We have been shooting well past the 12-1400 yard mark more and more this year. So the time was right to build a dedicated ELR rig, or two, or three. I considered all of the usual suspects like the big 338’s and big 30’s, Cheytacs, etc. In the end, it had to be affordable to shoot, have manageable recoil to help spot misses through the scope, and reasonable barrel life for me to take the plunge. These requirements had me looking hard at the big 7’s.
I ruled out the REALLY overbore 7’s on barrel life alone. I was thinking STW/Nosler level performance running 195’s is where I wanted to be. I have a long history with the STW, I know how finicky it can be and brass isn’t always available or the best quality when you can find it. So the STW was out. The 28 Nosler is really appealing and we do build a lot of them, but again you are tied to a single source of brass. The 7mm practical, or 7-300WM has been gaining some ground lately and has had my attention for a while. Similar case capacity as the previously mentioned rounds but has quality brass available from several different sources. Simply run a 300WM case through a 7mm neck die, load it up and go. I was sold. Almost.
I called Dave Kiff at PT&G last summer and got the ball rolling on this project. Anybody that knows me knows I HATE to trim brass, and tend to favor Ackley, or 40 degree shoulders for this very reason. I talked to Dave about giving this round the AI treatment and he agreed that it made sense, and to his knowledge it had not been done before. Ok, now I was sold - and the 7MM APR was born. PT&G started on the reamer and a drawing was sent out to Redding to make 10 sets of dies.
The project got put on the back burner around the shop through hunting season and kind of languished for a while. Fast forward to April and I built the first one for a friend of mine who was in on the original concept phase of this round. Guess he ran out of patience waiting on me to build mine
The good news is he has been able to work with the round while I haven’t and get some preliminary data laid out. So far it is hitting on all cylinders and I am extremely happy with the results. Accuracy is fantastic, case capacity increased by 3grns water volume putting it even with the STW/28, and so far cases have not needed to be trimmed once! We just got our hands on some RWS brass, so things can only get better from here.
The reamer was built to have the 195’s work in a standard mag box and require no neck turning. We wanted to make it a simple as we could, excluding the fire form step of course. But I’d rather pull the trigger than trim a neck anyway . His rifle is just breaking 3,000 fps with the 195 and Retumbo in a 26” barrel. I wish the 180 ELDs with their phenomenal BC would have been out when we started this project, but I may go ahead and have another reamer ground just for them anyway. I have a couple of boxes on hand to test.
Anyway, this was a long way of saying I just finished my personal rifle chambered in the 7 APR. Just figured I better explain what that strange cartridge was before I posted it out there. It’s certainly nothing that hasn’t been done a hundred times before from a performance standpoint, but it should suit my needs just fine. Enjoy.
Build Specs:
Defiance Deviant Tactical
McMillan Adj A5 in Urban Spectre
Bartlien #9 at 28”
Stiller DBM
Area419 Hellfire Muzzle Brake
Jewell HVR Trigger
Seekins Rings
Athlon Cronus 4.5-29 x 56
7mm APR
18lbs all up.
Thanks for looking,
Robert
Alamo Precision Rifles
aprifles.com
I ruled out the REALLY overbore 7’s on barrel life alone. I was thinking STW/Nosler level performance running 195’s is where I wanted to be. I have a long history with the STW, I know how finicky it can be and brass isn’t always available or the best quality when you can find it. So the STW was out. The 28 Nosler is really appealing and we do build a lot of them, but again you are tied to a single source of brass. The 7mm practical, or 7-300WM has been gaining some ground lately and has had my attention for a while. Similar case capacity as the previously mentioned rounds but has quality brass available from several different sources. Simply run a 300WM case through a 7mm neck die, load it up and go. I was sold. Almost.
I called Dave Kiff at PT&G last summer and got the ball rolling on this project. Anybody that knows me knows I HATE to trim brass, and tend to favor Ackley, or 40 degree shoulders for this very reason. I talked to Dave about giving this round the AI treatment and he agreed that it made sense, and to his knowledge it had not been done before. Ok, now I was sold - and the 7MM APR was born. PT&G started on the reamer and a drawing was sent out to Redding to make 10 sets of dies.
The project got put on the back burner around the shop through hunting season and kind of languished for a while. Fast forward to April and I built the first one for a friend of mine who was in on the original concept phase of this round. Guess he ran out of patience waiting on me to build mine
The good news is he has been able to work with the round while I haven’t and get some preliminary data laid out. So far it is hitting on all cylinders and I am extremely happy with the results. Accuracy is fantastic, case capacity increased by 3grns water volume putting it even with the STW/28, and so far cases have not needed to be trimmed once! We just got our hands on some RWS brass, so things can only get better from here.The reamer was built to have the 195’s work in a standard mag box and require no neck turning. We wanted to make it a simple as we could, excluding the fire form step of course. But I’d rather pull the trigger than trim a neck anyway
. His rifle is just breaking 3,000 fps with the 195 and Retumbo in a 26” barrel. I wish the 180 ELDs with their phenomenal BC would have been out when we started this project, but I may go ahead and have another reamer ground just for them anyway. I have a couple of boxes on hand to test.Anyway, this was a long way of saying I just finished my personal rifle chambered in the 7 APR. Just figured I better explain what that strange cartridge was before I posted it out there. It’s certainly nothing that hasn’t been done a hundred times before from a performance standpoint, but it should suit my needs just fine. Enjoy.
Build Specs:
Defiance Deviant Tactical
McMillan Adj A5 in Urban Spectre
Bartlien #9 at 28”
Stiller DBM
Area419 Hellfire Muzzle Brake
Jewell HVR Trigger
Seekins Rings
Athlon Cronus 4.5-29 x 56
7mm APR
18lbs all up.
Thanks for looking,
Robert
Alamo Precision Rifles
aprifles.com
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