Next up............6.5 WSM!

[Hotolds442]

As if I don't have enough projects going on right now, it's time for another wildcat. The 6x55 is nearly complete, with just a couple of powders to try. The 243AI is shooting groups in the .2's so no need to mess with it, and I'm still waiting on some more brass for the 22/6.8 so there's nothing going on with it. Batter up!

I picked up an unfired 28" 8 twist small shank X Caliber varmint contour barrel chambered in 6.5 WSM from Scope Eye, chambered by Jim at Apache Gun Works, and an unfired left hand Model 11 action to start the build. While I wait for the rest of the parts to show up, I'll start working on case prep and getting everything set up to load some rounds.

I picked up 3 different lots of 270 WSM brass from three different sources, 2 have arrived. A total of 106 rounds of once-fired brass ready for prep. I started out by tumbling everything, and then ran them through a set of Lee 6.5/300 WSM dies found at Midway to neck the brass down to 6.5 caliber. 6 rounds either split at the neck, or the shoulder leaving me with an even 100 rounds. Next up was the annealing process, simple propane torch, DeWalt cordless drill, and a K&M case holder. Once the necks were all annealed and dried out from the water quench, I cleaned them again with 0000 steel wool and then off to the case trimmer. I trimmed all of the cases to 2.100" (I think) and cleaned up the necks. I needed to order a new pilot and expander for my K&M in 6.5mm, and when it arrived, I turned all of the necks to .293 to make sure there were no issues with the .298 neck of the chamber.
Once the cases were all prepped, I checked the protrusion in the barrel of each round, and since they were all satisfactory I began loading up some starting loads.
This is where all the fun began. I attempted to prime all of the prepped cases, but none of the rounds would fit into my Lee hand primer. I had to take a Dremel drum sander to open up the jaws of the priming tool to allow the rebated rim WSM cases to enter into the shellholder. That was a pain I wasn't expecting to have to deal with.
Once I had everything primed, it was time to weigh out some powder and seat some bullets. I selected three powders for the first round, H4350, H-1000, and MagPro. I also chose two different bullets, the 140gr Berger Hunting VLD, and the 140gr Hornady AMax. 10 rounds each, in half grain increments, looking for max charge weight.

Dumping powder into the cases didn't go very well, the large diameter of the WSM cases kept the necks from seating fully into my RCBS powder funnel, circa 1980. I ended up screwing a nozzle from my RCBS powder measure into the funnel and was then able to dump powder. So now I've got 60 rounds loaded up and I'm just waiting on a couple of parts to finish assembling the rifle.

Right now, I've got a Boyd's Pro Varmint left hand stock in Applejack, A Vortex HST in 6-24x50 with the VMR-1 reticle in Mil/Mil, an EGW 20 moa scope base, Burris XTR low rings, NSS recoil lug and barrel nut, and a 6-9" Harris Bipod ready to go on the rifle. I need to open up the barrel channel for the varmint contour, and add pillars once the barrel is mounted to the action.

I'm currently waiting on a left hand Magnum bolt face for a short action, and the WSM firing pin and mainspring, and a couple of other small parts then I can set the headspace and finish bedding the stock. Most of those parts are coming from Savage, who knows when they'll ship out.....

[GaCop]

Great report. Looking forward to hearing your range report.

[Rooster 50]

Question.........why not anneal the brass before you run them through the sizing die. My feeble mind says that it should make for less failed cases?

BTW I am considering the same build. I am sitting on a WSM action that has been to SSS for the full treatment and a new trigger. I will be following your progreww with much interest.

[Hotolds442]

I could have annealed the brass before running it through the sizing die but I figured that since it was all once fired brass, I wouldn't have much of an issue with it. Going from .277 to .264 shouldn't have culled as many as it did, oh well. I've got another 140 or so empties coming, and they'll all be annealed first this time.

[Hotolds442]

Today's mail featured 100 rounds of nickel plated brass and the mystery bolt head.
I had found a left hand bolt face at Numrich that was listed as LH 7mm-08, 300 WSM, 338 WM so I decided to take a chance on it. It was going to be the right length-wrong face, the right face-wrong length, or just right. Well, it turned out to be the 338WM - too long. I could turn .125 off the shaft and chamfer the firing pin hole, but I'd still need a firing pin since the lugs are longer than the standard bolt face that's currently installed on the bolt. The firing pin I have is not adjustable. Since I have the correct bolt face and firing pin ordered I'll wait until I have the correct parts and leave this one unmolested. Hopefully my parts are somewhere between Savage and Foxx.........

The H-1000 loads I made up the other day for maximum load work ups:
140gr Berger HVLD H-1000 62.0-66.5gr at 2.775COL,
140gr AMax H-1000 62.0-66.5gr at 2.902COL
I added another bullet to the mix tonight too.
140gr Nosler Custom Competition HPBT, H-1000 at 62.0-66.5gr at 2.826COL
Those are all seated at .020 off the lands
The MagPro loads,
140gr Berger HVLD, MagPro 67.0-71.5gr at 2.775COL
140gr AMax, MagPro 67.0-71.5gr at 2.902COL
140gr Nosler Custom Competition HPBT, MagPro 67.0-71.5gr at 2.826COL
And the H-4350 loads were:
140gr Berger HVLD, H-4350 54.0-58.5gr at 2.775COL
140gr AMax, H-4350 54.0-58.5gr at 2.902COL
140gr Nosler Custom Competition HPBT, H-4350 54.0-58.5gr at 2.826COL

[darkker]

Good luck Hotolds.
My leopard does well with US869 and 140gr bullets. I haven't found a need to anneal after resizing 7 wsm brass, but to each his own. In talking to Sierra, since my case capacity is almost identical to the 264WM, I use that data's starting loads.

Cheers

[Hotolds442]

I chose my starting loads based on 270 WSM - 140gr load data. It's good to see the Sierra recommendation. What kind of velocities are you seeing with the 869 and 140's? Last time I looked, my local Sportsmans had 869 in stock.

I did not intend to anneal any brass for quite some time, but a 6% cull rate was rather disturbing. That may have been due to the brass that I got and its previous care though. It was mixed Federal and Winchester, and both makes had culls. It may have been exposed to heating and cooling repeatedly while it was laying on the ground waiting to be picked up, or something similar. I'm not sure of its history, other than its claimed to be once fired and has no resizing marks on it.

Since I'm annealing everything now, at least all the brass is considered to be equal at this point. That should make for a more consistent bullet retention across the board.

[Hotolds442]

The remaining parts I need to complete the rifle are on their way, so I should have a shootable specimen by the middle of next week. I have some 139gr Scenars and some 140gr Remington bullets to add to the mix now too.

[yobuck]

I had the same gun for about 3 years. Lefty mod 11 w/a 28" 8 tw brux.
Liked every bullet i fed it but i wanted to use the heaviest.
H1000 RL22 and 7828 were best in that gun.
63 gr h1000 w/140 berger or sierra were about same for accuracy and where i settled.
Scorched a bolt face bad using the Win brass on the hotter loads also ejector issues.
Neck was a tad tight and i didnt want to be turning brass so we honed a little out of the neck area
which solved that problem. If your not pouring the coal on you might just as well have a 6.5x06ai imop.
Anyway 320 rounds later it found a new place to live.
Try some Norma brass if you can find it. i found it worked better with the hotter loads.

[Hotolds442]

Thanks for the info yobuck, I will definitely be pouring the coals to it.
If I start having issues with the Winchester brass, I'll take that recommendation and seek out some Norma brass.

[scooterf79]

Looking forward to the report. Cant wait to see/hear the results!
Scooter

[Hotolds442]

Got the remaining parts in the mail today, I ordered the wrong firing pin, so I stole the firing pin from my 300WSM and put the bolt together. I also installed the barrel and set the headspace. All that's left is to open up the barrel channel and then I can install the pillars. I should have a range report next weekend. I also want to load up some 139gr Scenars before the weekend. That'll give me 120 rounds to shoot. I probably will hit max charges before I get all 120 rounds shot up though. Got the rest of the brass in the mail today also, I've got 250+ empties now. I should be good to go for quite a while.

[scooterf79]

Nice! Should make for an interesting round....what kinda speeds are you maybe talking about?
Scooter

[Hotolds442]

I should be able to see somewhere north of 3300fps with a 140VLD. I've seen others have attained speeds up to 3460 with the same bullet and IMR7828, but I'll believe that when I see it through my rifle. I'd be happy with 3350 if the accuracy is there, but I've read that the VLD suffers in the accuracy department above 3000-3100fps. We will see.

[scooterf79]

Nice.....sounds pretty good.....the trajectory should be really good with those magical 6.5s.....cant wait to see how it does
Scooter

[yobuck]

I should be able to see somewhere north of 3300fps with a 140VLD. I've seen others have attained speeds up to 3460 with the same bullet and IMR7828, but I'll believe that when I see it through my rifle. I'd be happy with 3350 if the accuracy is there, but I've read that the VLD suffers in the accuracy department above 3000-3100fps. We will see.

Id need to be standing there seeing it to believe 3460 w/a 140. And that would be shooting and counting clicks and not chrony info.
Chances are the cases were tossed after they were extracted, but those things arent ever talked about.
7828 will produce velocity and i do use it in some rifles. But its not a friendly powder to use in my opinion.
Pressure can come very abrubtly when using it so proceed with caution. 33/3350 is doable with h 1000 with good hunting accuracy.

[Hotolds442]

Yobuck, thanks. You need to just spill your guts on this chambering. You've been there, done that. All the info you've got on the round would be helpful to myself and others. I'm not particularly interested in lighter bullet info, but the 130VLD might be an option further down the road. I'd like to see the load data you've accumulated posted into this thread, if you can. I know I'd appreciate it.

[darkker]

Sorry for answering late...
I stopped at the 3,000fps mark using US869 with the 140's.

The original loading info was done before we had the Pressure Trace. I hope to get the thing tested sometime this year, we'll see. About the VLD comment, I've heard the same about running them harder. The Pressure Trace work in the Creedmoor showed that, no, Berger bullets aren't exempted from the laws of physics :P

We compared the hybrid targets against CC's & SMK's, same load and jump produces.... The same pressures! So there is no significant difference in bearing surface to stickiness of the jacket.

[langenc]

Regarding "dumping powder"-- get hold of RCBS and get a scale pan w/ built in funnel. Then you can just weigh and dump into the case, separate powder funnel eliminated and all the fumbling along w/ the funnel.

[Hotolds442]

Well, I made it out to shoot today, and I'll just say I'm not impressed so far. The 140 VLD's were a major disappointment in the accuracy department, the AMax rounds showed pressure signs before the other two bullets, and the 140 Nosler Custom Competition bullets just plain spanked the others. I was able to shoot all of the H-1000 rounds without seeing pressure signs, the MagPro peaked earlier than I thought it would, and H-4350 was the accurate powder of the day. Wind was a factor today, severe enough that I had to keep going down range and adding more rocks to keep the cardboard target holder upright. The table I used was moving around in the wind and I just couldn't settle into a good groove. The only bright spot today was the sun. I'll load up some 4350/Nosler CC's and play with the seating depth some and see what happens, everything I shot today was .020 off the lands. We drove about 15 miles of gravel roads to get to an open spot to shoot, and about 6 of the 30 VLD loads had the bullets fall into the cases. For some reason, they don't have the same neck tension as the other two bullets. I need to figure that out because I really want these bullets to work. Out of 90 loaded rounds, I was able to shoot 70 of them before seeing pressure signs with the various loads. A couple of the AMax loads show some potential, and the VLD's just sucked. Im not giving up on them yet though, and I've got some 140 Accubonds on their way to try out next time too.