I have a m70 action in 375 length. The 7 MM STW is an option but I understand they are barrel burners, what is your actual experience?

Mine burned out around 2500 rounds.

quote:

Originally posted by Antelope Sniper:
Mine burned out around 2500 rounds.

If one fired a box a year from his hunting rifle, that's fifty years per 1,000 rounds.....that is a barrel that lasts a lifetime.....and your kids lifetime as well.

A somewhat idealised view of the matter, after all AS managed to burn through one and so it seems that limiting oneself to one box of ammunition a year a little unrealistic.

To my mind the calculation would be something like:

~50 rounds barrel break-in and initial familiarisation.
~50 rounds (Assuming the best here)per load, for load development. I would want a light bullet load, an all-rounder and a heavy bullet load for mine so let's say around 150 rounds for initial load development.
~ 50 rounds over the day for trips to range to familiarise one's self with the rifle and all-important practice. Personally I would like about 6-8 session with a new rifle before I can say I'm reasonably intimately familiar with it. ~300-400 rounds

After that "initial" phase of perhaps 500-600 rounds it would settle down to something like:

~30-40 rounds a season on deer, opportunistic foxes etc.
~50 rounds over the day for trips to the range, perhaps 4-6 times a year. 200-300 rounds per year
~20 rounds for field zeroing, changing over from suppressed to unsuppressed etc a season.

say 200-300 would be a fair estimate.

At that rate a barrel life of 2500 rounds, whilst fully adequate and not of much significance if amortised over the life of the firearm, would certainly not last for a couple of human lifetimes.

It must also be said that this difference in outlook is because I fundamentally disagree that a rifle may be a pure hunting rifle and a man retain any degree of real skill in it's use.

In this case especially, the 7mm STW being designed as a long range big game load, a man who does not practice with it more than a box of shells a year is not likely to be able to hit anything with it!

There is no point owning a rifle you don't shoot enough to become proficient with IMO.

Amir,
Luv ya bud, but let me offer another view.

Here is one that I've owned for at least 15 years.
When I first started collecting rifles I came upon a old Remington Sendero that was originally chambered in 7mag. Turns out it had been punched to 7stw, bedded, trigger tweaked and a muzzlebrake added. I've probably changed scopes on it 4 times in the last 15 years. Usually takes 5 to 10 rounds to get it to threading needles after a scope change. Normally it's tough getting a 140 gr. nosler ballistic tip or Accubond through the eye of a needle, but not with this dude. Don't even have to grease the bullets. It's pappy must have been a Savage, as its so ugly and boringly accurate. Take it out ever so often and kill stuff way out (about 250 yds or so). Bet I've not put 150 rounds through it since I've had it. Never have a problem hitting stuff with it, be it flesh or paper. Kinda like my wife of 34 years, I know what trips her trigger.


Remington 700 Sendero, 7STW


Waste not, want not. I know it's not a 3 or 5 shot group, but I'm typically only interested in where the first shot is headed.


Yum, backstraps.

Best


GWB


PS: Good thing my wife is a woman of substance, cause shade has been a sparse and necessary commodity in these parts this summer.

I do like the look of those backstraps!

I take your point Geedub and I may have over-egged the pudding slightly above but if I recall correctly you're out shooting several times a week with all sorts of rifles.

You still put the rounds down range, perhaps not with this rifle but I bet you have a few more senderos of similar configuration that you play with more regularly.

At the risk of going off topic 250 yards isn't very far for a STW, that's about point blank range for one of these beasties.
#
If a man wanted one for a long range rig he might be best advised to practice with the rifle he intends to shoot at game out past 300 yards or so.

For normal hunting below that range, I concede, it is indeed possible not to fire a rifle very often and still do the business, with the caveats I raised above.

Best,

Amir


PS. I remain in awe of your advice on women, women of substance do it for me as well!

I've had 3 over the years. If you are building it as a normal hunting rifle you and your kids will love it. If you are doing a lot of target shooting then maybe in the 2000-2500 range. Key issue don't over heat it and you will extend the life.

Just to be clear, you can burn out a barrel in any overbore cartridge such as this in a very short time if you don't use your head. Just take it down to the range and fire 100-200 rounds as fast as you can and your barrel will be toast. However if you are careful when firing at the range and let the barrel cool after every 2-3 shots, it should last at least your lifetime.
IMHO it is the heat that is generated from long shot strings that kills barrels so just don't use it for pdog shooting and you should be fine.

It took me awhile to find the right load for my STW. I shot it pretty hard for 10 years straight practicing every year at every range fm 100 to 600 yards.

Since I've rebarreled it, I've slowed down the pace. I still shoot 50 to 100 rounds a year through it, but I hope this barrel will last for a long time.

How much does it cost for a new barrel? I have 250 + or - a few thru my STW and I just bought it in March.

I went with a 29" rifle cut barrel, and had one of the top accuracy smiths print, chamber, and rebed it for me. Total for everything was around $800.00. One of the Local (but very good) long range smiths quoted me $125.00 to set it back a thread or two and clean up the chamber. I'm sure it would of shot just fine, but I wanted to go with a longer barrel.

quote:

How much does it cost for a new barrel?

From about $250 plus bluing up. Depending on the barrel and the smith charges.

quote:

Originally posted by ramrod340:

quote:

How much does it cost for a new barrel?

From about $250 plus bluing up. Depending on the barrel and the smith charges.

$400 is a fair guess complete!

itd will provide douglas barrel
http://www.itdcustomgun.com/id3.html
call it 175

crown, chamber, headspace
$75

$250

bluing.. 110 or 90, depending on finish, if you use their other services

i have used them in the past.. they barreled my first two 358 winchesters, when i was just a tyke

Mine is a Sendero I got second hand, so I haven't a clue as to the round numbers through it. I can say that I have put around 60 factory Federal Premium 150gr Nosler Solid Base rounds through it, plus a hundred or so, give or take, handloads trying to duplicate it, to no avail, and work up a 162gr load. So far I haven't come close to getting either the velocity or accuracy from the 150's, so I am simply content to shoot up the remaining 6 or 7 boxes of Federal I have sitting on the shelf. Once they are gone I'll worry about a load then.

I got very lucky in that I mounted a Burris scope on it with a Ballistic Reticle. In the accompanying manual it listed the Federal load. I zeroed it at 200yds and the drops are right on the money out to 500yds. It has been really nice that they also shoot around 3/4" at 200yds as well. It makes picking off feral hogs out at 3-400yds, akin to dusting prairie poodles.

I don't think it matters that much whether you get 1500 rounds or 4000 rounds. If you work out the cost per shot for a barrel it is less than the cost of a premium quality bullet. So shoot it as much as you want. I have recently hit 2000 rounds through my latest 338 Win mag barrel after 18 months of use (18 months of fun), so I have probably got another year to 18 months left at that rate. There is not much point in owning a rifle if you are so worried about burning out the barrel that you don't shoot it much. Barrrels should be considered as a consumable item much like powder primers bullets and cases. Factor in the cost per shot to your shooting budget, as you do for ammo.