Is anyone shooting a 6.5 WSSM?

[cobweb]

Playing with the idea of making a 6.5 WSSM. Wanted to find out if anyone has already gone down that path.

 

[Kenny474]

I had looked into a 7mmWSSM and was met with many complaints of horrible brass. I think it's going to severely limit the potential of the round until something better comes along. Until better brass is made, it's kind of a round that looks good, but is best left alone.

With a custom spec'd chamber, you may be able to turn the necks a bit and anneal them and get the brass a bit softer and easier to deal with, but without a lot of prep the bras is just terrible. Very hard and doesn't seal to the neck of the chamber well unless you run it pretty hard. If you back it off a bit, you will have black soot down the neck and shoulders, a sign of too hard brass and not enough pressure to seal against the chamber. This will also cause higher than normal bolt thrust as well, as it won't expand and grab the sides of the chamber and will just push back into the bolt.

If and when better brass is available, I would really like a 7WSSM. But I will pursue other avenues until that point in time. And with the interest in the round falling, I don't see better brass anytime soon, which is a shame.

Kenny

 

[RDavies]

I have thought about one as well. But I would get a custom reamer with a normal size neck diameter.
I havent seen any of the brass myself, so to those who have done, what is bad about the brass? Is it just the thick necks?

 

[lazzer]

Col. Billy Steven's @ Stevens aaccuracy

 

[GREGORYA]

I have one built on a Rem 700 action , shoot very well. Mine has a .290 ND . I use 25wssm brass and ream the inside the necks for a 6.5 bullet and it's prefect.
Thanks Greg

 

[cobweb]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Greg, Where did yo get the barrel? Did you try to use any 243 WSSM brass? Are you using a 25 WSSM fl sizing die,neck sizing die or do you have 6.5 Dies?

 

[tactical squirell]

interesting, what kind of speed to you get out of that ?

 

[GREGORYA]

I have a Shilien 1-9 twist barrel. I tryed the 243 wssm brass first,but need to neck them up to 6.5 then turn the necks . I just found the 25wssm easier by just reaming the inside of the necks to 6.5. I nver got around to checking the speed.
Thanks Greg

 

[mikecr]

I built a 26wssm ~5yrs ago, that turned out really well. Haven't shot it as much as I'd like, with other projects going on though..
I went with a 35deg shoulder, 10thou total body taper, and necks turned to 13thou thickness(.290 loaded nks). My chamber set clearances extremely tight everywhere, and I had measured & culled a lifetime of brass before filling out the reamer form or deciding go/no-go on the project. Fired brass turned out perfectly as expected, and the cartridge surpassed my expectations in every regard.
Things learned with it(mostly beforehand luckily):
1. Win reloading wssm brass is the most consistent brass I've ever measured
2. It's the thickest brass I've ever seen or heard of
3. There is nothing 'wrong' with tight clearances provided the case is well designed, you've provided enough barrel steel around chamber, and you're rational with pressures
4. wssm brass is a serious neck turning challenge, due to it’s thickness causing excess springback to standard turning mandrels. This is exactly why the necks MUST be turned, for low ES.
5. With 139lapuas seated for bases at the nk-shldr junction, this is a fairly long cartridge. Yeah, short for ‘magnum diameter’, but not short. I went with a BAT RS, which is longer than short actions, and larger dia, and I’m glad I did. With this, I have sufficient port for loaded round ejection without pulling the bolt, and enough meat around the chamber to run this cartridge to potential without FL sizing nightmare to live with.
6. For improving this case body with single fireformings, you must lead dip anneal beforehand.
The learning here was worth a lot to me.
I think Winchester should have went only with 25, 26, and 28wssm, and that they should have provided WSSM brass for these(instead of WSM brass formed down). I also, concede that a 260imp could match the 26wssm, with way less trouble. But IMO, the 26wssm represents perfect capacity for ~140gr bullets, and my load results did support unique case design efficiency as calibrated in QuickLoad, and claimed in the patent.

 

[RDavies]

MikeCR, were you able to get up to the 2950 node with 140gn bullets?

I,m thinking of just necking up 25 WSSM brass and neckturning to about .010" neck thickness, then I was hoping a standard 25 WSSM bushing FLS die will work without needing custom dies.

What is the loaded neck diameter of a 25 WSSM cartridge?

 

[2644ever]

I tried something like that, about 5 years ago, too. It worked great and was worth experimenting, but it's not the cheapest way to launch a .264 bullet...
http://www.accurateshooter.com/forum/index.php/topic,1448497.msg13615709.html#msg13615709

 

[dan06]

I have a 6.5-.243wssm.... Ar-15 upper It shoots 5 round groups around .6" I get balistics right around .260 remington. I use sierra 85 gr.hp bullets at 3350 for coyotes and 120 gr nosler bt for deer. It makes a dandy alternate cal for an AR-15.
The action is two short to use anything over 130 gr. I would agree with some here....the brass is hard to work with. Very thick necks and very hard- brittle even when they are new. I have trouble keeping neck tension consistant. I probably wouldn't build one in a bolt gun if the action was long enough for .260 rem. If you want to fool with brass I believe they would be very accurate.

 

[mikecr]

MikeCR, were you able to get up to the 2950 node with 140gn bullets?

Oh you’ll go right on by that pretty quick. I’ve been at 3400fps with 139 lapuas. But with my 28” barrel, the highest accuracy node I use is at 3020fps. There was another node higher, but that would have forced FL sizing, and I don’t FL size anything, for anybody.
So my load(47.4 IMR4350) is mild enough that my brass could wear out a lifetime of barrels. It will never need replacing. Actually, other than occasional 1/2thou bumping, I don't even have to size at all(fitted necks).

I,m thinking of just necking up 25 WSSM brass and neckturning to about .010" neck thickness, then I was hoping a standard 25 WSSM bushing FLS die will work without needing custom dies.

Sounds like a plan to me.
I sent fired brass off to JLC Precision for a bump die, and my Wilson NS & seater dies were chambered with my barrels, my reamers.
Much of your success/failure with dies depends on your chamber/reamer.

What is the loaded neck diameter of a 25 WSSM cartridge?

I don’t have a 25wssm but 0.257+(19.5thou neck thickness X 2) = .296

 

[RDavies]

Mike, I also intend to use my reamer to make Wilson dies.
I dont like running very high pressure on any of my cases and with most of my competition cartridges I have gotten by without a FLS die as well, so something which will reliably push the bullet at 2950 all day long would be good.
I just ran it up on quick load and it should be around 60K psi at 2950, right where I want to be.

Mike, did you play with much other brass as far as which ones were softer? Not so much in the neck as I will turn it to .010", but softer in the body so it will expand and resize as normal.

 

[mikecr]

I've only worked with Winchester Ammo (Olin) reloading brass # WSC25WSSU
I see that now there is other brass, but I wouldn't use anything else.
I bought mine from Lock Stock & Barrel(now defunct). Plenty of other sources but watch the mfg# so you don't end up with nickel or something weird.
Google return online sources;
http://www.shootersofamerica.com/catalog/product.asp?ret_id=1157679&pid=52426
http://www.wholesalehunter.com/product.asp?productid=28801