Mine liked 7828 with 140 vlds. I really liked the concept but trusted the smith too much on the reamer spec. It's amazing how may smiths with years of experience still miss the boat on things like neck diameters and freebore. I told him what I wanted and he said his reamer was almost exactly that. It wasn't even close. I ended up with a .290 neck and too much freebore. I had to turn necks even necking up thin walled ww 25-06 brass and the base of a 140 vld was half way up the neck starting out. No room to chase.
I explained I wanted simple one pass resize, reliable hunting performance with room to chase with vlds. His 40 some years of experience and his reassurance made me think he had it but he missed it in every way. Simple hunting round easy to form brass did not mean turning necks to me. He throated it long because he said I told him for 140 vld's and they are long bullets. Amazing that he didn't understand that vlds require a shorter freebore than a round nose. I tried to explain but he thought I was nuts thinking a vld needed less free bore than a round nose. Tried to tell him than the rifling doesn't engage at the bullet tip and talk ogives and some basic trig but he just went ape about all his years of experience etc. an old dog that didn't comprehend the vld new trick.
Ended up selling the thing dirt cheap to my accountant who said he liked to turn necks. One more lesson I keep learning about why it's better to just spec and buy your own reamer than trust an old dogs experience when he shuts down your questions.
As bad as the whole deal was I saw the merits of the 6.5-06 and even the 6-06 if done right. I'm trying to get the nerve up to try again.next time it'll be a .298 neck and the bearing surface/boat tail junction will be spec'd for 130 vld's at the neck shoulder junction. It'll give 140's some room to chase.
On a Rem action it feeds slick, holds 5, can run 2950 with 140's in a 22" tube, and has plenty of room for seating in that mag box. My fat fingers also prefer a long action and it's slick feed angle despite the few ounces of extra weight and having to carry that 3/4" longer gun. I'll just find someone to share the reamer with next time and have jgs do one right. A Rem 700 with a standard Rem sporter at 22" in an edge chambered right could do a lot of things well.
Bb
Last edited by Burleyboy; 12/29/16.
