Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 6.5mm plinker in Pre-64 06' based M70 in Echols Legend...

Gentlemen,
Aside from a number of larger custom projects I find that I have several Pre-64, specifically pre-53 solid handle one piece bolt, Model 70s that have 06' based feed rails, as well as a couple Echols Pre-64 Legend Stocks. Combine this with a 1000 pieces of Lapua 260 Brass and just short of 150 pounds of fresh H4350 and all sorts of Berger and Lapua Bullets. Mostly 139 and up... I was thinking about having Dave Tooley true an action and turn down the Bartlein 1-8" 5R Remington Varmint to a #5 Contour, or maybe I'll trade or buy a tube from bugholes.com and barrel it to a .260 Remington with an unrestricted seating depth... I've already talked to Alex Sitman at MasterClass about fitting the Legend Stock to the Barreled Action and pillar bedding the affair. Questions:

1. Use the standard length .30-06' magazine to push 140s out as far as they want to go, and keep that in mind with the reamer design, or install a Pre-64 .308/.243 length magazine? Rifle is to be a fun gun with the aim to burn some powder, which I have too much of, and put a barrels worth of wear behind an Echols Legend stock. How better to gain experience with the handle?

2. Light Contour or Heavier? I have have two Pre-64 Legend stocks. One sporter and one 5 contour plus Barrel channel... Neither are heavy. The are both standard fill. Want to keep barrel length modest. 22-23" at most...

3. .260 Lapua Brass is from Brownells. It can go back for exchange for life. I have had it boxed sitting with it's Redding Comp dies ready to ship to exchange for the same thing in 6.5x47 Lapua and Redding Comp dies... I just don't know if the Lapua gains anything from a 06' based magazine. Hell I don't that a 260 really gains all that much when you look at the Berger 130 AR...

Dave says the action is the last component in accuracy. He says the Pre-64s can be built to shoot very, very well... Somehow know him I trust that. Pre-64 70 in Echols Legend spitting out 6.5x47 Lapua cases makes for an odd mental picture or does it?

Only 6.5mm barrel I have on hand is the previously mentioned Bartlein 1-8" Remington Varmint Contour...

Thoughts guys? Open to input here. Trying to keep this one on budget and fun... Using on hand components.

Regards, Matt.

Exchange the 260 brass and dies for 6.5x55 brass and dies.
Lapua makes 6.5x55 brass. Would be a better fit n the M70.
Go light contour, you may love it so much you want to carry it in the field?
Heavy contours suck for hunting.

If you know it will never leave the bench then go heavy.
Easier to spot your shots at long range etc...

Have a hard time wrapping my mind around a pr-64 M70 in a bench gun, but it's your money and your rifles so by all means do what pleases you.

As to the 6.5x47 it may cause feed issues? Hate to see you alter your M70 to make it work?

You'll may have to alter the '06, .473" bolt face/extractor somewhat to accommodate the slightly larger .479" Swede rim. I guess it depends on how tight the bolt face is spec'ed.

My Lapua Swede cases wouldn't fit in my #3 RCBS shell holder, I had to get a #2 30-30 shell holder.

Not sure about other brands, some may be loose enough to accommodate the slightly larger rim.

DF

^ That. To me the advantage of the 6.5x47L over the 260 Rem is on a short action due to seating constraints. In this action the Swede would seem to me to stand out above the 260 for the same reason.

I ordered a custom tube from Rock Creek directly and they said they're 4-6 wks out. You might consider them if the contour of what you have is holding you back.

Good luck,

efw

Guys,
Appreciate the input but no Swedes... Nothing personal, however, it fails to move me even though I know it is an excellent cartridge. If I were going to make it into a strict hunting rifle I would exchange a portion of the brass for 7mm-08 Lapua and make it a Short Action Sporter... I'd say .30-06', however, it fails to address the "plinking" part of the equation and it bores me to tears. I have .308 Winchesters & .300 Winchester Magnums from the finest makers in the land...

The heavier 6.5mm bit is a longer range plinker thought... Remember, pile of H4350, looking to use some of that, and send 130 grain plus 6.5mm pills down range to hit steel, varmint, or merely to antagonize the neighbor's cat. Which is really a reward in itself...(grin)

Regards, Matt.

6.5-06?

DF

IMO this is the answer.

Should feed slick as a whistle, lots of available quality brass, virtually duplicates the 6.5-284, what more could one ask for.

drover

Guys,
I appreciate it, however, just a few points to consider:

1. I HATE case forming... Neck turning and case neck donuts rank right up there with Obama and AZZ Cancer as far as I am concerned. Neck and neck...

2. Lapua brass out of a box and ready to load is a beautiful thing in my world...

3. .308 Winchester will feed slick as a whistle in an 06' action... As will it's stable mates.

4. Big pile Hodgdon H4350 Extreme... Needs to be burnt in 37 to 45 grain increments. Long slippery pointy Berger bullets. Big heap magazine clearance.

5. 6.5-284 and 6.5-06' are throat eroding in the volume I enjoy shooting on the farm... 6.5x47L is not. I can see we are going to have an an uphill battle.

I feel a Stiller Tac 30 A/W and maybe a Predator coming into the picture... You are not going to allow me to mix the superlative 6.5x47L and a Pre-64 70. I knew there would be much resistance...(laughing)

Maybe I'll build one into a 9.3x62mm. That will certainly fill the niche that my new G Series M70 Express Action .375 H&H Echols Legend Build will not do...(Laughing and yet serious) My second full custom .375H&H Magnum project. Hoping to fix the issues with the first one..

Regards, Matt.

6.5 X 55

Forget the build and spend your time and $$ shooting squirrels?

I am getting there... Should have known. Winchester had weird luck with the .264 bore as well...

Regards, Matt.

Brad,
Any more of that out of you and I'll plant one of those Burris laser range finding scopes in your pickup. You'll be outed and ruined for life as arbiter of good taste and minimalism. Keep pushing the Swede...(grin)

As a FWIW D'arcy built a .260 Remington Legend a couple of years back...

I'm going to build a 6.5x47 Lapua on something shortly... I may call D'arcy tomorrow and see what he has for shrike stocks. Thinking Sunny Hill bottom metal and a Stiller Predator. Maybe a trued Remington...

Regards, Matt.

Matt,
I think your onto something with a 9.3x62 on the M70 and a Stiller 6.5x47.

I agree with Dirtfarmer on the 6.5-06....

I have had two of them and have not had any problems with forming brass or burning out throats. Forming brass was as simple as running the parent case through the 6.5-06 sizing die and start shooting.

Sounds like you are pretty well set on the 260. If that is the case (no pun intended), I would talk to the gunsmith doing the chambering and go from there. He can tell you what you need to do as far as the magazine, throating, ect, to make things work smoothly. Then let him do it.

One thing I would do for sure, no matter what cartridge you decide to use, is make it with a sporter contour barrel. No flies on turning down that Bartlein 5R down to a sporter contour to fit the Legend stock....

Years ago before I know any better I pulled the magazine guts from a pre 64 257 Roberts so it could be loaded to 3" OAL. I loaded it with bullets from 87 to 120 gr and mostly used it on New England woodchucks, crows and foxes when offered up.

It always shot well and even though the cartridge was short for the magazine,function was always perfect.

What I'm getting at is that Matt could do the 260, seat bullets as far out as he liked and the fit will be fine. Might have to check feeding as the rails on pre 64 308 actions are NOT exactly the same as those on the 30/06 actions. I found this out the hard way converting a 308 action to 270 one time.

That said I bet the 260 would work OK.

I just did something similar in 6.5 Creedmoor on a short Rem 700,25" #3 fluted SS Benchmark,bedded by Alex Sitman in an Echols Shrike, Edge fill, with Sunny Hill BM. Alex finished it up this week. I should see it soon.

Guess I built it with the same intent as Matt. Sounds like a fun rifle.

I agree with you Bob...

The 260 would be just fine, especially when it is what Matt wants. Let the gunsmith know what he wants and turn him loose. Nothing wrong with the cartridge on a pre-64 action doing what he wants with seating and then throating appropriately...

Back in the days when I needed to have a 257 AI or two, I had Ron Lampert put one together on a pre-64 that started life as a 30-06. It worked just fine. I would expect the same thing would hold true making a 260!!

It would be a fun rifle with pleasant recoil....

I can't fathom not doing the longer 6.5x55 on a LA pre-64. It begs for the round, especially given the fine Lapua brass. I'd absolutely do a Roberts on the pre-64. Due to SAAMI's (Remington's) silly throating, bullets can be seated out to make a 3"+ cartridge... modern SA's on the pre-64 action are just "wrong"... it's a fine, classic action that needs a fine, classic cartridge.

I'd sooner use a USRAC SA for a 260, which is SAAMI throated to work in a 2.840" mag box.

Bob, that sounds like a really interesting project, as I'm a .257R fan.

When you get it all put together and shoot some targets, I would love to see photos and read your report.

My .257R is on a LA M-700 and is one of the slickest feeding rifles I own. But, it was put together by master gunsmith, Ron Lampert, so I don't know if slick feeding just happened or was the result of Ron's magic. I like the way I can load longer bullets to the COAL I choose without box mag restrictions.

Like you point out, Matt would have a similar situation with the .260 in the LA M-70. It would work.

DF

I think Matt's in the same place that a lot of course match shooters found themselves in back in the old days....they used what they had on hand.

There were few really short actions but many shot the matches with a 308. I can still see a bunch of match rifles built on 30/06 length pre 64 actions.

An old pal, Bernie F,was an engineer,accomplished match shooter and did some articles for Precision Shooting. His two Palma guns were 308's on pre war 30/06 actions. Between them he told me he had close to 200,000 rounds through the pair of them.

DF- I would think Ron had something to do with it....