Not sure if I'd agree about the 7mm RUM failing ballistically speaking, the market place is a different issue. The 7mm RUM is arguably a more modern case design, no belt etc. Both are very "big" 7mm's. Kirby Allen makes a 7mm off the 338 Lapua case, if maximum barrel burning velocity is what you seek, as do Lazzaroni and others. Actually, there is very little you can sensibly do with the 7mm STW, you can't do with the 7mm Rem Mag. But what a 3,500 fps mv hunting weight bullet can do at normal hunting ranges is often best described as spectacular.
All that said, the 7mm STW is certaintly a great round for those that want to send a very fast mid weight .284 projectile down range, or a very heavy one fast. The latter is where the STW and like rounds are most useful in my opinion. Heavy high BC bullets for that ultra long range shot and/or for wind bucking ability. The STW and like, will do, with power to spare, anything you'd want to do in North America, with the right pill. Unless you have very specific needs/likes, just want/like very high velocity cartridges, want to shoot ultra long range (past 600 yards or so), or hand load, it is likely better choices are out there. It is to my mind, like many of the very large powder capicity cartridges, more of a tool best used by an experienced shooter, a rifleman if you will. But to each their own. One of my best hunting buddies thinks of his 340 WBY as a medium rifle for deer/elk hunting...
