Any experience with the 6.5 WSM Wildcat?

[HomerOz]

G'Day Fella's,

Cole, thanks for the reminder on several of these points, which apply equally to all rifles!

I'll need to have a bit more of a think.........!
It's a really great cartridge, so I'll probably build one up. I just need to put it, in it's proper place on the "Project List"!!!

Doh!
Homer

 

[longrangehunter]

Everything has is place, even the way I acquired that rifle. I traded an older Kimber BGR that was real pretty and shot very well to, but I already had a 280 AI from Kenny Jarrett that I loved way more, and needed a 30-06 for while I was in Africa. Away, it was a custom M98 Mauser, nice looking but a piece of crap! Even after the guy that built it put another barrel on it, it still sucked! So I wanted out of owning it and took it back to the gun shop I bought it from, only they wouldn't give me anywhere near what I paid for it. So I bought another 30-06 from someone else, tuned it and went off to Africa with it. After I came back I thought I'd try and dump that gun at the same store hoping I'd get a sales man rather then the owner who sold me that gun in the first place. Sure enough the salesman thought he knew what he was doing and the owner too busy to notice. I kindly asked to trade it for a Kimber Montana they had...... as luck would have it I got the Kimber and a check for $400.00! I wanted out of there so fast before the owner got wind of what took place you might have thought I was stealing the dam gun! Right as I was walking out I looked to see the salesman showing to owner the trade he made...... I'm pretty sure he lost his head on that one. So I got out from owning a gun I hated while getting a Kimber Montana for the old Kimber I had traded in the first place. And since I already had the brass and dies from the 300 WSM that came from Bruce Bear I didn't have much more of an outlay other then a scope that was needed.

Which brought me to converting that gun to a 6.5/300 WSM a year ago. So like I said, yes it's cool, and so is having a super model as a girlfriend...... but that does mean it's for everyone!

 

[HomerOz]

G'Day Cole,

Good to see had a win in the long run!
But man, if I had owned a Kimber BGR, there would be No Way in the world, I would have ever parted with it!!!

Yeah, I think the 6.5 WSM will become a reality, it will just have to get in line, instead of jumping the Que!

Doh!
Homer

 

[longrangehunter]

G'Day Cole,

Good to see had a win in the long run!
But man, if I had owned a Kimber BGR, there would be No Way in the world, I would have ever parted with it!!!

Yeah, I think the 6.5 WSM will become a reality, it will just have to get in line, instead of jumping the Que!

Doh!
Homer

Good Morning Homer,

Did you ever build a 6.5 WSM? My Lab saw this Coyote this morning out the window, so off I went out the door with my 6.5/300 WSM. The front porch bench sure made a nice shooting bench after I called him in! Drop him in his tracks and he never made a single twitch!

You just might love this cartridge if you do?

 

[Farmer Brown]

G'day Fellas,
I'm hoping somebody can help me out with some technical data. I have just purchased a 6.5 WSM built on a Kimber Montana action.
I will be using 270 WSM brass. Question is what is the trim length?
The brass I have resized is still within the length spec of the 270 WSM.
Once I get the brass sorted I'll be load testing with 130 scirocco's and 140 Bergers.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers Tim

 

[SJB358]

I think you'd be fine using 270 WSM specs. That 264 WSM is a screamer of a great cartridge.

 

[257 Ackley]

270WSM lengths will work (does on my rifle). It depends on the specs of the reamer that was used to cut the chamber. If you know the gunsmith, he should have the print of the reamer unless he rented it.

 

[longrangehunter]

Hey Tim,

Sinclair makes a chamber length gage insert, it's nothing more then a piece of lead that you seat into a piece of brass that has been trimmed back .100" or slightly more. I can't remember but you'll seat it long, chamber it into the gun, and measure it.... that's it. Then you know the exact length of the chamber, reduce the length by .021"-.027".

Doesn't matter what someone tells you or the reamer used, most are cut to something other then what you think they are. This way you'll know for sure the length and then trim to below that number.... easy as eating pie and I don't mean the pie on your face if you listen to someone else.

 

[257 Ackley]

Hey Tim,

Sinclair makes a chamber length gage insert, it's nothing more then a piece of lead that you seat into a piece of brass that has been trimmed back .100" or slightly more. I can't remember but you'll seat it long, chamber it into the gun, and measure it.... that's it. Then you know the exact length of the chamber, reduce the length by .021"-.027".

Doesn't matter what someone tells you or the reamer used, most are cut to something other then what you think they are. This way you'll know for sure the length and then trim to below that number.... easy as eating pie and I don't mean the pie on your face if you listen to someone else.

The Sinclair tool does work well to give you the chamber length. You could also have the gunsmith do a chamber cast.

Not sure what you mean by "pie on your face if you listen to someone else". There was a question asked by someone looking for advice and a couple of us that are familiar with the chambering offered advice, as did you.

I order my reamers to exact dimensions for case length, lead and freebore. The gunsmith that chambers my rifles does them to the dimensions of the reamer or he wouldn't have my business.

 

[longrangehunter]

Sorry if you took my response at you 257 Ackley, it was in reference to the chambering work I had done at Shilen Rifles in which I had to send my rifle back to them for cutting the chamber way too long 2.1585" OAl vs. 2.12-2.1250" that was called out. Even after sending it back to re-cut the chamber again which took another 3 months it came back at 2.1445" OAl.

Point being even if the smith says one thing or that it "should be this" well what is it really? And why listen to what someone said, when you'll find out for yourself what the true length is....... I hate looking stupid without the facts, hence the pie in the face, as in sucker, the other guy just has a better poker face.

I've been told a lot of things in life that end up being untrue. This $6-8.00 dollar part will tell the user the chamber length without have to ship the rifle back/or the time involved leaving it with them and can be done very easily and saved for future reference in case you forget or loose the info?

It wasn't a bashing of your opinion or advice, but to take matters into your own hands and find out for yourself what it is rather then listen to someone else? No offense to you at all, I just like knowing/seeing the info for myself, kind of like when I shot a box of Nolser ammo over my chronograph that said 2750 fps.... that was actually 2485@20' = 2500 fps at the muzzle! It may say one thing, but is that really correct info or is it something else?

 

[257 Ackley]

Thank you for clearing that up Cole. I just ordered a new reamer for an "improved" 6BR that has an OAL case of 1.550. When the print was first sent to me it had an OAL of 1.560. I know how much those cases shrink when they are improved, and that is why it was ordered to that case length for the chamber. I imagine some gunsmiths that are chambering a lot of barrels might be off a thousandth or 2, but he wouldn't have my business for more than one barrel. Take care

 

[longrangehunter]

Most of the major issues arise when these gun smiths use a pilot reamer for the neck simply to save on costs of having a single reamer for each caliber. In my case, a 257WSM reamer was used and then a 6.5 pilot reamer for the neck. The smith should have "watched/measured" the distance in which he cut the neck length, which he wasn't able to hold or keep within spec. Not once but twice, and at each pass my barrel becoming shorter with each mistake. Plus the prior work in-letting the stock for the barrel the first time that wasn't done after the being re-cut again. So with one mistake, I ended up with three mishaps!

A chamber cut too long. A barrel shorter then I wanted, and stock work that I paid a lot of money for the first time that wasn't sent back after the barrel was turned back and re-cut causing the barrel to touch the barrel channel in the stock!

Sure the gun shoots, but a head ache dealing with people that didn't take their job seriously enough to make it correct after a mistake and only caused even more issues that were never corrected.

 

[6mm Remington]

Homer if you are looking into finishes, this is one you might want to check out. It is called John Norrell Arms moly resin. This is what I chose for my 280 AI build. I really like how it turned out and as with the other coatings out there, you can get many different variations of color and shades. From what I have researched it's supposed to be good stuff and if you go to their website, it's used for a lot of Military and other applications.





http://www.johnnorrellarms.com/molyresin_about.asp

 

[DrMike]

Very handsome, David.

 

[nvbroncrider]

David that thing is gorgeous when are you gonna shoot her?