270 WSM to 7mm WSM conversion questions

[WDL]

I've got a 270 WSM hunting rifle, 24" 10 twist sporter barrel. I now live and travel in a motorhome and I haven't hunted with the gun for three years. I'm going to try shooting steel out to 1000 yards with it when I get back to OH this summer. I know the sporter barrel is not a good choice, but I will find out if I want to pursue the 'long distance steel' sport.
So if I do like it as I anticipate, I then want to convert it to a 7mm WSM. Probably a 30" 9 twist LV contour shooting 162 AMaxs. I think I can get those close to 3200 MV.
I seem to recall that Winchester made the 7mm WSM shoulders a tad longer (and the neck a tad shorter) so they couldn't be accidentally chambered in the 270 WSM. Will I need to fire form my 270 WSM brass? Or can I simply resize to 7mm WSM? Or is there another option? I like the WSMs and I have 120 270 WSM brass, so I want to stay in the WSM family.

 

[WDL]

Re: 270 WSM to 7mm WSM conversion questions

I thought there were smart guys on this forum. But 36 have read this thread and not one person has an answer.

I understand there are wildcats that use the 270 & 300 WSM case dimensions to make a 7mm WSM. Another question: Can a gunsmith use a 7mm WSM reamer and stop a little short, or would that make the neck area too short?

 

[BobinNC]

Re: 270 WSM to 7mm WSM conversion questions

CamoWildcat,

I'm one of the guys that read your post and did not comment. Perhaps some things are best left unsaid.

But since you asked twice for guidance of some sort, here's my 0.02 cents.

First, it's seems fairly clear from your initial post, that you don't shoot much. Now you want to try to bang steel out to 1000 yds. So far so good.

Trying it out with your current 270 WSM to see how you like it, is also a sound idea.

The rest is where it gets fuzzy: You want to spend $500 (not including truing your action) or so to re-barrel your rifle to 7 WSM. And your worried about utilizing $70. worth of 270 WSM cases????

Second, you don't need 3200 FPS with a 162 Grain A-max to bang steel @ 1000 yds. You can bang steel very nicely at 1000 yds from a 7mm WSM at a more modest 2900 FPS. The difference between them is one bangs a bit harder, and the other lasts probably 1000 more rounds before you torch your barrel if you load it to only 2900 fps.

Did I mention that a 7mm WSM @ 3200 FPS, has a barrel life calculated in months, not years. Expect no more than 1000 shots + or - 200 shots. Just banging steel and matches I shoot more than 200 rounds on a good weekend.

Hell I shoot 162 a-max's @ 2725 FPS from a 7mm-08, and it's still supersonic @ 1300 yds.

So unless you have range access in excess of 1500 yds, you cannot really use the power that 3200 FPS delivers.

And I don't even want to get into the thought of a 30" LV barrel, unless it comes with wheels. Barrels that long have value for some static shooting disciplines, but just making a steel target go "ping" @ 1000 yds, is not among them.

Hey, but it's your money spend it how you see fit.

Regards,

Bob

 

[WDL]

Re: 270 WSM to 7mm WSM conversion questions

Bob in NC,

Thanks for your 2 cents, however I think it is worth considerably more. By your standards, I don't shoot much. 4512 rounds over the last six years with the majority of those rounds coming in the last four years since retirement began.

We live and travel in a motorhome with one month each year spent in NC in the Goldsboro/Kinston area visiting family. Most of the summers are spent in OH where there are two ranges, one with a max of 1000 and the other has steel to one mile with the remaining steel at 1165 or less. We normally winter in AZ and shooting range there is virtually unlimited. I said 1000 yards, but I might want to stretch to 1200 , maybe even to 1500. I'm not good enough nor do I want to spend the money to go to one mile.

Most of my shooting to date has been at varmints with nearly all of the shots being 600 yards and less. However I did shoot a groundhog at 823 yards last summer. Nearly all of that shooting is done from a portable bench I built that is usually within a few feet of my pickup truck or the motorhome. And that is why I wasn't concerned about the weight of the gun - although maybe I should be.

I was thinking the cost would be closer to $800 when a muzzle brake is included, and since I'm on a retired budget, was trying to save where I could. I thought the brass was one of those areas. But you are correct - it doesn't amount to much compared to the overall cost.

Velocity/barrel life. Quickload showed 3200 MV with RL-22 at 60,000 PSI. I guess I didn't consider that would wear out the barrel that fast or that the number of rounds would be that high. I guess I was thinking a barrel life of 1500 rounds or so and that it would take 3 to 5 years to go thru that many rounds. My 270 WSM has 208 rounds thru it in 6 years and most of those rounds are load development.

QuickLoad also predicts 2998 MV with a 26" barrel and 54,000 PSI. I assume you would think that is a more viable choice.

I'm new to this type of long range shooting, obviously. And I'm open to advice, opinions, and suggestions. Maybe some other cartridge would be better for my short action. Or maybe I should sell the 270 WSM and start over.

Thanks for your input.