7mm STW Brotherhood - For those who shoot the 7mm Shooting Times Westerner

[WildRose]

We are very lucky here in SW GA as we have a very long Whitetail season and can harvest 12 ! Ive only taken 3 this season as Im taking care of my wife of 34 years, dam cancer! The worse **** on earth! Drs promise the moon and kill you twice as fast as the cancer with chemo rat poison! very best

That's tough man. Pray hard and try to keep positive for her, it's amazing what can be done in treating cancer these days.

As for the ammo, Federal Premium is generally pretty good quality, so give it a ride and see if your rifle likes it.

 

[Rent Outdoor Gear]

If you were going to build an STW off a custom remington 700 style action, which one would you choose? I'm doing a little pre-planning, but I see this coming to fruition in the next couple months. I haven't selected a smith yet so I don't have any guidance to go off from that end. It will have a custom 27" barrel and sit in a Manners Elite stock.

Thanks!

 

[WildRose]

I would just get a stainless 700 action and have it trued if I wanted a Remington based action. My choice though would be the model 70 or Montana Rifles M1999 action. If you want to get the most out of the 7mm STW though I'd encourage you to add at least one to three inches to the barrel length. No sense having that big ole case full of powder if you don't have enough barrel to burn it all particularly if you are going to go with the slowest burning powders which will help extend your barrel life.

 

[Rent Outdoor Gear]

I would just get a stainless 700 action and have it trued if I wanted a Remington based action. My choice though would be the model 70 or Montana Rifles M1999 action. If you want to get the most out of the 7mm STW though I'd encourage you to add at least one to three inches to the barrel length. No sense having that big ole case full of powder if you don't have enough barrel to burn it all particularly if you are going to go with the slowest burning powders which will help extend your barrel life.

Wildrose, thanks man I appreciate the insight - nice features on the M1999 action - wonder why they build them out of a casting rather than forging or billet? Hadn't really considered other styles just because I'm more familiar with the 700-style actions and it seems like they're most prevalent. I probably should broaden the scope a little and look into Winchester based actions.

I'm going 27" on the bbl because I live in steep *** country and anything much longer isn't real practical for covering 4-8 miles and several thousand vertical feet on a daily basis. I chose the STW because it's plenty fast enough for 1000 yard shooting so additional velocity isn't my first priority. Figured 27" was a good compromise in bbl length for the STW.

 

[WildRose]

Wildrose, thanks man I appreciate the insight - nice features on the M1999 action - wonder why they build them out of a casting rather than forging or billet? Hadn't really considered other styles just because I'm more familiar with the 700-style actions and it seems like they're most prevalent. I probably should broaden the scope a little and look into Winchester based actions.

I'm going 27" on the bbl because I live in steep *** country and anything much longer isn't real practical for covering 4-8 miles and several thousand vertical feet on a daily basis. I chose the STW because it's plenty fast enough for 1000 yard shooting so additional velocity isn't my first priority. Figured 27" was a good compromise in bbl length for the STW.

They are cast, but then CNC machined. Why? Everything you machine away is waste in terms of both metal and time. That would be my guess anyhow.

You can also pick up a nice used Stainless Model 70 magnum and have it trued and barreled.

I understand your reason for the barrel length but another inch won't hurt... .gun)

 

[Lyons7STW]

I would have to agree with WildRose. If your going to go light for a carry rig I would start out at 28 and brake it. Foot, I already did and it's very pleasant to shoot. I suggest ear pro though. Lol

 

[marioq]

RoseBro!!!!
isn't the extra inch only worth 15-25 fps???

ALso, going to look into applying as the NM rules just came out… Valle for sure… Cant go in October as my wife has a week long course in Georgia so I am at home with kids that week. I'll let you know what info I can get from my sources there and get back to you…
Take care!!!
Mario

 

[WildRose]

RoseBro!!!!
isn't the extra inch only worth 15-25 fps???

ALso, going to look into applying as the NM rules just came out… Valle for sure… Cant go in October as my wife has a week long course in Georgia so I am at home with kids that week. I'll let you know what info I can get from my sources there and get back to you…
Take care!!!
Mario

Depend on the powder it can be as much as 50-100fps.

Just let me know when you figure it out, I'm all in.

 

[Rent Outdoor Gear]

Forgings and billet have better grain structure which improves strength pretty substantially. A machined casting is certainly better than a net casting. However castings tend to warp a bit when they cool which may induce a bit of internal stress. When they're machined it could cause them to move a bit as material is removed. Neither factor is probably significant enough to really consider in a low round count hunting application - but as much thought as they put into building a great action I was a bit surprised they built it from a casting. High end bows are machined from billet, forgings, or extrusion. More cost effective models are cast, then machined. Granted, totally different application, but I have a lot of experience with the latter.

The price is certainly right for the Montana M1999 which makes it attractive (and probably explains why they built it from a casting) - It's probably cheaper or about the same price as buying a donor 700 Rem and having it blueprinted and almost certainly you would have a much higher quality end product with the Montana.

Good luck on the Unit 55 NM VV tag. I've put in several times for that but have yet to draw one!

 

[marioq]

Forgings and billet have better grain structure which improves strength pretty substantially. A machined casting is certainly better than a net casting. However castings tend to warp a bit when they cool which may induce a bit of internal stress. When they're machined it could cause them to move a bit as material is removed. Neither factor is probably significant enough to really consider in a low round count hunting application - but as much thought as they put into building a great action I was a bit surprised they built it from a casting. High end bows are machined from billet, forgings, or extrusion. More cost effective models are cast, then machined. Granted, totally different application, but I have a lot of experience with the latter.

The price is certainly right for the Montana M1999 which makes it attractive (and probably explains why they built it from a casting) - It's probably cheaper or about the same price as buying a donor 700 Rem and having it blueprinted and almost certainly you would have a much higher quality end product with the Montana.

Good luck on the Unit 55 NM VV tag. I've put in several times for that but have yet to draw one!

Unit 6B is the valle Calderas, I think 55 is Valle Vidal… Never put in of that… maybe Rose and I will this year!!!!

 

[Rent Outdoor Gear]

Gotcha - for some reason I had Valle Vidal in my head. Great unit, but **** tough to draw.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

Depend on the powder it can be as much as 50-100fps.

Just let me know when you figure it out, I'm all in.

I've never seen more than 25 or so fps per inch between bbl's and it usually varies. I'm not saying your#'s couldn't happen, but they would more than likely be due to fast bore/ slow bore differences than anything the bbl. length is actually giving you. You can't actually compare two different rifles here; you have to actually cut down the barrel you are testing as every bbl. is different.
I've seen some of the loads actually put up faster #'s with the 24" bbl's than the 26". You are at 10,000 psi (about that of a shotgun) at the muzzle end here so you aren't getting a heck of a lot per inch anyway.

 

[ButterBean]

winchesterpoor

Have you tried to shoot your Laredo without the BOSS attached? I am wondering if this would give you a starting point, then work to that. I would start at the most open setting, so that the BOSS had the least affect on the gun, then work to the tightest possible before you see the groups open up.

I have a Laredo without the BOSS, and the gun shoots a 1/2" group with factory ammo that is 10 years old.

Black ......Thats one bad rig you have Bro

 

[etisll40]

I'd go 26" if it's a hunting rig, how many shots past 800 are you going to take hunting? The long barrels look funny. If you were sitting on a bench a couple of inches might help. 27" at most. My Lapua is 27" and that is ok but longer just looks odd in my opinion and I don't think you gain much. 25/3200= less than 1% additional speed.