A friend of mine recently gave me almost 400 rnds of once fired 6.5x47L brass, so now I'm looking to build a complete custom rifle so I can utilize this high quality brass that I now have an abundance of! I've been looking at the Stiller Tac 30 action and Big Horn's Origin, this rifle will be used for PRS style matches, and mostly prone/positional long range shooting. I would like some input on quality components to finish this build at and some insight on the cartridge itself, I do hand load so all loads and bullet/powder combinations are welcome, as well as best barrel length/twist rates opinions and experiences! Thanks alot!
- Thread starter AR_longranger
- Start date
Wow! That's awesome, he must be a really good friend! 
26" 1/8 twist is what ive been using and theyre great.i do have one gain twist 8-7.25
Also awesome..ive seen this cartridge with 20" and still laser..for tactical or hunting 20-26 is perfect
Ohh he is for sure! HahaWow! That's awesome, he must be a really good friend!
That's what I was thinking as far as length, I was just about dead set on 24" 1:8 twist, I'm mainly going to be running 130-140g bullets through it so I believe that will be sufficient!
The 2" fps wont matter even beyond 1k yards..i would suggest to start with an action with small firing pin.just to avoid issues like punching primer or early preasure signs.ive seen them all..you can always bushed the pin and boltface but waiting and paying extra $ for option that you can get from the beginning is something...
Any ideas on actions that have the small firing pin as an option?
Defiance, surgeon there's a lot of custom action that offers that as option for no extra charge..big horn,tempest im not 100% sure on curtis action but i think they can also do it
So as far as small vs large were talking like .062 for small and .068 for large?? And I'll check surgeon and bighorn not seeing any option for it on defiance's site but that may be a call to order option
Yup 062 for small 068-072 are large but 068 gap tempest uses them and its fine..the standard remington 072 with little oversized firing pin hole is popular giving thos issues
Bighorn is small firing pin by default. If i was in your shoes and building a new rifle on 6.5x47 I'd jump up to a TL3 action with DLC coating then look at some of the prefit shouldered barrel options for the TL3. Keystone Accuracy will do a 6.5x47 barrel on a button rifled blank for just $380 for the TL3. @padom has one on a TL3 and it's a hammer. If you want a nicer barrel blank he can do Krieger's for $599.
I have a 1-8 twist which I think is optimal for the case size (I don't see the point in shooting the super heavies like the 150 SMK or the 156 Berger out of a case this small). I use Varget/H4350 with Berger 130/140s. 6.5x47 is the easiest cartridge I have ever loaded for. Load 10 thou off the lands and enjoy your bughole groups.
Good information there!! Thanks! I've got a good Smith in OK for all my work, I'm just gathering parts as of now
I have a 24" 1-8 twist Brux barrel that I installed on a Savage 10FP receiver and it shoots great. I get 2750 fps with Berger 140 Hybrids using Varget. Load workup was amazingly easy. I have only tried Varget because it shot as good as I could ask for. You will love this cartridge.
That's good news! My .260 I have now has been a pain to work up a load for. I'm kind of a hornady slut and I really like their 140g BTHP, but i agree no heavier than 140, not enough velocity to make a real difference
Sweet! I've got a stockpile of varget for the .308s we run! 2750 is good velocity for a 140g pill!
I know my Tikka has a .068 pin hole and I was told by a few guys that it would be fine to run the small rifle primer brass (6.5x47, 260 rem, 308 ect) but if most actions have the small pin by default or it's an option itll be a big plus!
I got a defiance deviant with control round feed 26" hawkhill marksman contour barreled action i might sell..it has jet blast brake.put together by GAP..
Heck yeah looks like a sweet ride! What chassis/stock are you going to run on it? And can you explain controlled round feed? I mean I kind of understand the concept of it but enlighten me please!
Well i believe mousing actions popularized the control feed,the bolt has control on round while being chambered vs push feed... what i like about them i also use mousingfield and elite deviant...its much smoother being less tension from ejector while feeding.and dont need to lock bolt to eject a round like a standard remington bolt.. controlling the cartridge pre or after fired when ejecting is also nice..you can let cases ejects closer from you or away..vs plunger from standard rem...it also setimes avoid getting that fired casr mouth dented..im using JAE for this build
Sounds like controlled round feed is the way to go! And that's going to be a sweet build when it's all finished! And makes sense on the ejection of a spent casing, I really dont want to lose any of ththaththat high dollar brass
I can sel that barreled action if you want.the only thing it has my initials as part of the serial# lol
Well I would but I kinda want this to be all new and exactly the way I want it lol thanks for the offer tho!
I wouldn't get too caught up in CRF vs push feed, especially for a 6.5x47. I have both CRF and push feed, they both work.
For barrel, a finish length of 24-26" is popular. 1:7.5" or 1:8" twist. Heavy Palma, m24/m40 profile or MTU. Go to bugholes.com and get a barrel there, lots of good options in stock. Krieger, Bartlein, Brux, Rock Creek, etc.
For action my preference would be ARC Mausingfield, Impact or Lone Peak. I would avoid Stiller - they feel pretty rough. Some people love the TL3's, but I'm not a fan of how they feel, really sloppy bolt and easy to bind - but that's just my personal preference. They do work though. Not sold on Defiance for really dusty conditions. Ive been bitten in the ass by Defiances tight tolerances in really dusty conditions (as have some of my other shooting buddies running Defiances in PRS matches - though others swear by them).
It's interesting to see the action preference based on geographical location. The actions that are popular in areas will differ based on who the local PRS shooters are sponsored by, who the local manufacturers are, and what the popular gunsmiths push. Take everyone's opinion with a grain of salt, and try to figure out why they are pushing a particular action, rather than taking it for face value.
The rest of the components you need to select based on your personal preference. Triggers, stocks/chassis, etc. are a personal preference based on your body type/shooting style/etc.
For barrel, a finish length of 24-26" is popular. 1:7.5" or 1:8" twist. Heavy Palma, m24/m40 profile or MTU. Go to bugholes.com and get a barrel there, lots of good options in stock. Krieger, Bartlein, Brux, Rock Creek, etc.
For action my preference would be ARC Mausingfield, Impact or Lone Peak. I would avoid Stiller - they feel pretty rough. Some people love the TL3's, but I'm not a fan of how they feel, really sloppy bolt and easy to bind - but that's just my personal preference. They do work though. Not sold on Defiance for really dusty conditions. Ive been bitten in the ass by Defiances tight tolerances in really dusty conditions (as have some of my other shooting buddies running Defiances in PRS matches - though others swear by them).
It's interesting to see the action preference based on geographical location. The actions that are popular in areas will differ based on who the local PRS shooters are sponsored by, who the local manufacturers are, and what the popular gunsmiths push. Take everyone's opinion with a grain of salt, and try to figure out why they are pushing a particular action, rather than taking it for face value.
The rest of the components you need to select based on your personal preference. Triggers, stocks/chassis, etc. are a personal preference based on your body type/shooting style/etc.
Heck yeah thanks for the info I'll check it out!
I agree on defiance deviant being tight tolerance..BUT if you havent feel their control round feed and ELITE its whole diff level vs traditional deviant or rebel..they dont bind very slick and smoth
Can't say I've ever handled their CRF action, so I can't speak to that.
Great information everyone!! Keep it coming!! I'm really considering the bighorn origin now, so far it fits my budget and is perfect for my application! So keep the good stuff coming!
I run a temptest on my 6.5x47 and have never had issues. It feeds the best compared to my surgeon and remington. Barrel is 26" shooting berger 130's with varget around 2880. Every load pretty much shoots 1/2 moa or better. Super easy round.
So now that we pretty much have the action taken care of what reloading dies do yall reccomend? At least I can work up all my brass while I'm gathering parts haha so what will it be? Full lenght sizer, bushing dies, or neck size?? And what brand? And go!!
Lapua brass, cci 450 primer, 40.1 gn 4451, hornady 140 eldm
2729 mv out of a 24" 1-8 twist medium Palma on a bighorn tl2 action
I use Redding type S full length bushing dies with .289 bushings
You will love the 6.5x47 it seems to shoot almost any load well.
2729 mv out of a 24" 1-8 twist medium Palma on a bighorn tl2 action
I use Redding type S full length bushing dies with .289 bushings
You will love the 6.5x47 it seems to shoot almost any load well.
FL sizer with bushing dies. I switched to a Whidden click adjustable FL sizer from a Redding Type S. Really liking the Whidden, and I'm getting more consistent shoulder bumps with it. The click adjustability is awesome as well.
I understand how all the dies work and all but what do you really gain by being able to find tune the neck tension by running bushing die .001-.002 smaller than a loaded cartridge neck vs just using a regular Fl sizer, in theory the standard Fl sizer should still give consistant neck tension correct?? And if your chamber/head spacing is spot on then you shouldn't need to bump the shoulder more than .003 and from my understanding a FL sizer will do that as well? Just wondering thanks for all the replies!
In theiry a standard full length sizer with expander ball should lead to exactly the same piece of brass with the appropriate set up and bushing selection.
That said the standard die will size the brass down .010 smaller than need be in some cases and then the expander ball will open it back up .008. Using a bushing eliminates that over sizing. I would run the bushing .003-.004 smaller and then let the expander (ball or mandrel) open it back up to .002 below loaded diameter personally but that is still half the work on the brass. The more you move the brass the more its going to get stressed and want to spring back to its previous state.
Yes, both a traditional full length sizer and a bushing sizer will work the case from the shoulders down exactly the same, its just the neck diameter operation that differs between the die types.
Some will argue that the decrease in brass working is offset by the possibility that the bushing imparts runout on the case. There are two sides to every story. I recommend going with the basic die and micro seater until you figure out what exactly you want and care to do to your brass.
One thing is you end up trimming more often when dragging the expander button through every time.
I wouldn't use a repeater with .001 neck tension, no fun shoving bullets back in the case when feeding or OACL growing from recoil forces while still in the mag, .002-.003 is better.
Some guys have been having Hornady dies honed out in the neck sizing area giving a .004 smaller neck than a loaded round but use a turning expanderon separately to expand the neck to give .002 neck tension.
The ultimate is buying your own reamer and having custom dies made for your fired brass to ensure minimum sizing in all areas. That's what I did and at 36 or so firings most of my 11 year old benchrest prepped brass shows no signs of giving up anytime soon and I've been pretty offending to that brass.
I personally like Forster dies for regular.
I wouldn't use a repeater with .001 neck tension, no fun shoving bullets back in the case when feeding or OACL growing from recoil forces while still in the mag, .002-.003 is better.
Some guys have been having Hornady dies honed out in the neck sizing area giving a .004 smaller neck than a loaded round but use a turning expanderon separately to expand the neck to give .002 neck tension.
The ultimate is buying your own reamer and having custom dies made for your fired brass to ensure minimum sizing in all areas. That's what I did and at 36 or so firings most of my 11 year old benchrest prepped brass shows no signs of giving up anytime soon and I've been pretty offending to that brass.
I personally like Forster dies for regular.
I've been looking at the custom die option cut with the same reamer, that'll be the best option, that way when I go to rebarrel in the future I can just send the reamer with the rifle and all my brass/dies will still work great for the new barrel
So in turn the bushing dies are alot easier on your brass, and at $1.05 a piece I'd say that would be a wise choice to run a bushing die! I also plan on getting an annealeez machine before I start this build so that'll help brass life as well.
The die reamer is not the same as the chamber reamer. If it were then it would never size anything. It has to be a hair smaller so that it can size down.
Yes, and the confusion stems from smiths using the chamber reamers to cut seating dies, which works well.
The bushings work the brass less, yes.
You could also get a forster sizing die and have the neck reamed to whatever dimension you want. That has the same effect of working the brass less but unlike a bushing you can swap out youre stuck with a honed neck. On something like a 6.5x47 youre probably going to be using lapua brass exclusively and that wont change a whole lot but maybe peterson bras or something is different, I cant speak to that and it would require measureing. If you were doing something like 223 or 308 with a huge variety of different brass a honed neck made for one thick type could potentially not size another thin type enough.
With all that said I run normal full length dies on everything except for one bushing die. So its really up to you.
Edit: you could also look at harrels since you have a 6.5x47! They have several different dies for that chamber and you send in a few pieces of brass that have been fired a couple times and then they will match it up with one of their dies that has the best fit.
http://harrellsprec.com/index.php/products/full-length-die
Gotcha wasnt thinking
Thinking on going with the Forster dies to get started with and see if they work well, then I may go ahead and send some fired brass off and get the custom dies. Now what's everyone's primer/powder/bullet combo they like to run, I know every rifle is different just wanting to see what yall run, I have a pile of H4831 for several other rifles on hand as well
I use the Forster dies with full length sizer and micrometer seater. I use CCI 450 primers, 36.9 grains of Varget, Berger 140 Hybrid Target bullet. 2755 fps out of a 24" barrel with suppressor. Measured with a Magnetospeed. 0.020" off lands worked best for my loads and barrel.
H4831 is a bit slow for 6.5x47L.
Varget, IMR 4166, R-16, R-17, N540 or 140, in that burn rate area is better suited. Varget seems like the go-to powder.
Varget, IMR 4166, R-16, R-17, N540 or 140, in that burn rate area is better suited. Varget seems like the go-to powder.
I probably went trough 4 barrel of 6.5x47 and they all shoot either varget or h4350 or both. Its pretty much a guarantee good to go powder..if any of those powder wont give you .2 moa..that barrel is belong in the trashcan
So H4350 or Varget seems to be the go to powders, how about bullets, I'm a hornady slut tried and true, I've got 500 140g BTHP match bullets, really wanting to try the 130g ELD-M out of my .260 rem as well as this new build, any one have a better bullet or is hornady pretty good for what I'm going to do with it?
The 123 Scenar gets overshadowed by the newer, higher BC bullets, particularly past 800 yards. But inside 800, it is a laser beam. My smallest groups have been with the 123 Scenar. That is the bullet I started with in the x47. It is extremely user friendly.
