7 stw: Which bullet/powder?

[Jritt]

First time longrangehunting.com, First time thread, thanks for having me!

I'm fairly new to reloading, and have been tinkering with a 7 stw and found it to like the berger 168's with retumbo, and sierra 160s with H1000. I am curious to hear about anyone elses experience reloading their 7 stw, and if they had a favorite load/bullet combination that I should try. Thanks for you help!

 

[Gary in MD]

My 7mmSTW loves Reloader22 and IMR7828 with 140 grain Ballistic Tips.
Either powder will give 3400+ fps and usually 3shots @ 1/2" or under. Really good long range deer loads.
I killed a nice bull elk with the older 150 grain scirrocco and 7828 with muzzle velocity of 3340. The gun also likes the 150 grain Sierra BT, but I haven't killed anything with that one yet.
Good luck,
Gary

 

[Ridge Runner]

your using 2 of the best going powders for the STW, I shoot H-1000 and WC-872 in mine. don't care much for reloader powders because of not only temp. sensativity but also lot to lot varience, when your shooting overbore cartridges, the last thing ya wanna do is rework the load every lot change.
RR

 

[Jritt]

Thanks for response much appreciated. In your experience do you prefer the 140 g to larger grain bullets for tighter groups and long range shooting?

 

[Ridge Runner]

to 500 yards the 140's beyond that 160 and above. if you have a 9 twist try the 200 gr wildcats.
RR

 

[Gary in MD]

Jritt,
The only way to know for sure is to try some of each in your gun and it will show you what it likes. Some guns will shoot very tight groups with one weight range and poor with the other. Try several loads at 100 yards and when you get some that are shooting good, then shoot targets with those loads at the extended ranges. When you find some loads that your gun likes....enjoy it. Keep us posted.
Gary

 

[baldhunter]

I load 80.0grs of Winchester WXR or Reloader-22 for bullet weights up to 150grs for 3400+fps.I really like the 139gr Hornady Interbonds.7mmSTW 3 shots 100yds on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[Jritt]

Thanks for your thoughts, this 7 stw will currently shoot 0.5 inch groups with a 168 grain bergers with 77 g Retumbo, and 0.70 inch groups with a 160 grain accubond with74 g H-1000 combinations. I dont have a chrono to ck velocity but will work on finding that out. What speed should I strive for with this caliber to get best perfomance (I saw there was talk of 3400+ in some posts)?