Future of 7STW vs. 7RUM

[Bullseye]

I may have missed it, but I haven't seen many recent (searched last couple years) discussions on the 7stw vs. the 7rum. I am familiar with some of the technical differences between the two rounds. I am more interested in people's thoughts on whether both rounds will (at least on a semi-commercial basis) be around in 5 or 10 years or if one of the two will dominate. They could both be simply handloader specialty rounds... perhaps they are already.

The STW is a great round that's been around longer and definitely has a loyal following, and the RUM has slightly more case capacity and Remington behind it.

I like them both and if I were going to buy (another) one today I'd choose the... hmmmm...

[ccsykes]

That is an interesting statement. I seem to read more and more on the short magnum rounds being developed. Every gun store that I go in, I cannot help but to overhear someone talking about the short mags and how close the 7mm remington ultra short magnum is coming to the 7mm rum. Lazzeroni claims that they can push a 140 grain nosler partition in their short mag version of the 7mm (7.21 Tomahawk) at 3444 feet per second. This round is being pushed by 70 grains of RL 19. The fastest that hodgdon is saying that the 7RUM will do with a 140 grain bullet and 96.5 grains of RETUMBO is 3353 feet per second. The winchester and remington short magnums are a couple hundred feet per second slower, depending upon the bullet, but they also have less recoil and muzzle jump. These rounds are becoming easily accessible and with better factory ammunition on the shelves today, a lot of the weekend hunters just go to the store and buy their ammo. I think that in the future, there will be a great loss of interest in reloading and people are going to rely more on ammo producers to supply them. There are so many great rounds out there, not just the STW and the RUM that will be lost as the tradition of reloading fades. Well, this is my two cents worth, I am 20 and I know how a lot of the guys my age see reloading and different calibers (faster and newer is better).

I love my 7 STW! I makes no difference to me whether the remington ultra mag of lazzeroni makes a faster 7 - short or long action.

I do believe that in general the short actions will dominate the marketplace in the future. I hope the velocity craze will subside a bit. Faster is not always better and that is why experienced shooters use heavier bullets for caliber.


Short actions offer efficient rounds with lower recoil than their long action counterparts. Check out the ballistics of the 300 wsm. Its not that far behind the 300wm.