I have ordered a 6.5 JDJ barrel from SSK...should be here in a few weeks. I'm gonna use it for whitetail here in Georgia, much like the .375 JDJ I have used for about 7 years now. Thoughts and/or opinions on the cartridge, ease of loading, etc?

The round is a proven killer of game.

Forming brass will be your biggest chore; accuracy has been outstanding in every SSK-barrel I have fired or seen fired.

George

Is the brass a pain to do? It will my 1st time fireforming. JD J said that its easy igf you use some sense.

Its easy to fireform brass from 225 Winchester. Mine shoots like gangbusters.....1/2" 5 shot groups at 100yds. are no problem at all with handloaded 120gr Nosler Ballistic tip...which are deadly on game up to 400lbs.

Woody

What bullet weight do you use to make the cases? I got some 140 Nosler Partitions, thinking that seating them into the rifling will make the most of the fireforming powder charge.

They will work but are a bit expensive. I use Remington 140gr bullets seated out to the rifling.

Mitch, welcome . Where are you in Ga. I am located in south Ga. (Waycross).

I am in Lawrenceville, just north of Atlanta. Been here about 17 years. I work in Dekalb but do not want to live there. It's still nice and quiet here.

You will love this caliber. 225 Winchester brass is a little hard to find, but the brass is tough. I fireformed with full bull loads as recommended by JD Jones. Email him for loads and any questions, he is great to deal with.

I had a similar contender tube, but it was based off of the 30-30. Unfortunately the 30-30 brass wasn't up to the pressure and cases would sepperate after 3 firings.

But the performance and accuracy of a 6.5mm pushing 120 balistic tips @ 2400 fps was very nice. I found that I could get that performance with RL 15, Varget, VV N-550 and Hodgdon 4350. Best accuracy was with H-4350, and as I recall the 6.5 JDJ data I had concurred.

i know the jdj is a fine round but im not gonna spend my life findin and forming brass,
im (someday) gonna get a bbl chamberd in 6.5x 50 jap its semi rimmed and is gonna have to do.
i know this will piss somebody off but its gonna be close enuf

anukpuk wrote: "
i know the jdj is a fine round but im not gonna spend my life findin and forming brass,
im (someday) gonna get a bbl chamberd in 6.5x 50 jap its semi rimmed and is gonna have to do.
i know this will piss somebody off but its gonna be close enuf"
-----

.225 Win brass is easy to find, and forming cases is a breeze.

A 6.5 x 50 Japanese is a poor choice for a break-open single shot due to the taper of the case, a shape which results in higher-than-desirable backthrust against the frame and topping out in velocity long before the true potential is approached.

enter the 6.5 jap magnum, blown out with radiused shoulder, what do you think? am i on to something.
where s a good place to have dies made

+10 to what Bobby said.

Years ago some gunzine writer touted the virtues of the 6.5X50 in the Contender platform.
To save money on custom dies I had SSK rechamber one of my 14" 6.5 TCU barrels to 6.5X50. I shot it some and put in the back of the safe as an idea that sounded good, but sucked in actuality.


Anukpuk

If you blew the case out to a straight side, normal or AI style shoulder I think you would be on to something.

But JDJ or the 6.5 Super Bower would still be a better choice.
For a more accurate and thorough evaluation, do web search on 6.5X50 and Rich Jake and read his frustration with the barrel. He too thought it seemed like a good idea.

Blown out to a straight sided case and you will likely be on to something, but then you need to look at the 6.5 Bellm (that he never quite developed) or the 6.5 Bullberry Improved, or the 6.5 Super Bower.

Except for the Super Bower I think the rest can best be described as 6.5 JDJ wannabes.

I plan to dig it out and see if it will do better with the 100 grain bullets, 120s and 129 were certainly non-performers. The TCU was better with far less powder burned, which the perfect powder capacity bore ratio seems to be the reason for impressive results in the 6.5 JDJ.

this dosnt have to be the best 6.5 ever invented , i have a type 44 carbine. if this thing gets a bullet downrange it ll still kill something.
magnum is a bit overused
think ill call it 6.5 X honda 50

If you can come up with the dies I think the 6.5X50 case blown out would be great.
Capacity is nice in the 6.5X50, if the taper just wasn't there. Mine is in a Contender so the backthrust issue catches up quick.

Try CH4 for dies I know someone had some listed.

I just fire-formed 40 cases yesterday...a no-brainer. Use 140 gr CHEAP bullets and most of a max load.....maybe 5-7% under...and seat the bullets to be touching the rifling....actually I seat out just a hair further and close action twice to get a good solid seat to rifling. They come out perfect. I would second the 120 gr BT, but am looking at trying the 100 gr Partitions too....another 130 fps or so might be nice...and the Partition front opens very easily.

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI
DSC

I thought the 6.5X50R (based on the european 5.56X50 case) was a pretty slick setup. You're using a .223 dia case, so you aren't straining the contender platform, it's chambered by running a 6.5 tcu reamer in deep and used 6.5 tcu dies, so no expensive dies.

The trouble is 5.56X50R brass was a bit hard to come by, and too me the neck was a bit short on the case.

I did approach Starline about making a 357X2" case for a domestic source of brass, but their tooling didn't allow them to draw such a long case. A pitty as it would be an interesting bases for forming a slew of wildcats.

My experience with fireforming the wonderful 6.5 JDJ has been good. I own a 15" T/C Custom Shop barrel that was originally chambered in 6.5 TCU. Someone sent it into SSK to be rechambered to JDJ. I bought the barrel and dies at a gunshow for $200. I had been looking for a 6.5 JDJ for quite some time, and this one just fell into my lap. My only issue with fireforming was shooting the 140 gr Remington Corelok. It is a two diameter bullet designed to be shot in the 264 Win Mag. I couldn't get pressures high enough to blow the case out fully. I would get wierd rounded shoulders of various shapes. Went to a standard 140 Speer and all troubles went away. You are going to love this little round. It just flat out knocks deer down.

BTW, my longest shot so far is a ranged 285 yd shot on a Western Nebraska Mulie doe. With a 120 gr Bal tip sighted in 1.75" high at 100, I put a sliver of daylight between the horizontal crosshair and her back. Walked 5 steps and fell over. Right through the wheelhouse.

I'm still working up a load, but so far it has been fun. I fireformed the cases with some Nosler 140 grainers and RL 15. The forming was easy. I am gonna hunt with a 120 gr Ballistic Tip and 33.5 grains of RL15. Went to the range
today and was printing pretty good. I think that I am still learning the gun and cartridge, which is strange because I already have a .375JDJ. It is a MOA in my hands, but this 6.5 just shoots "differently". It is very much a work in progress.

Mitch, You won't regret buying the 6.5 JDJ. I started handgun hunting w/ a 35 Rem Contender. After a few years, I bought a 6.5 JDJ barrel from SSK. I've killed a large number of big game w/ the 6.5. The only time I was disappointed it turned out to be MY fault! I haven't used the 6.5 for a few years now as I've tried a few other guns. Nevertheless, the 6.5 JDJ is wonderful on whitetail deer/mule deer/ pronghorn antelope/prairie dogs, etc. I mainly use the 120 gr. NBT, but have killed a few game w/ the 120 gr Sierra SP; loaded some Speer 120 gr SP, but never shot any game w/ it. Didn't like the 100 gr NBT due to core/jacket separation, but that was many years ago. Have never tried the 100 gr NP or 125 gr NP. When I bought my barrel, JD's load data favored IMR 4350, IMR 4320 and AA2520. My barrel wasn't particularly fond of these powders. Mine really likes RL 15 for bullet weights 100 gr or greater and H322 for 85 gr bullets. My pet loads are:

85 gr Sierra HP
powder grains primer OAL velocity fps
RL 15 38.0 WLR 2.650" 2750
H322 34.6 CCI 200 same 2680

100 gr NBT
RL 15 36.5 Rem 9 1/2 2.80 2575

120 gr NBT
RL 15 35.0 CCI 200 2.970 2410

120 gr Speer Spitzer
RL 15 35.5 CCI 200 2.885 2400
H4895 33.5 Fed 210 same 2315
H4895 34.0 same same 2444***
*** this load may be a little warm.

120 gr Sierra Spitzer
IMR 4320 34.5 Rem 9 1/2 2.895" 2300

By the way, for some really fun loads, try the following reduced/squib loads:

Powder grains OAL Velocity fps
IMR 700X 8.0 2.700" 1200
Red Dot 8.0 same 1150
Red Dot 9.0 same 1230
W/W 231 9.0 same 1270

I use a small tuft of dacron filler w/ above reduced loads. I sight my 6.5 1" high at 100 yds w/ 120 bullets. Using same scope settings, w/ the scope at 4X, I use the juncture of the thick to thin vertical, bottom cross hair
as my aiming point; this puts the point of impact 1/2" high at 25 yards. Makes a great squirrel hunting load (if legal in your area). I use Rem 120gr PSP-CoreLoct bullets since they're pretty inexpensive. Prints one ragged hole at 25 yds.
Gary T.

Thanks Gary for the info. I didn't get a chance to try it this past week cuz the deer didn't cooperate. However, I have some more time coming in November, which is the start of the rut.
I was looking through my Speer Manual and noticed something odd: the max OAL for the cartridge is listed at 2.700, but both the max case length and the trim-to length are both 2.930 and 2.920 respectively. HUH??? How is the max overall cartridge length shorter than the other 2? I know that I can be a bit obtuse sometimes, but this has me scratching my punkin. I randomly picked some other calibers to check, and the numbers are the other way round: the max o.a.l. is longer than the other 2.

Hey Mitch, I'm jealous that your deer hunting season's already open! It'll be 2 1/2 more weeks before my season opens....

I don't have a Speer Manuel w/ 6.5 JDJ loading data, but I do have the Hornady 5th ed. and Accurate Arms #1, both of which have the 6.5 JDJ listed. Sounds like the Speer Manuel must have some typos. I found the following in my manuels:
Maximum C.O.L. Max case length Case trim length
Hornady N/A 1.900" 1.890"
Accurate -- 1.900" 1.900"

I can't find my data from JDJ. If I do find it and it's different from the Hornady and Accurate, will let you know. The max OAL listed in the Speer Manuel seems pretty short compared to my barrel. On the other hand, the chamber in my barrel does have a rather long neck. All this talk about the 6.5 is getting kinda excited again for it. I just might try mine again this season!

The nice lady at Speer said it was a typo and she sent me the corrections. She also said that she would square it away with the publisher. The response came back quick, too. I am impressed.

Paul H

the 5.56 X 50 is the Bellem 6.5 X50, exceeds the JDJ, but is real hard to get brass for. RWS brass is $2.00 each.

anukpuk: If you are realy thinking about having a barrel made for a 6.5x50 J, Graff has the brass from Prvi for $46/100 and $219/500. Once they find out they can't sell much of it they will stop importing it and then dump it. When they dump it, it could be "here today gone tommorrow".