7mm bullets for long range hunting. who has good luck with what?

[firefighter1990]

hey guys, i have a 7mm stw 1-9 twist that im working up for longrange hunting to use on eveything from antelope to moose and elk. its built by chris matthews at LSR so i know its a shootter but as with all stw chamberings- freebore is horrible so bergers dont group as well as i would like them too although they are still right at 1 moa thanks to LSR's attention to precision. i was wondering if anyone has hunted with low drag bullets of a tangent ojive like Cauteruccio bullets and some of the higher BC'ed SMK. what game? what range? velocity/ cartidge? resaults? also if anyone has recommended recipes for the stw that would help too, i like h1000 but i open to all. thanks guys

 

[kiwi3006]

Have you tried the Berger 180 hybrid? It is suppose to be a bit more foregiving compared to the other Bergers.
I have heard good reports of the 175 SMK out of 7RUM, so they might be a good bet in the STW. Otherwise try the 162 a-max, and if all else fails the 160 accubond.

Stu.

 

[trebark]

Both me and a buddy have had good luck shooting the 168grain VLD. Tried the 180grainers, but couldn't get them to shoot.

 

[firefighter1990]

i had no idea they took the hybrid past the 338! thanks. have yet to try 168. an i do like a maxes at 500 plus but only on thin skinned game as antelope and whitetail- kind of fragile one but not bad. Really looking hard at cautericio's but dont know if theyre worth a **** on animals at all let alone thin skinned game. SMK arent bad till about 800 due to thicker jackets and harder lead- at least in my experiences. Bergers are hard to beat but i still like to see what the rest of the community has to offer. thanks guys! keep the info coming!

 

[sanysany]

Both me and a buddy have had good luck shooting the 168grain VLD. Tried the 180grainers, but couldn't get them to shoot.

So what's the problem??

 

[trebark]

So what's the problem??

Don't know. Tried everything though...different primers, powders, powder charges, seating depth etc. Just couldn't get them to shoot as well as we expected.

 

[Lyons7STW]

168 Bergers over 78.2 grn retumbo shoots well under moa in my 7STW and no tracking of game has been required so far. Have not had a chance to test it past 600 yards yet.

 

[elktaxi1]

the new barnes lrx(145)with 7828 or h1000 is working real good for me it has a bc of .530 or right in that zone. i worked it up all the way to 1000yards and the 530 matches almost all the way out to 1000 at 3500. and it is less than 1moa

 

[bailey1474]

Get you a box of either 175 smk or 180 smk. Very easy to make shoot and they kill very well.

 

[Iron Worker]

Is that 1"moa off shooting sticks are the bench ? Field conditions are less forgiving. 1 MOA is good enough for kill zone in 700yds isn't it.

 

[elktaxi1]

i do all my shooting off a harris bipod from the ground trying to get as close to field conditions as i can. they work real well on elk to 652 yds my friend killed one earlier this year with one shot and not much meat damage. we did not recover the bullet and it went though both shoulders.gun)

 

[firefighter1990]

lyons7stw- are you loading to a 3.65 COAL? do you have a factory stw or custom throated one? baily1474- what game and what distance have you hunted in your use of SMK's?

 

[Dean2506]

I havnt had the chance to use them on game yet but im pushing 162 amax at 3290 fps with RL 25. Groups at 100 are sub .3 moa and have gotten good groups out to 600 yds so far. I am seating bullets pretty far out col is 3.860 in my rifle.

 

[trueblue]

I had a 7 STW and shot the 168 Bergers very well out to 700yards. 1/2 MOA to be exact.
That was in a 1:9x barrel. I had a Wyatt magbox installed in order to seat the bullets w the BT at the neck shoulder junction.