Three plus years back I spent some time on the phone with Dave Kiff at PTG, designing a new cartridge where I take a Lapua 8x57 case, neck it down to 6.5mm and blow the shoulder out to 30 deg. Dave dubbed it the 6.5x57 BR; saying it had never been done. Necking the 257 Roberts up or 7x57 case down has been done all the time, but not the 8x57 with it's longer body. It took 3 yrs to get the rifle done but that's another story. The rifle was delivered back in August. I started with a simple pressure ladder since load data in non existent. I went through about 1/2 dozen powders before settling on Rel 26. At .030" off the lands (tested 5, 30, 55 and 80 off), I was getting 3100 fps with the 127 LRX. I waited too long and missed getting a Utah general season bull tag so had to settle for a spike tag. My best friend and I had planned on hunting the general season together since he'd had recent knee replacement surgery so we had to hunt the spike season in a totally different area. Their was one hill he said almost always had elk on it at first light with no way to get a close shot right off the bat. They were there to include a spike. Two other hunters happened along as I was setting up, so they got to watch. Ron was on my 15-45x Zeiss spotter while I got set. He called 1-2 mph wind from our 6. The Leica 10x42 HD-B said I needed to dial 15.7 moa for the 12 deg uphill, 810 yd shot. Prone on bipod with a large rear bag, I placed the Velocity 600's main crosshair behind the bulls shoulder and started the 2-stage Huber trigger set to 12 oz, on its way. The shot broke and 1.007 seconds later the bull simply folded up it's rear legs and went straight down. It was quite another sight to see him roll towards us since it was a very steep hill. The 2 witnesses were totally flabbergasted. Now, I'm starting load development for the 142 gr Nosler ABLR.
Last edited by GSSP; 10/25/18.
