6.5-06 or 270WSM, what's your thoughts

[jibben]

And the 280 does everything you need.
Come now, we all know from the hunting escapades of the Swedes that nothing hits like the bone crunching power of the 6.5 :black_eyed:

[Alesandro]

Does Northland Shooters Supply have a web-page?

Stangfish;
Guns, I like guns, I have access to a bunch including a 280 that I am currently working up loads for. I decided to do a 6.5/270WSM to be different. Don't get me wrong I don't have every gun under the sun, far from it, the 280AI intrigues me as well. I wanted my first build to be an odd-ball that not to many people have or have heard of.

I will probably be ordering my barrel tomorrow or Tuesday. The barrel manufacture suggested a no. 5 contour for the 26" I asked for. Would it benefit me (weight) or hinder me (velocity) if I went 24"?

I appreciate all the help and input from everyone that has contributed to this thread. Get a hold of me if anyone is in the Boise, Id. area and we'll go and shoot some guns!!

[pdog06]

Northlander can be found in the vendors classifieds section here on the site.

http://www.savageshooters.com/forumdisplay.php?43-Northland-Shooters-Supply

Contact Information for NSS:
E-mail - briggs.j-b@q.com (that is Q.com not G.com)
Phone - 763/682-4296 - BEST WAY TO CONTACT ME
Fax - 763/682-6098
Mailing address:
PO Box 333
Buffalo, MN 55313

[yobuck]

alesandro ive been following your post regarding the 6.5x270wsm. i built one 2 years ago but only recently were
some issues finaly resolved. as for the cartridge it is a very good one. my issues with it were gunsmith related.
i built mine on a model 11 lefty action. the gun had been a 243. that in hindsite was a mistake. converting the
magazine and getting it to work was a nightmare. i wish i had started with a short mag action to begin with.
that said the proper smith would have sorted it out much sooner.
your decision of a no turn neck is a good one. ive got about 300 rounds thru mine to date. its probably the most accurate
gun i own. it likes every bullet i feed it. although some better than others of coarse.
i used a 28" brux barrel with an 8 twist. heavy sporter with .875 at the muzzel. it does have a brake.
not so much for recoil as for seeing my own hits.
i bedded and refinished the original wood factory stock but replaced the standard trigger with a sharpshooter which is excellant.
mine is not nitrited and fact is i wasent even aware of that untill i saw neal talking about it here. im not sure if its too late for mine of not.
maybe somebody can inform me on that. in any event now that im done fooling around with it it should last quite awhile used just for hunting.
good luck with yours.

[Alesandro]

Yo buck,

I am starting with a LA 270Win donor, I don't know if I will have feeding issues yet. I am pretty sure I will need to do some work to the magazine as the WSM cartridge is quite a bit fatter than the 270 and doesn't just pop in.

Why did you go witha 28" barrel, with yours having such a thick barrel at the muzzle and a long 28" barrel is it a hunting gun? I am still deciding whether I want 24" or stick with 26" barrel that I have quoted.

Thank you for your reply and information.

[tammons]

You will find better ballistic bullets with 6.5mm and 7mm than .277.

That said if you ever intend to shoot lighter bullets the 270 could be the way to go with some of the 6.8 SPC offereings, IE 85gr and 95 gr barnes.

I personally was looking for a very flat shooting, hard hitting round that would shoot inside 4" out to 300 yards.
Ended up with the 270 win and 95 gr barnes over RL17 at 3650 FPS.
It was sort of a quest but literally will blow body parts off a hog.

A 280 or 7mm mag would be better for Elk. More bullets there too.

Magnum rounds tend to pop out of the magazine with a regular push feed if you cycle them too slowly.
I use a control feed for magnums and that solves that problem.

[handirifle]

When my '06 was a 300 WM, I noticed the cartridges "popping out" as well, but a lot of tinkering with the forward portion of the feed lips finally resolved the issue. Just in time for me to convert it back to an '06. :p But hey, that's how I roll.

If this rifle had not come to me as an '06 it would probably have ended up a 280 AI, but since it IS an '06, I cannot force myself to buy more dies, more bullets and more brass, all to do something the '06 will do every bit as well or better.

Good luck on your project, I am finding it harder and harder to make swaps since I don't have the funds to get out and shoot all I already own, so it takes the fun out of a new one.

[tammons]

After my last fiddling with a staggerfeed 7mm RM and a push feed bolt head, I dont think I would even try to swap over a
push feed stagger feed rifle to a Magnum. A CF action just works without all the aggravation since the CF head catches the round when it pops up.

Mind you it would cycle if you cycled it very fast, but you definitely could not sneak a round in the chamber from the magazine.

A centerfeed push feed should work but I have never tried one in magnum.

[stangfish]

the 280AI intrigues me as well.

Now your talkin'!

[yobuck]

Yo buck,

I am starting with a LA 270Win donor, I don't know if I will have feeding issues yet. I am pretty sure I will need to do some work to the magazine as the WSM cartridge is quite a bit fatter than the 270 and doesn't just pop in.

Why did you go witha 28" barrel, with yours having such a thick barrel at the muzzle and a long 28" barrel is it a hunting gun? I am still deciding whether I want 24" or stick with 26" barrel that I have quoted.

Thank you for your reply and information.

im sorry, i didnt notice my typo till you pointed it out.
my barrel is 26" and not 28" as my post stated. yes my gun is for hunting and is on the heavy side for most people.
we hunt from stationary positions in pa so weight isnt a big factor for us. we do carry them for distances of maybe
a mile or so at times. but when we are there we are there for the day or at least a large part of it. this is the smallest
of my long range guns. not counting varmit guns of coarse. it is a high performance cartridge and as such requires
a 26" barrel. you will be using about the same amounts of powder as you would in a 7 rem mag. due to that lightweight
guns arent as pleasant to be shooting. at least in my opinion. but then i dont consider a 30/06 very pleasant either in light rifles.
your magazine will definatly need modification. and although parts are easily available from savage it wont be a yawner to fix.
free advice will come easily. mine was finally fixed by a smith in gillette wy. whom i had met while in the area hunting. he chambers
for that cartridge including long range pistols. he quickly recognised some issues with my gun when i showed it to him.
i would reccomend you use norma brass rather than winchester. i started by using winchester but had problems blowing primers
with the hotter loads. the problem went away with norma. that problem also seemed more apperent with rl22 powder.
im currently using h1000 with 140 berger vld bullets.

[Alesandro]

My Lee 6.5/300WSM dies came in yesterday.

Would it be hard to convert my gun to a controlled-round-feed instead of using it as a push-feed?

[Alesandro]

McGowen barrels stated to me the difference between the 6.5/270WSM and the 6.5/300WSM is the length, for those of you who had asked what the difference is. So I will be ordering a 6.5/300WSM (that's what the dies are), 26" long, Stainless Steel, small shank for a 110 action.

Is there any thing else I might be leaving out?

[yobuck]

well im of the opinion the only difference between the 2 is neck diameter. capacity is identicle.
the initial loading process is simpler by using the 270 wsm brass due to the neck dimension as compared to the 300wsm brass.
my dies are lee 6.5x300wsm also. simply run the new 270wsm brass thru the full legnth die and your done. its just that easy.
it would be advisable to check overall case legnth after sizing and if necessary trim to proper legnth. but that would be a
routine step during the loading process anyway.
this was my first set of lee dies. ive always used rcbs or redding prior to these. they did take a
little getting used to for me. but once i did they work just fine. in fact ive since bought another set for another gun.
i did swap out the lock nuts however.

id be sure your barrel is an 8 twist.

[Alesandro]

So after looking at my Hornady reloading manual it appears the 270WSM case is a little longer than the 300WSM case. With that being said I would think using 270WSM brass wouldn't be a problem because after resizing the neck from .277 to .264 it would also push the shoulder back as well. After the initial resizing and then shooting the round I would have a fully fire-formed case.

I think it all makes sense to me. I will verify the barrel will have a 1-8 twist when ordered.

Oh man, I am getting so stoked about this.

[Alesandro]

Hola Amigos;

I ordered my barrel last week and I was told it would take up to 11 weeks. I might let a little time go by before I order the rest of the stuff I need like the barrel wrench and such.

One question that hasn't been answered is, what do I need to do to get my WSM rounds to feed properely from my '06 magazine, do I need to get different bottom metal pieces or just open up the mouth of the current mag? Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

[tammons]

I tried 7mm mag with a push feed using 300WM mags, 7mm mag that came with the action and an 06 mag.
The rounds would pop out of all of the magazines.

What I would do is use a 223 bolt stroke limiter/baffle and form some sort of block in the back of the LA magazine similar to what they do with a 223 magazine on a short action.

I would try to keep the round as close to the front as possible.

You could try it with your 06 mag and see if it will feed.
The follower and mag as far as I can tell for my 7mm mag
is identical to my 06 mag but its an old action. I have a 300 WM magazine and the follower is different.

Not sure how that limiter would affect the bolt cocking either, but I would assume it should work.

[358Hammer]

Personally I swapped out the magazine to make one a repeater.

All the rest I shoot and hunt as single shots. 25 years of hunting with single shots one just doesn't think about repeaters much.

Good luck and enjoy this incredible round.
Neal

[Alesandro]

OK, I need some unbiased advise. It seems when I used the barrel manufactures web-site to order a barrel the manufacture never received the order. I am pretty much back to square one as far as the build is concerned.

So here is where I need the unbiased advise. This is my 1st build and I would like to make it as easy as possible. I have a donor 110 270Win. After doing some research after I ordered the barrel (I assumed the barrel was on order) it appears I will have difficulty making a short action WSM case feed reliably and function since I will be going from a controlled round feed to a push feed and I will need to create a block so my shorter rounds don't move around in the magazine if I went with a 6.5-300WSM. And I will also need to change the bold head.

If I go with a 6.5-06 all I need to do is swap the barrel. Same bolt head, no mods to the magazine, manufactures have the barrel in stock, and everything should pretty much be the same.

Since I am looking at moving now and both funds and time will be a limited resource, should I go back to building a 6.5-06?

Let me know what you guys think.

[stomp442]

Just change the bolt head on your 270 to a magnum bolt head and build your 6.5wsm. The one I built was also on a 270 donor action. I have also been a big 6.5-06 fan and I really don't think you will be dissatisfied with it but if you want a bit more horsepower you could always ackley improve it and get very close to the same performance as your short mag. I'm having a 6.5-06 AI built on a Winchester action as we speak that should be done in the next few days according to the smith I will be happy to provide chrono data once I get it up and running.

[Alesandro]

Stomp442;

Don't I need to open the mouth of my magazine and shorten it as well? When I tried to put 300WSM brass into the magazine it was a little difficult getting it in past the lips. And how do I stop the next round not go forward when when I am chambering the top round? Hope those questions make sense.