Shrek's 6.5 saum build

[Shrek]

Yep, they're backwards. I flipped them to get more rearward travel. The stock has a 15" LOP and i couldn't get the scope right otherwise.

 

[Shrek]

I also lappped them to bring them into alignment

 

[mtnclimber]

interesting, i like it.

 

[Cross]

Range report?

I am anxious to see the results of your hard work.

Keep it up Shrek your doing good work.

 

[Shrek]

Waiting for brass to arrive. I hope to fire the first shot Saturday sometime. All ready to go.

 

[Shrek]

While I'm waiting for the brass to arrive I wanted to get some opinions on neck turning. I have the K&M tool and a Mitutoyo dial indicator coming for it . I also have a Mitutoyo micrometer to check things with . I have a Redding 7mm saum bushing die set and a whiddon 6.5 saum full length bushing die set . ? 291 , .293 , .295 , .309 bushings . The redding has the body bump die and the bushing sizer has a 6.5x47 expander stem.
Method and tools to use ? Lube and neck down with the redding starting with the .295 bushing ? Next a .291 bushing with the expander or without ? Then the K&M expander ? Heat brass and turner in the sun or the oven on warm until all evenly warm . Lube and turn to .016 for my .298 neck. Anneal now ? Neck size with. 293 for .003 neck tension. Should I use the body die before I start the neck down ? Whiddon doesn't recommend forming with his dies so I figured I'd use the Redding for forming. Anything I'm missing ? I have the cutting mandrel for the turner but I think the expander would push any donut to the outside ? Trim at what point ? Before I start , after neck down but before turning , after final neck size ?

 

[msalm]

Well what kind of brass are you getting?if it's 300 RSAUM you'll have to use the larger bushing (309, or even a little bigger) for the first step then you can use the .295. This has to be in the Redding die as the Whidden is specifically for the 6.5 caliber and has a neck/shoulder junction smaller than the larger bushings. Also, if you have Remington brass you might not need to neck turn at all. I prepped both Norma and Remmy brass for a .2965 neck chamber and some of the Remington brass barely even cleaned up for the .015" neck wall thickness. As for pre-heating the turner, where in the hell did you read about that??? Not necessary IMO. Just lube the mandrel and inside of the case neck well. You'll have to size the brass so the expander mandrel opens it up a hair, then neck turn the brass. I turn on my lathe by turning and polishing a mandrel to bullet diameter. I made a holder/pusher out of a shell holder that I can place a piece of brass in, push on the mandrel with the tail stock, turn to proper neck thickness, then pull case off with the tail stock. Works great and is pretty fast. For more specifics check out the thread "care and feeding of the GAP 4S" on snipers hide.

 

[Shrek]

It's Norma 7mm saum brass. The heating is to make all the brass uniform when I turn it. As the brass heats up it expands and you get uneven necks as I understand. If I get everything warm before I start the dimensions say closer.
To answer one of my own questions , I believe I need to trim before I turn so that neck length is uniform to the stop on the mandrel.

 

[KMD]

I turn my 6.5 brass @ .284, just because I have a K&M turner and ExpandIron mandrel set up already for my 7WSM.

Regardless of what caliber ID you turn at, the important thing to remember is that the K&M turner's pilot needs a trued ID to index on. So, if you turn @ .284, you'll need to make the ID exactly .284, via an expander mandrel, and have a .284 pilot for the turner. Likewise, if you neck all the way down to .264, you'll need to true neck ID @ .264, and have a .264 pilot on the turner...

Yes, trim to brass to uniform length before turning, so that the pilot stop can be set properly.

NO, don't bother with baking your brass!

 

[msalm]

It's Norma 7mm saum brass. The heating is to make all the brass uniform when I turn it. As the brass heats up it expands and you get uneven necks as I understand. If I get everything warm before I start the dimensions say closer.
To answer one of my own questions , I believe I need to trim before I turn so that neck length is uniform to the stop on the mandrel.

Shriek, don't cook your brass. If the neck heats up (which will be very minimal with lube) it would do so evenly, turning a neck takes little time at all, the risk you run is heating the mandrel which would in fact expand to some EXTREMELY small degree....might be able to measure it with a tenth mic. Your chamber is the larger neck, you will likely just be cleaning up the neck and might even have some spots that don't clean up. Don't worry about that, as long as you have the clearance needed you'll be OK.

 

[7stw]

Excited to see your progress ! I hope it's a true shooter for you dang sexy rifle that's for sure.

 

[Shrek]

Brass arrived early by one day ! Yeah ! I body bumped the first 100 to clean up the body and shoulder and then I started with the .295 bushing. I did two and stopped. I'm getting a flare at the mouth . Bushing is not tall enough for the neck. I'm not into the shoulder yet. Help ! How do I fix this problem ? First thing I did was put the .309 bushing on top but no dice. Should I put the. 293 on top to start it down further !

 

[Shrek]

So , after freaking out I started measuring and the flare is .295 and the straight part is .290. When I push the K&M expander through will it straighten out ?

 

[Shrek]

I just finished 20 rounds going from 60.5 to 63.5. It's not as much fun working on brass when you're short on time. Set them all three thousandth off the lands . I pulled the firing pin and chambered all of them to be sure. I'll test pressure and velocity while getting it on the paper tomorrow then see where I'm at. I'll do my regular shoot one clean one for the first ten then run the next ten and clean. After that I'll run it for a while. Goal is to put 110 shots down range before I leave. Runout is atrocious ! The brass was small so I didn't get a good body size with the die to straighten it up. Seating depth on the other hand is dead nuts on. The Whiddon seater is a pleasure to work with and as soon as I'm loading fired brass I expect the runout to come into line.

 

[Cross]

Good to hear,
Just out of curiosity why did you choose "three thousand off the lands" as your starting point?

I wish you the best of luck at the range.

 

[Shrek]

Cross , I wouldn't put a hunting load any closer and I'm looking for pressure limits. I've also had good luck with vlds right up at the lands so I'm hoping to find good accuracy there.

 

[Shrek]

Man has it been a rough day ! First off I go to breakfast with my mother who was traveling through town and eat somewhere I've never been before. All's well for about an hour then I feel the rumble ! Apparently they put non dairy creamer in the pitcher of what I thought was half and half. I has an acute and virulent reaction to non dairy creamer . I have to cut out of breakfast 911. I looked like Chit break in American Pie trying to get to my porcelain throne ! Two hours later and ten pounds lighter I head to the range. First shot at 60.5 gr leaves a very heavy bolt lift and an extractor mark . WTF ! Send a second one because I'm slow like that and the same thing . Pack up and head home . Make another set starting at 58 gr and going to 59.5gr. Drive the 25 miles back out to where I shoot and the first shot has very heavy bolt lift and an extractor mark and it's 200fps slower ! I send a second and the bolt is a little heavy but no mark and 30fps faster. From there I fire the rest with no pressure and climb steady with the velocity. Last three averaged 2921 with an extreme spread of 13 and sd of 6.5. Thats the good news. Bad news is the scope runs out of windage sitting in the Talley Lightweights. Going to put the burris signature rings and standard bases on so I can adjust the windage with the base. It's getting there. I have 24 rounds built from 60grs to 63.5grs to try in the morning.

 

[Shrek]

Thought I'd post a picture of a loaded 6.5 rsaum and some comparative cases. From left to right it's 7-08 , 7mm wsm , 7mm rem mag , 6.5 rsaum . 270 win , 300 win mag.

 

[Shrek]

It's been a long day but I'm getting closer. It's going to be 62gr or 62.5gr of H1000. Both shot 1.5" groups at 225 yards off a bag. This is with first firing brass that is as straight as your average banana. I just finished annealing the batch and it's cleaning now. I'll run it through the true 6.5 saum full lenght bushing sizer tomorrow and it should be straight. Hopefully the 200 150gr matrix vlds arrive and I'll load up the whole 50 I have on hand with 62 and 62.5 loads to see what is the best from a larger sample. The 62.5 is giving around 3060fps and the 62 load is running 3020fps. Plenty good enough. 63.5 was running around 3115fps but it was all over the paper. The 63.5 was getting pretty warm also. Got a tiny bit of cratering but no bolt or extractor marks. When I have time I'll revisit the hotter loads and see if I can tune a 3100fps load.

 

[TheJuice]

This thread has peaked my desire to build one of these. It looks like its coming together nicely.
If you don't mind, I'd like to pick your brain a bit after the season when you got a minute.
Good luck with your hunt!