I am intrigued by this idea. I have a .300 win mag with Manners T4A, 26" Krieger 10 twist M24 barrel and trued up 700 LA. This rifle started out as a Remington Sendero hunting rifle. I love the caliber but even with a brake (Little Bastard) the recoil knocks me out of my scope making watching my shots almost impossible. Most of my buddies are running 243's & 260's and I would like something a little/lot more suited for matches that was a little tamer. Gradous built my rifle so I am a little apprehensive about doing this but my buddies that know a lot more about this than I do say there isn't anything to worry about. Being a long action, and not wanting to risk feeding issues with short action calibers, this sounds like the best caliber choice. I'd like to hear as much about the 6.5x55 AI and a switch-barrel with these two calibers as I can find. We have some farms where we can stretch it out to 1 mile so finding a place to shoot is the least of my worries. Thanks in advance!
Thinking About Converting 300wm Into 6.5x55 AI Switch-Barrel
- Thread starter EasternNChunter
- Start date
Good round. I've built several for 1K BR comp. It duplicates the performance of the 6.5-284 which would work in your action also. I assume you have two bolts for your rifle. If so consider the 6.5-06. No fire forming and will work well out of the magazine. Just expand the necks on 25-06 brass or neck down 30-06. A set of off the shelf Reading bushing FL dies is all you need. If performance is why you're doing this consider the 6.5-06 AI. You pick up about 200 FPS over those other rounds. I built quit a few of those for 1K comp before we got Lapua 6.5-284 brass.
Just my two cents worth from a guy who has wildcatted damn near everything out there and is tired of making custom dies.
If you do go the AI route I have a relatively cheap way to fire form brass. Get in touch with me.
Just my two cents worth from a guy who has wildcatted damn near everything out there and is tired of making custom dies.
If you do go the AI route I have a relatively cheap way to fire form brass. Get in touch with me.
DAVE,
What speeds do you think are obtainable from a 6.5x55AI with a 140 Berger Hybrid/VLD and H1000?
H1000 would not be my choice of powder. We got the best accuracy with H4831SC @2850-2900FPS and that was with 30" barrels. The 6.5-06 AI got to 3100 accurately. Faster than that and accuracy falls off and you run the risk of losing bullets. The lazy way is just shoot the 6.5-284. Same performance. Same powder charge.
The 300WM bolt will be a magnum bolt face and the 6.5X55 requires the use of the standard bolt face opened up a bit to accommodate the 6.5 I believe. You would need two bolts I think.
I have a switch hitter setup with 223, 308, and 6.5 CM. I had to get a second bolt for the 223, but it's much cheaper to shoot than 6.5 CM and 308. I'm sure you have your own reasons for 6.5x55 AI.
Your receiver has a pinned recoil lug, right? That makes doing the switch barrel thing much easier.
As far as the recoil and being able to spot your hits, I recommend that you get a larger brake. I'm sure you can sell the Little Bastard to partially offset the cost and the larger brake would deliver the recoil reduction performance you're looking for. When I had a 300 WM, a Badger FTE delivered recoil reduction enough for me to spot my hits; I'm sure there are many other brakes that can achieve this result.
No its not pinned yet. Now I am also considering GAP doing their 6.5 SAUM. That round sounds pretty sweet.
Similar threads
