Well, a while back I picked up some of Nosler's 125 grain Partitions during their 2nds sale. For 9.95 per 50, you just couldn't go wrong. And while I had ample loads for my 6.5mm Bullberry Imp, I figured a go-round with the Partition was in order.

They shot incredibly well with N160, the very first powder I tried.

Just before dark, I took this boar. He was quartering away, and I put the Partition near the last rib. It exited just behind the opposite side shoulder. The internal damage was impressive, and the hog only made perhaps 20 feet before giving up the ghost. The exit was small -- the size of a quarter -- but left an easily-visible spray of frothy lung blood for the entire 20 feet that the hog ran.

I nearly forgot to post this photo of our 4-year-old twins who love to get involved with anything hunt-related. The blood & gore doesn't bother 'em at all.

Heck, they keep asking for a knife so they can skin stuff, too...

Good shooting Tommy and that's a handsome pair of young future hunters you've got there.

I picked up a barely used 14" 6.5 Bullberry Contender barrel back in March of 2004 that absolutely loves Hornady 129gr #2620's over a warmish charge of IMR4895 and according to Fred it has a 1 in 91/2 twist.

I assume that your Improved version still uses 30-30 Winch. brass as the parent case but has a slightly differnt shoulder angle and offers a little more velocity ?

Funny thing on my brass though....when I first got the barrel I sized the cases as I normally do for my Contenders which is barely touching or slightly above the shoulder, I can't recall now but they either wouldn't fire or wouldn't chamber.

I called Fred and while on the phone he told me with the 6.5 Bullberry to screw the FL die down till in touched the shell holder then back the ram off and screw the die down another 1/2 to 3/4 turn then size the cases and he guaranteed they'd all chamber and fire....he said try it and call him back.

I sized them as he said but on every case I had one very noticeable dent at the shoulder neck junction. I seated primers only in four cases and stepped outside and they all chamberd and fired but I wasn't to keen on the shoulder dents.

I called him back and he not only didn't seem surprised or concerned but said that the dents were normal and not to worry about it....still seemed odd but the dented cases chamber, fire and the barrel is extremely accurate.

Not long afterwards a fella over on Handgunhunter.com posted pics of his 6.5 Bullberry brass and he was concerned about his dented shoulder brass which looked exactly like mine...I replied to his post about my conversation with Fred and as far as I know we're both still shooting brass with dented shoulders but are more than pleased with the accuracy we're getting.

Even though Fred said it was normal and not to worry eye appeal wise it's just hard to get used to.

Ike

Ike-I didn't have a photo of just the cartridge, but here's one with an inset showing the .223 on the left, the 6.5 BB Imp in the center and the 30-30 WCF. (THe Bullberry Imp is really just the 6.5x30-30 Ackley IMP with another name)

Fortunately, I have never encountered brass issues. For this one, simply running into a standard FL die and then loading is the worst way, in my opionion, as this method requires the greatest degree of fireforming and stresses the relatively thin brass the most. So I have been buying 6.5 BRM brass from eabco, bumping back the shoulder and the fireforming.

I've also run a 30-30 into a .375 Win die and the incrementally brought it down to dimensions that were very close to my chamber -- so there wasn't much to the fireforming process. I've done the same with 38-55 brass, but that one requires trimming.

As to the dents, it could simply be that the 30-30 brass is relatively thin. As long as you are getting good results, there's probably no need to worry about it, though I have to admit the dents would bother me a bit.

Nice job bobby. Always enjoy your reports and info.

Congrats Bobby. It sure sounds like you are liking that 6.5mm Bullberry and obviously having great success with it also

Yep I would bet those two young fellas are gonna be hunters if they hang around you.

Happy New Year.

Larry

Nice boar Bobby!

Deer season closes here on January 1st. That means that I will begin hunting hogs with my 17" Encore 209 X 50 pistol until turkey season closes on May 15th. We can hunt hogs during "small game" and "turkey" seasons with "small game" and "turkey" weapons, and the 209 X 50 fits both categories for whatever reason.

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