What do ya'll think about a 6.5-375 Ruger?

[MontanaRifleman]

I'm stoked about the idea

[eddybo]

Go for it. I doubt anyone needs 10 grains of capacity than a 6.5WSM but hey this aint about need. What bullet you planning on running and what velocity do you estimate?

[MontanaRifleman]

Well Eddy, here's what I'm scheming .... I had a chat with my gunsmith yesterday about a 300 WSM build I've contracted him to do and I asked him about nitride treating the barrel for better velocity and extended barrel life and he told me that it would greatly extend the barrel life, about 2-4 times.

Well this morning I had an epiphany about going with a 300-375 Ruger instead of a WSM. I have also been wanting a 6.5-something and figure with a nitride treatment, I might get 2000 rounds or more from a 6.5-375 Ruger.

What velocity? I have had great results with RL17 and my 300 WSM and 25-06... 200 fps increases in velocity over other loads. And I think the 375 case is a good candidate for RL17. I plan to develop two loads for it, one with GS bullets (which are very spendy) and another plinking/fun load with maybe E-Tips or something. GS will develop a custom bullet to my specs, so I'm guessing about a 120 gr, high BC (.55-.6 ish) monometal pill. And GS bullets get about 100 fps (give or take) better velocity than other bullets because of driving bands and molly coating.

Sooo... If we look at Hodgdon's data for a 120 gr bullet in a 264 mag, they show 3300 with Retumbo. Conservatively add...

100 fps, RL17
50 fps, GS bullet
100 fps, increase powder capacity
50 fps, 5C rifling and nitride treatment

... which gets us to 3600 fps... and just maybe 3700-3800 fps.

All speculation of course, but I have little doubt that this will be a sizzzzling combo

[eddybo]

Sounds good to me. I have never played with the barrel treatments but have considered them and will probably give it a try. I have never played with that hull, going from 375 to 264 would be a pain, maybe. The possibility of turning necks steers my choices mote than some. Let us know how it works.

[3006savage]

I always thought a 7mm-375 with an improved shoulder to help lengthen the neck would be a great round. I would put it just ahead of a STW.

The 168 and 180 Grain Bergers would be tough to beat at with a 100 grain powder case behind it.

That would be my wildcat.

[MontanaRifleman]

My smith thinks the nitride treatment is a great thing and he is going to get one of his rifles (I believe a 30-378) treated soon, including the action. He says the action feeels like it's on ball bearnings when treated.. It's a heat process that takes the steel to about 1100* which helps to relieve barrel stress. It cures at about a rockwell 65 and is a great protective finish as well. Everyone he knows that has tried it has had good experiences with it.

Yeah... necking down from a .375 to a .264 should be interesting, but I'm going to have the 300-375 R done first and see how that goes. I'm a bushing die kinda guy so I turn all my necks anyway. Will keep everyone posted if I go ahead with it.

Now I need to find some bushing dies for it

I have actually given thought to the 7-375 for sometime now. It would be a great round! Maybe I'll do one of those as well, but right now the 6.5 gets the priority after the 300 version. Heck, I might do .25 and .277 versions as well I think the 375 case is a great design and one that would do real well with RL17. In fact I know of a couple of guys who have had good results with RL17 in the straight 375 Ruger.

[Varminator 911]

I'd think you'd need a slower powder than R17 for the 6.5 Ruger. That's a lot of case capacity for that small hole. Using R17 in the 375 Ruger is a lot different than using it in the 6.5 Ruger.