Hicks
Well-Known Member
I've got a long action Remington action and I'm in need of a good varmint round. I was thinking about a 6 or 6.5 STW. Does anybody have any experience with either of these rounds?
Hicks
Hicks
The 6.5mm would be a much better choice then the 6mm. The 6.5mm STW is actually a very impressive performer. Its best loaded with bullets of 140 gr or more for best consistancy at long range.
The 6mm bore is, in my opinion, to small for the STW class of case capacity. In fact the standard 2.5" long belted magnum is about all the 6mm bore can support and even then a 6mm-284, 6-06, 240 Wby or 6-06 AI will nearly match the larger belted magnum case.
Another problem is getting a 6mm bullet that could handle the launch speed of a 6 STW. That is if your wanting to use a long range match type bullet.
Another very real concern is powder bridging. With stick powders, the 257 STW will on occasion have this problem which is when the powder locks up in the shoulder area of the case as its trying to flow through the neck when burning in the case.
This situation would be dramatically worse with the case necked down to a 6mm neck. If you used only the very slowest ball powder, it could work if you used the very heaviest bullets out there with the very slowest powders available. The problem there is carbon fouling, it would be SEVERE. I would suspect you would need to clean the powder fouling out of the bore every 10-15 rounds to maintain any accuracy at all.
In the end, your 6.5mm STW is a MUCH better idea for a high performance, long range varmint round that is relatively user friendly. Even with this chambering, throat life will be limited.
Kirby Allen(50)