6.5x55 Lapua Brass necked to 6mm no turn neck...

[Matt in Virginia]

Gentlemen,
I know I am an oddity here(Pre-64 70s etc), however, I am looking for a cartridge with excellent brass that feeds perfectly from a Pre-64 Winchester 70 with 06' based feed rails and turns varmint and small deer into easy targets at modest ranges. Having talked to many experts, including Darcy Echols to name one, I've come down to the 6.5x55 due to it's ability to feed with no feed rail modification AND superb Lapua Brass. The kicker is I want this rifle for a Varmint/Sporter housed in an Echols Pre-64 Legend Stock and Blackburn/Sunny Hill or Burgess Bottom Metal if I am lucky enough to find it. All is in hand except the bottom metal and the barrel... As to the biggie. Has anyone ever necked the 6.5x55 SM down to 6mm without improving the case(NO 6mm VAIS)? Improving the case kills feeding for my CRF action AND my interest in the project, further, I am hoping for a straight one die neck down without creating a donut. I'm thinking a call to Pacific or Manson would be in order? Also thinking a basic 6mm neck die would give me a false shoulder and a none to modest load, based on a 6mm Remington? maybe, would be ideal for fire forming and plinking. As you might guess I am in need of help. Please do share your thoughts... Thank you ahead of time.

Regards, Matt Garrett
Chesapeake, Virginia
757-581-6270

 

[dkhunt14]

I know you will not like this answer but I wouldn't tear apart a Pre64 to build a gun. The gun should be worth more as is. I would probably sell it first and buy a better action. Matt

 

[Matt in Virginia]

You are likely right, however, depending on the intended crowd I dunno about better actions...

Regards, Matt.

 

[WayneShaw]

You are using the right action for Lapua brass, some actions have issues with it. Necking down from 6.5 to 6 should be a no brainer. Since you have to get a reamer ground anyway, choose your neck diameter for a better fit than sloppy factory spec. Should make a screamer!

 

[Eric Leonard]

tag

I been thinking about a long action 6mm like a 6-06 or 6 Rem AI but the 6x55 would sure fit the bill and be easier to make brass for,,,will the slightly different head size work in a Rem 700 25-06 boltface and feed from the BDL box mag??

I would think 3300+ from a 105 with 26 inch bbl would be easy,,

 

[LHSmith]

tag

I been thinking about a long action 6mm like a 6-06 or 6 Rem AI but the 6x55 would sure fit the bill and be easier to make brass for,,,will the slightly different head size work in a Rem 700 25-06 boltface and feed from the BDL box mag??

I would think 3300+ from a 105 with 26 inch bbl would be easy,,

From my experience from building a Swede from a donor 700 LA, it's not the bolt face diameter difference, but rather an issue with the extractor groove not being wide enough to permit 100% reliability. This was specifically Lapua brass. Norma brass did work. Never tried other brass.

 

[357Mag]

Matt -

Howdy !

I certainly understand your 6 - 6.5 X 55 wildcat thoughts. Maybe a " 6 Vais " is somewhat similar ?

Apples & near-apples:
I shoot a 6mm wildcat of my own design, whose chamber is cut by running a 6mm Remington reamer in '' short "; for a nominal .466" base diam. NO custom reamer required !
I call the wildcat " DEEP 6 ".

What I do, is use a 6.5 X 55 ( LEE ) FL die to shoulder shove & neck-down 7 X 64 Brenneke brass to 6mm. 7 X 64 is .308 bolt face compatible, and is one of a few Euro-spec cases SAAMI maintains specs on. I remove the die's internals, to make it open-topped. NO custom forming die(s) to buy !
I use Normas brass.

The 25* shoulder angle of the " case forming " die and final 26* DEEP 6 shoulder angle make case forming a breeze ! In that regard, it is not a " sharp shoulder " angle.

While you stated a desire to have no doughnuts to deal with, technically DEEP 6 doesn't form w/
a doughnut; as the cases emerge from the die initially w/ .22 calibre neck ID all-the-way through.
I inside neck ream and outside neck turn, toarrive @ final 6mm calibre and neck wall thickness
desired.

DEEP 6 has case capacity of 51.2gr H20. Compare to: .243Win @ 54gr, 6mm Rem @ 55 gr; 6XC at around 49gr. It is 1,000yd capable for both varmints and target work.

DEEP 6 cases are very robust, as they are formed out of the bottom-portion of the 7 X 64 case.
Upper case side walls and shoulder are thicker than what is normally seen.

DEEP 6 has the same long VLD-friendly neck a 6mm Rem has. It would fit your action's frame rails and bolt face.


With regards,
357Mag

 

[FryeGuy]

Have you ever thought about just building a 6.5x55, and shooting the light bullets in it for varmints? Sierra makes a 85HP, as well as a 100HP. Hornady has the 95v-max. You could probably get them moving really fast in the swede, as well as super accurate. the 2014 hodgdon manual has the 85hp moving along between 3300-3400 FPS with several powders, and that's keeping it to the pressure levels around (45,000 cup). It's a very accurate round as-is. I have 3 different guns right now, that I have been working up loads in. I shot this past sunday, over 20 different groups in the guns, only 2 groups were over an inch. These are all factory guns as well, not even custom barrels.

 

[Clavius-Walker]

Or just go 6mm Remington, feeds fine and you can use RWS brass which is better than Lapua.