Has anyone made a 300 or 7wsm in a say 20" or 22" barrel. If so what kind of velocity do you get. I am considering building a 7wsm light weight if I could get the same as or close to the 7mag. with a 160gr. pill. Thanks. fws

[ 03-16-2003, 18:28: Message edited by: toto ]

Seems like a good idea. Just take off 25 fps for every inch you cut.

Brad here cut a 24" .300 WSM to 22" and he has that data.

There is a thread here that I like where rifle sizes were debated and the conclusion was that the weight and balance of a rifle is more important than the specific cartridge for that bore. It means that if you want a maximum 7 mm then get a 7 mm STW with a 26" barrel and put a Hubbell scope on it.

Otherwise make a handy well balanced rifle.

I may chamber my comming M 1999 SA for the .270 WSM. I will put on a sporter taper barrel and start with about 23" only because I can have it recrowned back some.

There would be nothing wrong with a 21" 300 WSM for that matter.

[ 03-16-2003, 21:54: Message edited by: Savage99 ]

Savage99, thanks for the reply. I have a 7STW,7mag. 2-7X57. The STW is built on a mauser action and has a 27" douglas premium barrel and weighs right at 12lb. The 7mag. is a Rem. 700 24" barrel weighs 9lb. One of the 7x57 is built on a 08/34 action with a 19" barrel and weighs 8.5lb. I get 3400fps in the STW with a 160gr nos. par. 3100fps in the 7mag. with same. I get over 2800fps with a 162gr. hornady I was thinking if I could get 3000fps + out of a 20" barrel from a 7wsm I could likely cut 1lb. off of the weight and would make a handy rifle. I was just thinking out loud. fws

I have a 7 mm WSM in a SS Classic M-70. As you know they come with 24" medium sporter barrels. It weights about 8.5 lbs with the 4X12 and Bell & Carlson that's on it now. I hunted with it most of last season because of the wet snowy conditions but with a 2X7 on it. It's ok but not really as light or handy as a rifle can be. This rifle therefore falls into the grey area where it's not a great woods or light rifle nor is it a long range blaster.

Most data that I read shows the 160 out of a 7 mm WSM to max out at 2925 to 2950 fps with 24" barrels. So a 20" barrel might give 2850 fps at most. An inch of barrel weights about 1 oz per inch but shorter barreled rifles balance better and feel lighter in the hands than just the weight diff.

A lot would depend upon how big the game is one is hunting. If it's hard to kill game at long range and then a longer barrel seems to be haunting us. That's what Bob Hagel carried in the Rockies. He knows about as much about this as anyone could.

Check out the load data at www.shortmags.org