7mm STW Saga continues

[Ccctennis]

Here is where I am at.
Tried 175 grain Sierra Match Kings with H-4831 SC 1.5-2.5 MOA
Tried 175 grain Nosler Accubonds LR with H-1000 1.5-2.0 MOA
Tried 180 grain Berger VLD with H-1000 1.5-3.0 MOA

Shot 3 other guns today and shot .5 MOA with all of them. Checked Scope bases, rings, cleaned the rifle before each range session.

Looks like my brass is getting a gouge while feeding from the mag or from chamber mouth
And i cannot get any decent groups?
Should i try another bullet powder combination? Should i seek a gunsmiths help?

Really at a loss. I have never had a rilfe i could hand load and get sub MOA

 

[FURMAN]

I looked back at another thread of yours. If this were mine I would pick the 73.5 H1000 180 Bergers and do the recommended seating depth test.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

what is your rifle?? is a factory remmy??

Some rifles just don't like heavy bullets... my stw is one rifle I have a time with using heavy bullets... It likes a 140 ab and rl25 with a 215...
most everything heavier than 150 grain bullets does this shoot like crap thing... my rifle has a 8" twist shilen on it bought by my and installed locally... the twist is verified too... I am still working with heavy bullets in the rifle but have it sighted it for and plan to hunt with the 140 ab's...

Counter that with my factory 7rum lh lss with a 9'"ish twist factory pipe shooting 1/2 moa with sierra 180's and hornady 175's...

 

[Ccctennis]

It is a factory remington. 26 inch barrel with muzzle break. I will give seating depth a shot with 73.0 and 73.5 charges. Then I guess I'm going down to 140 grain bullets for a try. By the time I find the best charge I will need a new barrel. Lol.

 

[iowaelkbum]

I have a factory 7STW like yours. It will shoot .5 or less @ 100 yds with 150 CT bullets. My load workup with 175 LRAB with R25 became tighter as I worked up to book max. It will shoot 3 shots into 2" at 200yd. With some careful adjustments it might shoot a little better. My rifle is a DBM with the black plastic stock. Is your rifle in the original stock? I have been thinking about a stock replacement.

 

[FURMAN]

When I said seating depth test in meant Bergers seating depth test. Change the seating depth .040 at a time until you find what it likes.

 

[iowaelkbum]

My rifle has almost .2" of freebore. In my tests from 3.6 (book length) to 3.688(mag max) it seemed to have no effect. I'm not trying to say that the other posters advice is wrong. In this rifle it just seemed to have no effect. Just trying to help from the experiences I've had with a similar rifle.

 

[Rich Coyle]

Tag

 

[WildRose]

It is a factory remington. 26 inch barrel with muzzle break. I will give seating depth a shot with 73.0 and 73.5 charges. Then I guess I'm going down to 140 grain bullets for a try. By the time I find the best charge I will need a new barrel. Lol.

Check your twist rate. If it isn't 1:9 or faster that's the most likely culprit.

Remington is notorious for using twist rates that will not stabilize heavy for caliber bullets.

You may need to go with lighter bullets.

 

[FURMAN]

Remington typically uses 9.25 which is slow for this bullet but even at 9.5 it shouldn't be the cause of those groups. You may see it at longer distances but not 100 yds.

 

[jwing]

Try 140 to 150 grain bullets. See if it grounds get better.

 

[baldhunter]

My 7STW likes Reloader 22. With 175gr bullets I was loading 76.5grs mv around 3100fps. Your group issue looks like a bedding issue. Is the barrel floated?

 

[J E Custom]

It is a factory remington. 26 inch barrel with muzzle break. I will give seating depth a shot with 73.0 and 73.5 charges. Then I guess I'm going down to 140 grain bullets for a try. By the time I find the best charge I will need a new barrel. Lol.

Factory rifles are still made with the lighter bullets in mind, because they are lighter because of the barrel contour, And have the best velocity numbers with the lighter bullets (Velocity sells). We (long range hunters) are the only ones that want the big/heavy bullets with high BC numbers.

Lightly contoured barrels normally don't like the heavy bullets because of the torque they place on the barrel causing it to twist and flex.

The 140 Grain or the 150 grain bullets should work with your barrel contour.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Ccctennis]

Any advice on how to yes what twist I have. The gun is factory I'm assuming. It was built in 1997 as that was the only year remington made this particular rifle. I cannot go further out than 3.600 in length I can go shorter and will try shorter with the 180 burgers before abandoning these all together.