Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Never shoot the donor

Dink=you clould rebarrel for sure but I am such a fiend for the big 7's that it'd have to be a project that I was really driven by.

Dober

What about having the chamber opened up to 7 STW, and then restock it with an M700 mtn laminate?

You know the barrel is sound, and a tight, new non-factory chamber make make it even better?

140g TTSX and IMR7828SSC.

160's work well, too, various flavors.

What you have there is a great rifle/cartridge combo for the West. And the East, North and South...

buy the dies, re-stock it. Whats not to like? Go shoot that 7RM and get the 257 Wby later, if you think you still need[want?] it. Just my $.o2. Tom

Dink
First of all. I think you were smart to shoot the donor. I have dumped over two grand into a rifle only to find out there were action promlems, leaving me with a $2000 rifle that would shoot 5 MOA on it's best day. When you shoot the donor, the worst thing that will happen is that you discover a rifle you don't want to part with, and you have to find a new donor
If it were me, I'd have the lugs lapped, recrown it, have it bead blasted or refinished in whatever way suited me, and restocked. Then, do some load developement, and I think you'll find a very very useful rifle. If you tire of it, then you can still have it rebarreled at a later date.

Fred

Thanks for the advice guys. I really have no "need" for another rifle but I hate to tear apart a good rifle. I was just sure the old gun would not shoot.

I think I will shoot it a while longer and make sure that was not a fluke. I have never played with a 7mm mag before so I will see what I can make it do.

Thanks
Dink

Careful, 7RMs can be addicting. We 7RM believers are almost as rabid as the .270 owners.

I picked up a M70 Classic FW stainless in 7RM recently(they made this NH rifle for two years or so)not really knowing what I would do with it.At Dobers suggestion I loaded the 150BT's in it with 70-RL25....it put 7 of those under an inch.....mmmm......

I have a Borden Rimrock stock for a Classic that I got here off BWalker;it's going to Redneck for bedding.The rifle is a pleasant surprise for relatively little money.I guess sometimes it pays to shoot a donor

A 120 gr 7mm at 3400 sounds like a 257 Weatherby to me;and with 175's at 2900 a feller is edging into 300 mag territory...sooo....................good luck with your decision.

Hence the reason I tend to look for donor ACTIONS and not donor guns.....saves on the temptation. That clip slotted 243 in the classifieds is killing me though.....

Yeah, but would an STW kill a Missouri whitetail any deader than the Rem. Mag??? Doubt it muchly, as I've killed a bunch of Missouri deer pretty damned dead with a plain old .270.

I'd say to hell with it, and buy up all that lot of CoreLokts I could find, and shoot the hell out of it. When the pipe gets fried, finally, THEN worry about a rebarrel.

Funny, my 30-06 I bought used from the early 80s, stacks 180 grain Accubonds. Gotta love those remmies, and I would shoot as is very happily.