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.....
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