trued and accurised 700 LH, rebarreled by Ray Romain with a kreiger 29.5" 1/8 fluted senduro weight barrel, seekins 20 MOA 1 pc base, xtr rings, loopy 6.5x20x50 LR/T M1 TMR, Joel Russo A-5

Very Nice Rig <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I have a question about the 6.5 Gibbs.

How hard is it to form the Gibbs brass vs fireforming the Ackley rounds?

HBB

Ray Romain does great work. He built my first .300 Tomahawk. He does like the Kreiger barrels, and I couldn't find any fault in his recommendation...

I can't find a link about load data/preformance....what will it do with say a 130 grain slug?

I have just started necking cases down, I'll load bullets for barrel break in, then fireform with unique and cow.
the article I read said 3300 fps with a 140 out of a 30" barrel.
Everything I've read says fireforming is not diffacult but I can tell ya for sure in a week or so
RR

Ridge runner : This is based from a 30-06 case blown out and necked down to a 6.5 cal. am I right . I am familiar with the 30 gibbs and have seen a 270 Gibbs but never a 6.5 , that ought to be an awsome reach out and touch something rifle.
It is a great looking rifle , He did a very good job on it , good luck with it. several years ago I got to shoot a 30 gibbs a bunch and really liked it but never reamed out my 30-06 to the Gibbs .
Navarro

I'll be looking forward to the fireforming report.

HBB

yes its a 30-06 with the shoulder changed to 35 degrees and the body taper removed just like the 6.5/06 AI except the shoulder is pushed forward far enough to allow only one caliber of neck length, rays reamer is based on the 270 case length so it'll have a longer neck.
I'm not sure if Rocky Gibbs built 7 or 8 calibers on this case I know there is the 240,257, 6.5, 270, 30 and 35, not sure what the rest were.
RR

So it has more case capisity than the 6.5/06 AI? Is there a link to the article?

The article is entitled "The amazing 6.5 Gibbs" written by daryl cassel ran in the jan 1996 issue of "The Varmint Hunter" mag. If its not online I could scan my copy and send it to ya via email.
moving the shoulder foreward gives the case an addional 8-10 grains powder capacity over the standard case, not sure what the standard AI treatment gives it.
RR

Ridge Runner: could you put some pic.s of the loaded cases on the web also compared to the standard 30-06 .
Thanks

will do navarro, give me a couple days, I'm working 12 hour shifts till wed AM
RR

Here's a pic, sorry had no 30/06 cartridges but here's a 6.5 Gibbs compared to a standard 270 win.

RR

That's a sinister looking cartridge...It oughtaa do STUFF to critters. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

+1, nice rifle too!

BMT

>>moving the shoulder foreward gives the case an addional >>8-10 grains powder capacity over the standard case, not >>sure what the standard AI treatment gives it.
>>RR

Hmmmmm....Are you sure about the 8-10 grain powder increase? That sounds like an awful large gain in powder capacity. A long time ago I did some touchy-feely measuring of some 30 Gibbs brass, formed from WW 30-06 brass. I measured case capacity, using both water, and IMR4350 powder....filling the case full full.....to the max. I did NOT compress or vibrate the powder.

I don't remember the EXACT results of my measurements, but I know I didn't see anything like 8-10 grains powder capacity increase when comparing the fired, un-resized Gibbs case to my own fired, un-resized WW 30-06 brass. My fired, un-resized WW 06 brass holds 71.0 grains of water, full-full.

If necessary, I think I could find some of that 30 Gibbs brass that I had, and run another check on it........tho it is 30 caliber, not 6.5

Good luck to ya....... FJ Lee in Denver CO

any chance you have a 6.5/06 and a 6.5/06 AI sitting around to set next to it?

Thx

Mark D

Yep when I used to run a 30 Gibbs it pretty much was an 06AI from all angles I could tell.

Only problemo came when forming brass it was a fair bit of a pia to form the Gibbs brass compared to the AI.

For me I will go the AI route and keep it simple and easy.

Mark D

>>Hmmmmm....Are you sure about the 8-10 grain powder >>increase? That sounds like an awful large gain in powder >>capacity.
>>If necessary, I think I could find some of that 30 Gibbs >>brass that I had, and run another check on it........tho it is >>30 caliber, not 6.5

My curiosity got the best of me.......and so I DID dig out some 30 Gibbs WW brass. Sitting alongside of my 30-06 WW brass, it does indeed look business-like and impressive. A manly looking case!

The Gibbs brass is unsized, and so is the 06 brass. It's just as it came from the respective chambers, after being fired. Both cases were 2.497" long. Again, the Gibbs case looks considerably larger.

I filled each case to the mouth of the case......full full and level......of IMR 4350 powder. No vibration, no drop tube, no compression. I did this several times, to assure a consistent technique.

The WW Gibbs case held 69.2 grains, the WW 30-06 case held 65.9 grains of powder.

So in this instance, with the brass I have, the 30 Gibbs WW case holds 3.3 grains more than the 06 WWcase......of IMR 4350.

The Gibbs line of 30-06-based wildcats has always fascinated me. Rocky Gibbs was a bit different......... I have his book, and also quite a few bits of info and magazine articles, etc.

Now that chronograping and pressure measuring equiupment is available for the average enthusiast, it appears that Mr. Gibbs was maybe slightly optimistic/enthusiastic about his line of 06 based wildcats. Probably more "enthusiastic" than Parker Ackley.......

Lee Carkenord Denver CO

your right fj, I've just today done some weighing, I had this rifle built cause it's the closedt thing I can get trajectory wise to my 7mm AM and I can now shoot without worrying about burning a barrel up, my posts at the start of this thread were compiled with info I had read, so what does that tell us?
RR

Well.......it tells me that you have a beautiful handcrafted rifle, chambered for an interesting cartridge. Probably time to start reloading and shootin'......eh?

Congratulations and good luck........

FJ Lee Carkenord

This has been a great post and I have learned alot. The gibbs round does look good, and you have a great looking rifle.

Ok, have now fireformed 20 brass or so, so I'll report.
Its going well, in between sleeping and working 12 hour shifts I'll load 5 and go out and shoot.
only precaution I have to give is, remember the feel of the bolt going closed, the burnt COW sometimes is left in the neck and smears the next brass upon firing, so about every third round I run a nylon brush through the barrel.
The shoulders just show a hint of being rounded but they will be fine.
RR

I know that he aint the most popular guy in the world w/ a lot of shooters, but not to far back (last year sometime) Rick Jamison did a piece in shooting times comparing the 06, 06 Imp and the 30 Gibbs. If anyone get shooting times, you can probably find the comparison of case capcities. There was a pretty significant increase in capacity, but of course, that doesn't translate into that same increase in performance.