Am purchasing this new gun and was wondering if any one here has hunted with this calaber?

I had one in a M-70 with 26" tube and it shot great but in the net result I didn't see that it really improved my abilities over my .280 Rem which weighed 1.5 pounds less!

Great cartridge.....just can't decide what it's great for!..,...we reach a point of limited returns quickly when we move away from the 30-06 case unless we go up in caliber......and the 7MM STW isn't that!

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we reach a point of limited returns quickly when we move away from the 30-06 case unless we go up in caliber......and the 7MM STW isn't that!

Oh I dont know about that.

Anyhow here is an interesting article that may be of interest.

http://www.rifleshootermag.com/ammunition/seven_092105/index.html

i killed one deer with the scirroco's and sold the rifle. the only meat worth saving was the rear hams. everything else was mush.

Yes Harold, I shoot and hunt with the 7mm STW quite a bit. It is as flat shooting of a hunting cartridge as you could ever want with with excellent weight 7mm bullets and manageable recoil. The big 7 is capable of extreme accuracy.

Enjoy.

I had a custom 7mmSTW for years. Loved the thing. Shot a Sable with it in Zim' in 98. Not the ideal calibre, but it was all I had with me at the time.................and the deal in the offing was too good to pass up.

As Buliwyf says it is capable of extreme accuracy..........I remember the first day at the range with mine, I tried about 5 different bullets weights and different powders, aggregate group for 15 shots was just over 1.25"

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Originally posted by Harold R. Stephens:
Am purchasing this new gun and was wondering if any one here has hunted with this calaber?

What do you plan to do with it?

The 7STW is a somewhat specialized cartridge, the advantages of which are evident when relatively high velocity is useful, i.e. for long range shooting. If you hunt deer-sized game where very long shots are common (and desirable), then the STW with streamlined 140 grain bullets at about 3300-3400 fps will provide you some leg-up over slower cartridges.

It will also launch heavy-for-caliber bullets like a 160 or 175 grainer at velocities that provide energy similar to the .300 magnum class of cartridges. This makes it a quite respectable elk/moose cartridge when loaded properly. However, you may not want to carry around the 26" barrel that is desirable for the STW.

The STW requires VERY slow burning powders for optimal performance. Powders like RL-22 and IMR-7828 are NOT slow enough (for anything other than the lighter bullets). There are several new slow powders on the market from Hodgdon, Accurate, and others that might fill this bill, however I haven't had occasion to use them in my STW. I rely on WC-872, which is cheap, consistent, and adequately slow to get the optimal velocity with bullets of 140 grains and up.

I have had two Remington 700 rifles that were made into 7mm STW's. At close range under 150 yards any deer I hit with it had a lot of bloodshot meat.I guess it was too much of a good thing and sold them both.I agree that the .280 remington will do anything that needs doing as far as moose or deer are concerned.I believe that the 7x57 Mauser when loaded to its potential gives nothing up to the .280 or .270. I wouldn't hesitate to shoot moose, deer or black bears with my 7x57.

Here is a test and hunting report from Magnum of July 1999.

I hunt w/ a 7mmDakota, balistic twin of the 7STW> I think it's at it's best w/ 160gr-175gr bullets. Be very carefull about your range & bullets used. Extreme meat damage will occur w/ high vel. impacts (read, above 2700fps) w/ the wrong bullet. Mine sees 160gr NoslerPartitons almost exclusively. Plenty flat shooting @ 3250fps.

Thanks for all the input. This will be primarily a south Texas long sendero shooting gun on deer and pigs. I plan on loading up some 140 and 160 grn bullets as well as some VLD bullets to reach out there with it. I am also planning to make this a switch barrel rifle and chamber to 257stw shooting 100 grn bullet.

I currently have & shoot 3 of the big 7mmSTWs and want one in a Sendero. My guns are a Remington 700 with the factory muzzlebrake that with a Leupold VariX III 4.5 X 14 that shoots about a 1/3" groups at 100 with 140 grain Nosler BT's. Great load for coyotes & such & small deer, but NASTY wounds. My other two are Sako 75s, again both with Leupold 4.5 X 14 scopes. Both will consistently hammer in at under 1/2 inch with most loads, but I feed them both 160's as they destroy less meat & WOW at long range for both accuracy & energy. Super to shoot, but, yes overkill at close range. I also have 3 rifles in 7mm Rem Mag that are much more practical, but sometimes you want to use something unique & different that nobody else is using. Most normal folks have never even heard of a 7mm STW yet I am hooked. I am extremely blessed in that I can afford to have over 30 rifles to play with, but if I had to pick, the 7mm STW would stay.

If I was going to use a 7mm STW, I wouldn't wast my time or the potential of the rifle by using bullets under 160 grains.

I've been using the STW since '89 or '90. I've had 3 different ones all built on Model 70s. So far I've shot whitetail, muledeer, pronghorn, elk, moose and caribou to the tune of 50-60 total with this caliber. If for some weird reason I could only have one centerfire rifle for all my North American hunting this would be it, granted I live in some of the most open country there is and ranges can get very long.
I've settled on the 140 grain TSX bullet for everything now, it's deadly accurate and for those that care about such things doesn't make a mess. Someday I might recover one, but don't bet on it. My latest barrel is throated for this bullet seated deep to give a little more throat life.
I loaded some 175 grain bullets for my partner to take to South Africa in July. That effectively makes a .300 Win Mag out of it temporarily.

I still have one I was building when my smith passed away. It is a rechambered 7mag Laredo. Didn't even get the barrel restamped. Nosler 140s at 3400 and the 120s at 3600 pretty much in the same hole. Took a couple deer with it. Ranges far enough that no extra meat damage. The 120s will sure open up a varmint. I agree a 160+ is a better big game round.

I took my 280 to Namibia last month with the STW and a 7mag sitting in the safe.

Ramrod, those 120 grn must be like a lazer beam out of that rifle.

I hunt for meat so excess damage is a concern.

As I have stated before, I wish the bullet manufactures would sell load development packs of bullets so you don't have to buy an entire box to see that your gun does not like the bullet.

I will most likely try the TSX. I also need to settle on some powder to try.

I love starting developing a new load and working through the different variables to make it shoot the best.

IMR 7828 is a good place to start. My 7mmDakota loves it. The case cap. is pretty darn close to the STW.

Re-25 is wonderful in these big magnums. Great accuracy and velocity.

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Ramrod, those 120 grn must be like a lazer beam out of that rifle

Yep pretty flat. The 120s are BT over a HEAVY load of RL22 the 140s are old solid base Noslers over the exact same number of grs of 7828. Since they are over book I won't post them but they would fit in the STW data Saeed has posted.

With a 6" kill zone the 120 has a calculated point blank of 360 the 140 345. My 140 prints a little higher at 100 so on actual targets at 300& 400 I call it too close to call a winner. Both are about 16-18" low at 500yds. I have killed coyotes past that but I have no measured data.

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Originally posted by Harold R. Stephens:
Thanks for all the input. This will be primarily a south Texas long sendero shooting gun on deer and pigs. I plan on loading up some 140 and 160 grn bullets as well as some VLD bullets to reach out there with it. I am also planning to make this a switch barrel rifle and chamber to 257stw shooting 100 grn bullet.

Is the switch barrel rifle a Savage so you can readily change the burnt-out barrels yourself?

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I am also planning to make this a switch barrel rifle and chamber to 257stw shooting 100 grn bullet.

Well to each his own. Years ago I built basically a 25Gibbs + 3 grs. I saw so little gain over the 25-06 I pulled the barrel. The 7STW is hard on barrels I can imagine what the 257STW will do to them.

If you assume you can get 3800 with a 100gr and 3600 with the 120 in the 7STW then you gain 10-14yds of point blank but only 2-3" less drop at 500. I can't hold that close. Send a 100gr Barnes out of the 7STW at 3700+ and give up nothing and save the cost of a barrel.

I just don't see a switch barrel giving the accuracy you would want at those ranges. But hey I'm wrong all the time.

I once bought some 140 grain Nosler BT's from a small loading company in South Carolina. They were also selling some suped up 120 grainers that they claimed were over 3800 FPS, but I never tried them (loved the BT's though - super accurate for me) and the company went out of business (probably lawsuits from blown up rifles !!).

why yes ive hunted with my stw''s owned 3 at one time,have two now!1st one was a rechambered rem 700in a 7mm rem magnum, when the stw was still a WildCAT,shoots great all i shot is 160s though second is a Sako 75 ss syntheic,she also drives tacks,YES-SIR they shoot as FLAT as texas, you all get one or two ya hear!!?? regards jjmp

Ramrod, since i have not completed all the research, nor have I ran simulated ballistics on the differnt loads, I have not thought of loading 100grn bullets into the 7MM STW. I was looking for a donor action to build a 257 STW and found the 7MM STW. That was when I decided to do a switch barrel gun. But I will look at the ballistics of a smaller grn bullet for the 7mm STW and see what they look like. Thank you for that nudge in that direction.

OneFun, yes it is a Savage ans yes I plan on doing the switching myself. I know I am not the most experienced person concerning high velocity guns, but since I am not a bench rest shooter and don't shoot 100 rounds a weekend, I seriously doubt that I will be burning up this barrel each year. With the work schedule that I have, if I shoot even 100 rounds a year I might be lucky. My old 270 probably has only 200 rounds shot through it and it is over forty years old, and 1/2 were shot this last year working up a new load and working through a bedding and scope issue. With that being said if these barrels last me five years, man what a great time am I going to have spending MY money doing what makes ME happy.

I hope that burning up one of these barrels over the next five or ten years doesn't make you or all the other people reading this too upset for me spending money on what you think is an overbore.

My 7mmSTW is a Winchester Model 70 Laredo, with heavy barrel and Boss. It will stuff 160 grain North Forks in one hole at 3150 fps when I do my part. It doesn't like the 140 grain bullets as well at the 160's. I have taken many Whitetails and a few Mule Deer with it, and it fits my long bean fields perfectly. Good shooting.

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Ramrod, since i have not completed all the research, nor have I ran simulated ballistics on the differnt loads

Don't let me talk you out of a 257STGW if that is your first choice. I had just read it that you had a 7STW and were adding a 257 just so you could shoot a 100gr bullet. I believe the 7STW will move it faster but the 257 will definitly have better ballistics

model 70, tuned and tweeked,puts 3 under a nickel @ 100,(only cause i didn't have a dime.)
150grn nosler BT,7828 powder,3x9 leopd.
practice out to 700 and it won't dissapoint you,at least mine hasn't.
ak. moose, wolf@550,caribou, elk@500-670,deer,antelope bear,coyote.
and lots and lots of practice

I finally got to pick up my 7mm STW from my gunsmith, Tip Burns (finally an AR member). I can't wait to shoot it!! I have three test loads ready to go.....

Bob

Mauser 98 7mm-STW
• BRNO Mauser VZ-24 action
• 27†Shilen match grade #4 contour chrome-moly barrel
• Bold Optima Trigger-2.5 lbs.
• Accurage Innovations walnut stock with ebony forend
• Pachmayr Magnum recoil pad
• Sightron SII 4-16x42 AO scope with target knobs-matte

Bob thats a beautiful gun. I am afraid that the Savage 7MM Stw that I am getting is fitted with a plastic stock.

Let us know how the rifle shoots and how your load development goes.

Ramrod,Thanks but I am still gonna do my 257 STW, I had not thought of finding a 100grn in the .284 caliber and doing that. It just gives me more options. I guess I am just a quarter bore freak, just don't tell my friends.

and the 11th commandment is; thou shalt not drool on thy neighbors' rifle
but i can't help it...wow!

I had one for a while but the only thing it did better than the 7 Rem Mag was Kick.Traded them both for a 280.

Just picked it up today. Will put a scope on it and start breaking in the barrel. Only found one box of shells here locally.