I saw a Youtube Joseph von Benedikt talking about the attributes of the 7mm SAW and comparing to the 7mm-08. It looked very interesting but brass, barrels and cartridges are limited. Has anyone here built one or had one built?
What accuracy can I realistically expect from a properly built 7mm SAW at 100 yards?
Do your rifles consistently produce 0.5 MOA or better with handloads?
Would you recommend a 20-, 22-, or 24-inch barrel for a suppressed hunting and long-range rifle?
What twist rate would you recommend for 140- through 168-grain bullets?
How does the actual recoil of the 7mm SAW compare with the 6.5 Creedmoor and .25-06 when rifle weights are equal?
Brass being based on 308 Palma is 1 pass through the sizing die if you haven’t got production brass. Alpha is producing brass so it can be had. I was trying to decide between 7-08, 7 SAW and 284 Win for my pistol. Rules for the competition/course I’m taking it to in June state only chambering available for a Contender or G2 from one of the major battle companies; T/C, SSK, MGM. Being a single shot, I can technically push 7-08 beyond 7 SAW because of case capacity.
From listening to podcasts with Clayton Smith talking about the 7 SAW, his idea was better barrel life than the 6mm and 6.5mm options guys were using in PRS while also being able to confirm impact without a spotter and not needing a long action or to single feed to do it. It’s a great cartridge that hopefully gains traction. It’s more for 175-190 gr bullets so 1:8 is ideal. Lighter bullets don’t fully utilize the intention of the design. Recoil has been said to be about the same as 7-08.
Very accurate. Since it’s a wildcat most likely you’ll be going with a custom barrel which are typically more accurate than production barrels.
“consistently produce 0.5 moa or better” is an interesting question. I don’t really do enough testing to say one way or the other. Typically, I will do 5 shot groups 1-3 times to get an idea of which load is accurate and then just load up a bunch of that. I have my go to powders bc powder is cost prohibitive and certain powders are not always readily available. But whatever seems to be accurate, with reasonable SDs (10ish or less) and no pressure signs is what I am looking for. Then I’ll use that load until I have reason to change it. But after my initial load development I’m mostly looking to hit steel at distance at that point. I maybe wrong, but I think most people including myself don’t really determine what a rifle can do consistently. So many environmental variables and so much time and money would have to be invested to really answer that question. What I do, I would describe as “good enough for me”. Not sure if any one has looked at Preston Moore’s YouTube videos on barrel accuracy testing but I think a system like his AZED score would be a deeper but practical way of testing barrel accuracy and then your effective range with that rifle. I’ve been meaning to try and reproduce his method with some of my rifles, but shooting a string of 30 shots at 100 yards doesn’t seem as fun as shooting farther out trying to ring steel. Here’s some 5 shot groups I did with my 7 saw. Berger 168 vlds. I ultimately went with Varget. The guys over at WTO seem to use Varget as well. I have shot 162 eld-x out of it as well using n140. I kind of want to give vv n150 a try.
My 7 saw is 26". I think if I was gonna build a hunting rig I’d do it on a tikka action with a 22" barrel and a #3b or #4 contour. For long range shooting, I like my 26" MTU contour.
I think if you will never go above 168, 1-9 twist would be fine, but if you may go with heavier projectiles, then 1-8.
It’s hard to compare recoil in real life bc rifles and projectile weights are so different. That being said, 7 SAW seems to be closer in recoil to 6.5. creedmoor than it is to 308. I have an old hunting rifle in 25-06 without a brake or a suppressor and it feels surprisingly good to shoot, but maybe it’s bc I expect it to recoil more than it does. Overall I’d say the 6.5 creedmoor has the least recoil of the bunch.
The specs of my rig are arc coup de grace short action, straight jacket armory 26" MTU 1-8 twist 3/4-24 muzzle threading. Foundation Exodus stock. Hawkins bottom metal. trigger tech diamond trigger.
