6.5-06 Ackley Improved Data, This is my data so far, What's yours?

[Dano1]

I have a custom 6.5-06 with a 22" M24 contour barrel. It's a awesome shooter but with the A5 stock it's in its way too heavy for hunting. I just got a McMillan Game Hunter edge tech stock that's 26oz and picked up a Hardy Carbon Fiber 6.5mm barrel that is .930 at 24"muzzle. Since I'm going to chamber the new barrel, I was thinking about all of the possibilities. I think I'm going with the 6.5-06 AI. I have the regular 6.5-06 dies and about 3 boxes of custom Ammo and another 150 pieces of sized brass. My question is this, can I shoot my regular Ammo through the Ackley chamber and basically fire form it that way? And is there any 6.5-06 AI brass available anywhere? I have all types of 6.5 bullets. From Berger 130-140, Hornady ELD-X, Nosler 140 BT and Sierra 142 MK. I'm pretty excited about this, I just hope I'm going with the right cartridge. I want to run a 140 at least 3100 if possible.

To answer your question about firing the standard 6.5-06 in the Improved chamber, the answer is yes.
Quality cartridge will custom make brass, but I believe that you need to place an order of several thousand to get them to tool up to do a custom run. They are very expensive anyway if available costing $2 apiece.
When re-barreling, make sure your barrel is a 1/8" twist,(mine is a 1-9" won't stabilize 140g bullets).
3100fps is possible with a 140g with the right powder. I've chronyed mine at 3200fps with a 129g Hornady SST and RL-22. Let me know where I can help.

Dan

 

[Miller1]

1-8" twist. I'm seriously debating on building a 6.5-280 Ackley Improved. I have a 280 AI and have several pieces of brass already. From what I've read I just need to size the neck down to 6.5mm with a neck sizing die in the 280 AI

 

[Clark]

I like to get a custom Forster sizer and a Lee Collet neck for each new cartridge, but they are not available for 6.5-06, so this is what I had to do:

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I called up Forster and went around and around until they sent me a 25-06 Full length sizer die body honed out to a 0.292" neck.

That would make it an ideal 6.5-06 sizer die body, for $57. [double the honing charge]
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I called up Lee and went around and around until they agreed to reduce a 270 mandrel from a collet neck die down to 0.262", but leave the top 1/4" alone to fit a 270 collar.

This will make it ideal for turning a 270 Lee collet neck die into a 6.5-06 die.
$20 plus shipping [quadruple the reduction charge]
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In 2015 I built a 6.5-06 A square on Dumoulin Mauser action, Shilen Select match #3 taper Stainless barrel 6.5mm bore 26" long ratchet rifling
Cut inch off each end = 24", cut Mauser threads, cut 6.5-06 A square chamber with 0.005" headspace, cut crown at 11 degrees and chamfer ID and OD of muzzle.
Subsequently measure 2.528" of neck space [for trimming cases] [ 6.5-06 A square cannot use necked 270 brass without trimming, but can use 30-06 necked brass]
fired cases necks measure 0.298" in the middle, chamber measures 0.300" in the middle [chamber neck narrower in front and wider in rear]

120 gr Nos Bal tip moly with 50.7 gr IMR-4166 powder 3.34" , Win 30-06 brass,
Chronographs at 3197 fps
Shot a deer at 629 yards.
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In 2017 I built my next 6.5-06 with the same reamer, 1965 Rem 700 BDL Convert to ADL with Kevlar Stock, Benchmark 5G #3 8" twist barrel
Timney trigger
PTG bolt
My pillar design
My bolt handle design
Leupold VX-6HD, 2-12X42mm,
129 gr Accubond 3.34" 52 gr IMR-4451
Quickload prediction 24" barrel 66.7 kpsi 3075 fps
chronograph:
3075 fps
3079 fps

 

[Navarro1]

Note Miller 1, you did not tell us what twist (and therefore which bullets) your 24 inch barrel was designed for. For the 1 in 9 twist barrel, I still like either the 130 AB (original) or the 130 Berger seated with a $50 Wilson blank that was reamed with the chamber. Most seating dies will lack the VLD stem. I believe that Reloader 26 is uniquely the correct burn rate for this case volume. I am using .26/06 brass and a Redding .25/06 Ackley bushing die to get a neck tension of 1.5 thousandths. If you reverse the Wilson bushings (they are slightly tapered) you can get a half a thousandth of tension if necessary. Snow is falling and I am looking forward to hunting in the morning.View attachment 83323



I'm going with the 6.5-06 AI. I have the regular 6.5-06 dies and about 3 boxes of custom Ammo and another 150 pieces of sized brass. My question is this, can I shoot my regular Ammo through the Ackley chamber and basically fire form it that way? And is there any 6.5-06 AI brass available anywhere? I have all types of 6.5 bullets. From Berger 130-140, Hornady ELD-X, Nosler 140 BT and Sierra 142 MK. I'm pretty excited about this, I just hope I'm going with the right cartridge. I want to run a 140 at least 3100 if possible.

[/QUOTE]

 

[Navarro1]

[/QUOTE]
You can certainly shoot your 6.5-06 loads thru your AI but it will probably split
Your older brass.
I started with new 25-06 brass ( 200 ) on hand and fireformed all of them and did not
Have any split but any already firedbrass that I loaded and tried split .
I have a rem 700 with Shilen 26" bbl and had it put together about 4 yrs ago and really like it and it is a 1 an 8 twist
And put it in a Greybull stock and love the way it shoots .
I am using IMR 7828 and it's always shot very good several 1/2 inch groups with it

 

[antelopedundee]

I have a custom 6.5-06 with a 22" M24 contour barrel. It's a awesome shooter but with the A5 stock it's in its way too heavy for hunting. I just got a McMillan Game Hunter edge tech stock that's 26oz and picked up a Hardy Carbon Fiber 6.5mm barrel that is .930 at 24"muzzle. Since I'm going to chamber the new barrel, I was thinking about all of the possibilities. I think I'm going with the 6.5-06 AI. I have the regular 6.5-06 dies and about 3 boxes of custom Ammo and another 150 pieces of sized brass. My question is this, can I shoot my regular Ammo through the Ackley chamber and basically fire form it that way? And is there any 6.5-06 AI brass available anywhere? I have all types of 6.5 bullets. From Berger 130-140, Hornady ELD-X, Nosler 140 BT and Sierra 142 MK. I'm pretty excited about this, I just hope I'm going with the right cartridge. I want to run a 140 at least 3100 if possible.

An older thread I know, but since I'm in the process of building one; a 26" Hart #4 barrel 8 twist on a Rem 700 left hand stainless action I will add a few thoughts. I already have one built by Shilen many years ago that's getting shot out. First off 6.5-06 headstamped brass is available from Quality Cartridge. I got mine from Graf and Sons. Really no need for it unless you want that particular headstamp. First off shooting regular ammo in the AI is the hallmark of the AI version.
So there are 2 basic ways to fire form if your chamber is long enough so that you don't get a snug fit of the case in the chamber with shoulder contact. First is the false shoulder aka crunch fit where you need to partially size the neck until the case just chambers with a snug fit. IMO this is best done with a trimmed .270 Win case tho .30-06 cases can be sized down also.
Second is to start with .25-06 cases and neck up and seat your bullets until they lightly jam in the rifling. This ensures that the loaded round won't move in the chamber so all pressure goes towards blowing out the case in a forward direction instead of blowing it in all directions. This would be preferred if you have a chamber a tad on the long side. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any sort of standard as far as reamer dimensions. The last time I used mine was with 130 grain Sierra tipped GameKings and 61 grains of IMR7828 with a somewhat eroded throat.

 

[Clark]

I built a 3rd 6.5-06 with Barlien 2B barrel.

Still shooting Nosler 120 gr ballistic tips at 3200 fps.

 

[Dano1]

I finally burned out my 1-9 Twist bbl...
Gonna try to rebarrel this year with. 1-8" Kreiger, or a 1-7.5" so I can shoot the new heavy Berger's ....

 

[bounty hunter 2]

I bought a set of 6.5x06 Ackley dies in a pawn shop and kept them for 35 years before I finally got to build the rifle for them. I wanted to build the rifle to shoot as fast as possible with one single bullet the Hornady 100 grain eld. This was to be a coyote rifle for shots as far as to 800 yards.
I went with a Pak-Nor 28" with 1/10" twist. I was hoping for 3500 fps but my expectations were exceeded and reached 3690 fps with 60.5gn IMR-4359. That load proved too hot because after three loads the primer pockets are getting noticeably loose, Backing down to the 3500 fps I had hoped for has everything normal and accuracy. First shot at hair was a rock chuck at 600 yards and it still spread that chuck all over even at the fairly long 600 yard range. The rifle serves its build purpose for long range coyote shooting but to salvage the hides they have to be not nearer than 400 yards.