No, not that way! I mean his taste in firearms is strange, for a 20-year-old that is.

Most kids his age want the most popular caliber-de-jure in the magazines when it comes to guns. That's why all his friends have short mags. No, not Dan.

For his birthday last year he wanted a 9.3x62, which I got him in a beautifully stocked CZ. It shot MOA out of the box and only needs a set of iron sights to be a perfect backup dangerous game rifle/plains game rifle.

Now, yesterday he announced that he wants a 7mm STW. I said "why?"

He answered "because it shoots a 160 grain bullet 3200 fps, and because nobody else has one!

Well, how do you argue with that? Guess I'll be on the lookout for a good 7mm STW!

THAT IS STRANGE! And great too. You need to hang on to that youngin'.

It't uncommon for "young" gunners to see anything but weird looking black rifles with a bushel of silly add-ons bolted to a Picatinny rail while envisioning themselves as "tactical" heros in a stupidly weird movie.

quote:

t't uncommon for "young" gunners to see anything but weird looking black rifles with a bushel of silly add-ons bolted to a Picatinny rail while envisioning themselves as "tactical" heros in a stupidly weird movie.

I feel the same way, but then I think we better be very grateful for any young one, having any interest in shooting. That is the future and it is shrinking fast. You see far fewer guns shops. Craig list and EBAY ban guns, heck they even ban dogs!

There are no bad guns, only bad people, and that is why we need the guns. I am sure you all agree, good to encourage all young shooters.

A loaded AK would deter a home intruder as well as the classic pump shotgun. I dont have any black stuff, but I might someday - WTF. Its a free country or it started out that way. Those 50bmg, and 338 Lapua look pretty intense. Pit corny rails and all.



Damn, I hope I am not too intense!

Jaw-juh - Hunta,

quote:

For his birthday last year he wanted a 9.3x62, which I got him in a beautifully stocked CZ. It shot MOA out of the box and only needs a set of iron sights to be a perfect backup dangerous game rifle/plains game rifle.

+1 Cool!

Surprise him with an ultralight 300 RUM; that ought to get him back on track - I mean to aspiring to vanilla-flavored .270 Win. & .30/06 Sprgs and such ..... you know how much exotic components cost these days?

I applaud your son's taste. I too have 7mm STW on a Winchester action with a ER Shaw tube. Mine likes 160 Accubonds and Game Kings atop a full charge of H1000 for 3180 fps I got it for the same reasons your son has pointed out. When you get a STW you wont be disappointed.
Brad

I remember buying a new rifle for a bear hunt when I was 19. Told my dad that I'd be the only kid on my block with a .350 Remington Magnum...

It's two ways tell a smart kid from the next:

1. Good sense of humour (never fails)

2. What you said (very, very rare)

I like him already

quote:

I feel the same way, but then I think we better be very grateful for any young one, having any interest in shooting. That is the future and it is shrinking fast. You see far fewer guns shops. Craig list and EBAY ban guns, heck they even ban dogs!

Seems you may have missed my point. There is "good", then there is "better"! That young man is better!

Makes sense to me. I hunted in HS with a 7mm Mauser.

So nobody thinks he wants the 7mm STW to outdo his short mag friends?

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Originally posted by onefunzr2:
So nobody thinks he wants the 7mm STW to outdo his short mag friends?

Well, yes and no. He wants the STW because it will outdo his friends' short mags, plus, he will be the only kid in Johns Creek to own one. Hell, he might be the only kid in North Georgia to own one in this caliber!

He loves reloading, so finding loads for the individual species hunted will not be a problem.

I'm sure it won't be long before he starts developing his own wildcats, as the desire to be unique is strong within him.

Sounds like the `force is strong with this one`. great to see a young guy into our sport. Junior was beside me when I took my grizzly this spring, 375 in hand. He`s going to use my STW this year. 160 TSXs at close to 3300. been working great on Deer.

Interesting thread.

My younger son is 29. A pretty fair number of his contemporaries have, in recent years, chosen a 7.62NATO MBR as their primary hunting rifle. 5-round clips, usually. The DPMS seems (an AR) seems to find much favor. Not many FAL's, for some reason. Not aware of any H&K 91's. My son wants an M-14/M1A.

I think that all of them are nuts. Ask me how much these young men care about my opinion.

At the end of the day, they are hunters, and shooters. Not much else really mastters.

Good hunting, with whatever.

I had a 7STW built right after it hit the pages of Shooting Times magazine and I am somewhat disappointed that the newer reloading manuals have reduced the loads a bit. I am not sure why as I had put many rounds down the tube of a custom Rem700 at Layne's velocities with zero issues, nor have I ever heard of anyone else having problems at those published velocities. A 160gr @3300 or 140gr @3500 is not a problem with a 26" tube. I now have a model 70 Classic Sporter in 7STW I bought for old times sake but have yet to shoot it, and have played with the thought of rebarreling it to a 404J. The fact that they are not that common has kept me from doing it so far.

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Originally posted by GAHUNTER:

quote:

Originally posted by onefunzr2:
So nobody thinks he wants the 7mm STW to outdo his short mag friends?

Well, yes and no. He wants the STW because it will outdo his friends' short mags, plus, he will be the only kid in Johns Creek to own one. Hell, he might be the only kid in North Georgia to own one in this caliber!

Actually Ga Hunter, there are at least a few, I know of. Having said that, one of them, a 19 year old, was just telling me about his second STW, and it might be worth looking at, he said he found several Sako 75's on Gunbroker in 7STW for a really good price. I have actually seen that rifle, he bought the 'Greywolf' version, and it is a nice rig.

Congrats on a good kid, and good luck on the STW

Woodrow

The reason that Layne's loads were reduced was because he did not use a pressure barrel to test said loads. Once the big companies started loading the 7 STW they realized his loads were very high pressure. The funny thing about high pressure is some times there are no signs, especially in custom rifles. Of course just because you have pushed the pressure envelope doesnt mean that some day every thing wont go bad real quick.

I think its good that the kid is interested in odd ball cartridges. I have been useing a 6.5x55 and a .358win for years, just bought a 7 saum in a model seven stainless/synthetic and i love it so far. Not too many people are shooting this short mag as its almost dead, but hey i handload so thats not a problem.

Funny thing about wild catting is just when you think you have an original idea you find out someone else has been there done that.

Personally i dont find the 7 stw intriguing, it never lived up to Laynes hot loads and if i wanted a hot 7 i would go with the 7 ultra mag, but then again i really dont have much interest in over bore cartridges, but hey thats me, hope his quest goes well....