Hi All,

I'm thinking of using the 5.6x50R for a custom Martini but I would like to neck it up to 6mm to have a magnum 6x47 in a rimmed case. I have seen that there is a reamer at PTG for a 6x50R so someone has done it already. Question is how does it perform and what are the shoulder angle and body taper on the existing reamer?

Anyone have any experience with this round at all? in the original or necked up version?

Thanks in advance for any and all information.

Marcos (elalto)

don't know if this is any help or not but I used a 5.6x50R mag for a bit. had a winchester hi wall. It is really quite a nice cartridge. Matches the 224 weatherby amnost to a tee In my cases the water weight was the same. but for the interesting story on the rifle. Several years ago clarence purdy (owner of bonnanza loading equipment) was making a bunch of dies for europe, and ran accross the cartridge. He thought it would be ideal for the ruger #1, so made of the hiwall to show to tom ruger. When tom came around clarence took him out to the range & showed him how nice it worked. Tom sort of took it all in, looked at clarence & said "gee thats nice, but who am I going to sell it too, you can't get ammo here for it." clarence just looked over with a deadpan stare and said "I never thought of that."

Elalto, I've got a 14" Contender barrel that's just what you're looking for, but I'm NOT selling it. I had my work done by Mike Bellm (http://www.bellmtcs.com/). It started life as an unchambered barrel from Virgin Valley Custom Guns. Mike then chambered it to what he calls the 6X50R Bellm. It uses 5.6X50R Mag brass that's improved/necked up to 6 mm. There is very little taper to the brass and the neck is quite short. I'm not sure how much full-blown custom work Mike's doing these days, but I'm sure he'll be glad to discuss it w/ you. Probably easiest to contact him by e-mail at above site.

Achieves very respectable velocities in my short barrel (3200 fps/55 gr BK; 2900 fps 70 gr V-Max; 2650-2750 fps w/ various 80 gr bullets). I've killed one deer w/ it, but was not pleased w/ lack of blood trail so will use it very sparingly on deer hunts. On the other hand, I was VERY impressed w/ the way the VM bullet absolutely FLATTENED prairie dogs; MUCH more authority than 15" 22 BR XP (40 gr NBT/3450 fps) or 14" 223 Rem Contender (50 gr NBT/3000 fps). I think it'd be hard pressed to beat as a varmint gun. Hope to try it on some coyotes after our deer season is over. Will probably try using 80 gr NBT or 80 gr Sierra/Hornady SSP bullets for most everything. This is one of the most acccurate guns I have, printing most loads < 3/4" MOA (w/ 8X pistol scope).

It's a very easy gun to load for. I used corn meal and bullseye powder to fireform the case. You then use 6 TCU FL sizing/seating dies. Since the 6X50 is 5 mm longer in the body than the 6 TCU, you'll need to use a 357 Mag FL die (w/ depriming stem removed) if you want to resize the case head. Hornady sells the 6 TCU die for approx $25.

The "problem" w/ this round is brass... Hirtenberger brass is the only brand carried by Huntington's and recently jumped in price to approx $70/100. A couple months ago, Natchez started carrying RWS brass at sale price of $14/20. I was not impressed w/ the quality of the HP brass. Haven't shot any of the RWS brass yet, but it has a very good reputation. About the time I started this project, Sellier&Bellot (sp?) was to start importing components; although one can now buy their loaded rifle ammo, they never did make the brass available. If a person had an European contact, he might could get once-fired/range brass very reasonably as I understand the 5.6X50R is a popular cartridge in Europe. Were I to do it over, I'd have to give very serious consideration to an improved 6X47 because of the brass issues.

Gary T.