7mm STW??

WDN-K-9

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
  • May 29, 2008
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    Mt Pleasant, SC
    Can someone tell me a little about this round and a little about the bolt face for this round, can the rifle be re-barreled to another round without changing the bolt once it is shot out or ammo gets to hard to find?
     
    Re: 7mm STW??

    The 7mmSTW is a great hunting round !It was origanlly the brain child of Layne Simpsom.He took a 8mm Remington magnum abd fire formed it to the 7mm STW's deminsions. ( it can also be fire formed from the 375 H&H case. Of course before fire forming it must be necked down )It has been standardized and loaded ammo, is avaiable. As are reloading components. When hand laoded it is capable of pusing a 140 grain bullet in excess of 3,400 fps. It is an outstanding laong range hunting cartridge. Once the barrel is shot out the need to do anything to the bolt face is not required , as long as you stay with a magnum cartridge. Barrel life as far as a hunting rifle goes is really not an issue in my view , but then I don't shoot my hunting rifle as a main means of target practice. My son-in-law has a rifle cahmbered for this round, and it is the hammer of Thor on all game animals. It is extremely accurate with a variety of loads. Hope this helps.

    Mike
     
    Re: 7mm STW??

    The base case is a 8mm mag. There are .257 stw and 6.5 I believe. I shoot one and
    it is ideal with 140 grain bullets. 26" on barrel length is a must to get out of it what
    the cartridge has to offer. I think the .257 28" is minimum. Pretty typical of big overbore rounds. It's a .5320 boltface. .375 ruger as well. .358 norma mag,
    350 rem mag, 340 weatherby mag. 300 win mag, 7mm rem mag, there's a lot
    of them
     
    Re: 7mm STW??

    Thanks guys, that's basically what I was asking, I wanted to know if it was one of the LA belted mags or if it was different. I am a novice at reloading and this one might be a little over my head with what needs to be done to the brass and I truely do not know how many rounds could have been pushed through said rifle. Therefore, if I were to get this rifle, I would shoot it for a while (few hunting seasons at least) as is with what factory ammo I could find and then when time came, re-barrel in one of the other more common mag offerings. I am thinking of this as a LR hunting rifle.
     
    Re: 7mm STW??

    Uh......ok...I know this, I was asking about the boltface and if it was the same size as the other belted mags....for example, 7mm RM, 300 Win Mag...blah, blah....blah.

    I really kinda do not give two flying shits what I can "say" I shoot. It goes BANG, bullet comes out the end, see target, shoot target.

    I just ran across a pretty screaming deal and wanted to know a little about it because the shop did not have a quick answer for me on the bolt face size as it is a shop only with no smith on site.
     
    Re: 7mm STW??

    I'm not being a dick about it but it seemed you did not read all of the post here or all of my comments. I noted all of the things you stated in your post above (that you so hastily deleted), and I do thank you for your input. I am just not one who cares about "who's shooting what caliber". If it performs the job it was spec'ed for when I use it, then it works for me. Now would I go searching for this caliber of rifle? NO, but the rifle is there, it is a pretty awsome deal, and when I say good deal, I mean, freak'n good, and I have been looking for something to dedicate to hunting only for when I go to AZ and hunt with some friens. Also, I had already considered re-barreling in the near future, the reason for my post, but no time soon as this rifle would get about 1-2 weeks of use a year maybe 20-30 rounds a year, so barrel life is not a great concern. The main reason I would re-barrel in the future would be lack of ammo, which is already tough to find now, and my inexperiance with reloading. I probably posted this in the wrong section anyway and it should have been in the gunsmithing thread or hunting thread........now get back in here and debate with me on it! Convice me not to waste my money or convice me to spend it, that's what this forum is for anyway, don't delete your post, stick to your gun man!
     
    Re: 7mm STW??

    While it's popularity has wained, it's still a good performer. I had one built back in 1989 just after it was in ST magazine. Yes it is based off a full length H&H case just as most .532" belted mags.

    I used 300H&H brass for the most part as they were much more avaiable at the time. Remington is/was the only source for the 8mm stuff. Basically I would run them into a 7mm STW FL sizer and adust it so I would have a "crush" fit. The fire formed cases had a slightly shorter neck compared to the 8mm Rem but did fine. I didnt get the spectacular velocities that Layne claimed with what I would consider safe pressures but that's another story. Nowdays you can get STW brass and factory ammo.
    You dont mention the rifle or action but if you can get it for cheap it can be certainly be used as a donor for any other .532" based round. You could always get a new bolt if you wanted to go with the .473" family