STW advice, please

mt_archer

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Aug 30, 2010
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I have a cooper 7 stw, which only allows for about 3.65" oal in mag. Freebore runs about quarter inch or more. I have tried various combos with 140 vld, 180 vld, and 160 accubonds, new, fl sized Remington brass, retumbo or us 869, 215m primers. Run out fixed to sub .001". Everything sprays 1 to 1.5" at 100. I expect sub 1/2 moa from my coopers. Any recommended bullets that jump well? Load combos? Any help appreciated.
 
Just for curiosity pick your best load and seat it longer and single feed, see if you get a better grouping. I dont have a Cooper , but have looked at plenty of one hole targets at Sheels to know they shoot. I have got my Weatherbys to shoot w/ freebore. If the rifle likes them seated further, you might be able to do a mag,mod.
 
Thanks. I'm sure bergers will shoot close to lands, but I do not want to modify mag, and have heard stw needs freebore to reduce pressure.
 
Bergers don't mind being jumped. I have found there are two lengths that they will group equally well in most cartridges. A short length and a long one. In my 300 win mag they will shoot at 3.34 and 3.580.
 
I'm having the same issue with a Custom Rem 700 BDL that I picked up this year.

I'm wanting to shoot a specific bullet and I'm finding that I am needing to load them longer than the mag length in order to get the accuracy I'm wanting.

I haven't had too much time this year to run test loads for this rifle, but so far, 160-165g bullets like Sierras and Hornady SSTs shoot quite well when seated to the magazine length.

I am wanting to shoot 180g Bergers and they (at least in my rifle) shoot better when seated nearer to the lands....Sooo, I have decided to shoot this load as a Single shot proposition... I have even bought a follower to make it easier to load the rifle.

I will still develop loads for the lighter bullets, but my long range load is definately going to be the 180g Berger.... So far I'm getting just under the inch.

Dan
 
the bergers dont like the freebore to well. atleast not in my guns the ab or barns lrx both work well. also you might try 7828 it works in both my stw's and my 7mm-300wby. you might also move out to 300yd groups and see what you get my cooper shots 1.5 at 100 and is under a 1 moa at 300 there is a write up on here by brian lentz how it works. and remember bergers are only good under 3200 or so. other wise they start shreading or breaking up
leaving the barrel.
 
I have to go along with elktaxi, the bergers do not work well in my "freebore" gun's either. In my 7mm Wby I tried every load combo you can think up! After two year's of trying I finaly got it to shoot .5 moa with 150 Rem Accutip's and 7828 powder at mag leangth. I have A 7 STW Christensen Arm's with no freebore, 27.5" barrel and it shoot's everything you put down the tube sub moa, with 160 accubond's @ 3375 with no pressure to speek of.(primer's A little flat, but ecceptable) But no extracter ding or hard bolt lift. Elktaxi,I had not heard that the Berger's do not like over 3200, is this from Walt or have you had them come apart on you? I was going to try to get them shooting 3300 from my STW but not if they are going to come apart at that speed. I shoot them out of A 7 Rem mag at 3050 now so no sence messing with it for A minimal gain. Shoot well All, Bless our troop's and thank A vet!!!
 
yea i had them shread and not make the 50yd line also had tumble marks on paper at 100yds. 140 and 168 i went though about 8lbs of powder and 1000bullets in 4 diff guns trying to make them work. then found out from the tech line and quality control person. that they are made for under 3200. they are comeing with the hybrids to correct the issues. i tryed them out of my 7-300wby the stw and my 7mm 416 rigby.never did get them to work i have hybrids know but havn't tryed them yet gun)
 
elktaxi1, thanks for the info! you just saved me the same head ache, time and money you went through to learn the same thing!! Again THANKS MUCH...Jerry
 
mt_archer,Sorry I got away from my reply to you. The Remington Accutip jump's very well, has A .525 B.C. I've used RL 25,RL22, 7828,Retumbo and H-1000 in my 7Wby,7STW, 7Rem Mag all with good result's. In my 7STW with 27.5" barrel, my load is: 150 Rem. accutip, 80.2gns RL-25, CCI-250's, 3.67 O.A.L. @ 3400fps, crimped with A Lee factory crimper, trued to .0005 runout. This is A HOT load so start 3-4gns low and work up! You should have no problem's with your freebore but no sence taking chances!! Hope this help's, good shootin..Jerry PS shoot's under.25 moa from this gun,usually touch.gun)
 
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