Thread: 7mm Saum - 18" or 20" barrel

In the end I went with 20" at 1:9 - which True Flite recommended and the digging around I did seems to indicate it will be ok for the 175Gr ELD-X and 180s. I sent this dummy round with the 175 EDL-X COL of 3.080" I have 2217 to start with and magnum primers and was hoping I might get suggestions for loads please?

If you trim the plastic tip back with a meplat trimmer to about 1/2 length you can gain about 80-100 thou seating depth easy enough with out appreciable loss in BC or performance

Will your eldx be going fast enough for good kill performance at range? I run the 178gr eldm in 30cal at 2920fps

Originally Posted by Smiddy

Will your eldx be going fast enough for good kill performance at range? I run the 178gr eldm in 30cal at 2920fps

Should be heaps I ran the 225 eld m at 2400 and was plenty at 400. I actually prefer to keep the elds a little slower if possible.

How far do you plan on shooting deer at? A 162/168gr goes pretty well a fair way out there. I'm still using the old 162gr Amax in my 22" 7mm SAUM, it seems to kill pretty well at extended ranges.

Here's one I shot on Friday night from 659 yards, only a little red, hence the base of neck shot to save as much meat as possible.

Nice shot GWH and a really well put together video.

I will keep things to a max of 500m as I just don't have the opportunity for practicing longer shots now work has taken me to Auckland. My longest shot with the 7 mag was 465m - lived in Wellington then and got to shoot at Trentham to 600 and that went pleasingly well.

These photo's are not the best but I got my T3 rebarrel back this week and here she is
7mm Saum 20" Trueflite ultra match, fluted 1:9 twist
Senator carbon stock
Zeiss HD5 3-14x42 with target turrets
Mountain tactical 3 shot mag.
Tally light wright rings
SS recoil lug, trigger spring replaced, half cock.
3.4 kgs with the DTP magnum suppressor.

I hope like XXXX it shoots after the spend

Really happy with weight and balance this rifle should see me right for the rest of my days !




Any advice re 168-175 grain loads with AR2217 welcome

162 amax cci mag primer 65.7gr 2217 coal of 2.814" @2952fps

My experience with SAUM and 160 - 162 gn pills and RL23, N560, Hyb100V and 2217 is that you start hitting pressure signs around 60.5 - 61 gn. Every bbl is different but for 168-175 pills I’d be starting at 57gn and work up carefully

Originally Posted by chainsaw

My experience with SAUM and 160 - 162 gn pills and RL23, N560, Hyb100V and 2217 is that you start hitting pressure signs around 60.5 - 61 gn. Every bbl is different but for 168-175 pills I’d be starting at 57gn and work up carefully

Thanks chainsaw and rob hughes - Trueflite have chambered for a 3.080" coal so it will be interesting to see if seating the projectiles out has a beneficial effect.

Correction to above, checked my log book & 2217 with 162 AMAX was 65.5 - 66gn.

When i ran 2217 with 162 Amax's i was at 67.5gr. Its right on the edge. Just over 3k from my 22" barrel and shot bloody well. Was a compressed load and was always a pain. So ive switched to RE26 which gives more velocity, lower pressure and below 100% case fill.

Thanks guys.
ADI have starting loads with 2217 at 61gr max of 65.5 gr compressed for a 175 pill, GWH is sounds like RE26 might be a good option if/when I can get some - for now its making do with 2217.
I have some very old 2213C and not so old N560 - I was wondering given the short 20" barrel whether there is a benefit to be had velocity wise from faster powders than 2217. Might post this question on the reloading sub forum.

The N560 would be worth looking into.

2213sc I found super slow