Home Forums Reloading Reloading Software Need, 6.5 x 300 load data

I bought a 6.5 x 300 wby, I can't fine many loads for it, for 120 -130 grain bullets, and only 50 bmg, us869, retumbo, any one have any pet loads that would like to share with me, Thanks Steve

There should be data on line; that is essentially an old round, the 6.5-300 Wright-Hoyer. Data is out there, but mostly with vintage powder. You need data with the new powders.

It's pretty close to the 26 Nosler, which seems to like 869 more than Retumbo, 50BMG or RL-50.

An interesting powder I've started playing with is Vv-570. It's not quite as slow as 869, but one of the new double based, high energy powders. It may be harder on the barrel but it could out run 869.

I like 120 TTSX and E-Tip in my 26 Nos. They'll tear up stuff at hyper vel., are both very accurate in my Shilen barrel.

Let us know how it goes.

DF

Actually the cartridge was created by Wright, Hoyer had nothing to do with that.
Wright was a long range target shooter, who thought the 139 gr Norma match bullet introduced in the US about 1950 would be good at places like Camp Perry. He designed the first reamer and chambered a gun for it. Alex Hoyer was a PA long range hunter/gunsmith who heard about it and convinced Wright to allow him to use the reamer. The agreement reached was for the cartridge to be named the 6.5x300 WWH, for Weatherby, Wright, Hoyer. Apperently Wright either was or had been a Weatherby employee. Ironicly, the Norma bullet was illegal for hunting in PA due to its metal jacket. Non the less it became very popular there for long range hunters, until Hornady developed the 162 gr match hollow point bullet in around the late 60s. After which the 7x 300 WBY became the more popular choice, and which still has a strong following there. You would have to look long and hard to find any type 6.5 used for serious long range hunting there today.
The most popular powders for both cartridges were H870, and H570 which was much harder to come by. Even with the 30" barrels common then for those cartridges, the modern day powders are an improvement. Id be looking hard at 7828 and H1000 for starters. Im using 7828 in my 7x300 wbys, and still using the old 162 gr bullets.
I would start by looking for velocity and pressure first, by selecting a starting point load on the moderate high side.
Then load just 1 round, with others in 1/2 gr increases of 1 round each. Fire each one over a chronagraph until the first sign of pressure, then stop right there. No need to shoot dozens of rounds to get to that point, especially in these type guns with short barrel life. Play with seating depth first, then reduce the charge and start over with seating depth till your happy.

Yobuck sounds like you are familiar with the old Pa. long range shooters!! Cool info here, some I had not heard about!!

Well I think its called being in the right place at the right time.
I lived In PA for 64 of my now 83 years, and i still spend considerable time at our camp in an area where much of this type hunting takes place.
The Williamsport 1000 yd club originated in the late 60s and it made more people aware of what had been going on with the hunting for a long time. Hoyer was one of two gunsmiths most involved with building the guns, and Howard Wolfe was the other. I never met Hoyer, he died in 1970 about the time I was getting involved. I really wish I had met him, as he was no doubt quite a character. Howard on the other hand was a very plain minded person, and very much a gentleman.
He was the driving force for the creation of the 30x378 cartridge roughly 50 years ago, and developed a large 3 lug action for it. He also built many of the 7x300 WBYs including mine. He died about 4 years ago in his early 80s.

Very few of the early PA l/r hunters and shooters, many of whom I got to know, are still with us.

Great history lesson.

Thanks for sharing. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

DF

Very cool....

yobuck, very interesting stuff... Some of my older friends were into that style of hunting when I was just starting out.. Their main calibers were custom .300 Wea. or a 7X61 Sharp and Hart.. I never got into this , because I left Pa. at as soon as I could.. Had I stayed, I am sure I would have been in to it big time.. You still shooting the 7mm/300??? One or two of my older friends went with that caliber .. They are all gone now.. Nice hearing from you.. If you have any stories to share, I would love to hear them..
One of my mentors was in Elk Co. He lived there at the time.. It was doe season and he had no license, but came on three hunters and the game warden looking at some does across the canyon.. Boone ranged the deer and it was 750 yards or so.. He told them killing one should be no problem.. Everyone concluded it as too to far for their .270's.. The game warden told him if he could hit one go ahead even though he had no doe license.. He was an old Camp Perry shooter, dragging his 7x61 bull gun out he shot one first shot.. He ended up killing two more for the three guys hanging around.. A truly great shot who was killed 40 years too soon in a construction accident..

Our camp is in Cameron Co. which is next over from Elk. Only about 10 miles for us to be in Elk Co. and some of our hunting is done there. The 761 S&H pretty much died when the 7 Rem Mag showed up. The 7x300 Wby is very easy in that it's just a 300 Wby case reduced I step to 7mm. It's pretty much a clone performance wise to a 7 STW and arguably a
7 RUM. Sit behind them and watch as they fly across one of those valleys and you can plainly see the advantage they have over the 7 Rem Mag. But a 30 cal can be driven just as fast with heavier bullets and thats plain to see also at some point. Probably 90 percent of the deer are taken well under 1000 yds in PA. So In view of that how much gun is actually needed. Of coarse you might be looking at 500/600 or you could be looking well beyond 1000 from the same place.
I don't believe there is any all round perfect cartridge, for all distances. I guess you couldn't go far wrong with one of the larger 7mms and have a large 338 just in case one shows up way out there. Problem is we can only shoot as far as the conditions permit, and in PA thats rarely far enough to need a big 338. If I were permitted just one gun, based on what ive seen and know today for use in that area, it would be a 300 Norma.

Good choice!!

Steve PM me, i just did one quick workup and got decent results with the 129 LRAB. I believe it was 81 or 81.5 grain of retumbo.... but shoot me a PM and i can check when i get home.

As always, my disclaimer is that your rifle may be different than mine so start a few grains low and work up accordingly. I got my accuracy node just 0.5 grains below where i started to see ejector marks, so i was pushing the pressure with it. I haven't done a fine tune of that load yet either.

So what is the verdict? I had heard the 6.5-300 WWH was finicky to load for then later the 6.5 STW. I attributed this like with the 264 Win. mag of mixing one diameter bullets with two diameter bullets.Same reason many skipped the 25 & 6.5 STW and stayed with the 7.

Now with better:bullets, barrels, and powder what say those with first hand experience?

Forgot to mention Hill Country Rifles experience. They thought 1-8 was too fast and dropped back to 1-9 or 10 and got better accuracy. Then they just decided screw it and the accuracy guarantee was off. Hope I have that correct as the memory is not what it used to be and never was. Did my own fact checking. Here is the article: https://www.hillcountryrifles.com/final-results-6-5x300-wby-testing/

I have never shot or loaded for a 6.5 x 300 Wby. I do have experience with the 26 Nosler. I don’t see how the 6.5 x 300 should be more finicky than the Nos. The 26 Nos isn’t finicky. It’s pretty straight forward, just have to find slow enough powder. 869 is the go to powder for many. Not sure about the Wby. They are pretty close in case capacity.

DF

Doesn't jive with the wins at Williamsport, Mary De Vito and I think several others. Maybe the 6.5x300 is a perfect match for the old H570 and the current powders are not as good but that is hard to believe with the selection available today. I would say maybe not as inherently accurate as say the 6.5x47 but that is to be expected, the bigger the case gets.

Vv n-570 is a newer, high energy powder that shows promise in the Nosler 26, I've not worked with it enough to report.

US-869 is effective; WC-872 performs about the same and is cheaper. Jeff Bartlett sells surplus take down powder; 872 is from Vulcan cannon ammo. Give him a call; he knows his stuff. http://gibrass.com/

Typical slow burning powders don't seem to work as well in the Nos 26 as the ultra-show variety. Even slow burners like RL-50 and H-50BMG, IMO, aren't as good as 869 or 872. Those two shoot the same speed with the same charge and the same bullet. Don't see any difference other than cost.

If I had to pick one powder based on cost and performance, it would be 872 and I'd use 869 data. It's worked for me.

DF

DF: VV has two other 50 caliber powders have you tried either of those? 869, 872 are both very close to H870. I have enough H870 and AA8700 to probably toast a barrel. Maybe I should get a 6.5x300? I will probably opt for a 257 Weatherby and hold off on the ultra fast 6.5s. The Swede is currently fast enough for me.

But still curious about loading reports, accuracy, barrel life etc.

Never tried H-870. According to Jeff Bartlett, 870 was replaced with 872 in the Vulcan rounds. So, I don't know if that's the same 870 that Hodgdon sells, but it could be, knowing their history.

I think the problem many have with those big, overbore rounds, is trying slow burners like Magnum, Rebumbo, etc. IMO, they're just not slow enough. I've seen claims that "it's not overbore if you can find slow enough powder". There may be some truth to that statement.

IMO, only ultra slow powders need apply. I don't fool with the usual slow burners and I've had good results with ultra slow burners in my Nosler. I can't see the 6.5x300 Wby being that much different.

Another thing I've noticed, my Nosler is on a 700 mag action, set up for 7RM. I altered the box mag for the full 3.6" capacity. I started loading long, but have found that if I stay close to factory COAL of around 3.4", things seem to work better. In essence, I'm allowing a bit of free bore, which the Wby already has.

Interesting rounds, but entering a different sphere of reloading with it's own rules.

DF


Edited to add, Vv 20N29 is an ultra slow powder that reportedly works very well. It's expensive and I never got any. But, IIRC, it may be Nosler's accuracy powder for certain bullets, Will have to check on that. 24N41 is almost as slow, but as with 20N29, I've not tried it.

Barrel life will be around 1,000 rnds with care and no overheating. My Shilen has around 500 down the spout, so far. Thru the Hawkeye, I see some early throat changes, no "blacktop road", yet. It still shoots half MOA with some loads. So as long as it'll do that, no problem. BTW, 120 E-Tips and TTSX's shoot half MOA with 872/869 at nearly 3,500 fps. Also, 140 NAB's are almost as accurate but at slower speeds. I can't tell any difference with tissue damage, which is significant with both type bullets.

Mary louise Devito was the first (official) group record holder at the Williamsport club.
Her 10 shot group was about 7 and 3/4" and was shot with a (7x300 Weatherby), not a 6.5.
Howard Wolfe built her gun on a non military mauser action, her load used H570 powder with a 168 gr Sierra match bullet.
Frank Weber had posted an earlier (non official) record using a 6.5x300 Wby, and Rich Kepp had won the aggregate award
in 1969 using a 6.5x300 also.
I don't recall any official group records being set there with a 6.5x300 Wby.
Frank Weber although in his early 80s, and poor health, still competes regularly at Williamsport.
I doubt there could be another man alive today with more hindsite information on that cartridge, as well as the man who made it well known.

After Alex Hoyer died in 1970, a friend and sometimes business associate of his by name of Harry Kieser from Williamsport, who was very well known for selling and repairing the very large military optics and rangefinders being used for l/r hunting, attempted to capitalize on the reputation of Hoyer and the 6.5x300 cartridge.
He changed the case from the standard Wby version to one having a very sharp shoulder, as I recall about 40 deg.
But the horse was dead, and there was no way Harry was going to bring it back.

yobuck:

Great to hear the history from one who was there. Funny how a casing can generate so much of it. Still have the dilemma of the differing reports, ie. super accurate vs Hill Country coping out on it. I am sure the truth lies somewhere in between as it is always want to do.

Has anyone tried R33 in the big 26s? Seems like a natural fit.

I remember reading about Harry Kieser. There was a photo of him with a huge split image type range finder he had worked on. Amazing those old range finders that looked like bazookas probably were not as accurate as the ones we have now that will fit in your pocket.

I am still thinking about one but my common sense or more accurately my budget is discouraging it for now.

RL-33, IMO, isn’t an optimal choice. Just not slow enough. It’s great in the .264 Win and with heavies in the 7RM.

As I posted, for me only the ultra show burners need apply.

With those big, overbore rounds, you don’t want to burn too much powder experimenting. Barrel life is an issue.

Again, my experience is with the 26 Nosler, not the Wby.

DF