7mm Sherman Short Rifle Build: Part One

I had great success with Piet Malan’s 6.5 Sherman Short on South African game and recently tested the limits of 7mm SWC. Next on my list of Sherman Wildcat Cartridge builds is the 7mm Sherman Short!

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About the 7mm Sherman Short

As much as I loved Piet’s 6.5 Sherman Short, I wanted to investigate a similar 7mm cartridge for longer range shots.

The 7mm Sherman Short offers more energy on target and wind resistance down range. While I successfully harvested a Kudu with the 6.5 Sherman Short, at 680 yards, I would have preferred to have a 7mm.

6.5 Sherman Short Cartridges in an MDT Spare Round Holder

The 7mm Sherman Short is very similar to the 6.5 Sherman Short with a 40 degree shoulder for burn efficiency. It is also comparable to the 7mm SAUM but does better with longer, higher BC bullets.

From Sherman Wildcat Cartridges:

The 7mm Sherman Short shares the same design as the other SS family members and also shares the same benefits. High efficiency performance rivaling belted magnums with 10 grains more capacity, while cycling the high b.c. bullets through a true short action design.

The 7 SS is a great choice for those who want laser trajectory coupled with more energy than the 6.5 SS. It is suitable for ethical long range hunting for medium to large North American animals. It has also found a following in some competitive circles such as F-class.

The 7SS is at its best with bullets ranging from 160-195 grains, and with powders ranging in burning rate from 4831 to H1000. RL26 and H1000 are my personal favorites, and newer powders with good temp stability, like RL23, should also work well! The 7SS is capable of max velocities of well over 3000’ with 180 class bullets and over 2900’ with even the 195’s.

As with other SS bore sizes, the 7SS has no rivals with an under 3” coal.

Bill of Materials

I decided to center this short action build around the BAT Machine Vesper S in the Ezekiel Hybrid Hunter from Foundation Stocks.

The Vesper S is a lightweight action with a modular bolt, 75 degree bolt throw, and skeletonized design. (It is also available in medium and long action.)

With the goal of weight savings, I have a thinner profile 7mm barrel blank from Custom Rifle Barrels than I would normally use.

Ezekiel is much like the Hybrid Gideon featuring micarta, kevlar, and carbon fiber construction, but with an adjustable cheek riser, Night Vision Carriage System (NVCS), lightweight ARCA rail, and side Picatinny rail.

Foundation Stocks Ezekiel Hybrid Hunting Stock

Unsurprisingly, I have a Hawkins Precision M5 DBM with .300 WSM three-round mag and the Bix’n Andy Dakota Trigger from Bullet Central.

Manson Precision supplied go and no-go gauges and a 7mm Sherman Short reamer.

I chambered the barrel on my Precision Matthews PM-1440HVT-2 Lathe and Cerakoted it black.

I decided to mount a more tactical scope, the Leupold Mark 4HD 6-24×52 on this rifle.

It has all of the features I like as well as locking turrets for elevation and windage.

Locking turrets prevent the dials from being accidentally turned, a likely scenario while hunting.

Reloading and Range Results

Sherman Wildcat Cartridges has a host of reloading data on their website. I started with this, looking at 7mm bullets ranging from 155 grains to 195 grains.

I settled on two bullets: the Berger 180 Grain Hybrid Target and the Berger 195 Grain EOL Elite Hunter.

The Berger 180 has shot well in every single load and gun I have tested it in and the 195 grain EOL was a natural progression from the 6.5mm 156 grain EOL I used in South Africa.

I paired both with Vihtavuori N565 and seated them using an arbor press and inline seating die from Sherman Wildcat Cartridges. I used a mandrel to slightly open the cases for optimal neck tension before priming them with Federal large rifle match primers.

Starting with the 180 grain bullet, I worked my way up from 62.0 grains of N565 to 64.0 grains. I began shooting with the Area 419 Hellfire brake installed, but wasn’t getting great groups so I switched over to the Area 419 Maverick suppressor.

64.0 grains of N565 with the 180 grain bullet performed very well, five shots at 100 yards going into 0.437”. It had an average velocity of 2,921.6 fps with an extreme spread of 7.5 fps!

I was extremely happy with these results, especially for a lightweight hunting rifle with a thin profile barrel. I fired a few more rounds to confirm my findings and called load development complete for that bullet. Finding an ideal load for the 195 grain EOL only took six shots!

N565 wasn’t listed in Sherman’s load data, so I had to do some interpolation. (Remember to only use published manufacturer load data – do not use what I am demonstrating with!) My initial load was 59.0 grains of N565 with the Berger 195. My first three shot group measured 0.341” at 100 yards with a 2,687 fps average velocity. I bumped the charge to 60.0 grains for a three-shot 0.560” group and 2,718 fps average velocity. I noticed slight pressure signs with the higher charge, so I would prefer to hunt with the 59.0 grain load.

7mm Sherman Short vs. 7mm SAUM

The 7mm Sherman Short has several distinct advantages over its closest competitor, the 7mm SAUM.

The 40 degree shoulder on the 7mm Sherman Short is bumped a little further back than the 7mm SAUM with half the body taper. While case capacities are similar, the 7mm Sherman Short has greater performance potential as you don’t have to shove long, high BC bullets deep into the case, reducing case capacity.

In short, the 7mm Sherman Short squeezes as much 7mm magnum performance as possible out of a short action, making it my ideal choice for a short action hunting rifle.

Conclusion

There are weight and BC tradeoffs between the 180 Grain Hybrid and 195 Grain EOL, plus they have different construction and characteristics. Derek from Sherman Wildcats suggested trying the Berger 175 Grain Elite Hunter as it was designed for hunting.

I am very happy with how this complete 7mm Sherman Short rifle turned out, offering 7mm Rem Mag performance in a short action. It is ideal for hunting medium to large game and the Ezekial stock offers considerable flexibility.

Full-length ARCA means I can run it on a tripod or with a bipod. As much as I’ve talked about Piet’s 6.5 Sherman Short – I have yet to build my own. Stay tuned for another Sherman Wildcat Cartridges build soon!