Sherman Short Cartridges

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Does anyone here have experience with the Sherman Short family of cartridges? My son and I are considering building one on a Terminus Zeus quick change action…to change calibers then all you would need is a new prefit barrel

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I will be building a 7 max in the near future from the research that I have done the Sherman cartridges are some of the most efficient out there. What caliber are you looking at building?

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I am looking at the 6.5 SS and my son is considering the 30 SS.

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The 6.5ss would be a pretty sweet round the 30 I’m not so sure about I don’t know of many people that have one. If he is not to concerned with recoil he should look at the 30 mega it’s more or less an improved 300 wsm. One thing I will tell you though is there Will be some added steps to loading for both the 6.5ss and the 30ss because all of the ss brass comes in 7mm, you will have to neck down or up depending on what you go with.

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Wonder if any of the 30 cal Shermans would handle the 212LRX bore rider better than the 300WSM.

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For sure the cases are optimized for the longer heavy for caliber bullets

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I bet that they would.

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I am SERIOUSLY looking at the Seekins PH3 and ordering barrels for all the Sherman Short cartridges from CRB. I would be set for life then :joy: ok maybe not that long but for anything I would ever hunt.

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I have a 7 saum CRB barrel I just received and man this thing shoots lights out. I run proof, bartleen, and CRB and they all are great. 200 rounds to date through a short action shooting 180 bergers with130 in the last two days. We have been ringing steel from 1000 to 2200 yards and getting consistent impacts on all distances. Cool 3 day elr during the day and then hog hunting at night with the guys here in texas. CRB makes good stuff

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Not sure if your joking, but you’re onto something

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My checkbook hopes I’m joking but I am VERY intrigued. If this had been available 30+ years ago, it might have saved me some serious money.

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I’ve thought about doing a Sherman short or a Sherman max, but I’ve already gone in on the 7 SAUM so it’s hard to justify. I think if I were to go back and pick one, I’d pick the Sherman max on a medium action maybe. But it’s hard to work with a mostly dead cartridge like 7 SAUM already. Going the semi supported wildcat option could be even more frustrating and expensive. I think there’s a strong argument for sticking with the 7 SAUM and then extending the freebore. I’ll make a couple arguments as to why…

performance: I’ve extended the throat on my 7 SAUMs and I can do COALs of 3.15 which is nice for the >175 gr projectiles. So performance wise, how much are you really getting in a Sherman short on a short action vs a 7 SAUM with extended free bore in medium action. If for some reason you are beholden to building a short action magnum then 7 ss would make sense. And then compared to 7 Sherman max, much of the capacity gain is from the increase in OAL. If you extend your freebore on the 7 SAUM, you’re almost there. That being said, if you’re starting from scratch, and are open to medium or long action, the 7 Sherman max is appealing.

Cost: 7 Sherman short brass is 50 for $110. 7 SAUM is 50 for $85. The caveat is if you are ok with modifying your brass, I think you could just get 7 SAUM brass and mod it but that’s added steps and cost if you don’t have the right equipment. In terms of dies, with 7 ss and max you have two options. Hornady or reverse mortgaging your home. I personally prefer Redding and rcbs to hornady dies.

Availability: 7 SAUM albeit a mostly dead cartridge has more support over the Sherman wildcats in terms of brass, dies, prefit barrels, etc. Another consideration is getting a 7 SAUM barrel with an extended freebore is a little trickier compared to SAAMI, naturally. You can always do it by hand as well but once again, extra step/cost.

I think I’d consider going 7 Sherman max if I had to start over, but I think at this point, l’m happy with the 7 SAUM.

“The chocolate coating makes it go down easier. But you have to wait fifteen minutes for full potency. And you shouldn’t go in swimming after, for at least what? An hour. A good hour.” —The Princess Bride

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Love my 7SAUM. I’m loading 162ELDX in mine.

Who did your throat work?

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I actually got a hand held tool from PTG and used that.

I have one for 30 cal and 7 mm and a t-handle. I know it seems kind of cavalier, but it’s worked. I make sure to check against go, no go and field gauges before and after and I haven’t had any problems. I use a OAL gauge to get it where I want it with the projectile I will be using. I have used it on two 7 SAUM barrels, a 300 SAUM barrel and a 300 wsm barrel. All of them are “moa” or less after the modification so as far as I can tell, accuracy didn’t suffer. The 300 wsm was a tikka T3x lite that I had cut down to 20” and threaded 1/2-28”. That thing was a bucking bronco and accuracy was more erratic after all those mods. But i didn’t do much load development for it and ended up rebarreling it.

All that being said, these were tikka, mcgowen and pbb barrels. If I were paying top dollar for a bartlein or equivalent, I think I’d just pay for the prefit company or get a blank and find a gun smith to do it. Even I have limits to my shenanigans, lol.

I think in a different life I would have bought an old mill and lathe and be spinning barrels for the love of the game.

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