6.5 Rem Mag - Round 2

[Lee Martin]

Thanks for information on Ruger. I did a Google search and you're correct. Ruger did chamber 6.5 Rem Mag in the No. 1 and the 77.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[x101airborne]

When I asked my gunsmith to build my last 264 Win Mag, I asked for a 26 inch barrel. He asked if I was running a fever. I told him most ANY belted mag cartridge needs a long barrel. He did a 26 inch medium contour but fluted it heavily and gave it a throat for 160 grain bullets. It is a spectacular rifle. God bless that man, he knew what he was doing.

I have never owned a 6.5 Rem Mag but any cartridge that can be made from a common parent case is great in my book. And if you cant find 7mm Rem Mag brass you just aren't looking. I think it makes perfect sense and revenge is a perfectly relevant reason to have one.

[Lee Martin]

I’ve made some progress on the project. Wanting my own dies, and not liking the chrome plated Lyman’s my dad has, I searched for a better set. I wasn’t surprised to find there weren’t many out there. Graf & Sons was the only supplier that had them, and they were Reddings...my preferred brand. 7mm Mag brass was also hard to find, but Graf’s did have Prvi Partizan in stock. I’ve used PPU before and find it to be excellent quality for the price.

Case forming steps:

1) Anneal 7mm Mag brass before pushing the shoulder back

2) Move the shoulder slowly using a .30-350 Rem Mag FL sizer. I basically screwed the die down until it just touched the shoulder. I then went down 1 turn and pulled the lever (repeatedly). This was done with Imperial die wax on the body and neck, but not the shoulder to avoid wrinkles. You could probably do it in a 6.5 Mag die, but I like to slow step the portion just in front of the formed shoulder.

3) FL size in the 6.5 Rem Mag die

4) Cut the excess neck off in a lathe

5) Final trim to 2.170”

6) Anneal the newly formed shells one more time to stress relieve the brass

Left to right - .264 Win Mag (I used all the PPU 7mm Mag before taking this picture), sized in the .30-350 Mag die, after running it through the 6.5 Rem Mag die pre-trimming, and final formed case:



Annealing 6.5 Rem Mag cases in my AMP:



I now need to order a Shilen blank and am undecided on 1:8 or 1:9 twist. Probably doesn’t matter, but I may go with 1:8 to handle the longer 140’s. 1:8 is perfectly suited for 120 – 130 grain bullets.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[revolvercranker]

Hey Lee, my very first set of dies when I was a very young man were Lyman 243 Winchesters, the chromed ones of which you speak. I no longer own them, but I don't think, I repeat, I don't think they are chromed inside. While thinking as typing this I believe I have a set of Lyman 45 acp dies, chromed also. I'll check them out. I remember too that the Lyman shell holder was even chromed and I still have that. All the chromed is just about worn off it. Good luck on your endeavor.

Tony

[Lee Martin]

More on case forming, and something I didn’t have time to get into with the last post. After pushing the shoulder back, a donut forms at the neck/shoulder junction. This may also be due to the brass wall thickening as I transverse the length of the case. For those not familiar with donuts, they look like this:



These present no problem if the bullet isn’t seated below the neck. But with the 6.5 Rem Mag, this will likely happen with bullets 120 grs and up. I noticed it when sizing because the expander plug was very tight going through the neck on downstroke and back up through again on upstroke. After sizing, a 0.261” pin gauge would not pass through the neck. In short, when the expander plug goes through on upstroke, it pushes the brass to the outside of the neck. Wall thickness jumps from 0.015” to almost 0.020”. Sizing without the expander ball, formed the I.D. at 0.261” and the pin would pass. This’ll create 0.003” worth of neck tension, which is normal. I could either inside ream or outside turn the base of the neck.

I chose to turn the outside of the neck post expanding. To do this, I set my neck turner bit to just touch the outside of the neck at the mouth. I then turned to the shoulder. This makes a perfect 0.015” wall from the mouth just to the neck/shoulder junction.

A picture of the brass post-turning. You’ll see the bottom half of the neck is impacted:



The joys of case forming...

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[revolvercranker]

Lee this certainly is a problem on forming cases. I chose the method you to elimate the donut. Another method is with a tool that uses a precise end mill to remove the donut while it's still inside the case.

[Lee Martin]

The Shilen barrel blank arrived sooner than expected. I chose a stainless 1:8 twist, 5.5 contour, and conventional lands (as opposed to their ratchet cut). Got it chambered last week and did everything as tight as I could. Centering was done on every land and groove using a 0.0001” indicator. Overall length was set to 25”. I can’t really say why I went with 25”, other than most full-length magnums are 26”. And the 6.5 Rem Mag is a tad shorter, hence the 1” less length. My dad made the reamer years ago and did so without throating built in. We used his 6.5mm throater and went deep enough to handle 140 to 155 gr bullets.

Forgive all the metal shavings. I forgot to wipe down the shank before snapping a photo.



I also picked up a Burris 6.5-20x50mm Fullfield scope. I’m just waiting for the Burris Zee rings (high) and a Timney Featherweight trigger. Once they arrive on Monday, I’ll get the gun put together.



-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[x101airborne]

Cant wait to hear your results! Bet it is a tack driver!

[Lee Martin]

The gun is finished. It's utilitarian but is put together right.



Recap of the parts used:

1) Shilen, stainless 1:8 twist, 5.5 contour. 25" in length and throated for 140 - 155 gr bullets
2) Butler Creek synthetic stock
3) Action is bedded with Devcon aluminum. Barrel is free-floated
4) Burris Fullfield II scope. 6.5-20x50MM
5) Weaver bases, Burris Zee rings, high
6) Timney Featherweight trigger adjusted to its lightest setting. I didn't scale it, but probably 1.5 lbs (no creep)

My dad built this rifle for me in 1994 in .350 Rem Mag. Now I have a switch barrel covering both Remington short magnums from the 1960's.

Once I get the barrel broken in, I plan on starting with 140 gr Sierra Match Kings and AA 4350 powder.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"