I've recently come across a rebarreled gun with the caliber stamp "6mm Sabre". I have no idea what this is, do you? THANKS!

Anyone?

i believe that i heard of it reading one of ackleys books - i'll see what i can find

RCBS makes dies for it, but that's all I've found. This is a real puzzler.

LWD

Yes, I found the RCBS die listing, but no mention of what the parent case is. I have also found reference to a .263 Sabre, but likewise no case specifications.

The gun I've seen is a nicely done rebarrel of a Ruger No. 1. It is out of an estate and the person who is disposing of the property knows guns fairly well but has no clue on this one. I might like to try to buy it if I could figure out what it is.

You may have to contact RCBS to see if they can help you. There was an article in the April 1990 edition of Precision Shooting referencing this caliber. That may help.

what i find is a reference to a 263 sabre, which looks like a 6.5/06 with a bit less shoulder angle, the only 6mm i find is a 243 JS which says is is the smallest belted series of jerry shannon (who did the 263 sabre) the 243js shows a load of 50 gr of 4350 and a 85 gr bullet for 3600 fps. the good ckley book also said that cases for the 243js were available from note-taylor 112 buena vista, decatur ill. it lists jerry shannon as being from spanawsay washington. seems like you may have some fun on your hands on this one. it would have probably been interesting to have met the owner of the piece, must have been some kind of gun nut

The .263 Sabre is a cartridge devloped by Jerry Shannon of Spanaway, Washington in the 1950s. It is based on the full-length .30-06 brass with the same body taper as an '06, but with a 35-degree shoulder. So it is basically an "improved" 6.5-06....

A drawing of the cartridge, with specs, is on page 248 of John J. Donnelly's book "The Handloader's Manual of Cartridge Conversions", while a picture of the cartridge is provided on Page 365 of P.O. Ackley's book "Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders".

I remembered that I have a copy fo Cartridges of the World, so I looked in it. It's not even in there. Wow.

LWD

Never heard of it...

I did not find either round listed in the two hard-bound volumes of Ackley's books, but he also published a couple of spiral soft-bound vaolumes, and there are some rounds in those that aren't in the hardbound ones.

I did find that RCBS lists it as using the #4 shellholder head -- belted magnum. Mystery grows deeper.

IN one reference that I have seen they writer said that the 22 Sabre, falls between the 221 Fireball and 22 Cricket in terms of performance, then there is a further reference to how cases are easily made from 357 Magnum brass, I thought in short that the 22 and 6 mm Sabre were short cased wildcats made on 357 Mag brass for contenders and similar rifles.

However I am unsure, could there be more than one Sabre?

Listed here, http://mcgowengunsmithing.com/price%20list.htm

Best regards Chris

RCBS hopes to be able to give us the demensions tommorow when they call. roger

make a chamber cast or have one made. Should be able to narrow it down a bit from there.

RCBS called back this morning. The cartridge is a necked down blown out to 40 degree shouldered .264 Win. case. The case's length is a tad over 2.1".

RCBS will sell dies for this cartridge for $280.00

The exact chamber demensions can be gotten from JGS the reamer people. roger

ouch - whata barrel burner that must be

Bartshe,

Thanks for the info. Sounds like it is almost a 6.5 Rem necked down with a 40 degree shoulder. The 6.5 Rem has a case length of 2.17". In performance, it would be very close to a 6mm/284 or 6mm/06.