6.5 wsm

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Is there much of a following or is there many of you guys loading on this cartridge?

Will have one made here in the next month or two. It will be using it to test factory brass and I would like to run the 140 Berger hunting or a 130 Scirocco fast on a lightweight rifle(tikka).

Add your interest here.
 
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Are you going to be testing Bertram Factory Brass? The growth in brass options is awesome. I'm pretty pumped for Bertram 6.5 SAUM brass, Alpha SAUM brass, and factory Prime 6.5 SAUM ammo coming!

With GAP hyped SAUM it doesn't seem like a lot of people have went WSM although it probably would have been easier to find and form cheap 270 WSM Brass than 7 SAUM brass.
 
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sportsmans challenge

sportsmans challenge

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Yes sir, will be running the 6.5 WSM from Bertram as soon as it shows up.

The 6.5 Saum will be very popular. So far from the factory I have been told the Bertram brass is 14.5 thousands of an inch and from what I'm hearing that is perfect for many chambers and reamers that are out there for the gap4s and similar variants. The 7 saum has been very popular weather necked down or as it is.

I think the factory formed option of 6.5 WSM some guys may look at that for a hunting rifle.
 
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sportsmans challenge

sportsmans challenge

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Looks like we will have a bunch of this 6.5 wsm brass coming possibly early September, just in time for guys that have the chamber and to spread the word.
 

JigStick

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You'll be burning barrels out just so you know. the 6.5wsm is a notorious barrel burner. If you're just looking to play around with a wildcat then so be it. But if you want a .264 caliber rifle to hunt with then most likely there is a better option out there.
 
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In one way yes, all I want to do is reload and shoot a wildcat that will RIP a 6.5 bullet fast and flat. On the other hand there is many more out there that want a flat hard hitting 6.5mm on a medium to long action that could be built lite weight for hunting. For this purpose of a guy isn't out running matches and shooting lots of rounds consecutively the barrel should last a few seasons.

When there is factory brass available for this chambering it makes it easier for guys and more appealing.
 

Ryan Avery

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You'll be burning barrels out just so you know. the 6.5wsm is a notorious barrel burner. If you're just looking to play around with a wildcat then so be it. But if you want a .264 caliber rifle to hunt with then most likely there is a better option out there.

I love supporting my barrel companies! Burn them bitches down.



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idig4au

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. On the other hand there is many more out there that want a flat hard hitting 6.5mm on a medium to long action that could be built lite weight for hunting.

When there is factory brass available for this chambering it makes it easier for guys and more appealing.

That's what I wanted. I ended up having a 6.5 wby built up using the 257 wby as the parent case. All I have to do is size up the neck and Redding makes the dies for it already. I'm getting 3155 fps on 140 grain Accubonds out of a 24" barrel with a total weight sub 7.5 lbs. It's in the happy medium between performance and not burning barrels out in a short time.
 
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Sounds slow. Would think that cartridge would push a lot harder then that.

Either way, I am not looking to have a economy 6.5, I have a 260ai now that is accurate and works fine. This 6.5 wsm is just gonna be fun
 

idig4au

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No reason to push harder and wasn't the objective of the build. Objective was accuracy, lightweight and something between 3100-3200 fps. Its shooting 0.31 MOA average and meets the other objective. All boxes checked.

Good luck with your 6.5 wsm. What kind of performance is expected out of it?
 
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Expected- 3200fps with 140
Hoping for- 3300fps+ with that same bullet

Wanting to see how the brass can handle top end loads after a mediocre 1st firing on it. Probably load up a few pcs find how it is reacting to the pressure compared to other brass and then work up to pressure, back off .5 or so grain and run it till the wheels fall off the brass. At that time we know what we may have for life expectancy. I think if a guy could run a full house loads on the 140 and higher bullets and still get 10 firings or close to that then it is winning. Sure back it down to 3200 or rite around and save life, but a hot load that is accurate, obviously a 2" group at 100 yards is not good, but an accurate load .5" or less and see how consistent you can get the es/sd. That's the goal, process, target to be shooting for.

I am not shooting a 6.5 wsm to tone down to creedmoor performance. I want a small, lite weight rifle package, that will easily hit with authority at 1000 yards with accuracy. Will take it a lot farther in shooting rocks, steel and varmints for practice and validation and have no doubt the gun with the rite bullet combination could get you to a mile for fun (done that with less).

Hope it will appeal to lite weight hunters going for deer, sheep, wolves and other critters that will be packing in and want to not plug around a 13# rifle, but still be quite confident to half mile plus with it(or more with practice obviously).

Oh and no messing around with necking up, down, turning necks, just load and go. Easy!
 
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Got a picture of a decent group from the tikka that the gun smith shot. Velocity he said was maxed out at 3220 ish with rl26 due to the 23.5" barrel running the 140 berger. Will have to maybe look into retumbo, h1000 or maybe reloader 23 and see if that might be fast enough to get that case pressured and show us where pressure is.

I think he said 69 grains of rl26 is what he was at
 
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Had ryan shoot a string of 140 eld m on top of rl23 yesterday said he got up to about 3220 and that's where bolt lift was too heavy. Kind of looking like 3200 might be about max on the 140's, but I am gonna load up some retumbo and then the next set will be 8133 I think is the number purple label of the enduron.

If 3200 is it in this short barrel then I may switch over and just see what the 147's will do in this as well as try the 130 scirroco to see what could come from it.

Waiting on 6.5 wsm stamped brass to show up, rite now I am using the 270wsm necked down to see rifle potential while waiting.
 
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