WildRose
Well-Known Member
Welcome, sounds like you have quite a plan going there.I'm in the process of joining the 7 STW brotherhood! Goal is a lightweight long range capable rifle. So far I have: Lone Peaks Razor Ti long action, manners EH4 stock, good ol Timney 510, and am stashing $ for the barrel. Here's where I need your help! 26" or 28"?? I know I'm going with 1/8 twist so I can sling the really long bullets but is the additional 2" of barrel going to make enough difference FPS a designated hunting rig? Will add about 4 oz to the gun which isn't much but it adds up by the time everything is done. A few oz here and there then all the sudden it's not exactly a lightweight lol. I'd like to hit 3,000 fps with the 195 grain if I shoot them. Thanks for any advice and I have been wanting to be a part of the STW club a long time! Such a sweet cartridge!
If it were me I'd definitely go with the longer barrel, even 30" isn't out of the question. Unless you're busting really thick, heavy brush or moving through really short overhead cover I've never found barrel length to be a limiting factor in the field.
On top of the fact you can take full advantage of the slower burning powders like RL33 going with a longer barrel will allow you to set it back a time or two if you run into a problem with throat erosion; which you probably will because the STW is a blast to shoot.
There are a number of really high quality barrel manufacturers in the market today but Chris at Benchmark is who will be doing my next couple of projects. Any of the barrel manufacturers you see advertising here can do the job for you and you can have confidence in doing business with them.
