SAUM brass life?

[DenisA]

How many reloads using 180gn bullets at 2930ish ft/s does SAUM brass get...... ball park?

With my current .284W at 2730 ft/s and Lapua brass, I'm up to 8 reloads and think the next round or two might push the primer pockets over the edge.
I can't imagine that SAUM brass would be much better??

Trying to work out if its worth re-chambering a couple of my new barrels to SAUM, brass life wise.

I suspect that the only advantage would be the extra 200 ft/s.

Cheers,

[saum2]

I'm on 6 reloads with the same brass so far without primer pocket issues. Plus I've just been talking to another SAUM user he is up to 15 reloads with the same brass. The secret is not to run them hot and you'll still get 2960 + easy. Mine were running at 2990 which is a mild speed considering they can go over 3100fps.
Geoff

[macguru]

I am running 55g 2209 in my saum and getting mid to high 2900s fps, how about you? The load seems fine pressure wise and i have no desire to try much more....

[shooter mcreid]

Obtaining the brass can be the main issue. Get the brass first and then get your barrels done!

[Cameron Mc]

You blokes run Mag primers for the 7mm saum?

Cheers

[shooter mcreid]

I haven't been Cam, just the CCI BR2s. Seems to work well with 2209 but not so much with 2225.

[BATattack]

Doing some pressure testing I loaded Norma brass (a brand new case not toughened with fireforming) at 3100fps and fired it with the same charge over and over. After 4 I had to do a full length size and I ran out of pre weighed charges I had at the range at 7 and the primer still felt fine.

I don't run it anywhere near that hot anymore but that's one of the good things about the saum. You can run it at idle at 2950 way more than you will get out of a 284 and have a large window to crank it up if you feel so inclined.

The down side as mentioned is getting brass. On the up side once you get it it should last a while

[saum2]

Cameron, I have tried both cci250 & BR2. The BR2's are yet to prove they are better on paper for me. Drops speed a little using BR2's
Geoff

[Cameron Mc]

Thanks for the excellent replies. I have mine ready to roll now with tuning etc. I am hoping to use 2209 as I have a good supply.
Anyone wish to share "go to" loads with 2209 and 180vld's

Cheers

[pjifl]

32 inch Bartlein 5R. About 200 shots through it.
1:9 twist. 180 VLD. BR2 primers.

56 grains of 2209 (batch MEM 5212) for 2943 f/s. but that may change as barrel wears in more.

Others seem to be running a bit less powder for the same speed.

The Norma 300 cases are impressive and in my opinion better than Noslers and a LOT cheaper.
They were very easy to squeeze down. About 80 % squeeze in one operation then just normal loading dies and they ended up very accurately reshaped.
These Normas had very tight primer pockets. Too tight - except it may be a good thing in the long run although I never intend to run it any faster and I expect good brass life at that speed.

Ran the barrel in at about 53 grains initially.

Peter Smith.

[BRETT B]

My 7mm Saum is a little different than others being slightly smaller in capacity . I have 12 Norma cases (300 SAUM) that I use for testing and am up to 19 reloads and the pockets are still tight. This was testing between 2850-2950 fps . I also agree with Peter that the Norma primer pockets are extremely tight when new as I have now snapped 2 arms on my LEE Autoprime !! But am very happy with the Brass and would expect 20 reloads easily if you keep the throttle back a bit ...

[shooter mcreid]

Around 56gr of 2209 is where I found my node as well. This was getting about 2940fps, I did find however when I tested the bts and vlds with this same load it pushed the speed up to 2960fps. Possibly a larger bearing surface creating a little more pressure?

[pjifl]

I forgot !

One negative thing I found with the Norma 300 brass was that the primer pockets had a tiny internal corner radius.

This was stopping the primers fully bottoming.

I had to take it off with a primer pocket reamer so primers would not stand out a little.
This of course never touched the sides, which were still extremely tight on the primer.

Despite this, I still think the Norma brass is ultimately better than the Nosler in the batches I had.

Peter.

[DaveMc]

Denis,
Like most of these things each barrel has a different pressure profile to any other but as some ball park figures.

2209- running 2900-2950 should see all brass last a long time (Norma, Nosler and Remington) but pushing above 3000 will kill it quickly.
2213 running up to 3000 no problem
2217 seems to handle higher velocities

To me 2209 is the powder for running in the 2900-2950 area - and should get long brass life (barrel dependent)

[DenisA]

Thank you for all the replies.

It looks like the consensus is that 7SAUM brass life is far better than the .284W and at $160 for a box of brass that only last 8 - 10 firings at a mild 2730 ft/s, it may be worthwhile re-chambering my other barrels to the SAUM for better brass life and 200 ft/s more (still with a mild load for the cartridge).

I took my last .284W barrel out to 1900 rounds (without re-chambering) and in hindsight should have only gone to 1700ish MAX (probably even less) because that's where the accuracy was completely gone.

I'm sure a few 7SAUM barrels have been shot out by now, in general what is the competitive round count for a 7SAUM barrel before the need for a re-chamber?