Kenny Jarrett built the very first rifle in 7mm STW in 1987, and it still averages less than minute-of-angle accuracy.

The chaps at Remington eventually changed their minds, and why they did is one of my favorite parts of the story. At the time, the 8mm Magnum was a dead duck; Remington had dropped it from the Model 700 rifle, and ammunition sales had become practically nonexistent. Then suddenly, orders for thousands upon thousands of rounds of 8mm Magnum unprimed brass began to pour in from distributors across the country. As Remington's investigation revealed, all those cases were being sold to handloaders who owned rifles in 7mm STW.

A sampling of some excellent powders for the entire STW family.

One of the reasons the 7mm STW became so successful so quickly was the fact that the chamber of any rifle in 7mm Remington Magnum could be reamed out for it. One gunsmith who charged $60 for a rechamber job (and who wisely ran advertisements in the issue of Shooting Times in which my first article on the cartridge appeared) told me that within 12 months after my first article was published he had rechambered more than 600 rifles from 7mm Remington Magnum to 7mm STW. That was from only one among dozens of gunsmiths across the country who were offering the same service.

Soon after Remington woke up to the fact that rifles in 7mm STW would sell, the wheels of progress began to pick up more speed. Then in a ceremony held during the 1997 NRA annual meetings, I was presented with the very first production rifle built in 7mm STW. I also received the first box of 140-grain Core-Lokt ammunition to come off the production line.

The 7mm STW is a descendent of the 8mm Remington Magnum; RCBS made the first set of reloading dies.

That first load offered by Remington was rated at 3,325 fps, but, as many of us eventually discovered, it exceeded 3,400 fps in some rifles with 26-inch barrels. Twelve months later Remington had sold just over 600,000 rounds of 7mm STW ammo, something I used to take great joy in mentioning to my friends at Winchester who had turned down the opportunity to beat their competition to the punch.

7mm STW LOAD DATA
BULLET	POWDER		VELOCITY	DATA SOURCE
	(Type)	(Grs.)
(Highest Velocity Loads Listed)
Hornady 100-gr. HP	RL-22	83.6	3,800	Hornady
Barnes 100-gr. XBT	RL-22	81.0	3,634	Barnes
Sierra 120-gr. SPT	V-N 160	78.0	3,600	Sierra
Barnes 130-gr. XBT	H4831	79.0	3,523	Barnes
Sierra 130-gr. MK	RL-22	80.0	3,600	Sierra
Barnes 140-gr. XFB	IMR-7828	80.0	3,473	Barnes
Nosler 140-gr. Part	RL-22	82.0	3,382	Lyman
Nosler 140-gr. B-Tip	RL-22	79.0	3,410	A-Square
Sierra 140-gr. SPT	IMR-7828	79.0	3,400	Sierra
Barnes 150-gr. XBT	H-1000	81.0	3,359	Barnes
Nosler 150-gr. B-Tip	AA-8700	92.0	3,300	Nosler
Sierra 150-gr. SBT	H870	91.0	3,350	Sierra
Barnes 160-gr. XFB	H1000	80.0	3,287	Barnes
Nosler 160-gr. Partition	IMR-7828	78.5	3,272	A-Square
Sierra 160-gr. SBT	H870	88.4	3,250	Sierra
Barnes 160-gr. XLCFB	N-MRP	79.0	3,384	Barnes
Nosler 175-gr. Partition	AA-8700	89.0	3,047	Nosler
Sierra 175-gr. SBT	H870	86.3	3,100	Sierra
Speer 175-gr. GS	AA-8700	90.0	3,083	Lyman
Barnes 190-gr. Orig.	IMR-7828	75.0	3,127	Barnes

Other companies besides Remington also played important roles in the success of the 7mm STW. About four years before Remington adopted it, the custom shop of U.S. Repeating Arms began to offer Winchester Model 70 rifles chambered for it. That made the Model 70 one of very few factory rifles to ever be offered in a wildcat chambering. During a private meeting with USRAC officials in 1993 I was told about a yet-to-be-announced custom variation of the Model 70 and was asked to come up with a name for it.

The new rifle would be built for big-game hunting and it would wear a Schneider match-grade barrel, so I casually mentioned that "Sporting Sharpshooter" would be an appropriate name for the rifle. Shortly after that meeting took place I received the very first Model 70 Sporting Sharpshooter built by USRAC. Even more surprising was "7mm STW" engraved on its barrel. From that day on, the 7mm STW chambering was on the custom shop's list of options.

The next event that went a long way toward greasing the wheels of progress for the 7mm STW was the 1994 introduction of custom-loaded ammunition by A-Square. During a factory visit with Art Alphin, who owned the company at the time, I was asked which bullets should be offered. Soon thereafter I received a batch of the ammo, and the 140-grain load clocked an average of 3,437 fps when fired in my rifle. The 160-grain load averaged just under 3,200 fps.