So who's shooting a 6.5 SAUM???

[upSLIDEdown]

Looking for real world details. Loads, speeds, brass life, barrel life, etc. Got a buddy thinking about building one, and I remember looking at the caliber hard when I built my Creedmoor, but wanted something I could buy factory brass for, and there was still no solid evidence to back up the 3k+ round barrel life.

[darkker]

So as to not tie-up the other thread you linked to here, no, but...
We were fooling with the Leopard many many years ago, which is what they call the 6.5 WSM.
The reality is the WSM case is very very close to the same case capacity of the 264WM, and the velocities are the same. With anything, let alone a wildcat; far too many people try and "read" pressures from brass and think they aren't over-pressure. Brass and primers DO NOT accurately report ANYTHING. A Pressure Trace strain system however, does. From a pile of Pressure Trace testing we did over Christmas in the Creedmoor, 98% of the Creedmoor loads people are touting online, are over pressure. Now if high pressure doesn't bother you, fantastic. But in the Creedmoor, and I don't know how scalable this is, an extra 50-75 fps comes at the cost of 10-15,000 psi.
For your barrel life question:
This ALL depends. Are you actually going to be shooting and getting the barrel hot? Or are you a 50 rounds a year guy? Will you be competitive, or demand that level of performance, or is 55-gallon drum at 200 close enough? The competitive shooters, usually only get about 3k from a Creedmoor. With the added capacity of the SAUM, that same rate of fire cannot somehow last as long.
These loads functioned and sounded perfectly, and are why you should not be "reading" pressures.

[upSLIDEdown]

I'm not one of those guys. I don't 'read pressures'. My Creedmoor should actually be well under what most people shoot out of them, for that reason. I shoot 41.8gr of H4350, and it runs a 140 Hybrid 2690-2700fps. Slow, by most Creedmoor standards. I shoot competitively, and I shoot a lot. I built my Creedmoor last year, and it's already got close to 1500 rounds through it. I don't push it hard for 2 main reasons. Barrel life and brass life. Most of my Hornady cases have 5 firings on them, and still have tight pockets. You also say 'only 3000 rounds', but I built my Creedmoor with that expectation, so that's not really an issue to me. I have buddies shooting 6.5x284s that will be getting half that, or less.

My reason for asking about the SAUM, is GAP has been touting for years that it will get 2500-3000 rounds of life. The claim is it runs at 308 pressures, and that's what gives it the longer barrel life than most anything else like it. I figure there should be some people out there by now that have real world numbers.

[darkker]

Well, the Creedmoor is SAAMI spec'd to run just under the 308's operating pressure. The SAUM has around 18 gr more powder eroding the barrel per shot, so that is pretty easy math....
The boys down at Sin City did an article on it some time ago, but have never used it for competition like they do the Creedmoor.

[upSLIDEdown]

Yeah, the claim about 308 pressures is from GAP, IIRC, and obviously, they want to sell rifles, soooo... I dunno. Just want some real world numbers, that's all.

[stomp442]

They are getting more barrel life because they are loading the cartridge down from what it is really capable of. I think it was over on long range hunting where I was reading they were nitriding the barrels and only running them at 3000fps to get that many rounds down the tube. I don't know about you but I don't build a hot rod cartridge to load it down. In the case of the 6.5 SAUM I would pushing the 140s just as fast as I could with excellent accuracy meaning half moa or less.

[Hotolds442]

I can push the 140 VLD to 3400+ in the WSM, but the bullet reportedly gives unsatisfactory results on game above 3100. The difference in accuracy between 3400 and 3100 is amazing and I'm sure barrel life is increased substantially. As far as I'm concerned, even at 3100 it's still a hot rod when compared to factory offerings in short action 6.5 chamberings. Pushing a bullet as fast as you can isn't always the best route when you look at all the dynamics involved.

[jb6.5]

I sure like my little creedmoor but one day I'm gonna build a saum or wsm.

[upSLIDEdown]

Yeah, I've also got an Edge I built not long ago, and thought about just making it a switch barrel with a SAUM, but I dunno. Having the Edge might make having a SAUM pointless. lol

[Hotolds442]

You may be right. I found that my 300 WSM Trophy Hunter is every bit as accurate at 7 1/2 pounds as my 6.5WSM at 12 1/2 pounds. I get the advantage of pushing 190 VLD's at just over 3050 over the 140's in the 6.5 at 3100. That gives me just a slight edge while hilltop bear hunting.

[upSLIDEdown]

Based on sheer energy...

1 mile
Edge - 1000 ft/lb
SAUM - 350 ft/lb

1000 yards
Edge - 2230 ft/lb
SAUM - 1000 ft/lb

Whether it's killing, or in my case, mostly ringing a steel plate, the Edge obviously makes the SAUM look, well, pointless. And if I want a light bullet, I can shoot the 160gr TTSXs at 4k+ FPS... soooo...