What kind of barrel life can I expect from a 7mm STW? I am using it strictly for hunting but want MOA performance out to 400 yards. How many rounds can I shoot before i see a difference in 400 yard groups? How would it compare to the life of a 7mm Rem Mag?

I usually let my barrels cool between rounds. I dont fire them till they're smoking hot or abuse them in any other manner. They get regular cleaning with a bore guide every 50-100 rounds.

I'd really like to hear from someone who owns one of these rifles.

It wil depend a lot on bullets/vel. used. I read in one test article that w/ 140gr bullets you would see accuracy diff. in less than 1000rds. I have about 300rds thru my 7mm Dakota w/ mostly 160gr bullets. It's still shooting like new.

I have two 7mmstws and have owned another.My first one was still shooting good at around 1000 rounds when I sold it to build another on a stainless action.

Based on what I've seen of 264s and 7 mags, I would expect it to last about 3000 rounds, maybe more. It sounds like you take good care of your equipment, so 3000 rounds of full throttle ammunition shouldn't hurt a thing. Of the magnums and super mags I've seen go south, most were used for varminting, and more likely than not, were damaged during load development.

I've posted this info before but for those that didn't read it let's look at it like this----
Barrel lenght is 26 inches.
Takes a bullet about 1/2 milisecond to travel that lenght/
500 rounds figures about 1 second-----soooo--
3000 rounds works out to about 6 seconds of barrel life!!!

I'm hoping to use 154 gr bullets at around 3200 fps.

elkhunter

You should be able to get over 3300 fps with the 154 gr. bullet.