6.5 Mystic Rifle for 1000mBR/ F class Competitions

[Mysticplayer]

Thought you would enjoy pics of my new 1000m BR/ F class rig. Based on a Stevens 200LA Gaillard palma contour BR match barrel (30") Rifle Basix trigger set at 6ozs Locally made barrel block Homemade stock. The block will get some milling and engraving work next.

Testing at 200yds with 139gr Lapua bullets has shown the rifle will shoot in the zero's. These bullets are used right out of the box and are simply awesome IF they shoot in your barrel. 1000m testing has been sub MOA. More tweaking should make this a competitive rig.

The 6.5 Mystic is my idea of a better mousetrap. Using the 308 as a parent case, the case is improved and shoulder forward to max out the case. Allows you to reach 2900fps with moderate pressures. 260AI tend to be very hard on brass to reach this velocity.

Another way to get some awesome performance from these actions.

Enjoy...

Jerry

Testing at 200yds.

 

[redbone]

What is the weight of the rifle?

 

[overbore]

Your stock design is showing some serious good thought. I also use a barrel block, SGY. with cooling machined in. As to your 6.5's-08 that is also some great thought. How about a report on how she does on a calm day at 1K yards? Well done and be proud. Overbore /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Mysticplayer]

Thanks for the kind comments. Will definitely be testing when weather cools down. Right now, I am shooting in the 85/90F with lots of mirage and wind. Nasty but still shooting very well at 200yds.

Went out again for one last group at this range. In boiling mirage, the first two made a figure 8. 'Thought' the wind was shifting and held off 1/2". Couldn't see the hole so shot another with the same hold.

Shots 3 and 4 cut the same hole 1/2" to the left. Oh well, got a lot to learn about doping mirage/wind. This is a shooter for sure.

On a bathroom scale, reads 18/19lbs. So will need a bit of a diet to make the 17lbs Willamsport class and a bit of ballast to make Canadian Open F class (22lbs).

Jerry

 

[abinok]

Very slick rig! Very Very!
On the cartridge...
Whats the neck length aka, how far is the shoulder pushed vs the 260?
How much capacity are you gaining?
Did you use a custom reamer, or an existing reamer run to a custom depth... neck reamed seperately ect?
Whats the checkered/ carbon fiber looking stuff on the gun?

I hope everybody thinks about this rig when they walk past its $300 brother in wally world /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif !!!

 

[deerkiller]

Very cool looking set up there except for that freakin' UGLY barrel nut. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

DK

 

[Mysticplayer]

abinok, I don't have any 260 Win brass to compare as I make all of the Mystic brass from 308 Win.

However, I do have some Fed 243 brass so compared that for a rough idea. Using H335 and settling as much in as possible, the 243 case held 58gr. The Mystic holds 60.5gr.

Not very scientific but there is a gain at any rate. My orig estimate was 4 to 6gr of volume. Not huge but does keep pressures under control with the higher desired velocity. CCI BR2 Primers are just starting to flatten indicating pressures are still within safe levels.

Maybe you can work backwards from these dimensions: All measured with a hand caliper so expect a bit of error.

Base diameter just infront of the extractor grove: 0.470"
Shoulder Diameter: 0.460"
Case head to shoulder: 1.680"
Case length: 1.998"
Neck length: 0.230"

To save costs, I used a 6.5-308AI reamer (35deg shoulder). Came from MidwayUSA so a PT&G. Very nice reamer by the way. The reamer is run deeper to move the shoulder forward.

I then use a throater from Dave Manson Reamer to lengthen the throat to fit the bullet and load I want. In this case, the OAL is 2.9" with the lapua. The orig rifle was longer at 3.00".

I wanted to keep things a bit shorter this time just to see what would happen and for applications where feeding from a mag was desired. Plus, a bit more throat to burn out.

Obviously, powder compression happens at lower levels but this rifle likes it at 47.5gr anyways. I can stuff 49gr of H4831SC at the present setting (compressed load) so there is room if the rifle needed more powder.

Once I get more bullets, I will test Fed 210M primer and H4350. The CCI BR2 is quite a gentle primer so the Fed should get velocities up a bit for the same amount of powder. Will see if accuracy stays.

H4350 will definitely get pressures to peak within the given case volume. Will not be compressed either. This will give me a chance to see if there is the same accuracy at higher pressures/velocity.

LR testing hopefully will happen in the next few weeks. Supposed to start cooling off which is a relief. However, when will there be a calm day?

The carbon fibre design is vinyl used to put graphics on cars and bikes. You can find this and many other colours at your Pep Boys or similar auto store.

A very easy way to dress up your gear.

Thanks for the continued interest and kind comments.

The goal was to see what type of performance could be extracted from readily available stuff to keep cost down. I can say the project has been a success given the present 200yd groups.

For dies, I use a 260 Lee collet neck sizing die and a metal washer to act as a spacer. Works like a charm. Seating is done with the reg. 260 Lee seating die. All seems to work very well.

Jerry

 

[abinok]

getting cooler by the minute!

 

[Mysticplayer]

Took it out to 500yds today. Warm, sunny but very bad mirage and gusty cross wind. Not much wind where we were shooting but lots at the target and inbetween.

Best three shot group was 1 1/2" and 5 shot was 2 1/8". There were a number of shots that would be about 1" apart then a shot or two being pushed sideways by the wind. Lots of horizontal stringing.

Not great but also not bad considering the conditions.

Going to try other loads shortly.

Jerry

 

[Mysticplayer]

Tried some H4350 and got some interesting results.

Groups were not as tight (1/4MOA at 200yds) but never got big either. Quite a wide sweet spot. Pressure signs are definitely higher then with H4831SC so expect velocity to be higher too. Can't measure velocities while shooting at 200yds cause I am shooting off a knob.

Whenever more Lapuas show up, I will test to see how this powder does further out and how fast it goes.

My thinking is if the H4350 goes faster and stays reasonably accurate, I would use this powder when temp swings are greatest and during gusty conditions.

The extra velocity should help me shoot through changing conditions. Practical accuracy should/could/might be better ??????

Just something else to test.

Hoping to get some bullets very soon so that I can test at 300m to prep for an upcoming F class meet end of Sept. Going to be pretty rushed me thinks.

Of course, some LR shooting has to also occur.

Jerry

 

[älg]

Jerry, nice rifle and cartridge. There seems to be an sst on one of the pics, why do you like the sst better than the amax???

 

[Mysticplayer]

alg, Thanks for the kind comments.

Gives you an idea of when I started my first 6.5 Mystic. The amax were not readily available in Canada yet but the SST's were. At that time, the SST looked to be the highest BC bullet in this class.

It has a very high BC and shoots extremely well if the barrel likes it. Of course, QC dictates that they may not be consistent as a true match bullet but some match bullets need so much TLC that the SST would be just as competitive.

As to now, the AMax has been changed so that the BC is way lower then the orig design. Unfortunately, the SST is still higher. I hope that someday Hornady will correct this error and return the 140gr Amax to its orig splendor.

The orig design had a print BC of 0.640 and Hornady tends to be conservative. Why they made such a change boggles the mind.

For now, I am in love with the Lapua 139gr Scenar. In this barrel, it is simply amazing. I am getting bullets making groups in the 1 and 2mm range at 200yds under dead calm conditions. This with a great BC and no sorting.

unfortunately, this barrel doesn't like the SST nor the Matchking so my choices are limited to one bullet.

But it is a good one.

If you have access to the SST, give them a try. They may surprise you with how well they fly.

Jerry

 

[älg]

Jerry, I may be mistaken but are you saying that the 140 sst has a higher bc than the currently available 140 amax (.55 I think)???

 

[Mysticplayer]

I have not done a side by side with the new gen Amax. When I tested the SST with the orig Mystic, the amax was not available. Using elevation adjustments and plugging numbers into the ballistics program, the SST's flew with a very high BC, higher the 0.55 in this rifle. Now accept that this is not the most accurate way to calc BC but all I had at the time.

I just got a box of new AMax and compare to the old SST's. The SST's is still longer by a smidge but they have slightly different profiles so any comment would be a guess.

In general, I have found the poly tipped bullets to fly flatter then the equivalent HP bullet. In rifles that like these bullets, they fly very accurately.

Will see if Mystic #2 will play with the Amax. Certainly has not liked either the MK or SST.

Jerry