7 stw

[HollandNut]

Anyone here have one ??

Seems my nephew has one in a M700 and wants something that I have , and AFAIK , that's the only rifle he has I would be interested in ..

However all things have a price , and the 7 STW is so overbore , it probably should be against the law , and I don't see a long barrel life with j werdz

[MT Gianni]

I think your description of the cartridge is spot on. I have never shot one but see it as a J word hunting rifle.

[bstone5]

I put one together for my oldest son using a Remington long action. A BOYD thumb hole stock was used in conjunction with a stainless steel barrel.

The rifle shoots very accurately out to a long distance. He has shot deer at long distance with the rifle and they fall where they are shot.

The brass is sometimes hard to find, with used brass the necks are always annealed.

The ammo is easy to reload and is not much more expensive than an a 7 Mag.

[HollandNut]

This one is a fresh build with a 9" twist Hart bull barrel ..

His previous STW went 1600 rounds , which is better than I would have thought ..

He uses Nosler brass ( 400 pieces will come with the rifle if I get it ) and has a real tight chamber , so case life should improve somewhat ..

Just not a fan of small bores

[Heavy lead]

I had one once, a Winchester 70, beautiful rifle, would only shoot 175 grain bullets accurately enough for me. Wasn't much better than a 7 Rem Mag. Just too much overbore IMO, had a 7mm Ultra Mag too, even more of the same.

[JesterGrin_1]

The 7MM STW is a 400 yard Deer Rifle. I would not use it for cast due to the large powder capacity of the case. Also as noted they will have high throat erosion so barrel life will be reduced a great deal but it can be extended by removing the barrel and have it re-chambered. Plus as noted it is a Hart Barrel which is a great barrel but due to as you say the Tight chamber even shooting factory loads might get you into pressure problems. So it could end up being a rifle for custom loaded ammo only.

So in a Nutshell if you wish to have a Jacket only 400 yard Deer Rifle that you will probably have to custom load ammo for then I would say go for it.

I have shot them and they are darn accurate as has been noted. But the people I know who use them are not shooters but Hunters only. As the only thing they care about is being able to go Deer Hunting when it comes around and to shoot something that they do not really have to worry about bullet drop at up to 400 yards. So Bang Flop and take the Deer to the Processor and have a Scotch lol.

[220]

I think the others have covered it not a cast rifle and at its best as a dedicated hunting rifle.
Hunted with an uncle who uses a 7STW, I was using a 7mm Rem as my main hunting rifle at the time. For 95% of the hunting it offered no advantage, where it really shone was pigs in stubble. In flat featureless paddocks where it is hard to judge range and a shot might be 300y or 400 but you don't have time to range it was great.

Barrel life isn't great but on a rifle that is only used for hunting even 800rds is a good few years and a lot of hunting.

[HollandNut]

I'm on the fence with it , I don't "need" a long range hunting rifle , but I lean towards the oddball stuff for some reason ..

As I said I am not a small bore fan , and he wants the LOTT , which is my baby .. And over the years I have amassed huge amounts of lead and moulds for the LOTT and the 480 , as well as a lot of stuff only useful for those guns ..

He did throw a wrench in the equation Saturday , when he said one of his buddies has a single shot 45/70 , but didn't know if it was a C Sharps , a Shiloh or Pedersoli , and might be interested in trading

[Nobade]

I end up doing a lot of 7mm STW rifles as rechambers. People wear out the throat on their 7mm rem mags and get me to rechamber them so they're good for another 500 - 800 shots. Makes a hunting rifle last another 20 years I guess. They are a good use of cheap surplus 50 BMG and 20MM powder, with J-bullets.

-Nobade

[HollandNut]

your last sentence was my first thought on the whole deal

[Wasalmonslayer]

Hello
I have owned an stw it was a great long range gun and yes it's hard on barrels and operators. Mine was a rem 700 sendero heavy barrel and it still beat me up.
I shot 168 j Sierra match kings and it was a ragged 1 hole at 200 yards.
The bullet did not go to sleep till about 150.
If you have a questions feel free to pm me.
I am not an expert but shot it for 7 years.

Wasalmonslayer

[Changeling]

Why? When I was in the preliminary stage of figuring out my 7mm cartridge wants I talked to several people that had them. None of them were in that camp anymore. Barrel errosion started at a few hundred rounds and became majour starting around 500 rounds or so.
When they hit a deer practically everything in the area hit was LOST, sometimes whole front ends!! You couldn't use any regular bullets! All copper/custom were required (but you didn't hear about that did you)!

If it hadn't have been for who he was in the publishing business he would have been a complete joke in the press. But "light speed" type projectiles were all the rage at that time frame/era.

I built my Custom 7mm, as a 280 Ackley Improved, velocity near the top, accuracy so exceptional it was unbelieveable!! Best of all, the barrel is still perfect.

Anyne that thinks they need a 7STW, just buy a 300 Win Mag.

[HollandNut]

Well when he brought it out in 89 or so , it was a ten year old idea , he actually did the original within a few months of the 8 mag coming out , around 1978-79-80 , but powders at the time didn't werk so well , so he kept the idea on the back burner and waited ..

There were also some 6's and 6.5's built on the case ..

As I said I don't need a long range deer rifle ..

Most of my use with it would be killing paper and steel ..

280 is a great round , I've had a couple , and the AI is just icing on the cake