6.5X47 Load Work

[257 Ackley]

Plus, it should give me a little more velocity and plenty of room to push the chamber back and rechamber it several times and still have plenty of barrel length.

Depending on the contour/shank length of your barrel, you may get one set-back once the throat has eroded enough to effect accuracy. The palma contours have enough length to usually ream and re-thread once if the throat isn't too bad, but you won't get more unless you are running a straight tube. A new barrel is part of the cost of doing business in the shooting world...

The 6.5X47 was designed by Lapua to compete in 300 meter matches against the PPC's and 6BR's that have been winning most of those matches. Good velocities can be had with 130 class bullets, but 2850-2900 for the 140 grainers will be difficult with even 32 inch barrels. There is little gain in velocity for the increase in powder that is needed once you get near top pressures in most of these cartridges. The appeal for most shooting this caliber is having an efficient cartridge that can compete well in the mid-range matches (600 yard), but is capable of competing well at the 800-1000 yard distances. Go to Accurate Shooter and look at some of the articles and info to see what some of the top BR and F-class shooters load and say about the cartridge.

 

[.300winmag]

Plus, it should give me a little more velocity and plenty of room to push the chamber back and rechamber it several times and still have plenty of barrel length.

Depending on the contour/shank length of your barrel, you may get one set-back once the throat has eroded enough to effect accuracy. The palma contours have enough length to usually ream and re-thread once if the throat isn't too bad, but you won't get more unless you are running a straight tube. A new barrel is part of the cost of doing business in the shooting world...

The 6.5X47 was designed by Lapua to compete in 300 meter matches against the PPC's and 6BR's that have been winning most of those matches. Good velocities can be had with 130 class bullets, but 2850-2900 for the 140 grainers will be difficult with even 32 inch barrels. There is little gain in velocity for the increase in powder that is needed once you get near top pressures in most of these cartridges. The appeal for most shooting this caliber is having an efficient cartridge that can compete well in the mid-range matches (600 yard), but is capable of competing well at the 800-1000 yard distances. Go to Accurate Shooter and look at some of the articles and info to see what some of the top BR and F-class shooters load and say about the cartridge.

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Mine is a Hunter BR contour, it's got no taper for the first four inches then tapers off quickly. I'm hoping for two rechamberings as the 6.5 case is a little shorter than the .308 case.But, I understand where you're coming from completely, I don't mind spending hard earned money on shooting related items at all. I get a lot of enjoyment out of shooting so I can justify the costs. I plan on wearing out several more barrels before I'm put in the dirt :wink:

I've read a lot on the 6.5 on accurate shooter.com as well as 6mmBR.com and from several other resources. There is a lot of good info out there. I may be hoping for a little much but I would much rather have accuracy and precision over velocity any day. I've got a buddy getting 2,860 with a 140 Hybrid and H4350 in an 8 twist 30" Hart. I don't know what his charge is but it's on the high end. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what mine will do. Hopefully it will shoot as well as yours! If not, would you like to trade? :mrgreen:

 

[257 Ackley]

One of the guys in the F-class league I shoot in has a 6.5X284 built on a BAT action with a Krieger barrel in a medium palma contour. He had about 1100 rounds through the barrel towards the end of the season last year (August). Accuracy started to fall off in August, so another guy at the club brought his bore scope out so he could look at the throat and see how bad it was. It was a real eye opener for me to see how much the throat had eroded for about 3 inches inside that chamber. It looked like alligator skin when magnified with the bore scope. I know the 6.5-284 is more of a barrel burner than the 6.5X47, but it told me that accuracy will fall off with calibers that we try and push to the limits of the pressure curves. After seeing his throat, I can only imagine what my 6.5WSM will look like at 800-1000 rounds :roll: .

 

[.300winmag]

That's the nature of the beast, 1,100 rounds is right in the ball park of where I'd expect that barrel to go though. David Gosnell of team USA shoots in my neck of the woods and he replaces his competition 6.5-284 barrels at 900 rounds, even if they're still shooting well...I couldn't afford that. That 6.5 WSM is a screaming cartridge and should be a blast to shoot! 800-1,000 rounds for a barrel has it's bright sides though, you can recycle the barrels and use them as tomato plant posts, or something of that nature. Probably not as much fun as on a rifle....but, still useful.