6.5 Crazy

[JLC0311]

It stayed very consistent for a long while at about 3/4", when it opened up I decided it was near the end of its life. If it was a Featherweight I might have rebarreled it but being a Standard with a rear sight lug I decided it might just be more of a pain than it would be worth so I flipped it.

Never worked with any of the RLs yet, pretty much stick to IMR and Hodgdon.

Thanks, from what I've noticed even though the Corps may be smaller than the army it definatly has more shooters. It's kinda natural for us to congregate at a place like this.

 

[BK]

Yep, we got ourselves a pretty good group of Leathernecks here.

 

[gerry]

I was thinking you were running a 28 inch tube on there. The best I ever got out my Pre64 Westerner with a 26 inch was 3015 fps with 140 Sierra G/Ks over 63.5 gr of Retumbo.

Very good looking rifle

My 24" custom Rem 700 got around 3050 fps with the same charge of Retumbo and 140 gr Partitions and Accubonds, the 140 gr Sierra's clocked about 100 fps slower.

 

[SJB358]

It stayed very consistent for a long while at about 3/4", when it opened up I decided it was near the end of its life. If it was a Featherweight I might have rebarreled it but being a Standard with a rear sight lug I decided it might just be more of a pain than it would be worth so I flipped it.

Never worked with any of the RLs yet, pretty much stick to IMR and Hodgdon.

Thanks, from what I've noticed even though the Corps may be smaller than the army it definatly has more shooters. It's kinda natural for us to congregate at a place like this.

Man, that Westerner is the reason I picked up my late model Sporter. I learned to reload from an older gunsmith who had a pre 64 264 Win Mag. I still remember seating the 125 PT's with his old COAX. It was a life changer to a rifle head. So, since I stood little chance of a 264, I got a M70 7 Rem Mag instead. Still have that one. It is getting a little bit of an update this year, but it'll be fun to get it back out and shooting again. It has always been a good shooter and should be better with some cosmetic work.

I am almost the opposite the you, I run almost all Alliant, not because it is any better though, just because it has worked well for me. For the majority of my stuff, RL7, RL15, RL19, RL22 and RL25 cover my bases pretty well. I have some random powder jugs on the bench, but the Alliant works pretty well.

Your right, alot of Marines are shooters. I think you would be surprised to know how many are on here. Pretty great group of guys on here.

Who are/were you with in the MC?

 

[257 Ackley]

but the thought of a 6.5/06AI is pure poison.

That is a very cool cartridge right there. It would have to be a great hunting rifle, since there are so many great bullets available for it.

I will second that! Wonder what the 6.5-280AI is? Venom :mrgreen: I am leaning hard toward building one sometime next year.

Rod (Nodak7mm) runs a 6.5-06 for one of his F-class rifles. I'm not sure what kind of speed he is getting with the 130's he shoots, but he shot really well last weekend with it in the mid-range championships. It is an accurate cartridge and not nearly as much of a barrel burner as the 6.5-284 and some of the other over-bore 6.5's. I don't think you will gain enough velocity going to an AI version to warrant it. When my 6.5WSM is shot out, I am going to rebarrel in 6.5X47. That cartridge can't do the 140 grain bullets justice, but the BC's of the 130 bullets are really tough to beat if you are looking at a long range shooter for targets or deer sized game.

 

[JLC0311]

It stayed very consistent for a long while at about 3/4", when it opened up I decided it was near the end of its life. If it was a Featherweight I might have rebarreled it but being a Standard with a rear sight lug I decided it might just be more of a pain than it would be worth so I flipped it.

Never worked with any of the RLs yet, pretty much stick to IMR and Hodgdon.

Thanks, from what I've noticed even though the Corps may be smaller than the army it definatly has more shooters. It's kinda natural for us to congregate at a place like this.

Man, that Westerner is the reason I picked up my late model Sporter. I learned to reload from an older gunsmith who had a pre 64 264 Win Mag. I still remember seating the 125 PT's with his old COAX. It was a life changer to a rifle head. So, since I stood little chance of a 264, I got a M70 7 Rem Mag instead. Still have that one. It is getting a little bit of an update this year, but it'll be fun to get it back out and shooting again. It has always been a good shooter and should be better with some cosmetic work.

I am almost the opposite the you, I run almost all Alliant, not because it is any better though, just because it has worked well for me. For the majority of my stuff, RL7, RL15, RL19, RL22 and RL25 cover my bases pretty well. I have some random powder jugs on the bench, but the Alliant works pretty well.

Your right, alot of Marines are shooters. I think you would be surprised to know how many are on here. Pretty great group of guys on here.

Who are/were you with in the MC?

Never been too much of a 7mmMag fan, however the marketing on it was good enough to almost kill off the 264. The only real one-up it has over the 264 is it gives you the option to run heavier lead. The only 6.5s I know of that are heavy are the Norma and Woodleigh, but there are a lot for the 7mm.

When I finally start reloading for my M70 6.5x55 I will probably go with a RL powder. I understand one of them is great for it and I know they list data high pressure loads for modern bolt rifles. Right now I still have a lot of factory Nosler 140 A/Bs (I went a little overboard on the buy 2 get 1 free promotion when Cabelas had a sale), they just run so good through mine. Why reload just yet when you have a lot of factory that prints 1/2 inch groups?

Before I took the blood money from the Texas Army National Guard ($30K for a 6 year reserve contract, all I was seeing was dollar signs) I was with 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines on active then I did a little reserve time down here in Texas. I miss the Corps so much.

 

[JLC0311]

What kind of performance are you getting out of you 6.5 WSM? I was thinking that be a little more of a barrel burner than the 6.5-284.

I agree, on my Montana I'm going with the straight 6.5/06 instead of the AI. While the extended case life would be great its not necessary because of the parent case, and you don't get a major boost in performance.

 

[JLC0311]

I was thinking you were running a 28 inch tube on there. The best I ever got out my Pre64 Westerner with a 26 inch was 3015 fps with 140 Sierra G/Ks over 63.5 gr of Retumbo.

Very good looking rifle

My 24" custom Rem 700 got around 3050 fps with the same charge of Retumbo and 140 gr Partitions and Accubonds, the 140 gr Sierra's clocked about 100 fps slower.

Interesting, I didn't think there would a velocity difference like that. Didn't work with the others since I was using it just for Texas Whitetail.

 

[gerry]

I should chronograph them all again on the same day with my new Chrony and see if that was true. Pretty sure I did the Sierra's and Partitions together on the same day but it doesn't hurt to check again.

 

[SJB358]

Before I took the blood money from the Texas Army National Guard ($30K for a 6 year reserve contract, all I was seeing was dollar signs) I was with 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines on active then I did a little reserve time down here in Texas. I miss the Corps so much.

Wow! 6 years of blood money. Don't feel bad, I take money everytime the Marine Corps offers it to me!

I deployed with 1/4 a few times on the MEU and then I had a few great friends in 3/1 around 2002/2005.

Sounds like your 6.5 is working pretty well with the AB's. Can't imagine beating that with much handloading.

What kind of performance are you getting out of you 6.5 WSM? I was thinking that be a little more of a barrel burner than the 6.5-284.

I agree, on my Montana I'm going with the straight 6.5/06 instead of the AI. While the extended case life would be great its not necessary because of the parent case, and you don't get a major boost in performance.

Joels 264WSM is really an equal to the 264WM, at least us comparing loads and such. It is a screamer. It might be a little more of a barrel burner, but you gotta pay to play with the fast 6.5's. I wanted to do a 264WSM but Joel beat me to it, and I found the 264 Win Mag, so it all worked out, but man, I like the WSM cases.

For the amount of powder burned, a 6.5-06 or Improved would probably be just about ideal.. I won't be giving up my 264WM anytime soon though. If the barrel burned out tomorrow, I would rechamber to the same.

 

[JLC0311]

Before I took the blood money from the Texas Army National Guard ($30K for a 6 year reserve contract, all I was seeing was dollar signs) I was with 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines on active then I did a little reserve time down here in Texas. I miss the Corps so much.

Wow! 6 years of blood money. Don't feel bad, I take money everytime the Marine Corps offers it to me!

I deployed with 1/4 a few times on the MEU and then I had a few great friends in 3/1 around 2002/2005.

Sounds like your 6.5 is working pretty well with the AB's. Can't imagine beating that with much handloading.

What kind of performance are you getting out of you 6.5 WSM? I was thinking that be a little more of a barrel burner than the 6.5-284.

I agree, on my Montana I'm going with the straight 6.5/06 instead of the AI. While the extended case life would be great its not necessary because of the parent case, and you don't get a major boost in performance.

Joels 264WSM is really an equal to the 264WM, at least us comparing loads and such. It is a screamer. It might be a little more of a barrel burner, but you gotta pay to play with the fast 6.5's. I wanted to do a 264WSM but Joel beat me to it, and I found the 264 Win Mag, so it all worked out, but man, I like the WSM cases.

For the amount of powder burned, a 6.5-06 or Improved would probably be just about ideal.. I won't be giving up my 264WM anytime soon though. If the barrel burned out tomorrow, I would rechamber to the same.

Looks like we were in Hell, aka Horno, the same time. It's a small Corps after all. When I punched out with the guard to Basra I had Doc Jenkins from 2/1 along with Terry Bailey, Kelly Showman, and Arriaga from 3/1 with me.

I like the fast 6.5s but it broke my heart when the barrel on my Westerner went, such a great rifle. 6.5/06 is close to the 264 but I should be able to get more life out of it.

 

[Desert Fox]

Man Scotty, 3200 fps for those 140 is scalding fast. I'm nipping at 3000 with 140 Berger and IMR 4831 with my 6.5-284 but a bit too hut for my liking. I since dropped it to around 2950 just to be on the safe side. I will try Reloader 25 on this baby and see if I can get to 3000 fps without pressure issue.

 

[257 Ackley]

What kind of performance are you getting out of you 6.5 WSM? I was thinking that be a little more of a barrel burner than the 6.5-284.

Yep...Hopefully there is at least 800 rounds in the barrel before it has to be replaced :mrgreen: . As long as it doesn't go with me on p-dog shoots, there should be a few years in it. One of the guys that shoots in an F-class league with me has a 6.5-284 with less than 800 rounds through the barrel and his gunsmith said the barrel needs to be replaced. We looked at it with a bore scope a couple weeks ago and it looks like croc skin in the throat area already. It is a chromoly barrel that is button rifled from one of the big barrel manufacturers that has been around for a long time.

Scotty is right on with how close the two 264's are in throwing bullets out of the pipe. My 6.5 WSM was built on a Winchester action, so I am able to seat bullets out a little further than if it was a Remlington action. We use different powders to achieve similar results, mainly because of the difference in case design. MagPro is the most accurate and gave the best velocities. This is in a 26 inch Brux #5 contour barrel. The 130 AB or Scirocco bullets shot under moa at a little over 3400, but I backed off a bit and can shoot them into dime sized groups at 3350 all day.

Scotty shooting the 6.5WSM

Chrony reading with Magpro (since backed off to 3350)

Left 130 AB, Middle 120 BT, right is .260 with 130 AB

 

[nvbroncrider]

That's way sweet. I think I'm gonna love my little slow 6.5. I went to school with a kid in the Marines. He was in Iraq during the same time frame I believe. Pretty good egg. Darn this swede is beautiful!