What about the 7mm08 twist rate?

[Backwoods]

Hey fellas will the 11 1/2 to 1 twist in the new 7mm08 barrels stabilize a 139 gr. SST?

[tammons]

According to my calculations it should. That bullet is 1.207" long.

[Uncle Mike]

Hey backwoods, are you actually holding a barrel twisted up for 11.5" in 7mm-08?

The Savage catalog was misprinted with the 7mm-08 being billed as having a 1/11.5" twist when actually they are 1/9.5" twist. This is what we were told by Savage.

I would be interested to hear if any barrels actually were produced with that twist!

[Backwoods]

Yes I am

[tarheellin]

Yep... Here's another 7mm-08 with "that" twist... Bought it about this past June. 16, Accustock, Weather Warrior. Only a 22" barrel with 1:11.5" twist. I just double-checked to make sure... A shame , ain't it ? :-\
Rifle musta' read the specs. before they were declared a "misprint" ;D

As far as bullets, I don't go heavier than 120gr. for the long profiles.

Lin.

[Cycler]

The 11.5" twist isn't a mis-print. At least the past two Savage catalogs (2008 and 2009) have stated it as the spec and the current Savage web site does too.

I have a 16 in 7mm-08 bought at the end of 2008 (Accutrigger but pre Accustock) and my patched cleaning rod also tells me it's 11.5".

I made two phone calls to Savage's Customer Service and they both confirmed the 11.5" twist but no one could explain why they did it.

And, yes, I expect 139/140 gr bullets to be the heaviest it will handle and even they will be marginal.

[northlander]

I just shipped a 22" Blued Stevens Barrel in 7mm-08 to a customer. The twist measured 11 Twist almost on the button.

Jim Briggs
NSS

[Wahooo03]

Wow, bad news.....I wonder if/when they'll go back to the 1:9.5? Not so excited about the 7mm08 at this point.

MEC

[tammons]

I just wonder if this was a major screw up and somebody ordered or made 500 or so 1:11 barrel blanks by mistake.

[Uncle Mike]

Maybe a screw up...we have several 16's in the shop...I'll look and see.

I had checked several 16's we have in the shop and low and behold they were 1/9" but these are old guns.

This isn't the first we had heard of this, I had called Savage some time ago and they said it was a misprint...now I don't know what to think.

Luckily none of the customers that bought the previous batch of 7mm-08's have complained!

I have my eye on a 14 AC that will be in next week, along with several other models...wanted to buy this one, but if it is a 1/11.5" twist, there aint no way brother! I'll be checking it out!

You don't suppose, like was said, that someone screwed up and chambered the wrong barrels?

I'm with you tammons, I think it must have been a boo boo! Why would they purposely go to a 1/11.5" twist with a 7mm-08?

Well, you fellers may have some...collectibles! lol hehehe

[Wahooo03]

Mike - Let us know what you find out.

It would certainly be nice to get a straight answer about what's going on.

MEC

[Cycler]

Mike - Let us know what you find out.

It would certainly be nice to get a straight answer about what's going on.

MEC

Yes, as I said above, I called Savage's Customer Service twice and asked to talk to one of their technical folks. Both times they confirmed the 11.5" twist but no one could or would explain why they did it.

I would have chosen either another caliber or a different rifle if I had known. As it is, I have a 7-08 barrel and stock on order from SSS so I basically bought a $500+ action when I got my rifle.

[tarheellin]

The specs. page in the 2009, Savage Catalog lists the Savage rifles, in 7mm-08, as having the 1:11.5... >

But, the specs. page, in the same catalog, for Stevens rifles lists the blued barrel, 7mm-08 as having a 1:9.5 twist. ??? ??? Tends to make you think somebody slowed the button-pull down on a batch of barrels by mistake... Too many to scrap out.

Lin.

[Uncle Mike]

We'll do.... I am curious to what's up now.

I hope, for world peace that Savage has not gone to the 1/11.5" for the 7mm-08.....that would be terrible!

[Uncle Mike]

Whoops...Double Tap...apologies!

[Wahooo03]

I would have chosen either another caliber or a different rifle if I had known. As it is, I have a 7-08 barrel and stock on order from SSS so I basically bought a $500+ action when I got my rifle.

I feel the same way. I was seriously considering picking up a WW in 7mm-08 until I heard about this. If it looks like 1:11.5 for the immediate future, I guess I'm going to have to figure out the best way to build up a 6.5x55.

MEC

[Frankb]

I have a newer center feed Stevens 200 7 mm-08 with an 1/11.5 barrel twist. It wouldn't shoot Winchester 140 gr soft points for me without covering the target with holes. I sent the barreled action to Savage ( I had already glass bedded the stock twice) and they sent it back with a 5 shot test target with a 1.2" group on which they used Winchester Silvertips. Evidently The Silvertips were just fast enough to get by. Stevens 200s are advertised as having 1/9.5 barrels. I just loaded up some 130 Speer bullets and they gave me about a 1/2" horizontal spread. A person could do a lot of expensive things to that gun without finding the problem. That seems to have cured the problem, but I won't be shooting any 160 gr bullets at elk with that gun.

[Frankb]

I should add that the Winchester Silvertips that Savage used (see the post above) were 140 gr.

[Cycler]

The 11.5" is marginal with 140 gr bullets. Mine groups 140 gr Remington PSP and 139 gr Hornady BTSP driven by a max load of IMR 4895 in the 2" to 2-1/2" range. It isn't terrible but not what I thought a Savage should do. It might do better with 130 or 120 gr bullets but I don't want a rifle limited to only light bullets.

I have some Hornady 150 gr bonded polymer tipped boat tails and these are as long as pencils so I'm going to assume they are hopeless. I'm not going to waste time trying them until my new SSS barrel arrives.

[Frankb]

Has anyone seen Stevens literature with the 1/11.5 twist rate? Savage had some literature that showed the 1/11.5 twist, but I don't know if Stevens ever did. I wonder what Savage/Stevens' liability is on using the wrong rate of twist. It is presently shown as 1/9.5. If they advertise one thing and give you something else that is detrimental to the funcion of the rifle it seems they should replace the 1/11.5 barrels with 1/9.5 barrels.

[Uncle Mike]

Hey, I just spoke with Savage and they did confirm that the newer 7mm-08's are indeed 1/11.5" twist, said the change was 2 years ago(?).

I asked why on earth they would do such a thing and was told that was what their engineering department decide on...hopefully they will come to their senses and go back to the 1/9.5" twist.

I'll agree with the majority in the fact that nobody wants a rifle limited to a the 120gr. or 130gr. bullets, most folks I know shoot the 140 grainers out of the 7mm-08!

Maybe if the likes of Hornady would load their Light Magnum 7mm-08 with 120 grain SST's or even the 120gr. BTSP, then maybe...just maybe I could deal with the slower twist.

FrankB... the 1/11.5" twist isn't the 'wrong' twist, it's not dangerous or detrimental to use, it just isn't the optimum twist for the 140 grain and heavier bullets. 120 grain bullets would probably work fine.

Strange, you buy a 30-06 from Savage and it'll be sportin' a 1/10" twist, so a man can launch the 220 grain stuff with some accuracy, but who really uses the 220's? Few do, and most 30-06 bullets remain in the 150gr. to 180gr. range,with the 165gr. the most popular...as far as our sales go, clearly you could get by with 1/11" twist here.

[vermonter]

I just checked a 7mm-08 Weather Warrior that I bought new in Jan. of 2005. It has a 11.5 twist. Found an old 2005 catalog and it has it listed as a 9.5 twist.