I had a rifle built last year chambered in this caliber. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with it. I am pleased with it so far. Fire forming is a little more of a pain than I had anticipated, but so far so good. Its holding 140's in the 3100fps neighborhood and 1/2" 5-shot groups. It's built on a Sendero with a Douglas 5 1/2 contour. My smith says he likes the 6.5/270 for the longer neck. Any thoughts?


EricJ

I had my own wildcat several years ago based on a 280 case blownout and forward. I liked it but didn't get to play with it much before I loaned it out and it was stolen. Got a barrel to build another laying on the bench. If you are using an 06 length magazine I don't see how a longer neck would help your net capacity would be the same. An 06 has plenty of neck to hold a 6.5MM bullet. If you are able to set the bullet out and are long throated you can gain net capacity.

Try a modified 6.5 Gibbs on 280 brass. Gives you the maximum body capacity (of relatively stock -06 based brass) with the longest neck. You will have to throat properly for this to work. Alternatively, you could go with one of the newer -06 based extra long brass cartridges from Howell and, I believe Z-hat. That would give you yet again a little more case capacity. FWIW - Dan

Howell's are longer and the unmost performance in .473 head, but cases are $1 a piece.

Z-Hat (Hawk) cartridges are all improved .280 cases w/ 25 degree shoulders. Brass is MUCH cheaper.

A little more room than a .270 or '06 case (shoulders on .280 being about .050 further forward), but a hair less than a .280 imp. 40 degree shoulder. These won't match capacity of the Gibbs wildcats.

What's the difference in a 6.5-06 imp? Personally I would use 25-06 brass. The .280 case is a bit longer for a grain or 2 more capacity.

I believe the 6.5/270 is the same as the 6.5x64. The 6.5/06 would be a 6.5x63. The defference is the neck length since both the 270 and 30-06 use the same headspace guage. I think the 6.5x64 is an excellent caliber and I'd probably favor using the Nosler 125gr partitions for all around use. I'd use 270 brass since your improving it you'll most likely find the cases tend to shorten a little after fireforming. Be careful though that you don't have excessive headspace after fireforming. Ackley talks about this in the 280 AI. Good luck on this fine caliber. Paul.

I have been shooting a 6.5x270 (6.5x64 brennke) for years, it loves the 120 grain bullets and is very accurate, you can use the the 6.5x06 load data on the light side, but either way, we are in a small crowd who loves this caliber.
Have A great day
SFC Chovan

Eric:

Sounds like a well thought out wildcat. What barrel length is giving you 3100 w/ 140 grain bullets? Just curious.

Thanks,

Jordan