Wife's 7mm Sherman Max build thread

[codyadams]

Ya, I think it's gonna put the hurt on A LOT of critters ha ha, it will probably replace my .260 ai as the loaner rifle to my nieces/nephews and newer shooters, as most of them are females or kids, and the shorter LOP makes it perfect, and it's a shooter. And with the brake, the thing doesn't hardly wiggle when you take a shot, and the short barrel makes it handle great. Tempts me to make a rifle for myself with a 20" tube and maybe a 12.75"-13" LOP, would be a nice handling little rig!

 

[xsn10s]

Ya, I think it's gonna put the hurt on A LOT of critters ha ha, it will probably replace my .260 ai as the loaner rifle to my nieces/nephews and newer shooters, as most of them are females or kids, and the shorter LOP makes it perfect, and it's a shooter. And with the brake, the thing doesn't hardly wiggle when you take a shot, and the short barrel makes it handle great. Tempts me to make a rifle for myself with a 20" tube and maybe a 12.75"-13" LOP, would be a nice handling little rig!

It's getting some impressive velocities for sure. I'll be interested to see what that 175 ELDX does later on this season!

 

[codyadams]

It's getting some impressive velocities for sure. I'll be interested to see what that 175 ELDX does later on this season!

Ya, this particular load is very close to max, if not right at it. After this season, I'll probably lower my charge slightly and see if accuracy is still as good, so I can keep her brass a little longer!

 

[Bullmark]

Gotta watch out for those southpaws.....they always tend to be good at anything they try.

 

[codyadams]

Several more critters down!
First was a back country mule deer hunt where I used her rifle, I like it so much I had to make sure it was gonna perform! Plus it is lighter than my other rifle, and I'm still trying to tune it up ha ha.

Got off early from a nightshift, left at 0400, and headed up. I only had one day to hunt for myself,, so I wasn't gonna be picky! We spotted a bunch of deer in a back bowl, and started hiking. Got back there and after a bit, glassed em up. My cousin's wife took the first shot and nailed her deer, then when I got a shot, took out the buck I had picked out at 390 yards. Here it is!

Next, the following week, it was my wife's turn. Again we only had one day, so we were gonna take what we could find. This hunt was way fun! We rode horseback to the top of a mountain, and glassed up the buck she ended up shooting from nearly two miles away. I watched it bed down at the base of a tree on a steep hillside, and we headed over to it. We finally got over there and tied up the horses in the timber about 200 yards from the tree line, hiked over to the edge of the trees, and I was able to spot him at the base of the same tree, 340 yards away. She got lined up and made a high shoulder shot on a steep uphill angle. We rode up there, got him cut up, and rode out. We left at 0230 in the morning, and were back at the truck by 5:30 in the evening, with an 8+ mile horseback ride, spot and stalk in between. Here is her buck!

Most recently was her second and final doe pronghorn for the year. This one was pretty simple....drove to one of our pronghorn fields we hunt, spotted goats in the field, got set up, and a goat we didn't see stood up 150 yards away and started slowly walking away. She finally turned enough for a shot at 190 yards, and she let her eat!

She loves her rifle, and it's really doin work!

 

[elkaholic]

Great work Cody and keep the stories coming

 

[codyadams]

Ok, last year at our high country deer camp, a big ol bear came in and tore things up, scattered our fire ring, and dropped BIG piles of bear all over our tent area. Also I saw a massive black bear during elk season, going to an area I know is likely a den, as well as another bear in a nearby bowl. My wife really wants a bear rug.......GAME ON!!!

My previous load with the 175 eld-x's @2900 was pretty hot, and I was starting to loose primer pockets @ 3 fireings, so I went back to the drawing board to try some bullets I originally intended this for.....the 170 PVA Cayuga's! After trying RS magnum, H1000, Retumbo and N565, H1000 gave the best overall results, top pressure without beating up brass is around 2875ish fps.

I will say, finding seating depth on these pills is a challenge. I took out the firing pin assembly and ejector, and made sure I had a case that fit the chamber perfectly but had no feel on bolt lift or drop. I seated the 170 in it with the "centering band" about .275" in front of the case mouth, where I knew it would be into the lands, as the throat on this chamber was .205", and I could only JUST feel it, barely at all. I slowly seated deeper until I finally found where it came off, and that was at 3.085-3.090"OAL. So, I loaded a seating depth from 3.090", going deeper in .020" increments out to 3.030". Groups were just under 1 MOA, until 3.050, or about .035" off, where they went into a little cluster. Also, the 9 rounds fired from 3.070" out to 3.030" has an e.s. of 11 fps, with different seatings every 3. The 3 fired at 3.050" had an e.s. of 3 fps.....this should make a good load!

So I loaded up a ladder @ 3.050", velocity should range from 2750-2850ish, so once this weather calms down I will have my wife go shoot it and see what we end up with.

Hoping to put these through a bear this spring, would be a great test of terminal performance!

 

[codyadams]

Ok, got results from this ladder test. It was shot at 608 yards. Wind was coming and going, and mirage ranged from a boil up to maybe 4-5 on the high end.

There seems to be two nodes here, one ranging from 64.2-64.6 @2795-2825, with a 2.450" group, and another ranging from 65.0-65.4 @ 2835-2841, with a 3.520" group, and a significant jump in impact between the two. So, I think I'll load a few at 64.4 and 65.2, and shoot for groups at distance, and this should give me my final winner. Honestly I think either one would work, one just under half MOA the other just over, so I want to see which one is going to be more consistent. I would like to see a little less e.s. from the lower node, but I also shot my seating depth test at 64.5, and once my seating was a little off the lands, e.s. was very good with all of them, so we will see.

 

[codyadams]

Been a while since I updated this....man!!

Well, she has two more harvests this year with it! Would have been more, but I have been away at training....anyway!!

First one was a pronghorn doe, taken at a little over 500 yards if I recall correctly, like 540. She made a perfect shot, and the 170 Cayugas did awesome!! Pretty simple hunt here, like most pronghorn, we drove out to a field, spotted this doe near the edge, and she shot her ha ha.

Entrance -

Exit -

And her next one was today, her second elk ever, taken in really hard conditions! We saw a herd of about 40-60 elk out on an open bench, and headed their way. As they often do, they surprised us and changed direction, but strait towards us. They dropped into a drainage, but went into some timber. We figured they were going to stay there, so we planned on going down and working the timber slowly to try and find one.

However, as we were slowly going down, they came out the other side of the timber! She dropped down prone in the deep snow, laying down hill. At this point, they saw us, and were starting to get nervous and began slowly heading for some more timber. We extended the bipod all the way up and had her set it up on a large rock, though it wasn't the most stable as it was round.....and the gusting, 20-30 mph wind did not help either! Especially with the tiny, little stinging snow flakes blasting her in the face!

I ranged them at 430 yards, we got her scope dialed, told her the wind hold off, and reminded her to make sure it was a cow, as her tag was a cow/calf only tag, and I had see a lot of spikes in the group. She kept scanning the herd....they would either start moving, be too bunched up, or be a spike.....my anxiety was crazy! Finally though, one of the biggest cows of the herd separated herself, and got almost perfectly broadside. I heard her say "oh there's one!" I saw her take her bare, frozen, wet shivering hand and click off the saftey, touch the Jewel trigger, slowly breath out, and boom! I didn't see a hit, a miss, hear an impact, nothing!

All the elk took off running, none of them dropped. I was confident with the wind hold I gave her, especially at the shorter range and with the high bc 170 Cayuga, but the circumstances were challenging to say the least. We hiked over there....and almost immediately found heavy blood at the impact sight! A short, 75 yard track later, there was her massive cow!!

She had made a perfect double lung hit, the cow barely made it out of sight before she tumbled to the ground. To say I'm proud is an understatement!

 

[bsnyder]

That little max is donning work! I'm going to order another barrel in a couple weeks and I think I'll go shorter

 

[LVJ76]

Been a while since I updated this....man!!

Well, she has two more harvests this year with it! Would have been more, but I have been away at training....anyway!!

First one was a pronghorn doe, taken at a little over 500 yards if I recall correctly, like 540. She made a perfect shot, and the 170 Cayugas did awesome!! Pretty simple hunt here, like most pronghorn, we drove out to a field, spotted this doe near the edge, and she shot her ha ha.

View attachment 414345
Entrance -
View attachment 414346
Exit - View attachment 414347

And her next one was today, her second elk ever, taken in really hard conditions! We saw a herd of about 40-60 elk out on an open bench, and headed their way. As they often do, they surprised us and changed direction, but strait towards us. They dropped into a drainage, but went into some timber. We figured they were going to stay there, so we planned on going down and working the timber slowly to try and find one.

However, as we were slowly going down, they came out the other side of the timber! She dropped down prone in the deep snow, laying down hill. At this point, they saw us, and were starting to get nervous and began slowly heading for some more timber. We extended the bipod all the way up and had her set it up on a large rock, though it wasn't the most stable as it was round.....and the gusting, 20-30 mph wind did not help either! Especially with the tiny, little stinging snow flakes blasting her in the face!

I ranged them at 430 yards, we got her scope dialed, told her the wind hold off, and reminded her to make sure it was a cow, as her tag was a cow/calf only tag, and I had see a lot of spikes in the group. She kept scanning the herd....they would either start moving, be too bunched up, or be a spike.....my anxiety was crazy! Finally though, one of the biggest cows of the herd separated herself, and got almost perfectly broadside. I heard her say "oh there's one!" I saw her take her bare, frozen, wet shivering hand and click off the saftey, touch the Jewel trigger, slowly breath out, and boom! I didn't see a hit, a miss, hear an impact, nothing!

All the elk took off running, none of them dropped. I was confident with the wind hold I gave her, especially at the shorter range and with the high bc 170 Cayuga, but the circumstances were challenging to say the least. We hiked over there....and almost immediately found heavy blood at the impact sight! A short, 75 yard track later, there was her massive cow!!

View attachment 414348

She had made a perfect double lung hit, the cow barely made it out of sight before she tumbled to the ground. To say I'm proud is an understatement!

Plain and simply awesome. Congrats and great job by both of you.

 

[Bghunter338]

Been a while since I updated this....man!!

Well, she has two more harvests this year with it! Would have been more, but I have been away at training....anyway!!

First one was a pronghorn doe, taken at a little over 500 yards if I recall correctly, like 540. She made a perfect shot, and the 170 Cayugas did awesome!! Pretty simple hunt here, like most pronghorn, we drove out to a field, spotted this doe near the edge, and she shot her ha ha.

View attachment 414345
Entrance -
View attachment 414346
Exit - View attachment 414347

And her next one was today, her second elk ever, taken in really hard conditions! We saw a herd of about 40-60 elk out on an open bench, and headed their way. As they often do, they surprised us and changed direction, but strait towards us. They dropped into a drainage, but went into some timber. We figured they were going to stay there, so we planned on going down and working the timber slowly to try and find one.

However, as we were slowly going down, they came out the other side of the timber! She dropped down prone in the deep snow, laying down hill. At this point, they saw us, and were starting to get nervous and began slowly heading for some more timber. We extended the bipod all the way up and had her set it up on a large rock, though it wasn't the most stable as it was round.....and the gusting, 20-30 mph wind did not help either! Especially with the tiny, little stinging snow flakes blasting her in the face!

I ranged them at 430 yards, we got her scope dialed, told her the wind hold off, and reminded her to make sure it was a cow, as her tag was a cow/calf only tag, and I had see a lot of spikes in the group. She kept scanning the herd....they would either start moving, be too bunched up, or be a spike.....my anxiety was crazy! Finally though, one of the biggest cows of the herd separated herself, and got almost perfectly broadside. I heard her say "oh there's one!" I saw her take her bare, frozen, wet shivering hand and click off the saftey, touch the Jewel trigger, slowly breath out, and boom! I didn't see a hit, a miss, hear an impact, nothing!

All the elk took off running, none of them dropped. I was confident with the wind hold I gave her, especially at the shorter range and with the high bc 170 Cayuga, but the circumstances were challenging to say the least. We hiked over there....and almost immediately found heavy blood at the impact sight! A short, 75 yard track later, there was her massive cow!!

View attachment 414348

She had made a perfect double lung hit, the cow barely made it out of sight before she tumbled to the ground. To say I'm proud is an understatement!

Wow, look at the size of that cow. That's awesome!! Congratulations.

 

[LVJ76]

Wow, look at the size of that cow. That's awesome!! Congratulations.

She's huge, would've expected to see antlers on a body that big.

 

[Bghunter338]

She's huge, would've expected to see antlers on a body that big.

Right!!!