6.5-06 vs 6.5X284 vs 6.5 Sherman

[elkaholic]

I am curious as to what you guys are getting for case life out of your vairous 6.5's?

My 6.5-280 RCBS usually last me about 20 firings before ether my case starts getting tight or my primer pockets fail under normal non-high pressure loads. I figure by then I have gotten my $$$$'s worth out of a case. I have been using Rem .280 cases mainly.

I have thought about using Norma, or Nosler .280 brass, and If I do I might try and get a little more life out of them, but I have yet to get a custom die made. I have been getting by alright without one.

If you are getting 20 firings, you are doing ok! I could probably get that many if I didn't load so hot but I shoot mine at around 3150' most of the time. At that velocity I get 10-12.......Rich

 

[Trickymissfit]

Neal.....looks like you discovered the same thing I did. The 6.5x65 RWS case is indeed a lot tougher and I started using it in my 300 Sherman Max case. You also get the added length which is really nice to work with. You really should consider the sherman reamer as the case capacity is a fuzz better than the Gibbs with a .317" neck...Rich

how much case shrinkage are you seeing after fireforming? RWS brass always seemed a bit harder than most of the domestic stuff I've ever worked with in the past (have not used much of it, but still some). Thinking back I would give the brass a good anneal job before ever really doing anything with it, as it's gonna work harden when you rework it.
gary

 

[Trickymissfit]

Gary....I have a 28" barrel on my 300 and I only use my own bullets so have not tried the 175 sierras. I did shoot a couple of 150 sierras one day just for grins and reached 3400' with RL-17 and it wasn't quite max! As far as the headstamp problem goes, here is what I would do. Use the .270 brass for the 6.5 and .280 for the 300. As Neal also stated, the 6.5x65 RWS is excellent, but spendy.......Rich

reason I'm interested in the 175's is that a Colonel I am close friends with told me he would get me a pass (or whatever they call it) to use one of the 1000 yard military ranges near me. (he wants to try long distance paper punching as well). I think I have a donor action.

Lastly have you ever done any work off the 8x68 RWS case? It's slightly bigger in diameter than the others (.524 diameter verses .471). Kinda like the .284 case on steroids.
gary

 

[elkaholic]

how much case shrinkage are you seeing after fireforming? RWS brass always seemed a bit harder than most of the domestic stuff I've ever worked with in the past (have not used much of it, but still some). Thinking back I would give the brass a good anneal job before ever really doing anything with it, as it's gonna work harden when you rework it.
gary

Around .015" when going from .270 to 6.5 Sherman and .020-.025" when going to the 300. 6.5 RWS to 300 Sherman is around .020"......Rich

 

[elkaholic]

reason I'm interested in the 175's is that a Colonel I am close friends with told me he would get me a pass (or whatever they call it) to use one of the 1000 yard military ranges near me. (he wants to try long distance paper punching as well). I think I have a donor action.

Lastly have you ever done any work off the 8x68 RWS case? It's slightly bigger in diameter than the others (.524 diameter verses .471). Kinda like the .284 case on steroids.
gary

I haven't used the 68 mm case but was tempted to. Since the Ruger case came out, I have decided to do my new build (30/375 S.I.) based on it.
I don't have any reason to believe the 175's wouldn't shoot well in the 300 Sherman, although, if you were to use those as your main bullet, I would probably go with a 12 twist or maybe compromise with an 11 which would still allow you to shoot 200 grainers......Rich

 

[Trickymissfit]

I haven't used the 68 mm case but was tempted to. Since the Ruger case came out, I have decided to do my new build (30/375 S.I.) based on it.
I don't have any reason to believe the 175's wouldn't shoot well in the 300 Sherman, although, if you were to use those as your main bullet, I would probably go with a 12 twist or maybe compromise with an 11 which would still allow you to shoot 200 grainers......Rich

that's pretty much the twist rate I was thinking. That 68mm RWS case looks real good on paper and doson't have the rebated rim (which I hate). A fellow could probably do a 2.450" case in that round, with a .35" neck length and a 30 degree shoulder. Would probably have a little more capacity as the 270 case, and still not be way overbore like the ultra mags. Much like a non belted .300 mag!
gary

 

[elkaholic]

that's pretty much the twist rate I was thinking. That 68mm RWS case looks real good on paper and doson't have the rebated rim (which I hate). A fellow could probably do a 2.450" case in that round, with a .35" neck length and a 30 degree shoulder. Would probably have a little more capacity as the 270 case, and still not be way overbore like the ultra mags. Much like a non belted .300 mag!
gary

You would basically have a 300 WM without the belt. The case capacity on the 8x68 is 86 grains and the 300 WM is 87 grs. My 30/375 S.I. should be about 94 +-

 

[Trickymissfit]

You would basically have a 300 WM without the belt. The case capacity on the 8x68 is 86 grains and the 300 WM is 87 grs. My 30/375 S.I. should be about 94 +-

food for thought:

With a 2.45" over case length; I would think that it would be much easier to fit those really long bullets into a magazine. Also I think the case capacity is going to be close to a .308 Norma mag. Just think it's a case worth a lot of thought. But on the downside ; it'd be a lot of fun shoving that shoulder back .200" as that's a lot of metal to be moving.
gary

 

[elkaholic]

Elkaholic, is the 6.5 sherman accurate at all ranges? say from 1 to 200 and out? what does the fireforming do for your barrel life?

Mike.....This is WAAAAAY behind yyour request but I just noticed it (sorry). The answer is yes, it is accurate at all ranges. At least, if the shooter is......Rich

 

[hammertyme]

The accuracy from Benchmark barrels is without exception has been great. Barrels in my experience determine accuracy. All of my rimmed and unrimmed cartridges shoot exceptionally well.

In fact the rimmed case was designed for my Encores. I had a barrel in 338R Cooper Express for a small shank Savage made. I took a 300WSM barrel off my Striker, installed the new barrel and it was a 1 holer. Pulled a 473 bolt from another striker and replaced the WSM bolt and shot Nosler 280AI form cases in the striker.

For those that are not aware. The cases stay out of the Savage barrel .125 so the rimm cutter on the reamer is not relevant on the Savage barrels.

Both the rimmed and the rimless cases shot to the same POI. To date I have yet to Loose or anneal a RWS case. The are tough! I have not lost a case forming either.

Neal

 

[pressman]

I must have lost something because I was trying to research the 6.5 Sherman and the last two pages of this thread is talking about 30 calibers and seems like everything else except the 6.5 Sherman??

 

[elkaholic]

I must have lost something because I was trying to research the 6.5 Sherman and the last two pages of this thread is talking about 30 calibers and seems like everything else except the 6.5 Sherman??

PM me and I will fill you in. I am Sherman

 

[Hummer70]

I have reamer and dies for 6.5X284 and 6.5X06. When it got down to it I decided on the 6.5X06 for two reasons:

1. feed reliability for rapid fire.
2. cost to reload.

I had bought 6.5X284 brass before the shortage and after the shortage started I knew just buying brass to keep it going was gonna be a factor.

Thusly I made a drawing for 6.5X06 that would require I neck turn cases 360 for a snug fit (can't remember what that was off hand, CRS ! ! !) but do remember the base dimension is .467". I had Dave Manson make the reamer. I have two lots of cases neck turned, one is .001 clearance and the other .002 clearance.

Cases I use are LC MATCH. This is the case to use for long case life.

My velocity readings from 28" barrel are with Sierra 142 MK at 3015 fps from a Medium Palma Contour built on a Pre War Mod 70 Win.

Built it to shoot Perry 1000 yard mostly and shot it in 2012 and came home and has 498 rounds on it. Have not shot it since as I was in a dicey wreck in 2013 at start of shooting season and sustained neck injury and a bad case of tendonitis in shoulder Until a month ago I could not even hold up a 22 plinking rifle standing without extreme shoulder pain.

Thusly did not go to Perry in 2013 or this year and next year is iffy at this point as even with shoulder healed I have a spur growing into a disc impinging the spinal cord between C6 and C7 which has affected middle three fingers both hands. Doc does not want to touch me unless I am losing use of arms as I could come out of surgery paralyzed from neck down. I have graded this as a lose/really lose.

I am thinking of putting together another 6.5X06 as a trunk back up rifle thusly I can build one on another Mod 70 or a 03A3 action and know it will feed.

 

[Weatherby Fan]

Is the rumour true that there will be head stamped brass available for the 6.5 & 7mm Sherman soon ?