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My new 7saum what it likes

Well after about 110 rounds I had yet to find a load that would shoot in my 7 saum, I tried 175 SMK's and 180 Bergers with several different powders and charges. The best I could get it to shoot was a around a MOA . I ordered some 162 Amaxes and seated them on top of 65 gr of H1000 and I am getting 1/4 min groups (I am very pleased).

The barrel is a Rock Creek 8.7 twist shouldn't it shoot the 180's well ?

I am very pleased with the Amaxes I found them to be far more consistent than the Bergers, has anyone had any luck in Fclass with the 162 Amax?
 
Maybe your powder charges are too high and your groups are blowing apart?

The one I just set up does not like to go hot.

For the few I have had over the years, I have always found a load like 57.5 gr of H4831SC (on the milder side for that cartridge) shoots well with the 175 - 180 gr bullets unless there's something wrong with the barrel or rifle.

Robert
 
By the way, if you need another 7mm barrel and are stuck for one fast, I just received in a number of great 7mm barrels (12 of them) that will work great with the 175 - 180 gr bullets, all 8.5" twist, 5R rifled, etc. in a couple different contours.

Send me an e-mail if you are stuck and need such a barrel - the price will be right.
rcw3@erols.com

Robert
 
I did have one group with the 175 SMK that shot decent it was 60 gr of H100, it shot pretty good but the case was only about 70% full if I remember correctly. I admit I was running them hot, I run RL 25 and H100 to the limit trying find a load lost a few pieces of brass in the process. I like to know what my max load is !!!!

Ayways I think I might just stick with the 162's pretty happy at this point, and I think they will hang with the 180's.
 
Find the right spot for those 162 A-max's and you'll think you died and went to heaven.....
H-4831SC works for me.......
 
CZ550 said:
Well after about 110 rounds I had yet to find a load that would shoot in my 7 saum, I tried 175 SMK's and 180 Bergers with several different powders and charges. The best I could get it to shoot was a around a MOA . I ordered some 162 Amaxes and seated them on top of 65 gr of H1000 and I am getting 1/4 min groups (I am very pleased).

The barrel is a Rock Creek 8.7 twist shouldn't it shoot the 180's well ?

I am very pleased with the Amaxes I found them to be far more consistent than the Bergers, has anyone had any luck in Fclass with the 162 Amax?

Hello CZ550 and others-
I'm new to this forum and am in process of building a 7 SAUM on a 26" Krieger 9twist 4groove w/ a Stiller Tac30 short action. Building it to shoot in long-range tac matches (ASC, hopefully, and some of the big ones out west). Anyway, I was wondering what reamer you used on your chamber. I'm wondering if you are not throated for the big 180's and that is having impact on your 180 groups? Are you jamming them in really deep?

Its my understanding that the straight SAMMI spec reamer leaves something to be desired on the throats when putting a long 180 gr in there (the bullet is over 1.5" long!).
 
Well I am not 100% sure on my freebore but it is somewhere around .175 I let the smith set up a dummy round and throat it. My loaded round measures 3.065 it looks good as far as seating depth goes. I dont think this particular barrel likes the 180's for whatever reason.
 
a lot of guys over here use the 162 A max for shorter range and in calmer conditions and run the 180's when the conditions pick up. some guys are having great success with the new hornady 162 match aswell. they are a pre pointed hollowpoint.

what brand of brass are you using CZ550?? if you only have a .175 FB that cold be a lot of your pressure issues with the 180s but as you are finding the 162's are spot on :D
 
I know a guy that shoots a 7MM/270WSM in an XP and his gun loves the 162 A max--he shot a couple of speed goats --2 years back with that XP one was over 1000 yds

His gun would shoot sub 1" at 200 if I recall
 
Glad you found a load. My 7mm SAUM is being built and I am not thinking I would be disappointed if it liked the A-Max over the VLD. I've been shooting them in my 7mm Remington Magnum and they have never left me wanting. It even doubles as a good long range game bullet and a great varmint bullet.
 
I am using Rem Brass no turn. I would like to give them a clean up cut but I dont have the mandrels, still debating on buying them. I have not sorted the brass by weight either, I plan on culling the brass that wont group now that I have a decent load.

Anyone ever had there chamber throated out further ? How much does a good smith usually charge and is there a chance of screwing up the chamber or accuracy while doing so ?

What is your COAL with 180 bergers ? Mine were around 3.070.
 
Ive been shooting the 7saum with 162 A-max for a while now and love it. if your shooting rem brass you need to weight it for sure. i found on average about a 8 grain per 100 spread in the rem brass, what i started doing is using 300 Norma saum brass and necking it down. that has really cut down on uncalled fliers. Ive also been running 59.6 grains of RL-22 in a 26" shilen barrel. shoots 1 1/4 groups at 200. my biggest accuracy gain was sorting brass tho. As far as the 180's i never went that big after trying the 162 A-max. hope this helps
 
I have a 7mmsaum with a 30" Bartlien barrel 1:9 that loves the 180's. However, it was throated for them to get max case capacity. I'm getting low e.s. with 4831sc if it helps.
 
rcw3 said:
Maybe your powder charges are too high and your groups are blowing apart?

The one I just set up does not like to go hot.

For the few I have had over the years, I have always found a load like 57.5 gr of H4831SC (on the milder side for that cartridge) shoots well with the 175 - 180 gr bullets unless there's something wrong with the barrel or rifle.

Robert

That's the exact same load my 1 in 8.5'',30" kreiger likes, .5 moa at 1000yds fairly consistently with 180 vld's. Really slows down the throat erosion too.
 
In my Barnes book it shows a max load of IMR 4350 at 55.5 grains for 2834 fps in a 24 inch barrel
and for H 4350 at a max load of 53.5 for 2804 fps same barrel. It shows Rl-22 to be the most accurate at a max of 60.5 with 2912 fps. I found Rl-22 to be the best for me, also tried RL-17, it gave me good velocity but was unpredictable in hot weather. hope that helps
 
Well I have been developing a load with h4350 and the 162. I am currently at 60 grains with no pressure signs I can see. Velocity is around 3140 fps according to cheap chrono. Seems kinda fast anyone?
 

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