anyone know how to get a set of dies customized into anklet improved? trying to get my 6.5-06 into a ackley improved

Usually it's just cheaper to buy them, Redding offers the 6.5-06 AI on their custom dies chart.
http://www.redding-reloading.c...iber-reference-chart

Lee will make them also
https://leeprecision.com/custo...-reloading-die-sets/

Hornady, Forster, Sinclair will all make custom dies also.

Well, JGS can make you a reamer for about $200. Then any machine shop will get your old die annealed, re-cut and re-heat treated for $200.

You can't compete with people doing this sort of stuff professionally. Unless you want to invest a few million dollars or more and try to outproduce and outsell them.

I'm with Frank. The die set from Redding for my 6.5-06AI is worth every penny I paid for it. I THOUGHT I had a problem with them once and the service guys are great to work with. You won't get that if you have one modified.

Try CH4D. They probably have a set in stock. I recently Bought a set of .375 AI dies. Price was $125.00.

Hip

I bought a set of 375 Wby Mag dies off Huntington awhile ago.

They had 3 sets on the shelf.

Now I know that it isn't a wildcat but they're not "thick on the ground" either.

I was happy with CH4D also.

Before changing your 6.5-06 to an Ackley improved you need to read what PO had to say about the idea! Volume 1, pg 264. He worked up loads in a 6.5-06 and then re chambered (same rifle, same barrel, same length) to the improved case of his own design. He could burn more powder but could not get the performance back! That kind of honesty is shockingly refreshing.

quote:

Originally posted by gwahir:
He could burn more powder but could not get the performance back! That kind of honesty is shockingly refreshing.

Ackley faced two realities that he couldn't overcome. Most of the time he was rechambering and most barrels of the time were 22 to a maximum of 24 inch and he was limited to the narrow range of gunpowder that was available at the time. In his day, most of his improvements did little but spit powder uselessly out the end of the barrel. With no easy access to chronographs back then, people just assumed they were getting some measure of improvement because they were putting more powder in. It wasn't until much later in the 1980s that his improved cartridges began to offer something real when the trend to longer barrels began to grow and the newer powders became available.

I remember Ackley writing that his favorite improved cartridge was the 250 Savage because the tapered case being blown out, when "Ackleyed" made it one of the few cases that resulted in a significant enough difference to make it worthwhile.

This whole thing with "improving" cases without a lot of case taper seems like a lot of time and effort for 1% more velocity. I'm not an Ackley hater. I have a 22.250 AI so I started with a case that has a lot of body taper but I'm only getting a couple of percent velocity increase.

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
I remember Ackley writing that his favorite improved cartridge was the 250 Savage because the tapered case being blown out, when "Ackleyed" made it one of the few cases that resulted in a significant enough difference to make it worthwhile.

This whole thing with "improving" cases without a lot of case taper seems like a lot of time and effort for 1% more velocity. I'm not an Ackley hater. I have a 22.250 AI so I started with a case that has a lot of body taper but I'm only getting a couple of percent velocity increase.

Much like the Short Action, Ultra Magnums. I suppose you have to get off your ass and build something new and wonderful if you want to sell more product. But in most cases these guys are simply reinventing the wheel and making it hexagonal. While it sounds great and looks really cool, it still doesn't roll as well as the round one.

HA! Rod, I like the way you explain things!

George

this is a long, ugly dirt road, with washboards and potholes

short answer, if you MUST get less than 2% real world improvement at the same pressure (you get 1/4 of the % gain in case volume returned in velocity, at the same pressure), then spec your chamber reamer to match a known set of dies -- that's the shortest path there, and likely on the shelf at CH4D

next shortest is have whoever has the reamer tell you what it is, and order that set of dies

next shortest is to send an "unknown" chamber reamer to manson and have him make a sizer die reamer, then order a set of die blanks.. blah blah blah.. man this gets to be no fun

if you REALLY just HAVE to recut a set of dies, anneal them (there's 1000 recipes to do this) and have a Tool and Die make you a half reamer, after your spend at least 5 hours explaining EVERY detail, spec, taper, angle, and length, and then have someone cut your now annealed dies with new reamer -- pray it works, don't bother having them hardened, but do polish them (you need to tell the T&D guy you are going to polish them) and then find out, that at the same pressure, you might gain 50 fps

beat your head against the wall, as you know have a franken gun, that would have been cheaper to send the barreled action off to pacnor, have them rebarrel a 4" longer barrel at the same profile, and get more velocity gain from your same loads ..


by now, you are likely convinced that i am not an ackley fan, in which you would be wrong -- i am not an ackley fan for a grossly overbore cartridge that will require a cup more powder for 50 fps gain, real world, and will be a non-stop hassle from jump street

sigh

quote:

Originally posted by srtrax:
You really should not go for the Ackley for the powder gain. The reason I do a lot of Ackleys is I hate trimming cases when reloading, and my Ackleys rarely if ever need trimmed. I like the way my reloads shoot, I just hate reloading in general.

By the way PTG has Die bodies ready made.

Dennis Olson did a couple for me that required opening up the neck, he softened the die, used a reamer I presume and polished them out..$35.00 and they worked like a charm..one was opening a 9.3x62 to a 375x62, don't recall what the other one was..