Really considering building a 7STW & want to know your thoughts and experiences with this caliber.

Good or bad let me have it!!

when this first hit the public many years ago I built six or seven of them. it is comparable to the 7mm super mashburn magnum, or what ever it was called that warren page carried all over the world shooting critters. the data layne simpson developed has since been toned down a bit as it has actually been pressure tested. back then 8mm Remington magnum cases were the way to go to make cases. it is a flat shooting, hard hitting cartridge that is a bit hard on barrels if the shooter doesn't pay attention to his rate of fire. it really needs a long barrel, 26 inches or so, to be really worth while. I haven't made one in years since it actually became a factory cartridge.

300. I had one.. Used it only on coyotes and antelope.. My favorite big 7 is the Wea... If I built another, I would look at the Shilen barrel company.. I have heard they chamber this round with a freebore long enough to accept factory ammo, but not as long as the std. Weatherby freebore.. If I were 30 years younger, I would sure look at the 7mm-300 win. which is either the Mashburn, or very close.. I think the STW maybe still be a bit overbore, but with new powders, I am not sure..

Got one two years ago by reaming a push feed Mdl 70 from 7Rem Mag to 7STW. Had to shorten the bolt stop a bit too. Replaced the tupperware stock w a Boyds laminate.
It's got a 26 inch barrel.
Two loads I have worked up for the rifle using WC872 powder.
160 Hornady Interlocks at 3350.
160 Partitions at 3320.
No pressure signs at these velocities, have pushed it harder but this is where the accuracy nodes were
Brass is available from Nosler but it isn't cheap.

It's the Hammer of Thor on midwestern whitetails.

I have heard that they are real hammers........barrel life isn't the greatest but you gotta sacrifice somewhere!!

I've had a couple. Fine if you want to run "regular" bullets, but now days my interests lie with the heavy weights, and the case length blows for that in a 3.600" mag length.

I'd do a 7 LRM iffen I had the hankering for a big 7 pushing big bullets.....

aalf:

This would be a hunting rifle shooting ammo in the 165-180 range - thinkin this caliber could run with a 300 Win Mag??

What do ya think??

What do you mean run with a 300 win mag?

Thinking about building the 7STW instead of another 300WM - What am I gaining?? What am I loosing??

What one will do so will the other. Recoil seemed to be a little less with stw than win mag but not much.

If you wAnt to try something different go for it but I'm sure you will not be able to tell difference. This coming from a guy that turned my 300 win mag into an stw

You'd be stuffing those 180's so far in the case to fit in the magazine, you won't get enough powder in them to break the speed limit.

Although if you ran a Wyatts you can get close to a 4" loaded round.

My last one I had a a 28" fluted Lilja spitting out 150 Scirrocos at 3425....not a warm weather load, but deer just fell over when they saw it pointed their way....

I had one and it shot well but it was long and limited my ability to seat bullets were I wanted them. You could also lose the belt and go with a 7lrm or 26 nosler necked up and have room to seat bullets out. My 7stw only gave me about 100 fps more than my 7 wsm.
I was running 160 accubonds at 3200 fps from my stw.

Bb

Build the 300stw, neck the 7 up and rock on.

Have you ever worn out a barrel, or even shot one enough to need cleaning?

Jeff are you hand loading yet?

I know you spend some change on your builds. If you want a big 7mm you might consider having Gunwerks build you a 7mm LRM on one of their rifles.

They sell a "system",including ammo and Nightforce scope calibrated to their loads,and the 7mm LRM is a good cartridge built around a 180 gr Berger that should do anything you can accomplish with a 300 Win Mag for most game.It will certainly do anything you can accomplish with a 7 STW.

I'd be more inclined to go this way today vs the 7 STW.


The rifles seem to be of high quality;plus they sell ammo for their rifles.Pretty hard to beat as a package if you don't mind the sticker price.

I don't know how much you shoot but buy a bunch of ammo in advance and you are set.

Pretty nice set up for a guy who does not hand load.

Sounds like from all the input that there are better options out there for a big game (elk, moose, etc....) hunting rifle.

I like the looks & sounds of Gunwerks Rifles, but I already have parts ordered (6 months into the orders) for a magnum hunting rifle build = BAT action, McMillan stock etc...

Any other good options......338 Win Mag??? .264 Win Mag?? 300RUM??

I want a hard hitting big caliber that is doable with parts I have ordered. Right now the only 2 rifles I own are a 7mm Mag and my new .308......alot of my others have been sold off (imagine that).

Maybe just build the ole reliable 300 Win Mag??

I hate to admit it but having messed with all the magnum 7mms except the Dakota when I want to hunt elk or bears which can include some longer shots I always end up with my 300 RUM. ( three 7 RUMS, two 7 STWs, five 7 REM mags, and one 7mm/375 Ruger)

That said if I were to rebarrel that 300 RUM I would consider the 300 win mag. Read this thread to its conclusion and see if the 300 win mag with 215 bergers might be THE larger big game hunting package for you:

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/comparing-berger-210-vld-215-hybrid-88657/index15.html

All thoughts, info, and suggestions are appreciated - thanks guys!!

Jeff I didn't know you had the parts assembled for a build already.And thought you wanted to try a good 7mm magnum.Alos, you have a 7mm Rem Mag already(you could stop right there if you wanted to So scratch Gunwerks.

Are you going to gain anything from a 7 STW over a 300 Win Mag and factory ammo? Probably not. The 300 Win Mag just offers more in the way of factory ammo and bullet weight options,making it a theoretically better all around cartridge.

The 300's as a class offer more bullet weight (numbers notwithstanding) and just throw more flak than a 7mm. The 300 Win Mag is a good cartridge for any of the game you mention.

But would I hesitate to hunt any of them with a magnum capacity 7mm and good bullets? No.

We can play the mind numbing game as we creep up the caliber/bullet weight spectrum and move to 338's 35's, and 375's(IMHO the next stop over a 7mm or 30 cal magnum). Depends what you want.


That said, with todays good bullets, the differences between a 300 magnum and a 7mm magnum are something I really don't worry about anymore,and having used both on game of the size you suggest at more or less "normal" distances (out to 500 yards or so), I doubt the success or failure of a hunt is going to depend so much on the cartridges, and more on the bullets and placement.

But if I were depending on factory ammo for that general range of game you suggest, I'd keep it a 300 Win mag over an STW.

Great input BobNH - thanks!!

Most likely just go with the 300WM - I just find the 7STW interesting for some reason though??

Since you already have a 7mm mag i wouldnt build an STW

If an STW intrigues you then why not just get a extra barrel spun up and swap them out?

You could get a 300win mag done while you are at it and just swap barrels as you see fit, its alot cheaper in the long run.

If i was doing alot of hunting and had a 7mm mag, i would skip the 300 and probably get the 338-300ultra or 338 edge in a hunting type rife or 338 lapua in a heavy gun, i think owning those 2 would be a nice combo for killing big animals.

I would be thinking 2 builds and mulitple barrels if it were me.

When the &mm STW first came out, I thought it was a stupid cartridge. After all, the 7mm Remington and the 7mm Weatherby both had more than sufficient capacity for any powder which was readily available and the velocity difference, when load of equal pressure were fired from the same barrel, were nothing like what Simpson claimed. I refused to chamber it for the first year or so until it finally occured to me that I was turning away money and if someone wanted to spend their money stupidly, who was I to say no? With this in mind I bought areamer and, in the first year, I chambered about 35 of the stupid things. The next year dropped to about ten and, after that, the 280 Remington was much more popular. Sometime in the early nineties, I sold the reamer and have regained my pride. My shop is, once again, STW-free. GD

I had a SS Sendero. The throat was too long to reach the rifling with a bullet that'd seat within mag length. Didn't affect accuracy in any way I could tell. It'd put 3 160 grain partitions and 3 120 grain ballistic tips into the same three quarter inch 200 yard group with no sight adjustments. Pretty darn handy.

If I remember right my loads were 83 grains of 7828 under the 120 and 87 grains of H5010 under the 160.

To begin with I was unable to get bulk STW brass so I started down the path for loading 160s by fire forming WW .300 H&H cases. This worked well though the necks were short. I never did get one long enough to trim even once. With the long shank of the 160 partition, the necks were *long enough* even if "short" which is all that mattered. I finally got some Remington bulk STW brass which is what I used for the 120 grain ballistic tips to have enough bullet shank in the case neck for good alignment.

If I had a shot out 700 to rebarrel, 7mm STW would be high on my list of choices for long range. Still, there are new cartridge options available that were not available when I went down the STW path and there are new bullets that elevate the game for some older established cartridges. The choice is not so clear. I believe I would make it based on ready availability of components, brass especially.

Tom

The 300 win with 208 amax's at 2950 is not a bad place to be.

Bb

Jeff, sell off all those parts and break down and get that Gunwerks in 7mm LRM. You will love it and can thank me later. If you want, drive down here to Indiana and take mine for a test drive.

Joel:

Just ship it to me up here in PA to try for awhile...................I'll send it back with your NightForce!!

Jeff. You are only about 4-5 hour drive from me. Come on down spend the night and we will ring some steel.

Father in Law has a 7mm STW. He's has killed a lot of animals with it. But, there are just a few things he doesn't like.

Number 1 is a very short barrel life. He's only put about 400 rounds through it and he's started to have some accuracy problems. By the way, this is the second barrel in 7 years, about to be a third after this season.

Number 2, he doesn't like having such a long barrel. His moose and elk days are behind him and most hunting is done in the Texas Hill Country for Whitetail at no more than 100 to 300 yards, so he wants to move to something a bit more compact, so he's considering moving to a short magnum.

A short magnum for no more than 300 yards?

And on texas whitetails... classic.

Factory ammo just sucks except for the Nosler stuff. Eats barrels. I haven't seen anything from a STW that a 300 Win couldn't handle.

Just got mine back from having a new tube installed. The factory Nosler ammo they used to test it was 100 bucks a box. 160gr Accubond

If the action wasn't set up for a long magnum round, it would of been a 7mm-300 Win with no other changes

I had PTG make a reamer with Minimum SAAMI spec with zero freebore,1 1/2* leade angle. This is our second reamer with this configuration, they shoot like a house a fire.

Some folks think that stuffing the bullet down in the case destroys accuracy which is dead wrong.

I have 238 rounds on one barrel, leade has grown very little, shoots very small groups. If your father's rifle only got 400 rounds on the barrel before accuracy went bad, this is not typical and should not be regarded as normal.

With there not being any 7 STW brass being made by anyone but Nosler, this should be taken into consideration before going to this cartridge. The 7 Mashburn and the 7/300 Winchester are very viable alternatives for those wanting a Big 7.

I've taken 3 bull elk w mine. No complaints, has worked very well. I've got enough brass for this barrel and another.

If you want one, don't get talked out of it.