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Putting together A 6.5-06 Wanting to put together a dummy round to send with action and barrel. Question is is the Amax the longest bullet others I plan to use are the Barnes 130 TSX and Lapua Scenars in 139. Hope this makes sense.

If you're talking about throat, you'll find Amaxs and such are loaded 'way' longer, but typically require a shorter throat.

Doubt you would choose to use the Hornady #2640 160 grain round nose though if it is throat you are worried about that may be the longest case scenario.

If it were me the longest bullet I might consider would be the 140 grain SST or a 140 grain SP

That is what I was trying to say. Thanks Steelhead. Safe to say if I can kiss with the Amax at mag confines than I should be good with about all others.

With a hot round it might be wise to have it throated a bit short, then you can start seating out further to keep accuracy when the throat starts to erode. If you start at the max magazine length then you can't do that.

Yea im thinking Amax's for play and TSX for Moose and Elk. Maybe the Scenars for Whitetails. Not interested in the 160's. Thanks for the reply.

Spotshooter. That is the plan I just didn't word my post well. I plan to leave some room to chase the lands. I did a poor job of explaining what I was asking and for that I apoligize. You guys have deciphered what I meant though. Thanks for the help.

Put together a dummy with all three loaded to the same OAL a little under magazine length (want to have a little room to chase the lands). Then measure the cartridge base to ogive measurement using a caliper with bullet comparator. The one with the shortest cartridge base to ogive measurement is the one you want to go with.

Of the three you mentioned, the Amax will likely result in the shortest throat needed but I don't know for certain as I don't have any 139gr Scenars. If there is any chance you may want to shoot Berger VLDs, they are the barometer you want to use for your throat. When loaded to the same OAL, the cartridge with the VLD will have a shorter base to ogive measurement than the one loaded with the Amax.

Make sure your smith is willing to throat to your specs. He will either have to use a no freebore reamer and a separate throating reamer or order a reamer with a freebore that matches the specs of the dummy you provide him.

John

I have 139 Scenars and 140 Amax's on hand:

139 ogive to tip = .569, 1.365 OAL

140 ogive to tip = .608, 1.375 OAL

130 FB TSX 1.326 OAL per JBM

You may be okay chambering for the Amax but seating dummy rounds will provide insurance.

Thanks Guys

Good advice here!


X-VERMINATOR

Mine shoots the 140 Berger VLD well and is what I had it throated for. On a side note, the 160 Woodleigh is a great shooting bullet in the same rig. Everything keeps dying fast with Bergers so I have yet to shoot a Woodleigh at anything.

Stock up on H1000 and RL22, you should be good.

FYI, Amaxs will take deer, so if you don't want to use the scenars.

Pictured below, top to bottom: 140 NAB, 140 A-Max, 139 Scenar (picture taken to illustrate relative bearing lengths)



Don't have my OAL data here at work, but I'm pretty sure the A-Max has a slightly longer OAL at a kiss. The Scenar is the pick of the litter in accuracy by far in a 1:9" 264 Win. Don't have an opinion on game yet.

IIRC, my 140 Berger Hybrid load is over .100" longer than my 139 Scenar load, given the same land relation. The Scenar's don't look very slick when side by side!

I checked my dummy rounds - the 139 Scenar is 10 thou longer than the 140 A-Max seated to kiss the lands.

A week ago

629 yards 6.5-06 a-square reamer, Shilen Select match 8" ratchet rifling #3 barrel, 120 gr Nos Bal Tip moly, 3.34" 50.7 gr IMR-4166 powder [temp coated, Copper fouling coated], necked down winchester 30-06 brass, ~ 3200 fps 65kpsi

My other two deer this year were much bigger and much closer. I could have got them with 30-30 open sights. But that's hunting. I made a lot of mistakes, but got a lot of chances. I handload ~ 65 cartridges, and I think the 7mmRemMag is the most effective for deer and 6.5-06 is second best.