Thinking of building a 7 stw

[rshcwisdom]

I am thinking of building a 7stw with the new 195 eol bullet in mind. What do you think this will be able to push this bullet at with a 28" tube? I am between this and the 7/26nosler. The thing I like about the 7stw is it is tried and true. But i am not seeing alot of 7stw brass floating around, is this brass hard to get? Would like to hear some comments from some guys that know this cartridge. Thanks

 

[WapitiBob]

I had 500 pcs on back order for over two years and last month midway told me Remington informed them that stw brass was discontinued so they cancelled my order.

Don't know if it's true just passing on what I was told.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Buy 8mm Rem Mag brass and run it through a full-length 7mm STW sizing die. Then you have instant 7mm STW brass, just without the STW headstamp designation.

8mmRM brass is also cheaper and a lot easier to find than STW brass.

Nosler Custom Reloading Brass 8mm Remington Mag Box of 25

8mm Remington Mag Unprimed Rifle Brass 25 Count by NOSLER BULLETS

 

[baldhunter]

One thing to keep in mind is the over all length of the cartridge and the length of the magazine box.I cannot get mine to shoot 168gr Bergers if I seat them to fit the magazine box.The rifle has quite a bit of freebore and it doesn't like that much jump.My 7mag on the other hand,with the shorter case,allows me to seat the bullets way out there and still fit the magazine.My 7STW shoots regular hunting bullets great,but when it comes to the long high BC bullets,it just doesn't give me much room to work with.The 26 Nosler case is going to give you an advantage of being able to play with your seating depth and still fit your magazine.

 

[rshcwisdom]

Magazine length doesn't bother me. I shoot all my rifles single shot.

 

[Tabascoman79]

The brass issue is the exact reason that I'm in process of a 7-300 build. I can get all the federal 300 wm brass I want for .65cents each

 

[baldhunter]

I don't know why they haven't produced any 7STW Brass.You can use 8mm mag brass and neck it down to make 7STW brass,but it's hard to find too.I was looking at Midways stock of brass and came across this.257STW brass.257 STW | Rifle Brass | Brass | Reloading Supplies
I don't get it.

 

[stonehands1]

I don't know why anyone would waste time with this round. So many better choices available. Guy I know bought one and after 3 years of load workup trying to maximize performance and accuracy I think STW means "stupid time waster"

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

I don't know why anyone would waste time with this round. So many better choices available. Guy I know bought one and after 3 years of load workup trying to maximize performance and accuracy I think STW means "stupid time waster"

so he got a crappy one, eh.... I've had fifty+ rifles, of which I still own only about one dozen... Most are/were in other calibers than 7stw and half were crappy. The other half of the rifles I've moved were because 1. I was cash poor or 2. I grew bored with the rifle.

I am building a 7stw at present... I have 400 casings and an action someone gun plumbed into an stw that I I got suckered into buying. I got rid of a perfectly good sendero stw for this rifle. I can't say the rifle was all bad though, as even as a poor rifle it still shot 1/2 moa groups and helped me get a trotting mule deer buck at 480 yards a couple of years back.

A rather short barrel, slow (10") twist, average stock, regular trigger, and poorly fitted barrel was enough to tear her down. It goes to my 'smith tomorrow; should be done by the end of the month...

 

[stonehands1]

I should clarify that I don't think the rifle was bad I just don't get all the hype about it. Lots of 7mm's out there that will perform as well and with less work.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

I should clarify that I don't think the rifle was bad I just don't get all the hype about it. Lots of 7mm's out there that will perform as well and with less work.

It took about two dozen shots to get my brothers 7stw up and running a bit over a month ago. I agree that lesser cartridges sometimes are less finicky but the 7stw is about as much as you can get out of a 7mm without going under 1,000 shots barrel life.
My 7rum was a similar start-up, only requiring a couple of times to the range to see what she wanted to eat, but the barrel will likely go south in another 500 shots or so... At the rate I shoot at times, that's only a year or two of shooting, even with a number of other rifles in my cases.

 

[Jokostel]

I bought an SPS in 7STW as a junker/truck gun.... out the door for 565$...lol
I have a zeiss on top of it, that's worth more than the rifle.
I took the sps crap stock off, and am using it as a shipping stock...
Currently she's wearing a XX grade maple stock from Boyds.

She does ~ 1/2 moa to 3/4 on any given day with very little load development.
I'm not going to go gun-ho on this round... never will... Ask Lefty... I have a serious affinity for 280s/280 AIs. My current 280AI does 3250ish on a 140...I've nipped at the heels of 3400... I also have another 280 Ackley being built.

The STW has it's place at the table. It was the first ultra-magnum class 7mm that was affordable...It may have gone away from standard chambering in a Savage or Model 700... but I HIGHLY doubt it will ever go away.... Especially in the Midwest...where a 1/4mi club is **** near laughed at, as in the badlands... that's about as close as you can get unless your coming up on a bedded one in ideal conditions.gun)

 

[MudRunner2005]

I should clarify that I don't think the rifle was bad I just don't get all the hype about it. Lots of 7mm's out there that will perform as well and with less work.

Which calibers would that be that "will perform as well and with less work"???

 

[stonehands1]

Which calibers would that be that "will perform as well and with less work"???

My personal favorite would be the Firebird of course. I like fast rifles and John's rifle shoot great. My second choice would be the 7mm Dakota. I never saw 3450fps out of the stw I worked with as was mentioned earlier. Best accuracy was in the 3200 range. But everyone has there favorites I guess. The stw isn't mine. But then again the 7mm isn't my favorite caliber either.