several 1-8" twist 7mm barrels and one rifle a 7-300 win mag improved built with a 1-8" twist barrel, I wish they were 1-9" twist. The 1-9" twist will stabilize everything up to and including the 180hr BLS and hybrid bullets. I don't intend to shoot the 190+ heavy convention bullets that needs a faster twist. I don't shoot monolithic bullets so no worry there. Read what Nathan Foster has to say about his 7mm practical. In his tests the faster twist was detrimental to accuracy in lighter bullets like the 180gr. His conclusion was If you build on a 1-8" barrel you might be limited to shooting the 195's. I know the trend is faster and faster twist rates for everything but I don't subscribe to that theory. I want the twist rate that is "optimal" for the bullets I intend to shoot.

 

[Timnterra]

have 3, 7 wsm rifles. two are dedicated hunting rifles, one is a pierce action, carbon barrel comp/hunting rifle, about 9.5 lbs. all shoot superbly, .5 moa or better. have used the comp rifle up to 1450 with 168 bergers and it does very well. for me the winchester brass has performed very well. 5 or 6 loadings and still going. have a good stock on hand , but it can be hard to get, im not quite sure why. i think saum is a good but wsm just flat out has better performance potential. my other 2 rifles are winchester 70 actions, that i prefer over rem. im primarily a hunter. if it hits where i want. kills quickly im happy. in the end , saum or wsm will both do it. i just like wsm better. esp if new brass is available. lastly, if someone is necking and fireforming 300 wsm to 7 wsm isnt it just a 7 wsm? why call it a 7 300 wsm? just want some clarification.

The 7 wsm case is about 1/10" longer at the shoulder than the 270wsm and the 300 wsm.

 

[North Idaho Hunter]

@Timnterra just ran 300 wsm through a long action factory t3x mag. Butter smooth!

Be sure to get a new production t3x magazine - I suspect they redesigned the magazines when they updated the t3 lineup.

 

[Ga6570]

@ Timnterra,..
Question,.. HOW did you get the Spacer "Block" out of, the Tikka Magazine ?
I have a .243 / .308 sized, 5 Shot Magazine that, I want to get that Plastic Block, OUT of, so I can Fit Longer, 6.5 Creed Ammo in it !
Pried out ??,.. Thanks, in advance !

Release the bottom off the magazine and you get plenty of room to trim the back of the mag. Those little dimples on the sides of the lower part are clips. Carefully depress them and the bottom comes off.
I put time into adding more to material to my follower to keep things from dropping off the back, but should work fine without adding material.

I took out enough to allow for a 3.010 length bullet.

 

[Starbuck]

I have several 1-8" twist 7mm barrels and one rifle a 7-300 win mag improved built with a 1-8" twist barrel, I wish they were 1-9" twist. The 1-9" twist will stabilize everything up to and including the 180hr BLS and hybrid bullets. I don't intend to shoot the 190+ heavy convention bullets that needs a faster twist. I don't shoot monolithic bullets so no worry there. Read what Nathan Foster has to say about his 7mm practical. In his tests the faster twist was detrimental to accuracy in lighter bullets like the 180gr. His conclusion was If you build on a 1-8" barrel you might be limited to shooting the 195's. I know the trend is faster and faster twist rates for everything but I don't subscribe to that theory. I want the twist rate that is "optimal" for the bullets I intend to shoot.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. That type of answer is exactly what I was hoping to get. I'm with you as far as starting with the bullet and working back to optimize it from there.

I hadn't heard that 1:8's might not play nice with 180's, but that's why I'm in the information gathering phase. I had good luck with a 1:9 7mm Remington with 168 LRX and 175 PP. Likewise, I have an older 7mm Weatherby 1:10 that likes the 175 PP and the 180 ELD's very much, even though it's not supposed to.

 

[JAYgs8163]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. That type of answer is exactly what I was hoping to get. I'm with you as far as starting with the bullet and working back to optimize it from there.

I hadn't heard that 1:8's might not play nice with 180's, but that's why I'm in the information gathering phase. I had good luck with a 1:9 7mm Remington with 168 LRX and 175 PP. Likewise, I have an older 7mm Weatherby 1:10 that likes the 175 PP and the 180 ELD's very much, even though it's not supposed to.

The 180 Hybrid Bergers perform excellent in my 8.25 twist. As do the 162 ELDX.

 

[squeeeeze]

Love my 7WSM. Built on a short action Browning A-Bolt, has some feeding issues and finicky even though it was a 300WSM previously.

Pretty tight fit and had to do a lot of modification for the magazine. Can't eject the loaded round w/o removing bolt. Would do much better on a long action, but very happy with it still. Shooting Berger 180 H-VLD's just over 3,000fps with a 26" Lilja 1:9 3 groove with great accuracy.

Don't have a SAUM but wouldn't hesitate to have one built for my next 7mm.

 

[436]

I've used the .300 RSAUM for years in LR matches with a Sierra 190 Mk it never let me down, I was going to move down just for the fun of it and try the 7mm RSAUM never did, but... quite a few of my fellow shooters used it to great success on the LR courses. Then the 6.5 SAUM jumped in and was a bit of a dominator for a while. The .300 RSAUM would still be my pick. Better than the .300 WSM? who knows. Cheers

 

[Huntz]

Here are two tikka wsm mags. One I removed the thin plastic at the back making use of the full length. I haven't played with feeding much so I'll have to see if it is worth it. The regular long action mags don't feed wsm cases unless you open the back end to fit the fatter case. I don't know why tikka did it this way instead of just making the long mags to fit all calibers like MTN Tactical does. I have one of their mags and it feeds everything but these factory mags sure are light weight.

I use the Long magazines no problem in my fast twist 270WSM.They feed fine with 170 grain bullets.I filed down the bolt stop to a long action length.Either cartridge will do what you want.It is a coin flip.Personally, next long range rifle will be a 300WSM fast twist.Now that I have removed and replaced the barrel on my Tikka WSM action,I will just make it a switch barrel with the 270WSM.

 

[tooth doc]

The 7 wsm case is about 1/10" longer at the shoulder than the 270wsm and the 300 wsm.

i understand that. why not just neck 300 to 7 wsm neck length and blow shoulder forward to make 7 wsm. that extra length to shoulder , to me is desirable for powder capacity. its my favorite wsm and i have all but 6.5. so the 7 300 hundred just necks 300 down to existing 300 shoulder?