New 7 WSM HG for 500 FLY Belmont

[watrob]

Thought you might like this, pickup my new 7 WSM, Grizzly ll action, 29 1/2" Shilen Barrel, Kelbly M1 Stock. Fire-formed 25 Win 300WSM cases neck down to 7mm, then loaded 4 rounds with 65.7gr with 2217 to foul the clean barrel, loaded 4 more rounds with 66.0gr 180gr Bergers and shot this at 100yds.

[mike H]

Look out flies.

[plumbs7]

I'm jealous lol! You win !
You should come over to the other side at Qra and have go with that thing !

[watrob]

Yeah, Vince is trying to talk me into 1000yds, I'll shoot the Club 500m Fly this Saturday and see how it preforms. Not sure if I will re-point the 180gr target Berger's or not, the bullets I shoot are also Boron tumbled.

I have put through 55 case's fire-forming and then fired 20 of those for load development, will be lucky to get 600 -700 rounds out of the barrel as the 7mm WSM is hard on throats and I am up to 75 rounds so far. If I shoot the 300m & 500m Fly season for 2017 the barrel should just make it. Have ordered another identical barrel (which is a heavy reverse tapper), the theory is they are easier to tune and have wider node's which I have to agree worked as 66.0gr, 66.3gr & 66.6 grs all grouped well, only 65.7gr was the worst at a .500" group.

After spending days upon days in load development with all my other benchrest rifles, its very strange feeling to have your second set of 4 rounds shoot in the same hole, was at the range for an hour and had to pack up and go home, spent more time loading & preparing the cases than shoot the rifle?

[AlanF]

Some say that 7mm bullets take more than 100yds to go to sleep. Looks like those ones never woke up!

Being a heavy gun, I guess its a lot more than 1.25" diameter, but I'm interested to know what the profile of your reverse taper looks like?

[watrob]

Will load a photo & dimensions tonight when I get home.

Maffra Vic, old stomping grounds, I originally come from Yarram, the other side of Sale.

[plumbs7]

Good work mate ! It would be interesting to see if it held up at the dreaded 1000 yd . What length barrel is it ? As there seems to be no harmonics at all there . What speed if u don't mind me asking.

Pointing 180's for 500 m can be just an extra burden that may not be of much advatage !

Generally when I'm loading for longer ranges I'm looking for slight vertical that is canted 1-7 o'clock at 100m. For whatever reason , these are the loads that hold up at the longs , for me anyway!

I have shot 1 holers like that in several different rifles and cals but they been well down in the 3/4 or less node !

Very impressive just the same ! I would make a game prediction, it will hammer at 500 m but may struggle at 1000 yds ! Like I said a swag guess !

[Send-it]

ok,.........i give up.
where's the other 3 holes?


looks like that load's a keeper.

[watrob]

Attached a couple photo's, the outside shot is at the gunsmiths place, he sent me this when it was finished last week.

The barrel is around 1.25" at the action, then within around 9" it comes down to 1.100", from there it increases again in diameter to 1.350" at the crown, barrel is 29 1/2" long, 1:9" twist, floated, bedded and glued into Kelbly M1 stock with weight system.

What can I say, it shoots at Belmont, will see what happens on Saturday at 500M.

Speed wise I would guess at around 2,950fps, the gunsmith shot 10 of the 20 fire-formed cases with 66grs RL25 (double bases powder) and got 3,080fps, he shot a .300" group at 200 yards and a .600" group at 300yards. We decided on ADI2217 (H1000) and on checking found loads to be in the 66.0 to 66.8 region and that we wanted to keep the speed under 3,000fps. This node seem quite wide as 66.3 & 66.6 shot reasonable well also.

Been looking at the 180gr Berger's and they may not need pointing, I also have some Berger hybrids coming which I might test with same load.

[plumbs7]

Should work fine at 1000 too , then from what your telling me ! Take it to 1000 bench rest and find out I guess!
I have a nice stolle actioned .284 with a new barrel . Only driven to Church on Sundays lol! Wanna swap hehe!

Pesco? John Giles ? Mine is too! Should add my .284 barrels at Smith by Wildog! Legend !

[!Peter!]

The barrel is around 1.25" at the action, then within around 9" it comes down to 1.100", from there it increases again in diameter to 1.350" at the crown

A reverse tapered barrel contour.... Care to share more on the rationale behind that?

[johnk]

The weight forward is built into the barrel, similar to what you do with a tuner or muzzle weight, I understand.

[Tim N]

When the throat wears out you can simply turn the barrel around.

[watrob]

When the throat wears out you can simply turn the barrel around.

That would be interesting, lefthand twist

[johnk]

That would be interesting, lefthand twist