elkaholic
Well-Known Member
After a couple of weeks of head scratching along with a few set backs, we have come up with a final design and have PTG working on a reamer. For those of you who didn't read the first thread, our intent was to build a TRUE short action 6.5 that would fit in ANY mag box with the 140 Bergers and would duplicate the velocity of the 6.5 Sherman. There has to be a lot more people out there than me that are tired of loading all of these so called Short action rounds as single shots! I think we have the cure that will cycle through a std. Rem 700 action and come close to 3200' with 140's in a 26" barrel. We chose the SAUM case as a parent because shortening the VERY THICK WSM brass turned out to be more than most people would care to do and the SAUM needs less shortening anyway. Norma brass is available for this build. The taper will be blown out considerably and the shoulder sharpened to 40 degrees as are all of the Sherman designs. With a LONG .320" neck, coupled with the sharp shoulder this cartridge should have great accuracy potential and be easier on barrels than anything comparable. It will hold approx. 64 grains of H1000 to the base of the neck. Whidden will be building my dies and will turn them around in 6 weeks. The reamer and Benchmark barrel should arrive around the same time, so with a little luck, I may have it together by May. Rhian (Bigngreen) and I are pretty excited about the potential for a long range carry rifle with low recoil and plenty of pop! I think it just might make a tremendous F class rifle as well. Thanks to Rhian for helping me brain storm this whole thing. Here is a pic of the 6.5 SS compared to a .270 WSM. It is not fully formed yet and is actually .270" in this pic but it will give a good approximation if you imagine less taper in the case, a 40 degree shoulder and .013" less diameter.......Rich
It is a 5 contour, 8 twist 5r stainless with 8 flutes. I have the reamer already from PTG and should have the go gauge soon. That is the only hold up as my smith is ready to chamber it ASAP. He is a 6.5 shooter and is quite anxious to see how this performs. My dies should be here from Whidden in about two weeks. I may have to drill out a 6.5x55 die and make a neck sizer out of it so I don't have to wait. The barrel will be finished at 26" and we expect to get 3200' with a 140. Also planning on 3000+ with the 160 Matrix. It should pack a long range punch with a .720 b.c.! Does anyone have an idea what I could use for a neck sizer since it has a .550" head?
