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Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Rifles, Bullets, Barrels & Ballistics
7mm SWT vs. 7mm Allen Mag
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<blockquote data-quote="Buffalobob" data-source="post: 191157" data-attributes="member: 8"><p>The 7STW is a great cartridge and may be just what you need. For many years I shot a 7mm Wby as my long range rifle and I guess I know what its good points are and what its limitations are. If you are shooting small eastern deer or antelope the 7STW has more lethal range than most people will ever need. However, if you want better performance in the wind and or longer range on bigger animals then the 7AM is great.</p><p></p><p>The differences between the 7STW and the 7AM is that the <span style="color: Red">7AM has just about double the lethal range on hoofed big game.</span> On elk, that is about 1800 yards and on the smaller stuff it is beyond 2K. My goal was to build my last great elk rifle with a capability to 1500 yards and I am more than happy with it. The extra margin of safety of having killing power to a mile is great. Last season, I watched a large bull and I could range a flat rock face with the Bushnell 1500 at a distance of 1680 yards. The bull was 100 to 150 yards beyond the rock face. In other words he was beyond a mile. The rifle was capable of the shot but without an accurate range the shot could not be taken. The issue is not the rifle, but the rangefinders.</p><p></p><p>There is little if any load development with a 7mm Allen Magnum. Kirby tests the rifle before he sends it and it comes to you shooting better than 0.5 MOA. He will tell you the load he used to do that. He told me he shot the group with 102 grains of US 869 and I use 103 grains. This is a 34 inch barrel and Kirby chrono'ed the 102 grain load at 3340 fps. The max recommended load is 105 grains. Of course with a Nesika M action I can run the loads way higher if I wish, but being as I am not yet out to the margins of the rifle's capability, I do not have to ruin my brass pushing any harder. The furtherest group I have shot with it is 1563 yards and four rounds went into 0.488 MOA. So there is no question concerning the accuracy of the 7AM and 200 grain Wildcat at long range. The heavier bullet with the higher BC has way more momentum downrange than the lighter bullets and that is what makes it a one mile cartridge. In the next few months I will get some data out to 2K or more.</p><p></p><p>The loading dies are just as simple as the 7STW because Kirby sends you what you need. If you order the fire formed brass then it is a two die set, a full length sizer and a competition seater. If you want to form your own then it is a three die set and there is a die for reducing the neck from 338 to about 308 or so. Just so we don't get too confused about accurate reloading techniques, I use a three die set for a 308 F-class rifle</p><p></p><p>Forming brass is by running it through the neck reducer and then through the full length die and finally using the corn meal method. It will take most of a day to get it all blown out and the barrel cleaned and the brass re-prepped and into the tumbler. I am certainly no benchrest reloader and I can hold runout to about 0.0015.</p><p></p><p>I use my 7AM for what it was built for and it does what it is supposed to do. So, be realistic about what you want to do with the rifle and how you want to hunt and select the cartridge based upon that.</p><p></p><p><img src="http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n168/bufflerbob/wilde3_edited.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Buffalobob, post: 191157, member: 8"] The 7STW is a great cartridge and may be just what you need. For many years I shot a 7mm Wby as my long range rifle and I guess I know what its good points are and what its limitations are. If you are shooting small eastern deer or antelope the 7STW has more lethal range than most people will ever need. However, if you want better performance in the wind and or longer range on bigger animals then the 7AM is great. The differences between the 7STW and the 7AM is that the [COLOR=Red]7AM has just about double the lethal range on hoofed big game.[/COLOR] On elk, that is about 1800 yards and on the smaller stuff it is beyond 2K. My goal was to build my last great elk rifle with a capability to 1500 yards and I am more than happy with it. The extra margin of safety of having killing power to a mile is great. Last season, I watched a large bull and I could range a flat rock face with the Bushnell 1500 at a distance of 1680 yards. The bull was 100 to 150 yards beyond the rock face. In other words he was beyond a mile. The rifle was capable of the shot but without an accurate range the shot could not be taken. The issue is not the rifle, but the rangefinders. There is little if any load development with a 7mm Allen Magnum. Kirby tests the rifle before he sends it and it comes to you shooting better than 0.5 MOA. He will tell you the load he used to do that. He told me he shot the group with 102 grains of US 869 and I use 103 grains. This is a 34 inch barrel and Kirby chrono’ed the 102 grain load at 3340 fps. The max recommended load is 105 grains. Of course with a Nesika M action I can run the loads way higher if I wish, but being as I am not yet out to the margins of the rifle’s capability, I do not have to ruin my brass pushing any harder. The furtherest group I have shot with it is 1563 yards and four rounds went into 0.488 MOA. So there is no question concerning the accuracy of the 7AM and 200 grain Wildcat at long range. The heavier bullet with the higher BC has way more momentum downrange than the lighter bullets and that is what makes it a one mile cartridge. In the next few months I will get some data out to 2K or more. The loading dies are just as simple as the 7STW because Kirby sends you what you need. If you order the fire formed brass then it is a two die set, a full length sizer and a competition seater. If you want to form your own then it is a three die set and there is a die for reducing the neck from 338 to about 308 or so. Just so we don’t get too confused about accurate reloading techniques, I use a three die set for a 308 F-class rifle Forming brass is by running it through the neck reducer and then through the full length die and finally using the corn meal method. It will take most of a day to get it all blown out and the barrel cleaned and the brass re-prepped and into the tumbler. I am certainly no benchrest reloader and I can hold runout to about 0.0015. I use my 7AM for what it was built for and it does what it is supposed to do. So, be realistic about what you want to do with the rifle and how you want to hunt and select the cartridge based upon that. [IMG]http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n168/bufflerbob/wilde3_edited.jpg[/IMG] [/QUOTE]
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7mm SWT vs. 7mm Allen Mag
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