Chambering to shoot the forthcoming 155 6.5 Berger.

[MachoKing]

I have gone rounds in my own head on what I want to do as far as a rifle goes. I have a Magnum 700 action sitting unused because the barrel is shot out. With this new bullet coming out I have a revived vigor to do something with my action. My first inclination is the KISS rule, keep it simple, stupid. By that I mean rebarrel to a 264 Win Mag. Another part of me wants to go centerfeed and do a 6.5WSM. 26 Nosler...I think it's honestly too much of a good thing. 6.5-300 Wby just seems worse than the 26 Nosler.

I really don't want to sell or trade this action away as it is from the mid-80's and has been a very good action.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I'm not fully opposed to belted brass.

 

[mi223]

Personally i would say saum.

It isnt much of a barrel burner lighter recoil and you probably need that long action to seat that 155 out long.

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[308220]

I had a 112 single shot long action sitting around. So I decided to order up a 6.5-284 Norma. Having it throated for 143 ELD X. Once I get it broken in and a load worked up, its only going to be used for select long range applications. Should last awhile. Out of those listed, Id choose 264 wm. All the velocity youll need. Good brass available, and also some factory loads if ever needed.

 

[SharpsNitro]

I vote 264WM. I recently had a 264WM barrel put together for my DTA, I wanted SAUM performance without the feeding problems and all of the case prep (or having to use Hornady brass). It’s a 1:8” twist as it was built before the 150gr SMK was announced. The throat is longer than standard and the 150s seat slightly below the neck. I’ve only put a handful of rounds through it so far. I used 61gr of H1000 under the 150gr SMK and accuracy looks good but velocity is well below my SAUM shooting the same charge but with the 142gr SMK. My SAUM barrel sped up quite a bit during break in so I expect the same here, I won’t be able to really settle out a load until after a couple hundred rounds. The only issue I’ve had so far is the factory Winchester brass appears to be short as the shoulders are moving forward a bit after firing. Smith has checked the head spacing and it measures good.

 

[sierracharlie338]

264wm gets my vote for the reasons above. Should be a killing machine with those new bergers

 

[MachoKing]

I'm open to suggestions as well. I want something that will drive the 155 fast enough to take advantage of the added BC.

 

[supercorndogs]

I vote 264WM. I recently had a 264WM barrel put together for my DTA, I wanted SAUM performance without the feeding problems and all of the case prep (or having to use Hornady brass). It’s a 1:8” twist as it was built before the 150gr SMK was announced. The throat is longer than standard and the 150s seat slightly below the neck. I’ve only put a handful of rounds through it so far. I used 61gr of H1000 under the 150gr SMK and accuracy looks good but velocity is well below my SAUM shooting the same charge but with the 142gr SMK. My SAUM barrel sped up quite a bit during break in so I expect the same here, I won’t be able to really settle out a load until after a couple hundred rounds. The only issue I’ve had so far is the factory Winchester brass appears to be short as the shoulders are moving forward a bit after firing. Smith has checked the head spacing and it measures good.

Thats the first one that popped to my mind, when I saw mag bolt face. I bet it would do real nice in a 6.5-06 in the non mag bolt face.

 

[MachoKing]

I am really leaning 264WM. I have always had a fascination with it, maybe because I myself am a red headed stepchild. Brass would be easy to come by since I can just neck size some 7mm. I'd love to use a cartridge without a belt, that's why my other thought was 6.5WSM which I can form from 270WSM brass. So many options, so little money or else I would build them all!

 

[steve123]

My vote is do 26N slowed down in the low node with H1000.

I have a 6.5 Saum on a Surgeon XL long action, it feeds perfectly but ejection requires finessing the bolt at the right speed or cases swap ends and stay in the action because of the short OAL. That's after fiddling with the ejector and springs.

 

[MachoKing]

See, I have a friend who just built a 26 Nosler, and he is not happy with it. He can't seem to get the advertised speed or any real accuracy. I told him to try some US869 so time will tell.

 

[knuckleballz]

I have a remington 700 sps in 300 win mag that I am thinking about sending to lri to put a 264wm light countour barrel on for elk hunting with the heavy 6.5 bullets. I wonder what the sweet spot would be on twist/barrel length/velocity curve running a suppressor and getting 3000fps plus?

 

[steve123]

See, I have a friend who just built a 26 Nosler, and he is not happy with it. He can't seem to get the advertised speed or any real accuracy. I told him to try some US869 so time will tell.

Sounds like a gunsmith and/or barrel issue.

What twist and bullets is he using?

He tried H1000 and Retumbo? US869 is very temp sensitive.

 

[MachoKing]

I have a remington 700 sps in 300 win mag that I am thinking about sending to lri to put a 264wm light countour barrel on for elk hunting with the heavy 6.5 bullets. I wonder what the sweet spot would be on twist/barrel length/velocity curve running a suppressor and getting 3000fps plus?

That's the same track I am on but rebarreling a 7 mag. The new Sierra 150 requires a 1:7.5 twist so that is probably your best bet. Using Reloder 26 or 33 I don't see why you couldn't get 3000-3100fps. I'm going to go with a 28" barrel length (not running a suppressor). I want to squeeze every bit of performance out of the cartridge. I am only 32 so carrying the extra weight of a couple inches of barrel won't be a big deal. It might be a pain ducking under trees though!

 

[MachoKing]

Sounds like a gunsmith and/or barrel issue.

What twist and bullets is he using?

He tried H1000 and Retumbo? US869 is very temp sensitive.

It could be a number of things. I'm not sure what powders he has tried either. Lilja barrel, very reputable gunsmith. 27" barrel. Not sure what's going on. It also feeds like garbage from the Remington ultra mag box magazine.

 

[MachoKing]

As far as the 264 WM goes, I've read that it likes to be driven fast. I can't attest to that personally but both of my 7 mags like to live in the higher velocities.

 

[Ledzep]

I would go 6.5 SAUM personally. Hornady brass yields me 10+ firings, even loads over 3200fps w/140's. The secret is to clean (or at least brush) the barrel every 100 rounds. H1000 is a sooty bastard and crud builds up in the throat and spikes pressure. It's not a big deal. A full cleaning changes POI for exactly 1 shot, and copper/bronze brushing doesn't usually change POI at all.

 

[MachoKing]

I would go 6.5 SAUM personally. Hornady brass yields me 10+ firings, even loads over 3200fps w/140's. The secret is to clean (or at least brush) the barrel every 100 rounds. H1000 is a sooty bastard and crud builds up in the throat and spikes pressure. It's not a big deal. A full cleaning changes POI for exactly 1 shot, and copper/bronze brushing doesn't usually change POI at all.

I keep hearing that since the case is so short that it can flip back around and stay in the action instead of ejecting. I think I would be trying some Reloder 26.

 

[Ledzep]

No experience there. I'm running it in a short action ARC M5. Shorter port + CRF/manual ejection. May be some truth to that with a 700, but I'd think you could tune it out somehow. Maybe more hassle than a guy wants to deal with.

 

[MachoKing]

No experience there. I'm running it in a short action ARC M5. Shorter port + CRF/manual ejection. May be some truth to that with a 700, but I'd think you could tune it out somehow. Maybe more hassle than a guy wants to deal with.

Kind of wondering with the Tikka being shorter if I couldn't use my Tikka 7 mag as a donor.

 

[walleye slayer]

6.5-300 win mag is what I went with! I love it