I concur
7mm STW Reloading Thread
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I have one STW that loves the 139 interbonds and 140 Bergers. the old Sendero likes the heavies...
WildRose
Well-Known Member
Lefty7mmstw
Well-Known Member
I've shot the same load with my last three barrels... a 140 nos ab with 82 rl25 in rem brass with a 215 lighting the fire... One bbl. was a 10" twist, my Sendero was 9.25", and my current Shilen bbl. is 8"... All barrels have been sub moa with it; I do have a new load for my Shilen bbl. with the 175 eld-x and h50 bmg that is very promising, but the stw killed last year with Accubonds...
In fact, some of what I'm shooting now was loaded for the first barrel; it's been sitting ten years and two barrels and still shoots very well.
In fact, some of what I'm shooting now was loaded for the first barrel; it's been sitting ten years and two barrels and still shoots very well.
coyotezapper
Well-Known Member
3220 fps is overpressured with this recipe. Also, the fill ratio is a little low. You want to fill the case if possible. Try RL25, H1000, Retumbo, N570 or RL33.
DHanisKid
Active Member
Thanks CZ. I worked my way up to that level with very little improvement in accuracy or speed, but no signs of over pressure. Have some RL25 now, but I'm on the road for work. Will give it and the 140's a try. ATB
dougduey
Well-Known Member
RL25 is the go to powder for the 140 gr bullets for me. H1000 works on all the bullet weights very well, and Retumbo is good for the heavies. I've talked to a few of the ballisticians at Berger, Nosler and Sierra over the last few years. One thing they have all suggested is to pick a powder that gives you a 90% or more case fill. I don't like having a compressed load, so I've changed from powders that I felt were going to be compressed to one that wouldn't for a particular bullet. For example, I'm shooting the 177 gr Hammer Hunter (Hammer Bullets) using RL26, and getting great velocity and accuracy. The bullet is very long and had to be seated deeper than I wanted to be able to use it in my mag box (3.700" COAL). Retumbo was going to give me a compressed load, so I switched to RL 26, which would normally be in the mid 80% fill, but due to the length of the bullet and my required seating depth, it ended up being a nice full case and not compressed.
I've been lurking on this thread for several years trying to learn what I can about a great cartridge. I've been reloading for a a Sako 85 for some time now. When I first started loading for it 15 years ago, I used Remington brass and IMR7828 with 140 and 160 Accubonds. Groups with nearly every load were MOA or better. The best were 5/8". Chronograping the loads it was apparently a fast barrels, routinely shooting faster than manuals suggested. It also has had nodes with heavier than book loads. 140s shot nearly 3500fps. 160s shot nearly 3400fps (this was what original STW loads suggested was obtainable). Both shot without any pressure signs.
Fast forward 15 years, I decided to start playing with the rifle again. Because my reloading supplies sprouted legs moving across the country, I had to start over again. I was surprised to see the only available brass was from Nosler. Whether because of different brass, or a change in powder lots, loading was now a real challenge with most groups in the 1.5" range. I did find a load in the MOA range....but nothing like before. Although less accurate than before, velocities were in the 3300fps range with 160s and 76g of 7828 (with a COL of 3.625). Increasing COL did not improve things, nor did reducing loads.
I've since tried loads with H1000 and RL26. H1000 did no better through 5 different powder charges. 80.5g of RL26 also shoots <1" but no better.
My practice with cases of this capacity is to load in 1 grain increments, then move to .5g increments once I'm on to something. Perhaps I skipped over a node.
Any other suggestions on what I might do to return the gun to its former accuracy level? I've been careful about letting the barrel heat up. I'd guess the tube has seen 300 rounds or so.
Fast forward 15 years, I decided to start playing with the rifle again. Because my reloading supplies sprouted legs moving across the country, I had to start over again. I was surprised to see the only available brass was from Nosler. Whether because of different brass, or a change in powder lots, loading was now a real challenge with most groups in the 1.5" range. I did find a load in the MOA range....but nothing like before. Although less accurate than before, velocities were in the 3300fps range with 160s and 76g of 7828 (with a COL of 3.625). Increasing COL did not improve things, nor did reducing loads.
I've since tried loads with H1000 and RL26. H1000 did no better through 5 different powder charges. 80.5g of RL26 also shoots <1" but no better.
My practice with cases of this capacity is to load in 1 grain increments, then move to .5g increments once I'm on to something. Perhaps I skipped over a node.
Any other suggestions on what I might do to return the gun to its former accuracy level? I've been careful about letting the barrel heat up. I'd guess the tube has seen 300 rounds or so.
Try RL25
Thanks B.B. any idea why the 7828 has proven less than optimal with Nosler brass? Have you seen H1000 fail to shoot well before?
I've never gotten 7828 to work, I know some folks have had great success with but I never have, I have seen H1000 work well and not work well,it's very particular about what kind of rifle it's in, RL25 has been tried and true to many folks here including myself, if there is anything else I can do to help just hollar
WildRose
Well-Known Member
26 has really been doing the trick for me. My suggestion would be to keep working with it and play with the seating depth a bit an when he gets close to MOA start tweaking the load in .1gr increments instead of .5.
The Beast said she's feeling neglected since I spent so much time with the .260's and the .375's the last couple of years and I finally got another shipment of Peregrine's this week so The Beast and the Sharpshooter are probably going to get a serious workout this year.
I'm having so much fun with the new custom .375 R and 6.5LRM though they're going to get their fair share of duty as well.
At least I have enough options now that there's probably zero chance I'll every shoot out any of the three STW's in my remaining lifetime.
Hope all is still well with you.
WildRose
Well-Known Member
I've been running H1000 now in a couple of dozen different rifles since I ran out of my last jug of H870. I have yet to find a magnum rifle or caliber that I couldn't get a good accuracy load for using H1000 but it does tend to run slower than RL 23, 25, and 26.
RL 26 tends to run considerably faster than all of the other powders I've compared it to and the only caliber I've tried it in that I wasn't completely impressed with was the .260 as there just wasn't quite enough case capacity. I did find loads for the .260's though with it and several different bullets that were exceptionally accurate and more than fast enough to get the job done but I was basically running a completely full case of it and highly compressing the loads so I moved to RL23 and then 19 as my "happy places".
Before you go too far though with your loading, back up and check the basics.
Make sure your rifle is completely free floated, if you haven't bedded it, do so, and check the torque specs for the the trigger guard screws and ensure they are properly torqued.
Also make sure your scope mounts are properly torqued and solid and that your scope is correctly mounted with no movement.
It's real easy to drive ourselves nuts tinkering with loads chasing elusive accuracy only to find out that one of those things is causing an issue especially with a rifle we haven't used in many years.
In fact, it might not hurt you a lick to give the bore an extremely thorough cleaning with an emphasis on decoppering and making sure you don't have a carbon ring building up/built up just ahead of the chamber.
Also I've found that Nosler brass is often thicker than the old Remington brass which can significantly impact your case capacity and pressures so that might be part of your issue.
All of my Stw's have shot the Accubond, Accubond LR and Hornady Interbond quite well and Hornady has the Interbond back in production.
Also check to be sure what your twist rate is, if you decide to shoot anything heavier than the 160-170gr class of bullets you're going to need at least a 1:9 or faster twist rate and few of the older production STW's have better than a 9 twist.
Welcome and have fun, you'll find the STW has a tremendous following here and there's more good advice available right here than you are likely to ever find anywhere else.
All is good Brother, I'm glad you are doing well and You gotta love the Beast
