Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles My new 7STW...pics

Thought I would share a pic of my new 7STW. It's a Sako Finnlight that started life as a 7mm RM, rechambered to 7STW, powder coated matte black, had the barrel spun accumark style and added a instrument tan McMillan stock with black and white webbing put on by RickBin (thanks Rick!). With a set of Talleys holding onto a Zeiss conquest 3.5-10x44. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Nice looking rig, what does it weigh?

Well...she is no super lightweight thats for sure. A factory Finnlight in 7mm weighs 7 1/4 lbs. I do not have a scale.

My STW is built on a Sako Finnbear action.As for the cartridge you will love it.Lets pm loads one day.Sweet looking rifle for sure.

What barrel length?

snappy.

Looks long, I'm betting 26"

Should be 24". and with the McM stock it probably goes 7.5lbs bare.

very nice looking rig

It has a 24" barrel.:)

A little short for getting the most out of the 7mmstw.Nice looking gun though.

Very nice looking rifle!

She looks way cool!

What does she eat?

So far I have been trying 140gr Barnes TSX and RL 22 powder. Need to reload some more for it...it's in process. I've had a 26" barrel on another STW and understand I cannot get the most out of this cartridge with a 24 incher but didn't really care. I just had to have another STW:)

It sounds like you are working with the right powder for your bullet. My rifle has been working well with H1000 and 160 gr bullets. I load them to about 3150 and get good accuracy.

I prefer 26 inch barrels when they are available. If I were building a 30-06, it would be equipped with a 26 in barrel. But I certainly never felt handicapped with any rifle which was built with a shorter barrel. It simply depends on where one is going to use the rifle and how much easier a shorter rifle might be to handle.

I like the 26 inch barel on my STW, but the fact that it is a Ruger #1 makes it a fairly short and handy hunting rifle even with the 26 in barrel.

I think that many shooters exagerate the importance of a long barrel on a magnum rifle. Many of our favorite authors and researchers have tested these theories and the answer always seems to come up about the same.

You lose 40 to 75 fps velocity per inch of barrel loss with just about any deceent high power rifle cartridge. I would be of the opinion that an STW with a 140 gr bullet is in a much better position to give up that velocity than is a 308 with a 165 gr bullet.

Perhaps we should all insist that our 308 be equipped with a 30 inch barrel, since it is so short on velocity from a 22 in barrel.

The bottom line is that a 7 mm Rem mag with a 28 inch barrel would probably produce exactly the same velocity as your STW with a 24 inch barrel. But the shooter would have to deal with the longer barrel where ever he went.

You get the same performance in a much handier package.