New 6.5 Idea

[redneckclimbing]

Thanks, for answers. I've been thinking on a similar project to make a cartridge able to fit in the standard Howa action. I've been thinking of making a forming die with a double radius shoulder, like a Weatherby but softer radius's, to make the flow of brass a little easier. Also thinking of having it nitrided for less friction. It's been an interesting and informative thread.[/QUOTE]

Montana-

I also did a similar thing and would have to agree that I don't think the radius idea would work, JMO. I talked to Mark Spencer at Spencer Tool and Grind, he made me a FL die with seperate bushings that had progressively steeper shoulders. Still had to anneal the shoulders down a little bit, but after that, they worked really well. You can find his web-site on-line pretty easy. I would defenitely recomend him for something like that.

 

[redneckclimbing]

Also, I think I speak for quite a few people here.

"Brave the cold, get your butts out there, and let's see what this thing can do!"

 

[7mmRHB]

Sorry about the wait guys but the customers come first! The weather sucks here as Steve mentioned. Our normal places to shoot are covered with lots of snow and an inversion has us breathing brown air!! Literally!! It's going to start snowing this morning and keep it up through Sunday so I'll do my best to get out and finish the break-in, reprep the brass and see what kind of velocities it's capable of achieving. ---- 7mmRHB

 

[elkaholic]

Sorry about the wait guys but the customers come first! The weather sucks here as Steve mentioned. Our normal places to shoot are covered with lots of snow and an inversion has us breathing brown air!! Literally!! It's going to start snowing this morning and keep it up through Sunday so I'll do my best to get out and finish the break-in, reprep the brass and see what kind of velocities it's capable of achieving. ---- 7mmRHB

Where are you that you have brown air? I was in Salt Lake a while back and it was worse than L.A..........Rich

 

[sj-pratt]

I'm about 65 miles south of Salt Lake City and the inversion has been bad this year, to cold and to much snow and that makes our air thick and it dosen't taste very good.
Got a shippment of barrels from Brux and Benchmark so I have to get a few guns put together or my name will be mud, but we will sneak out and get something going with the 6.5 BPX

 

[elkaholic]

I'm about 65 miles south of Salt Lake City and the inversion has been bad this year, to cold and to much snow and that makes our air thick and it dosen't taste very good.
Got a shippment of barrels from Brux and Benchmark so I have to get a few guns put together or my name will be mud, but we will sneak out and get something going with the 6.5 BPX

Thanks Steve, it sounded like Salt Lake.......Rich

 

[7mmRHB]

Well I went out this morning and made an attempt to finish the break-in on the 6.5 BPX. It improved quite a bit but was still getting a streak of copper on the nine o clock land top. The good news is that it cleaned very quickly ( two wet patches ) after 5 shots.

The weather was rotten the whole time, with a cold wind and snow falling most of the time. I guess you guys shamed me into getting back out to the range to keep this project moving.

If I can find .286 bushing for my die, we'll get on to the performance tests this coming week.

------- 7mmRHB -----

 

[liltank]

The weather was rotten the whole time, with a cold wind and snow falling most of the time. I guess you guys shamed me into getting back out to the range to keep this project moving.

------- 7mmRHB -----

Now that's funny!

 

[sj-pratt]

Ok guys we have made time today to meet at the range and see what we can ring out of this little cartridge. RHB, Goodgrouper and I will have some info as to what we can get out of
the 6.5 BPX, the moment of truth is near.

Thanks for all the views its been an interesting project.

 

[7mmRHB]

Well we went out to see what this little cartridge could or couldn't do this afternoon . Goodgrouper came to help us with his Oehler and to give some moral support. Steve came to see if he was going to have to eat lots of crow tonight!! I believe he'll be eating something other than crow for supper, based on today's shooting results!!

I had 24 cases fire formed after break-in so I picked two powders that I thought might be the right burn quickness and loaded up twelve each of H 4350 and RL 17. I started at 43 gr and went to 48 to make sure we had the pressure covered. I'll show you the velocities and Steve will post a picture of the targets.

-------- H 4350--- 140 Berger--COAL 2.845--( just touching the lands )----210 federal M
#1- 3 shots at 43 gr ave. 2774fps ( two foulers on clean oiled bbl )
#2-44 gr= 2837 fps
#3-45gr = 2872fps
#4-45.5gr=2909fps
#5-46 gr = 2943fps
#6-46.5gr=2965fps

I stopped there because it started to show signs of pressure. It shot the last five into .253" w/ 5 different charges!!

-------- RL 17----140 Berger -- 2.845 --( touching lands)--- 210m

#1- 3 shots at 43gr 2798--2810--2814fps ( a couple of shots to lay down some fouling )
#2-44gr = 2874fps
#3-45gr = 2915fps
#4-45.5gr=2955fps
#5-46gr = 2983fps
#6-46.5gr=3018fps
#7-47gr = 3058fps

We stopped at 47gr because of light pressure signs and decided that we might need a bit slower powder for our next test. The Rl 17 was extremely accurate w/ all nine shots inside of .630 ctc. The exciting thing was how there were three distinct nodes that shot tiny little groups even though there were different charges! The last six shots made it made it an eye opener!! The first thee shots went into .193, next three into .137 and the last three into .160 !! I believe RL 17 is a contender for powder choice. Goodgrouper wants to shoot it in the next benchrest match. LOL
All in all it was a good day at the range but we have much more work to do and powders to try.

On another note the 8lb gun hardly moves with the Titanium brake Steve installed !!

Thanks again to all who have been following this thread. ----- 7mmRHB

 

[elkaholic]

Congratulations guys and nice job! What is your barrel length?.......Rich

 

[barnesuser28]

Wow guys really really impressive! Those are impressive velocities! Congrats!

 

[MontanaRifleman]

Great looking results fellas! Especially the accuracy! I had very similar H4350 vs RL17 results in my 300 WSM - 66.5 gr of H4350 to 67.5 of RL17 for 3000 fps vs 3200 fps.

 

[sj-pratt]

A picture is worth a thousand words, sorry I'm so late my wife hijack me and didn't even want to here how the shoot went. Here's a couple of phone pictures I took at the range.

I do think just a tad slower powder might be just the ticket looks like we are on the right track.