Gunsmithing .308 Winchester to 6.5 Creedmoor rebarreling, need some guidance please.

[Coyote101]

I have a Tikka T3 in .308 that I'm looking to have rebarreled to 6.5 Creedmoor. I'm new to all this and have discovered that there's two flavors in the 6.5CM. 1. The Lapua small primer pocket brass and 2. Hornady's 6.5 large primer pocket brass.

My dilemma is, I can get a good deal on Lapua 6.5 CM brass (I reload for all my various calibers) but I didn't really want to start messing around with my bolt. Soooo, can I use both these offerings or should I just stick with Hornady's LP offering?. Thanks..

 

[Supersubes]

Use the lapua. Cross the piercing primer bridge if you ever come to it. I’ve never had an issue with it in several rifles.

 

[carlsbad]

The primer size makes no difference to the rebarrel. The bolt is the same. Cratering/pierced primers happen with large primers and small primers. I bush every bolt for all cartridges. This eliminates the problem. But it does not change anything on your rebarrel.

However, you need to pick a neck size. I don't know if the neck size is the same on both but to use either, you need to choose a neck size that is .002-.005 larger than the neck of the loaded round of the thicker necked brass.

You also need to figure out what bullet you want to shoot to choose a freebore.

I've never built one for myself but have built for others who shoot 140s. My reamer is .2964 neck and .189 freebore.

--Jerry