Opinions on the 7 STW?

[TrpD345]

What is the consensus on this cartridge?

[kraky2]

IMHO--some say it's real fast--some cant' get much more than 75fps over a 7 mag. It's alot of powder for a 7mm hole. Personally I think the 300 wby or 300 rum will give way more down range energy with about the same amount of powder. Some people love the 7mm....some love 30 caliber.
I happen to be the latter but you may be the 7mm guy. I went to the range the other night with my buddy and his new 7wsm. I was impressed as we were clocking 3050 with factory federal partitions 160 gr. out of his new BAR autoloader.
I'm kinda thinking if I was heading back to a 7mm, that WSM in a nice lightwt rig like a tikka t-3 would be a real winner in my book.

[budlight]

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What is the consensus on this cartridge?

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I've been shooting mine for about 10 years. It makes a 7mm rem mag look like a piece of junk. I had a 24 inch 700 rem 7 mag and when it's loaded to the point of blowing the primers and leaking around the belt it doesn't come within 200 fps of my 28 inch STW without any pressure signs.

So the extra speed and long case life makes the 7mm STW just a pleasure to shoot. I nearly exclusively shoot 175 SBT's and I have never even had an Elk stop this round.

[TrpD345]

I was reading on the Best of the West sight where they describe the equipment tha they use. They say they use a .284 WRP. He says it is similiar to the 7 mm STW. He mentioned that the 7mm STW does not lend itself to good accuracy because of its geometry? Just wondering what ya'lls opinion is on this?

[Varmint Hunter]

There are MANY great shooting 7STW's out there, so I don't buy into the "bad geometry" claim. Actually, one of my reloading manuals talks about the surprising accuracy of the 7STW.

I shoot a custom 700 with a 26" Hart barrel. I can get significantly more velocity than I did from my 7 Rem mag and the accuracy is terrific. Although I have shot a few groups in the .1's, it will regularely shoot .5 moa @ 200yds.

A few days ago I shot the 7STW at a 400yds, in anticipation of a longrange pronghorn hunt scheduled for this weekend. I recently had Leupold put their new "varmint reticle" in my 6.5x20 scope and was curious to see how well it would work out with this cartridge. Using the 400yd horizontal wire, I fired 3 rounds from a cold, clean barrel and then walked down to the target to see exactly where the bullets had hit. All 3 bullet holes were just 1" below the point of aim and clustered into 1.6". [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Can the 7STW shoot? In a quality built rifle, it sure can. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[dakor]

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They say they use a .284 WRP. He says it is similiar to the 7 mm STW. He mentioned that the 7mm STW does not lend itself to good accuracy because of its geometry? Just wondering what ya'lls opinion is on this?

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I think John Burns needs to get off the crack is what I think. I have not seen a 7mm STW that would not shoot period. It is a Very Accurate round and does go a lot faster then 7mm mag at least 250fps from what I have found. As for a 30 cal being better I do not agree with that either. I also will say the big 7 has less recoil even when bullet weights are the same when compared to a 300 win. I have added some targets you can look at.
That is 3 shots at 100 yards with a 200grain Wilcat.

Same bullet at 320 yards the dot I was shooting at is 2inches.


Here are a couple of more 100 yard targets.
This is a Barnes 140 TSX 3 shots.

Here are 160 Sierra HPBT 3 shots.

The last one is with me shooting 140 Accubonds of a bipod in the snow with no rear bag at 500 yards. 3 shots as well.

[dakor]

Budlight that is good to know about that 175 Sierra. I have a cow Elk hunt coming up in December and was thinking about using that bullet but I am a little leary because I know Sierra's have a tendency to come a part when hitting some hard. How fast are you driving them and have you hit bone on any of your shots?