7mm Saum

[moe africa]

Hi all
I'm looking at building my first extended long range rifle in 7 Rsaum on a howa action
My intial idea is a bartlein 1 in 7.5" twist with no taper ( truck axle) 30"
It has been mentioned that a howa action is not stiff or beefy enough for a big barrel
Would I have to go to a Heavy varmint or palma ?
What brass is currently the best in 7 Saum
Between ADG and Norma ?

 

[No i deer]

From what I've read rsaum brass is hard to come by.
8 twist is fast enough unless you intend using the 197gr smks

 

[nakneker]

7 Saum brass comes up every now and again at the usual sources, you have to bird dog it but you can find it. I have two 7 Saums, both hunting rifles, both are 700 actions wearing #4 Brux barrels. Started out using Norma brass, switched over to ADG and I’m getting more loads per case, currently running on my 6th reloads on these current cases. Norma, at least the Norma I had, would give 3, 4 at the most for firings per case. Remember that if you choose ADG brass to start your load development very conservatively.

I can’t answer your Howa action question.

 

[taylorw]

Hi all
I'm looking at building my first extended long range rifle in 7 Rsaum on a howa action
My intial idea is a bartlein 1 in 7.5" twist with no taper ( truck axle) 30"
It has been mentioned that a howa action is not stiff or beefy enough for a big barrel
Would I have to go to a Heavy varmint or palma ?
What brass is currently the best in 7 Saum
Between ADG and Norma ?

What stock type and bullet weight range will you be running?
IF going with a chassis, I have messed around with a defiance deviant action bedded in a KRG chassis with different contour and length barrels. The heavy varmints at 28” are just too heavy for that setup. They make the rifle front heavy and I had to add weight to the back of the chassis.
I also had a heavy Palma spun up for the same rifle, at 26”, and it felt much better and didnt give up accuracy to be honest.
I would say if your going with that action, I personally wouldn’t go any heavier than a heavy Palma at 26” and 28”max. If your running 180 grain bullets, I’d stay with a 1:8.5 twist.

 

[moe africa]

What stock type and bullet weight range will you be running?
IF going with a chassis, I have messed around with a defiance deviant action bedded in a KRG chassis with different contour and length barrels. The heavy varmints at 28” are just too heavy for that setup. They make the rifle front heavy and I had to add weight to the back of the chassis.
I also had a heavy Palma spun up for the same rifle, at 26”, and it felt much better and didnt give up accuracy to be honest.
I would say if your going with that action, I personally wouldn’t go any heavier than a heavy Palma at 26” and 28”max. If your running 180 grain bullets, I’d stay with a 1:8.5 twist.

So probably a F class style stock , running
180 - 190gr bullets

 

[taylorw]

So probably a F class style stock , running
180 - 190gr bullets

Try to pull in some of the fclass guys like @davidjoe. They can help you.

 

[davidjoe]

I t think it will be hard to spot your misses at ELR distances with a SAUM. It’s a very potent F-Class cartridge for LR, and I’d venture to say that with tipped 195’s, it could hit everything that any .338 variant could, all the way out, with similar or smaller holds. The problem would be that when you missed, 180’s to 195’s won’t splash up the dirt like 300’s on up, will, indicating how much to correct.

I tend to think of ELR guns as physically bigger and heavier than F-Open guns, using their weight to help depress any range tarps or mats, and inconsistencies, and helping absorb a shooter’s unintentional movements after repositioning, and finally having extra overall length to help intuitively point them toward the next target,

You’d likely end up with a hybrid style gun that would meet the rules of several disciplines, but it and the round would be on the small side in ELR use. The drift charts will tell you it can do the job, but the misses do have to be visible. If there no grass where you’d shoot, it might indeed be doable.

As mentioned brass supply is an issue for the saum. With little broader market use, lately, other than in the rarefied community of competitive shooting, I just have the impression this aspect of selecting it will never get better. A few people need a lot of it, because it honestly doesn’t rate very high on reloading firing count, but altogether, they still don’t need enough of it to be a big profit center for makers.

 

[rpierce]

i have ADG 6.5 saum brass on the shelf. $205 shipped per 100 pieces.

 

[SKWERLZ]

I t think it will be hard to spot your misses at ELR distances with a SAUM. It’s a very potent F-Class cartridge for LR, and I’d venture to say that with tipped 195’s, it could hit everything that any .338 variant could, all the way out, with similar or smaller holds. The problem would be that when you missed, 180’s to 195’s won’t splash up the dirt like 300’s on up, will, indicating how much to correct.

I tend to think of ELR guns as physically bigger and heavier than F-Open guns, using their weight to help depress any range tarps or mats, and inconsistencies, and helping absorb a shooter’s unintentional movements after repositioning, and finally having extra overall length to help intuitively point them toward the next target,

You’d likely end up with a hybrid style gun that would meet the rules of several disciplines, but it and the round would be on the small side in ELR use. The drift charts will tell you it can do the job, but the misses do have to be visible. If there no grass where you’d shoot, it might indeed be doable.

As mentioned brass supply is an issue for the saum. With little broader market use, lately, other than in the rarefied community of competitive shooting, I just have the impression this aspect of selecting it will never get better. A few people need a lot of it, because it honestly doesn’t rate very high on reloading firing count, but altogether, they still don’t need enough of it to be a big profit center for makers.

The 190 LRHT I shoot certainly show less impact and miss effects than my 338 but if conditions are decent I’ve had them out to two miles and hit steel relatively easily.
Not barn door steel either.

The ADG brass lasts a good bit longer than Norma brass.

1-7.5 is faster than I would go, 1-8 is plenty for 190’s at distance, I bet a 1-8.5 would be as well and possibly a 1-9.

I’ve used heavy Palma’s for my 7 saum barrels so far but might go heavy varmint or my thicc Palma for next barrel.
28”-30” is a nice length.