6.5 ackley Wildcat

WisconSniper

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An idea has been bouncing around in my head for awhile now. I shoud have listened to my friends about "ideas" but hey, why not haha.

Anyways, I'm wondering if anyone has ever done a 7mm Rem Mag ackley necked down to 6.5? Seems like it'd give good speed but idk about bullets that wont peel apart or chamber pressures and such?

Any input is appreciated,

~WS
 
Would it be ok if I posted up a cartridge design here in the open forum?

I quickly did a sketch-up for you with RCBS Cartridge Designer...I can even go back and change the name to whatever you want it to be.

Basically, with this design you can use 7mm RM brass, neck it down to 6.5, trim to length, and then shoot it in your improved chamber to fire-form. It also has the 40* Ackley shoulder.
 
You should look at the 6.5 Saum. I'm currently building one now. Neck down 7 Saum brass and it fits (and feeds well) in a short action and uses the WSM style Accuracy International mags that Accurate Mag and Alpha Mag offers. 3150 fps with 140 amax is easy to do and with H1000 the pressures are low and barrels are lasting longer than you would think.

Its getting so much attention that Remington is increasing production of Saum brass to support it and I bet it won't be long until Norma or Rem makes brass for it.

Check out this thread...

New GAP Extreme Hunter in 6.5 SAUM
 
I have a long action im trying to find a use for. Does anyone know of a cartridge similar to the 7mmRM that may result in better accuracy?

~WS
The 7rm is quite capable of pinpoint accuracy. It's all about getting a decent build and then tuning a load for it.

The .284 .264wm and 6.5x284 are similar in many ways and also quite capable of great accuracy.

For medium and smaller game the 6.5's are great.
 
I have 7RM's that will shoot 1 ragged hole...I wouldn't say any 1 particular caliber is more accurate than another. It has everything to do with the rifle, barrel, properly tuned loads, and how good your smith is at what he does.

I still think your 6.5 caliber I drew up would be cool and unique.
 
I guess I was asking about the 7mm cause I've heard mixed things about the accuracy associated with belted vs non belted cartridges.
Thee's a lot of gibberish written about belted magnums. Non belted cartridges are not inherently more accurate.

Again, it's more about having the right person do your build than the caliber you choose.

Two other fun 6.5 wildcats are the 6.5x300wm and 6.5STW.

Both are pretty much laser beams but are extremely overbore so barrel life will be relatively limited.

With any of them follow your barrel makers recommended break it procedure and have the whole barreled action melonited and barrel life can be extended significantly for a minimal extra expense.
 
There is no inherent accuracy difference between belted and non belted cases. I personally don't like belted cases because the belts severe no purpose at all and only take up case room. I also believe you will find more casehead separation issues them too.

That said, smaller cartridges are least affected by barrel harmonics and are inherently more accurate than the magnums. I.e., the 6mmBR. My smith is a competitive shooter and competes at all ranges. He shoots his own modified 7x57 and does quite well with it. He also told me, that the 2 most common winning cartridges that he sees are the 6.5x47 and 260 Rem and these are at 1K and 1K plus events.

I just had a 6.5 WSM done which is a little less capacity than the 7 RM. It's going to be about as hard on barrels as a 300 RUM. I am contemplating a 6.5/Dakota build sometime in the future. Not sure if I'm going to go with the 7mm or the 300 which is slightly larger.

The fatter straight wall cases seem to be a little more efficient than the narrower cases. The short mags, Dakotas, and RUMS are designed off the 404 Jeffry which IMO, is much better design than the 375 H&H, the grandaddy of the belted mags.

If you really like the belted 7 and want to AI it for a little more capacity, try just necking down the 300 WM which is it's slightly longer big brother. Push the shoulder down instead of blowing it up and you will have a longer neck and almost no need for fire forming. You will want to ream out the neck though to remove any donut that might form.
 
An idea has been bouncing around in my head for awhile now. I shoud have listened to my friends about "ideas" but hey, why not haha.

Anyways, I'm wondering if anyone has ever done a 7mm Rem Mag ackley necked down to 6.5? Seems like it'd give good speed but idk about bullets that wont peel apart or chamber pressures and such?

Any input is appreciated,

~WS

Congratulations! You just invented the .264 Winchester Magnum!

Your wildcat might have a small case capacity advantage over the .264WM, but not enough to matter in a cartridge that is already overbore enough to be a resident of the land of diminishing returns. A 6.5 Shooting Times Westerner will go somewhat faster than the .264WM, but needs a LOT more powder to do it. A small gain in capacity over the .264WM will gain little or nothing.

BTW, I have a .264WM and I love it!
 
I see. Thanks for the heads up. I havent looked at the 264WM and didnt know the ballistics where similar. How does the 257 Weatherby stack up against the 264WM?
 
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