My New 7 STW

[jdwelch10]

This is my first 7 stw build. Mark Phar of Tumbleweed rifles in Round Rock, TX put it together for me and I am very pleased with the fit and finish. Going to break the barrel in today after work. Hopefully it shoots as well as I am hoping it will.

The specs:
- Winchester 70 action w/ claw extractor made in U.S. blue printed, trued, and bedded, Squared bolt face
- Kreiger 5.5 barrel, 9" twist, at 28" long, fluted, threaded for suppressor that's on order
- Boyd's laminate stock

Any thoughts on loads? I'm planning on trying out some 140's and some 162's? Planning on sticking with retumbo or other hodgdon extreme powders bc of the temperature variability in TX, I have read that RL 25 works well.

 

[Black67]

jdwelch

Welcome to the club. That is a nice looking rifle that you have. I am a big Model 70 fan, and that with the stainless and laminated stock looks really nice. I bet that this thing will be a shooter once it is broken in and the load developed.

As for loads, what do you plan on hunting with it? I know that deer is big in Texas (so it Texas), but wondering if you might hunt something else too.

As for bullets, with your 1:9 barrel, you can try the Barnes LRX 168 gr bullets or any heavy for 7mm bullet. For lead free, the Barnes 150gr, 145gr LRX and Nosler E-Tip 150 gr bullets can work good. The Berger bullets are well liked too.

i do recomend a well constructed bullet, just in case you get a close shot. If its not, it can get very messy.

 

[jdwelch10]

The plan is shooting deer and maybe some pigs or whatever else I come across here in texas. If I ever go to shoot an elk or something like that somewhere else I will develop a different load and bullet more than likely.

I have had good luck with shock tips killing well in another rifle I have, so I have some 162 gr. sst that I was planning on using along with some 140 partitions and ballistic tips possibly.

What powders seem to be the most consistent over a range of temperatures? I under stand that none of them are going to be exact from summer to winter.

 

[Engineering101]

Stay away from RL-25. I've seen swings in velocity equivalent to 3 grains of powder from a 30 degree temp change. RL-17 and RL-33 use different technology and do not seem to share the temp sensitivity of the other RL powders. Hodgdon's Extreme powders are good in temp extremes and so is Magnum.

The bullets you mentioned except for the partition will be pretty explosive at the velocities produced by the 7mm STW. I'd look more to the tougher bullets mentioned above such as any of the Barnes TTSXs or LRXs. I've found the 168 grainers don't stabilize in my 1 in 9 twist at sea level though they might be stable at higher altitude.

 

[jdwelch10]

Have you ever used any H870 or any of the very slow burning powders?

 

[MudRunner2005]

Stay away from RL-25. I've seen swings in velocity equivalent to 3 grains of powder from a 30 degree temp change. RL-17 and RL-33 use different technology and do not seem to share the temp sensitivity of the other RL powders. Hodgdon's Extreme powders are good in temp extremes and so is Magnum.

The bullets you mentioned except for the partition will be pretty explosive at the velocities produced by the 7mm STW. I'd look more to the tougher bullets mentioned above such as any of the Barnes TTSXs or LRXs. I've found the 168 grainers don't stabilize in my 1 in 9 twist at sea level though they might be stable at higher altitude.

Are you kiddng me? I'm at 500ft above sea level and my 1:9.25" twist STW stabilizes 180 Bergers... Even my 9.5" twist 7mm RemMags will stabilize 168 Bergers perfectly.

I also use 7828 SSC powder, and have no issues with it during any south Alabama temp swings...Which can be 35+ degrees.

 

[Engineering101]

MudRunner2005

My 9 twist has no problem with 180 Bergers (that is my go to load in that 7mm WSM) BUT the 168 gr LRXs put oblong holes in the paper. I have to jack them up to 3080 fps to get them to start to behave at 750 feet above sea level. This all from a 1 in 9 twist 4 groove Brux. To tell the truth, the 180 Bergers shoot so good I'd have a hard time using the LRXs even if they were stable - but it would be nice to have a tough bullet option.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Well, yeah.....A 168gr bullet in a 7mm STW is should be traveling well over 3,100 fps without pushing the pressures too hard at all.

 

[jdwelch10]

So is no one running H870 or any of the real slow powders?

 

[hemiford]

To jdwelch10, the OP:

Hope this isn't too far off track, could I humbly request a picture of your rifle
from the bird's eye view ?
I like the look of the Boyd's stock, but I've never seen one in person and would
like a close up view of the barrel channel. I wonder how much material they
put there if you need to clearance it for a very heavy profile barrel.

Thanks much, kind sir!

 

[jdwelch10]

I can send you a pic if you like, but the smith did have to open up the barrel channel some, so the channel is now currently wider than it came when I received it in the mail.

 

[hemiford]

That would be great, here's my e-mail:

[email protected]

 

[WildRose]

H1000 and RL 33 are probably the two most popular powders for the STW. H870 hasn't been made in a very long time but it was my go to for the 7 Rem Mag and STW when I first started shooting it circa 1990.

Visit our reloading subforum and you'll find all the info you can stand and then some.

Let me strongly recommend the Hornady Interbond and Nosler Accubonds in the 154-162gr range. At these velocities the SST's are just flying bombs as are Amaxes until you get way out there.

Welcome to the brotherhood.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

rl25 is also up there in popularity.

I've burned a good amount of the really slow powders (aa8700, 870, wc872, etc.) in the 7stw but I don't regularly go there any more. I shoot 140 nos ab pills in my rifle, and those powders only really do well with 175 grain pills. Any lighter bullet and the 50 cal ball powders start to burn rather dirty and don't generate faster speeds than slightly faster powders.