Mark Maggos
Member
Anybody had any luck in reducing recoil and accurizing this gun? Mine kicks excessively and groups at 2in. in 100yds. Factory loads shot.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
browningA-Bolt .7WSM
- Thread starter Mark Maggos
- Start date
Help Support Long Range Hunting Forum
I did some research and loading for a friend this fall. We went to the "short mags"website and looked at loads. We compared them to our quickload program and found that alot of them looked pretty mild. We also found that Quickload says that the case capacity diff between a 7mm rem mag and the 7 wsm is only 1/2 grain!! Bottom line is that virtually any data that is good in the 7 mag is going to work in the 7 wsm. I guess to be on the slightly safe side I would step back one "step" when using 7 mag data. I found when posting and others replied that quickload was right on the money with it's velocity and pressure predictions.
Anyhow he had a browning autoloader and I've liked 4350 as a balance between fast and slow in a autoloader. Hodgdon's website said 57.5 under a 154/160 class bullet was max so we started at 56.0 even thought quickload predicted a very slow 2665 fps. We tried 4 different bullets at that load and they clocked just 2675 but they were wonderfully accurate. 2 of the 4 loads were doing 3/4" and all bullets went to the same point of impact. The bullets that seemed to shoot the best were the hornady 154 flat base and the 160 accubond. (BTW in my hornady manual for 7 mag it says that load should do 2700 fps....more proof of how these two rounds mirror ea other).
He wound up using the 160 accubonds (cause they looked cooler) for whitetail hunting. He got a doe. Even at that slow speed the bullet hit a little forward of where he was aiming and caught the leg bone on the way in.....it left about a 4" hole on the way out. YIKES.
Anyhow he had a browning autoloader and I've liked 4350 as a balance between fast and slow in a autoloader. Hodgdon's website said 57.5 under a 154/160 class bullet was max so we started at 56.0 even thought quickload predicted a very slow 2665 fps. We tried 4 different bullets at that load and they clocked just 2675 but they were wonderfully accurate. 2 of the 4 loads were doing 3/4" and all bullets went to the same point of impact. The bullets that seemed to shoot the best were the hornady 154 flat base and the 160 accubond. (BTW in my hornady manual for 7 mag it says that load should do 2700 fps....more proof of how these two rounds mirror ea other).
He wound up using the 160 accubonds (cause they looked cooler) for whitetail hunting. He got a doe. Even at that slow speed the bullet hit a little forward of where he was aiming and caught the leg bone on the way in.....it left about a 4" hole on the way out. YIKES.
ol mike
Well-Known Member
Mark
I just bought a browning a-bolt 7mm wsm and have yet to shoot it -waiting on brass ,bullets etc..
On the recoil part -i have a rem. 870 express that has a recoil pad so hard it might as well not have one.I took a 1/8" drill bit and just started drilling hole after hole into the recoil pad from the back and completely through it also.This really softened it up and didn't effect the look much.
The way i looked at it was if this doesn't work oh-well i'll have to get a real recoil pad.I'll do the same thing to the browning if need be.
The a-bolt's come from the factory bedded and free floated ,the trigger is a joke !I adjusted mine all the way down -it's suppose to be 3-6 lbs adjustable mine is more like 6 lbs bottomed out.I'm getting a timney trigger spring for it from brownells.
If you don't handload you should start it's fun and usually the only way to really fine tune a rifle.
I wouldn't feel too bad about 2" groups w/factory ammo and trigger.If i can get to 5/8-3/4" for 5 @ 100yds i can live w/that myself.Although if i could get better ----I'll take it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif.
I'll let you know about mine as i progress..
Kraky i didn't know the 7wsm was that close to the 7 rm , although my lee book shows 5.02cc and 5.27 for the rem-mag..I'm going to start loading for mine asap.-Mike
I just bought a browning a-bolt 7mm wsm and have yet to shoot it -waiting on brass ,bullets etc..
On the recoil part -i have a rem. 870 express that has a recoil pad so hard it might as well not have one.I took a 1/8" drill bit and just started drilling hole after hole into the recoil pad from the back and completely through it also.This really softened it up and didn't effect the look much.
The way i looked at it was if this doesn't work oh-well i'll have to get a real recoil pad.I'll do the same thing to the browning if need be.
The a-bolt's come from the factory bedded and free floated ,the trigger is a joke !I adjusted mine all the way down -it's suppose to be 3-6 lbs adjustable mine is more like 6 lbs bottomed out.I'm getting a timney trigger spring for it from brownells.
If you don't handload you should start it's fun and usually the only way to really fine tune a rifle.
I wouldn't feel too bad about 2" groups w/factory ammo and trigger.If i can get to 5/8-3/4" for 5 @ 100yds i can live w/that myself.Although if i could get better ----I'll take it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif.
I'll let you know about mine as i progress..
Kraky i didn't know the 7wsm was that close to the 7 rm , although my lee book shows 5.02cc and 5.27 for the rem-mag..I'm going to start loading for mine asap.-Mike
James Jones
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2002
- Messages
- 2,854
A coworker of mine too the plunge to get a decient setup this year and got the A-bolt Stainless Stalker in 7WSM. Right out of the box the trigger was just over 6lbs , the bedding job is a joke and the recoil pad ain't much so with this setup and several differant quality factory loads the gun woulden't do much better than 1.5" at 100yds.
I rebedded the gun with Steel Bed , worked the trigger with a Timney spring kit and a little stoning and installed a Sims prefit recoil pad all this dropped the groups to just under 1" at 100yds. I recut the crown as it looked a little out of square (and was) and worked up a hand load using a 162gr A-max , match preped brass Federal 215M primers and 63grs of H-4831sc all gave a velocity of just under 3000 fps and accuracy is real close to the 1/2 moa mark out to 400yds. The recoil isin't that bad and the long A-max bucks the wind well and flattens deer.
The reloads are using once fired neck sized brass and the bullet is off the lands about .020" if I remember correctly. this load was worked up in a temp of about 80 degs and shows no sign of pressure in his gun but it did cause a sticky bolt when a buddy tried it in his Winchester so start a little lower and work you way up.
the Sims pad works realy well as does the Timney spring kit.
I rebedded the gun with Steel Bed , worked the trigger with a Timney spring kit and a little stoning and installed a Sims prefit recoil pad all this dropped the groups to just under 1" at 100yds. I recut the crown as it looked a little out of square (and was) and worked up a hand load using a 162gr A-max , match preped brass Federal 215M primers and 63grs of H-4831sc all gave a velocity of just under 3000 fps and accuracy is real close to the 1/2 moa mark out to 400yds. The recoil isin't that bad and the long A-max bucks the wind well and flattens deer.
The reloads are using once fired neck sized brass and the bullet is off the lands about .020" if I remember correctly. this load was worked up in a temp of about 80 degs and shows no sign of pressure in his gun but it did cause a sticky bolt when a buddy tried it in his Winchester so start a little lower and work you way up.
the Sims pad works realy well as does the Timney spring kit.
Mark Maggos
Member
Thanks for your input. I appreciate it.
Mark Maggos
Member
Ol'Mike,
Thank you for your input. Please do keep me posted on your success with this caliber. Mark
Thank you for your input. Please do keep me posted on your success with this caliber. Mark
Mark Maggos
Member
JDJ,
Very helpful. Thank you.
Very helpful. Thank you.
NZ Longranger
Well-Known Member
Mark,
I've just finished working with a A-Bolt S/S 7mm WSM that the owner couldn't get to shoot.
Similar experience to JDJ, after a bedding and trigger job, and a good clean, it shot real good.( I hate that silly blued seperate steel plate under the rear tang of A-Bolts!)
Settled on 75gns of ADI 2225 (which is the same as Retumbo) with the 162gn A-Max seated to just touch, 3000fps even, for a medium range load(300 to 600 yards). Winchester brass, 215 primers.
Shooting .4's and .5's at 100 yards and finished off with a 3" group at 600 yards to confirm the drop chart. BC works out at .650 which is what I usually get out to 600 yards with this bullet. Drops to .635 or thereabouts out to 1000 yards.
This bullet is a great, quick deer killer at these ranges as JDJ says, just don't expect it to penetrate something big up close. Use the 160 AB for that, or something similar.
Also, this load doesn't fit in the magazine, so you just single load them in the top when you want to take a long shot. Most of the factory short mags have magazines too short for their throats unfortunately.
The owner had 4 packets of 140AB's and N165 powder, so I worked up to 71 gns seated to fit in the mag for 3175 fps. Grouped around .75" and will be ok on deer up close and out to 300 yards or so, although I would prefer the 160 AB for this.
Recoil wise, I agree this is a fairly sharp little beast. Other than the weight, I think the stock material has a bit to do with it. Still, other than while doing the bench work, you won't notice it in the field with game in your sights! Use a sissy bag or a rubber soled sandel, jandel, thong, flip flop or whatever you call them between the butt and your shoulder to spread the recoil and it'll make it much more pleasant off the bench. Spreads the load and gives you more eye relief which makes a big difference. Shooting it off a harris bipod with your front hand gripping the front of the bipod base and forend tip( I often find this the most accurate way to shoot the light plastic stocked rifles), its pleasant enough and shoots real good in the field. I wouldn't brake a spook and shoot/ medium range general purpose rifle like this, due to the noise factor on a quick shot when you don't have time to use hearing protection of some sort. This relatively short barrel braked would be very loud!
Hope this helps,
Greg
I've just finished working with a A-Bolt S/S 7mm WSM that the owner couldn't get to shoot.
Similar experience to JDJ, after a bedding and trigger job, and a good clean, it shot real good.( I hate that silly blued seperate steel plate under the rear tang of A-Bolts!)
Settled on 75gns of ADI 2225 (which is the same as Retumbo) with the 162gn A-Max seated to just touch, 3000fps even, for a medium range load(300 to 600 yards). Winchester brass, 215 primers.
Shooting .4's and .5's at 100 yards and finished off with a 3" group at 600 yards to confirm the drop chart. BC works out at .650 which is what I usually get out to 600 yards with this bullet. Drops to .635 or thereabouts out to 1000 yards.
This bullet is a great, quick deer killer at these ranges as JDJ says, just don't expect it to penetrate something big up close. Use the 160 AB for that, or something similar.
Also, this load doesn't fit in the magazine, so you just single load them in the top when you want to take a long shot. Most of the factory short mags have magazines too short for their throats unfortunately.
The owner had 4 packets of 140AB's and N165 powder, so I worked up to 71 gns seated to fit in the mag for 3175 fps. Grouped around .75" and will be ok on deer up close and out to 300 yards or so, although I would prefer the 160 AB for this.
Recoil wise, I agree this is a fairly sharp little beast. Other than the weight, I think the stock material has a bit to do with it. Still, other than while doing the bench work, you won't notice it in the field with game in your sights! Use a sissy bag or a rubber soled sandel, jandel, thong, flip flop or whatever you call them between the butt and your shoulder to spread the recoil and it'll make it much more pleasant off the bench. Spreads the load and gives you more eye relief which makes a big difference. Shooting it off a harris bipod with your front hand gripping the front of the bipod base and forend tip( I often find this the most accurate way to shoot the light plastic stocked rifles), its pleasant enough and shoots real good in the field. I wouldn't brake a spook and shoot/ medium range general purpose rifle like this, due to the noise factor on a quick shot when you don't have time to use hearing protection of some sort. This relatively short barrel braked would be very loud!
Hope this helps,
Greg
