7 mm Shooting Times Westerner

In 1979, Layne Simpson, necked the 8mm Remington Magnum case down to 7mm. About ten years later, as Field Editor of Shooting Times magazine, he wrote an article about his creation, which he baptized as the 7mm Shooting Times Western (7mm STW). In preparation for that article, he corrected a deficiency of the original design by slightly reducing body taper. With the new reamer, rechambering original 7mm Remington Magnum rifles assured a clean job of removing material from the entire original chamber wall. Reader interest was so great that Remington soon began offering 7mm STW ammunition, then manufacturers began chambering for the 7mm STW. Only the slowest available propellants provide acceptable performance. However, we could not get consistent results using our slowest number, MRP2. Achieving any measure of ballistic potential requires a 26-inch barrel. Properly igniting such large charges of such slow burning propellants requires magnum primers. While one cannot expect much barrel life from such a chambering, chamber design includes a straight freebore section, which may mitigate this problem. However, nothing can eliminate rapid barrel wear when burning so much powder in such a small bore. With greater capacity, best 7mm STW loads will do anything that any 7mm short magnum will do and will effectively reach, perhaps, 50 yards farther, in any given application. With a proper bullet and good shot placement, this
cartridge is adequate for all but the largest of species, worldwide.