7mm/.270WSM Vs. 7mm RSAUM
- Thread starter TresMon
- Start date
I have spent a fair amount of time thinking about this question of late. Here are my thoughts.
I shoot a straight 7WSM and wish it had more neck for holding the bullet. You get a longer neck by going to the 7/270 WSM, and the longest neck of the WSMs by going to a 7/300 WSM. The 7 SAUM has a longer neck than any of the WSMs.
Case Capacity from biggest to smallest is 7WSM,81 grains H2O), 7/300WSM, 7/270WSM, 7SAUM,73.6 grains).
I know that you can get to 2,900+ fps,over 3,000 if you want)with all of the WSMs, and have heard that you can get to 2,900 in the 7SAUM using a 30" barrel. If it's true, the 7SAUM MAY well be your ticket to happiness, at least in my opinion. I do not run my 7WSM to 3,000 fps - the wind gain is not that great - and I'm hoping to get two years of F-Class shooting from a single barrel. If it's not possible then I'll do what 6.5x284 shooters do and turn up the velocity and burn up the barrel every year and thread on a new one.
Why - a much longer neck to keep the VLDs from occupying all your case capacity, less recoil, less powder being burned,less expensive to load over time), and probably less throat errosion,marginally but still less) then the bigger WSMs.
But you need to remember that none of these chamberings are easy on brass. I need to anneal my 7WSM brass every 4th firing, or my SD and ES go straight into the crapper because the neck tension gets very uneven. That having been said, it is easy to find WSM brass to build from if you do not anneal. I've never looked for SAUM brass, but it has to be in short supply, as Remington basically abandoned the chambering a few years ago. If you can find it - grab all of it that you can get - its going away and then you are going to be in a tight corner - unless you anneal your brass. Even then, brass has a short life span if you are pushing it to its pressure edge on a routine basis. My lower pressure loads with the 7WSM have given me the ability to reuse my brass a lot - meaning that I have put 7 or 8 firings on my current batch of brass and the primer pockets are still nice and tight. We'll see how long they eventually last, but its a good start so far.
All that having been said, if the long neck and reduced recoil is what you need, the SAUM sounds very good. Better get a 1,000 or more cases now because they are going to be hard to find and you'll probably want to start annealing them to make them last longer.
If reducing recoil is your goal and a slightly longer neck over the 7WSM is a bonus, the 7/270 is probably the best choice. It give you the guaranteed abilty to drive the heavy bullets to at least 2,900 fps and the brass is still readily available.
my $0.02, your milage may vary.
JeffVN
I shoot a straight 7WSM and wish it had more neck for holding the bullet. You get a longer neck by going to the 7/270 WSM, and the longest neck of the WSMs by going to a 7/300 WSM. The 7 SAUM has a longer neck than any of the WSMs.
Case Capacity from biggest to smallest is 7WSM,81 grains H2O), 7/300WSM, 7/270WSM, 7SAUM,73.6 grains).
I know that you can get to 2,900+ fps,over 3,000 if you want)with all of the WSMs, and have heard that you can get to 2,900 in the 7SAUM using a 30" barrel. If it's true, the 7SAUM MAY well be your ticket to happiness, at least in my opinion. I do not run my 7WSM to 3,000 fps - the wind gain is not that great - and I'm hoping to get two years of F-Class shooting from a single barrel. If it's not possible then I'll do what 6.5x284 shooters do and turn up the velocity and burn up the barrel every year and thread on a new one.
Why - a much longer neck to keep the VLDs from occupying all your case capacity, less recoil, less powder being burned,less expensive to load over time), and probably less throat errosion,marginally but still less) then the bigger WSMs.
But you need to remember that none of these chamberings are easy on brass. I need to anneal my 7WSM brass every 4th firing, or my SD and ES go straight into the crapper because the neck tension gets very uneven. That having been said, it is easy to find WSM brass to build from if you do not anneal. I've never looked for SAUM brass, but it has to be in short supply, as Remington basically abandoned the chambering a few years ago. If you can find it - grab all of it that you can get - its going away and then you are going to be in a tight corner - unless you anneal your brass. Even then, brass has a short life span if you are pushing it to its pressure edge on a routine basis. My lower pressure loads with the 7WSM have given me the ability to reuse my brass a lot - meaning that I have put 7 or 8 firings on my current batch of brass and the primer pockets are still nice and tight. We'll see how long they eventually last, but its a good start so far.
All that having been said, if the long neck and reduced recoil is what you need, the SAUM sounds very good. Better get a 1,000 or more cases now because they are going to be hard to find and you'll probably want to start annealing them to make them last longer.
If reducing recoil is your goal and a slightly longer neck over the 7WSM is a bonus, the 7/270 is probably the best choice. It give you the guaranteed abilty to drive the heavy bullets to at least 2,900 fps and the brass is still readily available.
my $0.02, your milage may vary.
JeffVN
My goal is to build a highly forgiving f-class & UKD tactical match rifle: I'd like to push the 7mm Wildcat 200grn. vld's to their optimum gain/performance..
It would be fun to try the one mile thing too... but that would be a rare occasion in my area,only in the dead of winter when they drain the lakes [just for me to shoot across them])
Thanks for the input, I had not realised the 7rsaum had been discontinued...
T
It would be fun to try the one mile thing too... but that would be a rare occasion in my area,only in the dead of winter when they drain the lakes [just for me to shoot across them])
Thanks for the input, I had not realised the 7rsaum had been discontinued...
T
She was built by Terry Cross of KMW. His work is wonderful and he is the salt of the earth and a darn good marksman in his own right.
Surgeon SA repeater,
KMW bolt knob;
Badger DBM,
Accuracy International Magazines,
McMillan Baker Special Stock, heavy fill,
KMW Cheekpiece hardware,
Kreiger 26" 9 twist - AMU/MTU contour,
Shilen Trigger set at 2.0 lbs,
USO SN-3 5-25x58 TPAL w/ PCMOA reticle and 4" shade tube.
Custom height Seekins Precision rings,no extra charge - Glen is great to deal with too);
As shown in the picture, she weighs right at 17 pounds, including the Harris 6-9" Benchrest bipod with podlock.
I just swapped out the 26 for a 28" tube to use it more on the target firing line. It still looks just as good, but the weight creeped up to about 18 pounds with the longer barrel.
My shoulder says thanks.
JeffVN
Surgeon SA repeater,
KMW bolt knob;
Badger DBM,
Accuracy International Magazines,
McMillan Baker Special Stock, heavy fill,
KMW Cheekpiece hardware,
Kreiger 26" 9 twist - AMU/MTU contour,
Shilen Trigger set at 2.0 lbs,
USO SN-3 5-25x58 TPAL w/ PCMOA reticle and 4" shade tube.
Custom height Seekins Precision rings,no extra charge - Glen is great to deal with too);
As shown in the picture, she weighs right at 17 pounds, including the Harris 6-9" Benchrest bipod with podlock.
I just swapped out the 26 for a 28" tube to use it more on the target firing line. It still looks just as good, but the weight creeped up to about 18 pounds with the longer barrel.
My shoulder says thanks.
JeffVN
Sorry to hear of the saum brass dilemma. I've been shooting wsm for a couple of years now and never thought of trying Rem.'s version. Do you think you could make saum brass out of wsm brass ? I would be willing to mail you a couple of used brass for destructive testing if that would help.
DesertLefty
Silver $$ Contributor
Jeff,
Nice rig! Why'd you pick the Baker Special stock? Just curious...
Lefty
Nice rig! Why'd you pick the Baker Special stock? Just curious...
Lefty
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