6.5 Creedmoor OAL to touch the lands?

[VaniB]

I was wondering if any of you guys out there have handloaded your 6.5 creedmoor cartridge to touch the lands/rifling in your barrel. If so, what is the overall length of your cartridge to touch the lands? .....and what bullet is it that you are using?
I am having my smith cut .200" of freebore in the barrel and I'm hoping I can adjust the OAL of the 130gr-140gr Hornady and Berger bullets to touch the lands if I desire.


My Accuracy International detachable magazine has a maximum OAL of 2.880", and I'm concerned that may not be long enough when dealing with a .200 freebore"

 

[Dan Hall]

The standard reamer is perfect for 130 -140 gr bullets. You can easily touch the rifling, or back off a little for VLDs, and still fit in a mag. On my chamber 140 gr A-Max's are in the rifling with a square mark at 2.877". 140 gr. Berger VLD hybrids are barely touching at 2.925". 123 gr. A-Max's have a square mark from the rifling at 2.840" and 120 gr. Sierra HPBTs are just barely touching at 2.761". Obviously all guns are different depending on how your smith cuts the chamber so good luck and enjoy your new rifle.

 

[treeman]

invest in a hornady oal guage and modified case you'll never be sorry. that tool makes it real easy to find the distance to the lands. you will also need a comparator for you cal. or a multi- caliber one from sinclair

 

[VaniB]

The standard reamer is perfect for 130 -140 gr bullets. You can easily touch the rifling, or back off a little for VLDs, and still fit in a mag. On my chamber 140 gr A-Max's are in the rifling with a square mark at 2.877". 140 gr. Berger VLD hybrids are barely touching at 2.925". 123 gr. A-Max's have a square mark from the rifling at 2.840" and 120 gr. Sierra HPBTs are just barely touching at 2.761". Obviously all guns are different depending on how your smith cuts the chamber so good luck and enjoy your new rifle.

Dan,

From the numbers your supplying for me, I'm not so sure if .20" freebore might be too long. Here's what I'm coming up with;

The Accuracy International detachable 5 round magazine allows an overall maximum length cartridge of 2.880" . I have Hornady 123 and, 140gr bullts, and Berger 130 and 140gr bullets. The ogive on the Hornady 140 is further out then it is on the other bullets. Therefore, the other 3 bullets (including the bergers) would need to have the bullets seated out further in my magazine to contact the lands. So then....your 2.877" number for the 140Amax is just about making it to the lands and still fitting in my detachable magazine, and the other bullets can't reach the lands. Am I summizing that properly....or am I mistaking how the numbers are working?

 

[shanghi]

I have a Ruger VT 28" barrel and load 140 gr Bergers @ 2.888" OACL which are .050" off lands. So to touch OACL 2.938"
I was loading 129 gr Hornady SST @ 2.840" OACL which were .030" off the lands. So to touch OACL 2.870.
Hope this helps.
Cheers
John.

 

[brian427cobra]

You can remove the plate in the front of the magazine to allow longer COAL, but the receiver will need to be notched, I too don't like the .200 free bore, when I order my 6.5 Creedmoor reamer I'm considering .090 free bore, and a .294 neck

 

[VaniB]

You can remove the plate in the front of the magazine to allow longer COAL, but the receiver will need to be notched, I too don't like the .200 free bore, when I order my 6.5 Creedmoor reamer I'm considering .090 free bore, and a .294 neck

You might want to double check .294. I ordered a .295 neck (just 1,000th tighter then SAAMI)and think that may be at the threshold. After loading Berger and Hornady bullets into the new Hornady cases, I was getting neck measurements of .291 , .2915, .292" You probably know that anything tighter the 3,000ths can cause binding. Be careful too with .090 freebore " as I think that's way too short. My smith got me started on this thread by mentioning .15" to me (after the fact that I already have a new .20 freebore reamer) There's a guy selling a custom 6.5 Creedmoor rifle on these forums that has .12 freebore and outright states that the rifle cannot feed 140's into the chamber. You don't want freebore so short that the bullets are pushed back into the powder an/or donut.

The reason I went with .200 freebore is because of all the overpressure stories I kept hearing Hornady complain about. But now I'm thinking .17 or .18" freebore would be a good compromise with my AI magazine. For those of you that have the shorter built-in Remington BDL magazine, you're really stuck with a long jump at .20!! It's not quite as bad for me with the longer AI magazine.....especially if the rifle will be preferring a small jump for accuracy. (as 140 Amax 's are rumored to like)

 

[Dan Hall]

Does anyone know the free bore figure used with the Hornady spec reamer? I got my reamer from Pacific Tool & Gauge with a snug, .294", neck and it seems to be about right C.O.L. wise but then again I'm using a single shot action so magazine dimensions mean nothing to me. Anyway thanks in advance.

Dan

 

[VaniB]

Dan, I'm looking at the SAAMI sheet, and the "minimum chamber" is .2960" .....while the "minimum cartridge" is shown being a .2950 I think you'll be safe with .294 In fact, I was contemplating .294 myself but decided to stay with .295 trying to have the best worlds of both a combination a target and tactical rifle. I wanted to be sure the cartridge can feed slick and easy out of the magazine and into the chamber even if the chamber was a little dirty. Most of my Hornady cases (dummy cartridges) are coming in a .291 with whatever bullet I'm loading.......so your .294 should still be safe.

 

[Dan Hall]

All the cases I've measured have been .2915 or less so a .294 chamber will be no problem. No reason to work the brass any more than needed.