6.5 Wildcat based on 7mm WSM

Slick, smooth, belt-less cases are great, but the belted case is just going along for the ride once their fully fire-formed. I've got them. Work great.
There are so many wildcats out there. Best that you settle on availability of brass, ease of forming a wildcat, whether or not you will include barrel changes as they wear and something that is easy to find a consistent load.
Rich Sherman would be one guy here to chat with (elkhunter). He can really provide some great info. He is all over widcats that perform.
Good luck when you decide.
 
I would consider just necking it down. Increasing the shoulder angle will only hurt the feeding and the extra case capacity is minimal. Plus you won't have to fireform.
 
I would agree with the above. Going from a 35 to 40 degree shoulder will gain very little, and the wsm already has very little taper so there's not much room to blow the shoulder out either. But if you just want it to be different, then that's a good enough reason. Also be aware that the 7 wsm has a short .240 neck and necking down to 6.5 will reduce that another .018 or so. That doesn't leave much room to chase the lands as the throat moves out, which will happen quickly with this cartridge. Another thing to note is that if you want to seat heavy bullets above the neck shoulder junction, your Coals will be 3.2 ish. If you're ok with these compromises then go for it.
 
Just build a 6.5 Sherman max, it's a saum case blown out to 40° and reduces taper. The biggest upside is adg brass. Most the 7mm wsm brass on the market is junk. Your 6.5wsm will have maybe 82gr capacity, the 6.5 max has 77 and a longer neck to help throat life. There may be 50-70fps between the two case capacities.
 
I would like to build a 6.5 wildcat cartidge based on the 7mm WSM case. I plan on necking the 7mm WSM case to 6.5 and then fire forming the case shoulder out to 40 degrees. Has anyone tried this or heard of anyone who has tried it? I have heard of 300 WSM and
270 WSM necked down to 6.5 (basically the same result with either one) but am unable to find anything on wildcatting the 7mm WSM.
Planning on using a Savage 10, 11 or 16 or Rem 700 or Win 70 action. Any thoughts on this cartidge and rifle build?
Thanks for any input .... Nick Novak
Why not? It might be fun, and you'll learn something along way. Instead of so many others soap boxing about their idea would be better.....
 
Highdrum,
I'm waiting on my 6.5 Max brass from Rich. Have you developed any loads yet in yours? Would you share load and velocity data? At least a starting point? Can't wait to get mine rolling. How does it feed and what are you using for a mag? Hoping my HS Precision mag works well!
 
Highdrum,
I'm waiting on my 6.5 Max brass from Rich. Have you developed any loads yet in yours? Would you share load and velocity data? At least a starting point? Can't wait to get mine rolling. How does it feed and what are you using for a mag? Hoping my HS Precision mag works well!
I'm STILL waiting for barreled action to get done at smith, been a very long wait. Rich made a statement that ADG is going to be delayed on shipping his head stamped brass, material shortage or something. I have some 6.5 max brass coming as well. Rich says his brass will be different than 6.5 saum brass. When I compared my 7 max brass to adg 7 saum, they were exactly the same, so we'll see what happens.
 
As others have said, if you want a wildcat 6.5 mag in a short action then the 6.5 SS is probably the easiest route to get there (dies and brass available) and it has everything going for it.

If you really want the WSM parent cartridge though there's nothing wrong with that of course.
 
Bertram makes a head stamped brass for the 6.5 WSM. It needs work to make it perform. The neck wall thickness is erratic. Runs, on my batch, about .016 but is not concentric. I turn mine to .0145 or so. It cleans up and makes a huge difference in the accuracy. My rifle is a defiance XM with 3.200 mag length. Manners stock and proof 1-8 24" carbon barrel. It shoots 140 Berger Elite Hunter and the 127 Barnes extremely well. Whiddon Gun Works made the clicker resizing die set.
 
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