Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Meet the fauX

A couple people I respect around here turned me onto the notion of a 6.5 SAUM; I'd been looking for my next build and that one lit me up. When I started researching it it saw the ginormous threads about the 6.5 GAP 4s (GAP's adoption of the cartridge) and that really fueled the fires.

My builds up to now had involved duping Remington barrel profiles so I could stay within the "drop-in" realm with stocks etc. I wanted to try something different, but that got into questions about balance and so on that I wouldn't know the answer to until I built the thing, which would then be too late to do much about... . So, I decided to shamelessly clone the GAP Extreme Hunter. I've never heard a bad word about those rifles and have read lots of raves. So, I named it (her) the FauXtreme Hunter, or fauX for short.

I bought a completely bare M700 short action from Bud's (not even a bolt) as my starting point. My thumbnail estimates had this route coming out about the same as buying a donor rifle then tossing all the stuff I didn't want, plus, I got a PTG bolt out of it. All the little parts- pins, bolt stop, bolt innards, etc drove the price up a bit higher than I'd thought but it was still roughly the same as starting with a donor rifle.

M700 stainless SA
PTG fluted one-piece bolt
PTG M16 style extractor
Manners SL stock with GAP camo
Bartlien #3 fluted stainless
Holland comp lug
PTG shroud and "hi speed" pin assembly
APA RTG bottom metal for AICS mags
I made a stainless bolt knob for it

I did all the smithing. Runout at the throat/rifling intersection point is under .0002" (two ten-thousandths) measured. The only difference between it and the GAP rifle is I didn't brake it, and of course they are using an aftermarket action.

She's still going to get a Timney Calvin Elite trigger. Currently has my best Walker trigger set under 2 lbs pull.

Using 6.5 GAP headstamped brass and 140 ELDM's she's crazy accurate. Balance is superb. Recoil is no biggie. The Manners SL is awesome- I'm already plotting a Mountain-weight build using one.

I'm in love.

Thanks to the guys who recco'd the 6.5 SAUM- you know who you are. Great call guys.

I can't say enough about how great the folks at GAP have been. If you can afford one of these from them, DO IT! Nuff said.

Here she is a couple days ago, getting set to hike in a couple new plates at my LR spot.

The shiny thing (other than the rifle itself, I haven beadblasted it yet) is a prototype replacement top-ring I made to fit Talley's... I had hoped to maybe sell them but it appears ITAR will make that too odious an endeavor... still working on that though. Got emails in to BATF and the agency that adminsters ITAR. Ugh.

Yesssssss. Very nice. Barrel length?

I like the looks of that. I have toyed with the idea of converting my Savage to the 6.5 SAUM.

Barrel length is 24".

6.5 SAUM is like a 6.5 Creed... only better!

If you use a M700 SA I'd suggest using the GAP spec'd reamer. It keeps the COAL short even with the long heavy bullets.

https://www.grizzly.com/products/6-...Turn-Neck-2962/T26771?utm_campaign=zPage

Nice rifle. PM sent with some extra questions.

Looks great - congrats on the build! Looks like you made it out to shoot before the weather went to heck again, been raining like crazy today

Yeah- got a lot of outdoors stuff done earlier this week cause I could see this storm coming! Hells bells man-I lit the woodstove today!

Edit: We should find out about tags here soon... hoping for Steens again (duh) but my 2nd choice is High Cascade... I'll be packing this rifle either way, but I REALLY built it for antelope... burned my 15 points this year, hopefully.

I did some load workups at 100 yards, which didn't take much doing as H1000 and 140 ELDM's agreed with the rifle, then took it to my LR spot... first shot at 600 yards, 10" steel plate..... WHAP! Same with the 2nd... 3rd... Gotta love that.

Supposedly, if you follow the GAP recipe (H1000, moderate-pressure loads) these have very long barrel life. We shall see! Now that I have the reamer I'm plotting a mountain-style build, blind mag, 22"-23" barrel, profile in the realm of a Rem Sporter... it just never ends...

Very nice Jeff.

What kind if velocity dies that 6.5 Shamu get with 140g slugs? How much powder?

Thanks Brad! Was a trip building from TOTAL scratch like that. I now know a M700 pretty dang well.

Jk16, in theory a 6.5 SAUM can drive 140's over 3200 fps. What George @ GAP found is that if you keep pressure moderate and fill 'er up with H1000 you can get ~ 2k round barrel life and superb accuracy; so it's about like a hot-loaded 6.5-.284... but with 2x the barrel life... is the story. Anyway, I'm running 60 grains H1000 and it should be about 3050 fps. Have not run it over my Chrony.

So, basically , its a 6.5- 06 in a short action..

Couldn't say; but I'll take your word for it. I've not played with a 6.5-06.

I'm a sucker for short actions. Plus, headstamped brass is kinda nice. Hornady makes 6.5 GAP 4s brass for GAP.

Couple thoughts on that front- with the AICS/DBM setup like this uses, a guy can get over 3" of COAL in a M700 SA... or, it's easy to get 2.925" with a Wyatt's WSM box. In either case it eliminates the only real knock on a short action with long bullets, which is COAL limits.

Well the 6.5-06 is lretty well documented..I just was not familiar with the 6.5 Shamwow ..

Looks like a neat rifle/cartridge combo. Whats the all up weight as pictured above?

What does it weigh?

Sweet rig, Jeff! Was curious on weight as well?

I could like that. A lot.

Great article in April Handloader by Rick Jamison. Pretty impressive velocities. Jeff, what is your COAL? powdr

Powdr, well, ironically (since I'm running the DBM and have miles of COAL), I'm at 2.820" with the 140 ELDM. That's right up at the lands. That's because I used the GAP-spec reamer I linked to; it has a short throat for that exact reason.

I'd gladly lend that reamer & gauges out by the way if any of you guys get a wild hair...

Weight... hmmm... we'll, it's whatever a GAP Extreme Hunter weighs <g>... I want to say with the 20 oz NF SHV in Talleys it's 9 lbs, because I seem to remember running across someone with the 2.5-10x42 NXS on one, saying so. I don't have a scale. I'll see if I can find that link.