6.5 BRM in a Savage 340, good idea? bad idea? eating popcorn to see what happens?

[CrazyVikingx55]

So had a face palm moment realizing that the Sears bolt action in the safe that has never gotten my attention, is actually a savage 340 chambered in .30-30

We've got a scoped .30-30 marlin lever action already (source of brass), so I thought I'd look at doing something different with this bolt action, and since I plan to be hand loading 6.5x55 later, I thought a 6.5mm wildcat based on the .30-30 would be a good fit. Which of course led me to the 6.5 BRM.

Intended use is paper, east coast dear at less than 300 yards, and texas/virginia hogs at unknown ranges (never hog hunted in texas, buddy just moved out there)

Figured I'd do a 24 inch barrel to keep it handy (the current 19.75 inch barrel is wayyyy to short for my liking) and maybe look for a laminated stock to bed the action into.

Thoughts?

Anyone use this cartridge? prefered loads?

[FW Conch]

Sounds to me like a "match made in heaven"!

JMHO ;-)).........Jim

[CrazyVikingx55]

So in my looking I've found that.... well there's not a lot of info.

specifically the pictures I've seen of the 140 grain cartridges the COAL looks like using the .30-30 magazine would be a fantasy. So i find myself wondering if the 6.5 BRM case could be loaded with lighter bullets (90-100 grain) to get a COAL to work in the factory magazine, and a 24 inch barrel with a 1:10(?) twist, and still be a solid boar/deer/paper rifle?

seeing as the BRM drives a 140 grain pill at 2500 fps, would it be reasonable to think the lighter bullets would be in the 2700-2800 fps range? would that be fast enough to make the lighter bullets effective killers at .30-30 range?

(Ill be building a 6.5x55 later so giving up the big pills (130-160 grains) in the 340 isnt anything I'll loose sleep over.)

[sharpshooter]

I think it's foolish, considering the 340 has only 1 locking lug.

[CrazyVikingx55]

Forgive me, but does the 6.5 BRM really have that much higher pressure than the .30-30?

.30-30 - 150 grain pill - 2,390 fps - 1,903 ftlbs
- 110 grain pill - 2,684 fps - 1,760 ftlbs

6.5 BRM - 140 grain pill ~ 2,500 fps ~ ? ftlbs
- 100 grain pill ~ 2,750 fps ~ ? ftlbs

Those are all lower velocities than a 6.5x55, which is hardly known as an action damaging round. I'm not trying to be a smart ass, my lack of knowledge is why this thread exists at all, just saying, I'm obviously missing something here. Can you clarify? I'd appreciate knowing this was a bad idea before I modified a rifle that's perfectly fine as is.

[GaryB]

Try here for more info...

http://www.eabco.com/Reports/report03.html

Apparently they developed the cartridge.

[the Ranger]

.30-30 - 150 grain pill - 2,390 fps - 1,903 ftlbs
- 110 grain pill - 2,684 fps - 1,760 ftlbs

6.5 BRM - 140 grain pill ~ 2,500 fps ~ 1943 ftlbs
- 100 grain pill ~ 2,750 fps ~ 1680 ftlbs


filled that in for you. operating pressure is 55-60,000psi quite a bit higher than the 30-30.

[CrazyVikingx55]

Well, those are certainly rather salient points... guess that mental exercise was futile after all. Ah well, the .30-30 is hardly a cruddy round at the end of the day. And it is a handy little gun, just not really my preferred style or feel. Guess I can just keep the spent casings in case I decide to do a 6.5 BRM in a stronger action later on down the road.

[FW Conch]

The single lug is something to consider. I think about it every time I touch off a round in my 1898 Krag?????

[CrazyVikingx55]

FW - my dad's WWII occupation "Stomperud krag" is what sparked my obsession with the 6.5x55 cartridge, krags, and 6.5 mm wildcats. Building a modern 6.5x55 originally started as a way to get brass to hand load under power loads to try out shooting the krag.

I also may or may not have dreams of designing a modern style Krag, side feed underslung box magazine, scope ready receiver, with an interupted lug locking mechanism (think Weatherby Mk V) to handle full power loads while maintaining the buttery smooth action the krag is known for.....

just need to buy a laptop powerful enough to run solid works and get a 3D printer....

but I digress.... ;)

[FW Conch]

That would make a great future thread "55"! ;-))

[jonbearman]

Here is sound advice,buy a stevens 200 and build a modern safe action without the worrys of yesterdays technology. It is to dicey to play with ones safety as well as others present who could end up with a chunk of reciever in their face.Please think safety first. The 340 is good the way it is and a darn good little deer and hog destroyer all on its own.I have a bunch of 30-30's and they will do the job with one shot.

[TC260]

There's a pile of other 30-30 based wildcats and quite a few with pressure tested data as well because the T/C Contender (for which many of the rounds were developed) needs to be held at moderate pressures as well. Here's a page with few options http://www.bullberry.com/bullberry_cartridge_loading_data.html although they're probably all going to be problematic with their OAL. The 7mm Bullberry would prob be your best bet amongst those BB cases since it's a fair bit shorter overall than the others.

If you really have your heart set of a 6.5mm, maybe give these guys a call http://woodchuckden.com/ and ask them about their 6.5mm Classic. Quite honestly I'm not very familiar with the "Classic series" but I'm quite familiar with the "Herrett" rounds (30 and 35 cal) which are wonderful cartridges that are basically just shortened 30-30's to perform best in 10" handgun barrels. My understanding is that the Classic rounds are essentially necked down Herrett cases and fine to shoot in the Contender. With that in mind, the 6.5 version would likely work well given the magazine restrictions.

One last note on velocities, if you do end up doing something with this gun, don't worry about trying to duplicate velocities of other rounds. Stick with what's safe in the gun. Handgun hunters including myself, have no trouble whatsoever taking deer shooting much lower velocities than the common rifle rounds so no need hot rod anything. With a 24" barrel, min loads will prob get you more velocity than I get with max loads out of a 10" barrel so from a velocity standpoint it should be easy to make a good deer round while keeping things mild. Just make sure to choose bullets appropriate for the task.

[CrazyVikingx55]

TC260 - interesting angle, I guess the idea of "small" bullets for deer sized game has me a bit nervous about running lower velocities and getting that ethical one shot kill. I had planned on running 140 grain bullets for deer hunting out of the 6.5x55, maybe 127-130 grain for lead free bullets like Barnes. So 90-100 grain bullets at moderate velocities I guess make me a little nervous, which is the reason I seem to be listing max loads.

With my lack of knowledge and experience hand loading, I think I've decided to follow the advice above and leave the 340 the way it is, and get into hand loading when I build my 6.5x55 on a modern, stronger action.

Much appreciation to all for the feedback thus far.