Re-barrel to which Cartridge? PLS read spiel first..

While Cartridge? - Please read Spiel first...

  • 25 WSSM

    Votes: 3 13.0%

  • 6.5 WSSM

    Votes: 14 60.9%

  • 6.5 Rem Mag

    Votes: 6 26.1%
  • Total voters
    23
R

Ron AKA

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I have two 264WM's. One has been re-barreled to .264WM again. The other has a burned barrel, and needs to be replaced. It will not be another .264WM. The gun is a 700 Remington, and I would like to keep it as intact as possible, and minimize the cost. The objective is to get an accurate hunting gun, that I can have fun with at the range up to 300 meters. I plan to lap the lugs, but not true the action. It shot fairly well until the barrel went South. Narrowed down to these three choices:

25 WSSM - Would probably would be the easiest. While these things are not very popular it appears I can still get brass (Winchester), and dies. Not so impressed with the bullet selection, but with the 25-06 gaining popularity, it should be OK. I'm thinking barrel life may be around 1500 rounds. The quality of the Winchester brass is a concern. Hope that some thorough preparation and high rejection of poor stuff can make up for it.

6.5 WSSM - Wildcat and a little tougher, but I think it can be done. Same brass 25 WSSM supply and issues. Better selection of bullets. Hoping I can adapt 25 WSSM bushing and seater dies to load it. Barrel life should be better. Perhaps closer to 2000 rounds.

6.5 Rem Mag - Not a wildcat, but far from popular. Remington still seems to make brass for it. Not sure RP brass is any better than Winchester though. Dies are available. Although significantly smaller than the .264WM which has 83 grains capacity, the 68 grains in the 6.5 RM is getting up there. Perhaps 1100 rounds or so barrel life.

So which one would you suggest? I have the .264WM for a larger gun on big game, and the next one down is a 6BR, so varmints are covered. Have I overlooked a better choice? Any deal breakers that may trip me up?
 
What about a .260 Rem.

Big enough for deer/moose/paper at 300m.

Can get factory Remington brass or form .308 Lapua.

I have no experience with the other cartridges you listed but I know that an F-Classer shoots a 6.5 WSSM but I would think the cartridge should be equal to the .260 or close enough that the game you shoot won't know the difference.

EDIT: Obviously you have a magnum bolt face since your 3 choices are all Magnum's :redface:

Of the 3 I would probably go 6.5 WSSM just cuz it looks ###y and better bullet choices than the 25 WSSM. :D
 
That is a tough list to pick from... I don't like SSM cartridges but I think I would likely pick the 25WSSM. Will it feed alright from a standard Rem 700 or do you need a different follower, magazine box, etc? Or are you making a single shot?
 
6.5 WSSM has a similar case capacity to the 260AI so optimal bore life is in the 1200 to 1500 rds range. .

The 6.5 Rem mag is similar to the 6.5-06 so would expect optimal bore life to be around 800 to 1000rds

25WSSM would have a similar bore ratio to the 257 Roberts.

Min of deer for more shooting of course

I would lean towards the 6.5 just because bullet options are superb.

Jerry
 
jeff270 said:
punch it out to 6.5stw before you replace the tube.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately the barrel is messed up at both ends. It has a bulge in the barrel right where the front sight is silver soldered onto the barrel. Not sure if it is hammer forging artifact, loss of strength due to the silver solder heating, or if there was an obstructed barrel at some time. In any case it is there, and the barrel not worth putting any money into. See photo:

700BBLRight.jpg


To answer some of the other questions, I've looked at, but I'm not looking for a big boomer. The .264WM is big enough for whatever I will do. Pretty much retired from moose hunting.

The 25 WSSM is a little fatter than the .264 WM, so I am a bit concerned about feeding. I'm hoping that opening up the feed rails a little will address it. Single shot not all that bad either as a plan B. I have some .270 WSM brass I picked up at the range to practice annealing on. Will see how it feeds, as case size is similar at least toward the head end to the 25 WSSM.

And yes I've limited the choices to the magnum bolt head, which unfortunately rules out a lot of other good choices. I would also have problems with the feed rails being too wide with a standard size head as well.
 
I think you will see a very real problem with feeding. Overly fat case that is ubber short. That just sounds like misfeeds to me.

Why not just sell the Rem and get an action suited to your next project?

Jerry
 
I checked the magazine to see how .270 WSM cases fit, as they are a similar diameter to the 25 WSSM. They don't fit into the magazine. Too fat! But, I think that is good news, as I have material to work with to open up the feed rails to the appropriate size. Also, I'm thinking that a short cartridge may work better in a long action than a short action where they are known to have some issues. First I will have no limitation on cartridge overall length, and will be able to use the VLD and other long bullets. Also, there should be room to let the cartridge lift and align with the bore. Anyone with experience in short cartridges in a long action?
 
Feeding short cartridges from long actions is usually never a problem, in fact it is often the only way to feed with VLD bullets. You need to pay attention to neck tension. The tension generally needs to be tighter with mag fed rounds.

BTW, Inspector on CGN here has been F-Class shooting with a 6.5WSSM and it rocks. From ANECDOTAL experience only, the WSSM line has not got a great reputation for inherent accuracy. I cannot substantiate this with fact as i have personally never built one, but have been in contact with many competent shooters that have had poor luck with them.
 
Obtunded said:
BTW, Inspector on CGN here has been F-Class shooting with a 6.5WSSM and it rocks. From ANECDOTAL experience only, the WSSM line has not got a great reputation for inherent accuracy. I cannot substantiate this with fact as i have personally never built one, but have been in contact with many competent shooters that have had poor luck with them.
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I've been talked out of the 6.5 WSSM before. I don't think there is anything fundamentally wrong with the WSSM other than the .223 version is grossly overbore, while the .243 is essentially identical to the .243 Win, and the 25 WSSM is starting to get reasonable for case capacity to bore. The 6.5 WSSM is an almost exact scale up of the 6BR, so relative case geometry should not be a concern.

My thoughts are there are two issues. One is the brass supply. Winchester seems to be the only source and they typically do not make good brass. The body does not concern me as it will fire form in any case. And cases can be sorted and rejected by volume. The necks do concern me particularly if they are small compared to the chamber neck. There is no good way to correct that. I'm hoping that anybody who has made a chamber reamer will have considered that, and made it small enough that you can work with no turn or even turn the necks to get about 0.003" clearance using Winchester brass.

The second issue which may affect accuracy is the size of the case head. Bolt thrust is directly proportional to the area of the bolt head. So for sure a .535 head is going to put a higher thrust and torque on the action than a .445" 6PPC case.

But, then I'm not intending to build a gun for competition. A few 1/4" groups at 100 meters, or 1" at 300 will keep me happy!!
 
I just can't get very excited about any of the 3 choices on your poll, considering you already have a .264wm. that will do anything those cartridges will. Probably why you're having a tough time deciding.
 
Just throwing this out there, as I am more of a tinkerer than any kind of expert, but I think that one of the issues with the WSSM brass is that it is thick in the case neck. My 223wssm brass is 0.021" thick where most of my other cases run 0.010 - 0.013". It makes me wonder if getting the correct neck tension is difficult, and if annealing is more critical. The brass is also hard to run over a sizer button (annealed or not), which may also lead to cases slightly out of spec. If I was setting up a rifle where accuracy is the #1 priority I would go with a neck turn and turn the cases down to a more normal thickness, and use bushing sizing dies.

Just looking at my wssm action I would pay special attention to where the feed rails start to widen out, I know with my action that there is an OAL that will not feed. The bullet will jam into the back of the barrel shank just as the casing slips upwards through the feed rails, and the round is jammed at both ends. If the OAL is a tenth either way the jam does not happen. Just something to watch for.

I am going to put together a hunting rifle in 270-243 wssm, but I am not looking for your level of accuracy. I have a at least a 100 fresh cases, but I am thinking of forming down 300wsm brass, trimming and neck turning to spec. I am going to use a M70 push feed super short action, and my target is to come in under 6 pounds scoped. I have the action and the barrel (thanks Jerry), now for the rest of the parts.
 
seems like a golden oportunity to build a .257 weatherby, but that might be more than you're looking for. I might have missed it, but any reason not to try a 6.5 RSAUM?
 
mpwolf said:
seems like a golden oportunity to build a .257 weatherby, but that might be more than you're looking for. I might have missed it, but any reason not to try a 6.5 RSAUM?
Click to expand...

I've had two barrel burners, in 3 barrels. I'm trying to cut back on those beasts!
 
CyaN1de said:
What about a .260 Rem.

Big enough for deer/moose/paper at 300m.

Can get factory Remington brass or form .308 Lapua.
Click to expand...

Lapua now makes .260 remington brass:
http://w ww.lapua.com/upload/tuotteet/new-products/lapua260remleaflet2011.pdf
 
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