6.5 build

[publius]

Going to put together my first long range gun and I love 6.5's. I'm thinking a wildcat 270wsm necked to 6.5 or possibly a 7mm ultra mag. necked to 6.5. I know they are both overbore but are they just just stupid ridiculous?

 

[aramarine6]

What are your goals? to have a lazerbeam cartridge? The 6.5 RUM wildcat is severely overbore and will burn even a quality barrel up very quickly? 6.5/284 is pretty popular now. But also a barrel burner. I feel that the best, most economic 6.5 is the 260 remington. Its a great 1000 yard cartridge and very mild recoil. However its your build, this was just my opinion. Good luck and good shooting!

 

[publius]

yeah, aramarine, I would like laser ballistics and just wanted confirmation that the RUM would burn the hell out of a barrel

 

[aramarine6]

Well then! you've got an excellent build I'd love to see the velocity numbers.

 

[Aldon]

I have 6.5-06and 06ai.

From reading through almost every 6.5 thread, if you want a laser beam, look into the 6.5 STW. Search the forum. Some good info on it.

 

[elkaholic]

We have some 6.5 Shermans shooting really well and you get magnum velocity on an '06 bolt face. You can get 3200' with 140's and 3050' with 160's in a 26" barrel. Barrel and case life are good and brass is plentiful. We also have a new (to be chambered in about 2-3 weeks) 6.5 SS (Sherman shortmag) that we expect to duplicate the Sherman velocity but will be a TRUE short action round. You can seat the long vld's to the lands and the round will fit in a std. 2.8" remington box.
Picture a .720 b.c bullet at 3050' in a 6.5 and you will be hard pressed to find much that will duplicate it........Rich

 

[aramarine6]

We have some 6.5 Shermans shooting really well and you get magnum velocity on an '06 bolt face. You can get 3200' with 140's and 3050' with 160's in a 26" barrel. Barrel and case life are good and brass is plentiful. We also have a new (to be chambered in about 2-3 weeks) 6.5 SS (Sherman shortmag) that we expect to duplicate the Sherman velocity but will be a TRUE short action round. You can seat the long vld's to the lands and the round will fit in a std. 2.8" remington box.
Picture a .720 b.c bullet at 3050' in a 6.5 and you will be hard pressed to find much that will duplicate it........Rich

Those are nice ballistics out of a 6.5 but there are some things that lazer like trajectories cant make up for. BC trumps velocity at long range. Dont get me wrong, I love the 6.5, but at distance(1000+) 338 projectiles win out.

 

[BrentM]

Heh heh wondered how long it would take before a 338 was thrown in the discussion.

 

[aramarine6]

Heh heh wondered how long it would take before a 338 was thrown in the discussion.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the 6.5 is an awesome caliber. But if you are going to overbore it with a RUM or STW case then in my mind the juice isnt worth the squeeze. Yes you will have flatter trajectories... but drop is the easiest thing to account for when shooting at long range. Its wind that is the game changer and a higher BC bullet wins that game. The 338 is also an awesome caliber, but topping it off on top of a 408 cheytec case is not efficent. Looks cool and is lazer fast, but for anyone on a regular income its just not economic. I just think that if money or barrel life is a concern look into a different caliber. But if it isnt, then build the fastest 6.5 and gun)

 

[elkaholic]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the 6.5 is an awesome caliber. But if you are going to overbore it with a RUM or STW case then in my mind the juice isnt worth the squeeze. Yes you will have flatter trajectories... but drop is the easiest thing to account for when shooting at long range. Its wind that is the game changer and a higher BC bullet wins that game. The 338 is also an awesome caliber, but topping it off on top of a 408 cheytec case is not efficent. Looks cool and is lazer fast, but for anyone on a regular income its just not economic. I just think that if money or barrel life is a concern look into a different caliber. But if it isnt, then build the fastest 6.5 and gun)

The Sherman is an '06 size case and that is why I said it would be difficult to beat this combination with a .720 b.c. bullet at 3050'. Sure a .338 will hit harder. So will a 50 BMG! My point is, for a 6.5, this is pretty hard to beat. Then there is recoil, cost to shoot, etc, etc........Rich

 

[BrentM]

So do those over bore 6.5s have the same recoil as the original cartridge? I assume it is a bit less. I think for a guy only shooting 200 rounds per year they would be ok, right?

 

[elkaholic]

So do those over bore 6.5s have the same recoil as the original cartridge? I assume it is a bit less. I think for a guy only shooting 200 rounds per year they would be ok, right?

200 rounds a year in a 6.5 RUM would probably give you about a year of shooting before you rebarreled.......Rich

 

[BrentM]

Oh wow, uh, well, dang. I was going to build a wild 6.5 for my outfitter buddy so we had an Extended Long Range rifle and my 6.5 would be good for the closer stuff, less than 1500. But man with low round counts like that, no beuno.

 

[GNERGY]

I built a 6.5-270 WSM and they say if you don't get the barrel real hot it should go 900 rds.
So far during testing I have been able to push 140 gr A Max's at 3300 fps and the 120 gr Barnes TTSX's at 3600 fps out of a 30 inch tube.
There is a guy on this site that had his barrel Melonited and he has over 1200 rds thru it and still going strong. After I start seeing throat erosion I am going to cut it off and rechamber it and get it Melonited.
I think the 6.5 WSM is a good choice for what you want.
Tarey