Making 6.5 CM brass

[bohem]

I built a 6.5 Creedmoor and then spent about a month turning over any rock, shaking bushes, and calling suppliers trying to find brass for it.

Thankfully a 'Hide member hooked me up a few weeks back and solved the issue for a while.

I still wanted to see how hard it was to form brass if I wasn't able to connect with that hookup and I was stuck with only 197 pcs of brass and a new rifle.

Last night I pulled the Redding body die out and shoved a piece of R-P 308 brass through it. I had too much lube on their and got a lot of oil dents on the shoulder, tried it again and was pleasantly rewarded with the following:

Left to right (note that they still need some serious trimming):

R-P 308 brass resized to 6.5 CM, Hornady 6.5 CM, R-P Brass with oil dents.

It was very easy and took only a single pass through the body die in my RockChucker.

 

[SONIC SAAMI]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

Awesome job,,,,will keep this in mind as CM brass can be at times hard to find.

I've never ordered from here however the brass is at a good price
http://www.thegreatguys.com/servlet/Categories

 

[Chiller]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

in that Remington is know as a "soft" brass have you tried this with Win brass?

 

[bohem]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

No I haven't, this was the first try and it worked well. This R-P brass has been FL sized twice and NS 4x's so the neck/shoulder area have been worked pretty good without any annealing.

I will try stuffing a piece of Win brass through it soon and see what I get back.

 

[Rob01]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

Hopefully you won't have to do that for a while

 

[Chiller]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Rob01</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hopefully you won't have to do that for a while

</div></div>

Just need them to get more 140 AMAX in the pipeline....

 

[bohem]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Rob01</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hopefully you won't have to do that for a while

</div></div>

Nope

I was curious as to how well it would work... pretty damn easy overall.

Between some horse trading and a lucky grab I have about 1600 Amax's sitting on the shelf now. I should be good for a few more months

 

[Chiller]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bohem</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Rob01</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hopefully you won't have to do that for a while

</div></div>

Nope

I was curious as to how well it would work... pretty damn easy overall.

Between some horse trading and a lucky grab I have about 1600 Amax's sitting on the shelf now. I should be good for a few more months

</div></div>

 

[sobrbiker883]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

R-P and Winchester went fine through my die. Rem 260 as well.

You are still going to be fire forming the shoulder since CM's parent case isn't a 308, CM's case is wider at the shoulder.

I may try some old small primer 7-08 stuff an old guy at the rqange offered me.

Mattsnuked made CM from 308 with pretty good luck, but IIRC he turned the necks.

 

[buffybuster]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

How thick our your necks?

 

[bohem]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

Pretty thick by visual inspection, I'm sure they'd have to be turned/reamed.

I don't want to have to do that much work and since I now have about 500pcs of brass to work with I should be good for the rest of this barrel and have time to pick up more brass over time while I burn this one away.

 

[JFComfort]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

Vegas50 and I have made Creedmoor brass out of .308 brass. Once trimmed and neck turned it worked really well.

 

[kyreloader]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

260CM is a 6.5x250AI.

You can also buy Lapua .22-250 brass and use the COW method to nicely form 260 CM brass if necessary.

My brother had a .22-250 that he shot the barrel out of and has a bunch of .22-250 brass left over. He plans to get a 260CM barrel and use his "extry" cases to shoot his CM. Doesnt need to buy brass that way.

FWIW

 

[bohem]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

JFC, that's good to hear thank you.

KYR- That's really sweet to hear, I still have some 22-250 brass that has been rattling around from a few years back. I'm going to try it out next time I go to shoot.

I will probably skip the COW method and use the false shoulder method instead since I get to shoot stuff then and barrel life is pretty forgiving for this caliber.

Definitely good info guys, thank you.

 

[Ackley Improved]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

http://www.shadetreeea.com/caseDieSet.html

 

[pswd]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

Does anyone on this thread know where I can purchase 6.5x47 Lapua brass

 

[sobrbiker883]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Rob01</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hopefully you won't have to do that for a while

</div></div>

Hmmmm, perhaps someone has a line on factory once fired????

 

[kombayotch]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

How about subsonic loads as an alternative to COW:
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...870#Post2617870

Works well with the 6mm Crusader...

 

[bohem]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

I've done that too, they work great. In fact, we used them in a match on Saturday night with my rifle. Everyone got to shoot some steel in the dark with a suppressed subsonic 6.5 CM.

It was a lot of fun.

 

[kombayotch]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

I'm working on a bullet similar to the Lapua subsonic that will hopefully not require the use of oil to get rid of the 1st shot drop. It's going to be a plated lead bullet and if it works, I'm going to segment and hollow point it like the CCI .22LR rounds.

 

[bohem]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

Are you going to sell these?

There's a really easy solution if you're not. Cast lead. I don't have a first shop drop issue whatsoever and the mould that I got from Lee drops them at a finished 179gr 6.5mm bullet. The jacketed 160's from Hornady are pretty stout hitters too, but that 180gr bullet in a 6.5 penetrates WAY better than a 180 from a 308.

 

[kombayotch]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

Not going to sell them, but might be willing to share the design for a group buy on a mold or something. A non-segmented version would be practical for casting and copper plating is very easy and precise if you control the process precisely. A die for swaging them on a reloading press might also be an option.

 

[bohem]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

I'd be interested in hearing more about it. Shoot me a PM, I have some cast 6.5mm 180's I can send over to you to try too.

 

[InTheWeeds]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

I actually accidentally formed a Lapua .308 brass last night resizing my Hornady 6.5CM brass. Going up into my Redding body die, it felt a little harder to run than the rest, so I pulled it back down. By then half the neck was already resized, so I figured I would try to run the rest. Came out perfect. I may end up doing this in the future with a batch of Lapua brass..

 

[18Echo]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

If you are gonna neck turn it, I found the easiest way is to chuck up a K&M neck turner in a drill, squeeeeeze your drill tight in a vice, and go to town.

Sounds dangerous and a little wyle e. coyote school or reloading, but I swear it works. I stopped checking my necks on the redding neck thickness gauge after about 20 cases when they all came out even at .015. It looks smoother also because you are doing it a higher speed than with the 'ol cordless screwdriver or the hand turner tool provided by K&M.

Did 100 LC 70 cases in about an hour +/- a few minutes.

 

[bohem]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

18 - Been there, the vice and corded drill works great.

I've also zip tied the drill trigger "ON", plugged it into a power strip and used the power strip switch as the on/off button. It worked great for turning necks while watching TV.

Ghetto for sure.

 

[18Echo]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bohem</div><div class="ubbcode-body">18 - Been there, the vice and corded drill works great.

I've also zip tied the drill trigger "ON", plugged it into a power strip and used the power strip switch as the on/off button. It worked great for turning necks while watching TV.

Ghetto for sure. </div></div>

I'm gonna have to try that next time. I still have about another 100-150 LC 70 cases to full prep.

 

[Froggy1129]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

18Echo- so have you actually loaded and shot any of those cases yet?

I am putting together a 6.5 Creedmoor now. I already have some brass, but I have a huge supply of once fired Hornady Match brass.

Am I clear that the only "pain" in making 6.5 creed from 308 is the need to do the necks?

 

[ED_RN]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

http://www.gunstop.com/

has Hornady Brass and 6.5 140 amaxes

 

[KevinU]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

Formed some out of Lapua 22-250. Fire-formed with a moderate load, turned the necks to .013. The only negative is the neck is about .030 shorter, which has had absolutely no effect on accuracy.

22-250, formed, Hornady

 

[fdkay]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

Try using .300 savage brass.

It is a tad shorter than .308, will lessen the amount you have to trim

 

[AR4U]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: KevinU</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Formed some out of Lapua 22-250. Fire-formed with a moderate load, turned the necks to .013. The only negative is the neck is about .030 shorter, which has had absolutely no effect on accuracy.

22-250, formed, Hornady

</div></div>

Is that the beginning of a casehead separation on the fire-formed CM brass?

 

[bohem]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

Potentially, it could also be runout a the case head from the chamber.

Neither is a good thing.

If you're going to fireform up to 6.5 CM I would suggest using a false shoulder in the neck for the round to headspace on and annealing the neck/shoulder before doing it.

This helps mitigate split necks/shoulders and also lessen the tendency towards stretching the case webs.

 

[KevinU]

Re: Making 6.5 CM brass

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: AR4U</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: KevinU</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Formed some out of Lapua 22-250. Fire-formed with a moderate load, turned the necks to .013. The only negative is the neck is about .030 shorter, which has had absolutely no effect on accuracy.

22-250, formed, Hornady

</div></div>

Is that the beginning of a casehead separation on the fire-formed CM brass? </div></div>

No.

Here's a fire-formed Lapua 22-250 case with its stubby neck that has been shot 7 times. Holding up well. Formed them when I couldn't find Hornady brass. PITA to form/turn the necks, wouldn't do it now that Hornady brass is readily available.