7mm STW Brotherhood - For those who shoot the 7mm Shooting Times Westerner

[7stw]

Originally Posted by Wachsmann

Question
In the future I want to get my Sendero rebuilt/rebarreled. I'll be going with the 7mm ultra mag or the 7mm STW. I would like to primelry set the gun up to shoot the 180 VLD's for long range. What is the preferred twist rate or best twist rate and length of barrel to get the best performance out of this combo....any experienced or susgestions are welcome. The gun I currently have is a 300 ultra mag. Thanks for your input.

A 9 twist will be very adequate for the 180's. Maybe " Dano1" will chime in and verify that, as he is the heavy for caliber " guru". The 180's have really caught on, and now 185-200 grain bullets are being talked of a lot. Those latter ones need a 8.5 or faster twist to stabilize those. I think the STW will do just fine for what you want. Just my 2 cents.

[WildRose]

Originally Posted by 7stw

A 9 twist will be very adequate for the 180's. Maybe " Dano1" will chime in and verify that, as he is the heavy for caliber " guru". The 180's have really caught on, and now 185-200 grain bullets are being talked of a lot. Those latter ones need a 8.5 or faster twist to stabilize those. I think the STW will do just fine for what you want. Just my 2 cents.

Ditto to both. At the velocities we can generate with the STW the 1:9 should be more than adequate. On the chance we may see some offerings in the future in heavier bullets though if I were building one today I might just go ahead with a 1:8.5 just to be sure.

Ditto as well on sticking with the STW. All you really gain with the 7 Rum over the STW is shorter barrel life and considerably more blast and recoil.

That's a heck of a price to pay for 150fps.

[SFR292]

Originally Posted by Wachsmann

Question
In the future I want to get my Sendero rebuilt/rebarreled. I'll be going with the 7mm ultra mag or the 7mm STW. I would like to primelry set the gun up to shoot the 180 VLD's for long range. What is the preferred twist rate or best twist rate and length of barrel to get the best performance out of this combo....any experienced or susgestions are welcome. The gun I currently have is a 300 ultra mag. Thanks for your input.

I would run the 1:9 and also have a reamer built with a bit more freebore space for the longer 180's, keep in mind what your magazine internal max length is going to be as well. Cal David at PTG and he'll talk it through with you on designing a reamer for it to allow you seat 180's to whatever your length limit is and not have too much jump (or too little).

[Big Jake Duke]

Originally Posted by oglebuck

Update : Killed a 7 point Whitetail this morning. 220yds. DRT dropped like a sack of rocks. I shot this deer with a 180 VLD behind the shoulder and found the bullet fragments just under the hide in the top of his neck. Internial damage was like a bomb went off. Not exactly my choice of results. I will be glad when I get my LRX's loaded up.

That's exactly what that bullet was designed for. Penetration into the vitals and then the expenditure of all energy. DRT, means perfect performance,and you didn't lose the opposite shoulder meat. This isn't underperformance it is efficient performance. Over penetration on a deer (nobler partition/Barnes) often leads to an animal still active after the shot. Yes they can be DRT but that usually involves a spine shot or close to it.

[marioq]

A thought came up to me today after reading some info on the sight. Because y'all are so good at being honest and share your thoughts and experiences truly, I wanted to ask about scopes. I have a Night Force and LOVE IT!!!!
But I saw a sightron mentioned and I started to think about the quality of some of the other optic choices out there and your experiences!! Not a this Is better cuz I use it but more I have tried X, Y, Z and I like X because of this.
What do y'all think??
I ask cuz I am building an STW and going to buy a 6.5x284. All able to make 1000 yard shots, just wondering if the price of NF is worth it or can I still get good quality glass and performance but at a lower price point.

Thanks a bunch!!!!

[SFR292]

Nightforce is an awesome piece, if you "drive" a scope a lot like I do (run the turrets all the time for almost every shot) then nightforce, US Optics, and Leupold (usually in that order) is the way to go, Schmit & Bender is a great scope too. There's a ton of good glass out there, but the turrets are another story. I"m curious about the Huskemaw(sp) scopes, I've never had my hands on one or even seen it in person.
The sighttron I do have experience with, the only two I've dealt with failed, one blew up (nitrogen seal failed and fogged over inside) and the other the reticule rotated after 9 shots out of the box. Glass seemed to be pretty good. I know a lot of people that use Vortex and they seem pretty decent to me, I've shot a few but haven't "driven" them very much.
With all that said, I'm putting a Leupold Mk 4 LRT TMR on my STW, they have one of the best warranties I've ever seen, they stand behind everything, even user abuse (guilty) and they stand up to a lot. I've used them downrange and literally put my life on them like our S&B's and they came out on top. Another plus is I really like the TMR, very easy to precisely Mil a target quickly and the gap in the middle of the cross hair allows for visual on very small targets at long range that could hide behind a crosshair (i.e. prairie dog at 800+) .
So in the end, IMHO I think Leupold is the best bang for the buck in a long range scope, they are not cheap either, but usually can be had for a bit less than a NF and a lot less than an US Optic or S&B.

[Big Jake Duke]

Originally Posted by Sako 75

These pics do not belong here as neither of these bucks were killed with my STW but this is hands down the best thread on this entire site so I thought it was only fitting to put them here. The first pic is my Alberta Whitetail shot on Remembrance day here in Canada (Nov. 11) and the second pic is my Saskatchewan Whitetail shot Nov. 29th on the last day of my hunt. Enjoy and I promise next year only STW harvests!!

Very nice buck. Huge mass!