Building Load with 1 lb of Powder 7mm STW

[General RE LEE]

Uh oh I've only got 1lb of powder to develop a load for my 7mm STW. 8133 and 180 grain Berger VLD. Should I:

1) do the 24 round Berger VLD seating test and then find best charge?

2) load to max magazine COAL and find most accurate charge

this is a hunting rifle

I'll have about 85 rounds out of a full pound of 8133.

 

[Bob Wright]

Both of my 7 mags using 168 and 180 gr. Seemed to shoot best about .090 jump. With that said, what is the .000 jump dummy round compared to your mag box? If the COAL is too long for the mag box, seat to that shorter COAL. Then you can reference back to the Ogive comparator for a number. You might not need to shoot all 24 rounds you mentioned.

 

[GrayCreed]

1. Load 10 shots max oal .5g increments apart and find the "flat spot" in the ladder.
2. Have a video camera set up to observe where each shot hits in a similar spot.
Do a 5 shot group test in the most accurate place .3g up or down

Whole test should take only 20-25 shots

Load the rest up in the best load and shoot 20+/- to check tragectory

 

[General RE LEE]

With the 180 VLD COAL is 3.963 and the mag box maxes at 3.65 so quite a bit of free bore in the factory Rem 700 Sendero 7mm STW. Loaded to mag length COAL it's almost .300 to the lands.

 

[257Tony]

With the 180 VLD COAL is 3.963 and the mag box maxes at 3.65 so quite a bit of free bore in the factory Rem 700 Sendero 7mm STW. Loaded to mag length COAL it's almost .300 to the lands.

Sounds like you'd be better off with one of the berger hybrids. Might be able to trade someone? Long shot, but so is getting more powder.

 

[slikmrc]

Think your OAL lengths are right on the numbers for this bullet. Saami chamber should be around .200 lead measured from the case mouth. First thing to do is see if you have room for 8133 if you load for mag feeding, looks like 82 grains is max book load. If so load 3-4 rounds and shoot them, you will know if it is worth persuing. It would be interesting to see what this combo could do loaded using max case capacity.

 

[Calvin45]

I'm less meticulous than many so take that for what it is, but absolutely if supplies are tight and your shooting a powder hungry cartridge I'd just load to max mag length and fiddle around from there.