Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 6.5-06 build first day at the range...

Mine shoots 140's very well with H4350 and H1000 but IMR7828 is the most accurate powder for me.

in my Pac Nor Super match, 53g of R#22 with a 130g Accubond, .008 off the lands shoots sub 1/3" groups day in and day out, 3150 fps, 26" bbl, win brass, cci250, forget ruining cases.

So I got some load development done a couple days ago while I am visiting my folks here in michigan. Got ahold of some 140 eld's and worked with those. They like to be seated out about 30 thousandths from the lands to shoot best. Found a node at 2892 fps, and all three teat loads at that velocity produced the exact same velocity, 2892 fps. They also stacked into one small ragged hole at 100 yards. Loaded up some more and took it out to 500 yards to see what they would do, and I stacked 6 shots into a group measuring just a bit over 2.5 inches. I was shooting off a bipod with no rear rest, i think the amount of wobble I had in the crosshair means it would have done better. Win for the new rifle!

Congrats on the rifle. Mine is a fluted heavy-barrel in a laminate stock and heavier than I want to carry far. Would love to have one with a sporter weight barrel and lighter stock to carry.

I haven't weighed this rifle yet, but it isn't too bad and I can easily see carrying it for hunting. I am really happy with the bartlein #3 contour. I think it is a nice mix of stiffness without being too heavy

RIdgegoat, what powder was that last load using? Excellent performance. My 140 VLDS liked a pretty big jump also. Just started experimenting with the 147 ELDs in it.

The last load was 57 grains of H1000. All 3 chrono readings read 2892 with a 26 inch barrel. I think another node could be reached around 59 to 60 grains if one really needed the extra speed but I like the idea of a bit more barrel life. Let me know how the load development for the 147's go, I havent been able to find any yet.

This thread is dangerous for my new .25-06. I just bought a box of 85gr BTs yesterday with the plan to go for the most (accurate and safe) speed I can get for hold-on-hair coyote hunting. But I've spent hours studying ballistic tables and the lineup of slippery 6.5 bullets available, and know there are more efficient ways to burn 60grs of powder.

I'll be watching for your future posts Ridgecoat, and learn along with you.

I've had excellent luck with the 140 VLDs on all manner of game. That said I am thinking I can get the 147s up to around 2900 and would like to see how they do. Will keep you posted. H1000 is what I am using as well.

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

My 25-06 loved the nosler 87 grain ballistic tips. I used imr 4831. Might be worth a try

Thanks. I'm going to start with H4831 because I have more of than H4350----------and can replace it easily. I might end up trying 100gr BTs, and 4831 should be good there for sure.

Good luck 222 rem. Hopefully she will be a shooter for ya

Ridgegoat,

Sounds like you have a winner there. Nice rifle.

Curious what made you go on an 06 case instead of possibly a 284 case?

The rifle was a 25-06 in its past life, and i have a lot of 25-06 brass. Easy forming.

OK does the 6.5 -06 have a better barrel life than the 6.5 - 284?

It has a longer neck, so in theory, probably. But the shooter's habits are a bigger factor, so good luck trying to sort through all of the barrel life reports.

Case capacities are very similar, but the neck is a bit longer as 223rem stated. So theoretically, they should have similar barrel life sans the neck. But it is kinda a crapshoot. I figure going with a milder load will extend barrel life for me, and i am hoping to get 2000 rounds out of it at least. Anyone used hex boron nitride and have an opinion on it as far as extending barrel life?

The 6.5-284 is supposedly more inherently accurate as well, but mine seems to be fine on that front. I am curious to see what the barrel life will be on this rifle and am keeping a round count on the barrel. So I will be able to relay that later.