I�m a total 7mm nut and have had most of them, including two STWs, one a 700 custom with a Krieger and the other a Model 70 Classic Stainless I bought to build a .375 H&H from and ended up playing with for a while. In addition I load for a friend�s Sako TRG-S. All of these rifles have 26� tubes. When loaded not just for balls-to-the-wall speed but with loads tailored to give best velocity, accuracy and consistency for each rifle the simple mean average velocity increase over the five 7mm Rem Mag tubes I�ve records on, including Shilen, PAC-NOR, and Remington at 24� and a Sako at 22-7/8� is 159 fps. This is with the 140 partition. Powders were RL-22 and IMR 7828 in the STWs; RL-22, RL-25, IMR 4350 and IMR 4831 in the Rem Mags. I don�t know what effect cutting the STWs back to 24 would have on velocity but even if it only cut 50-60 fps the net difference from the 7mm Rem Mag would only be around 100 fps or so, which equates to roughly 1.1 inches less drop at 400 yards (with the partition�s BC) in exchange for nearly a third more recoil�worth it to some I know, just not to me�
