7-30 waters advice

[fordisto]

I am planning on asking Santa Claus for a new 7-30 waters barrel for my original Contender. T/C offers the 23" barrel from the factory. I plan on using factory loaded Federal ammo. Does anyone have any experience with different lenths of barrels. If I don't get the facory barrel, I would probably order one from Fox Ridge. Is an inch or two going to make much difference with the factory ammo?

[DBrz]

Years ago a friend and I had little success with factory ammo.  You need to reload to take advantage of this caliber.

[Doc T]

I think the factory 23" bull barrels are too long.  They don't balance well being too front heavy.  All of the ones that I have ended up being cut down to 18-20".  I do have a 23" Custom Shop barrel in 7-30 Waters but it is tapered.  It is one of my favorite barrels.  I agree that to get the most out of it you need to reload.  Simply changing from the factory 120grFP to something like a 120gr Nosler BT, you can extend your range an extra 100yds.

[jason280]

Yes, I agree with the others.  The 7-30 is much more impressive once handloaded, and can be improved upon greatly by dumping the factory flat point load.  Personally, I have loaded 130gr Hornady's with very good success, and 120gr Nosler BT also work very well!

[fordisto]

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll probably go with the custom shop barrel. If I ever get a reloader and a place where I can reload I will. Right now all the hunting I do is in close quarters (usually less than 100 yds.), so I think this will suit me perfectly.