6.5 Badger update!

[yorketransport]

I got the 6.5 Badger out for another round of testing yesterday. This was some more detailed load work trying to dial in a consistent load. Looks like about 3450 fps with the 160gr Matrix VLD will be the load. I need to do some work on the bedding in the stock to make any real accuracy claims though. I still haven't bed the stock for this action because I'm lazy! At 290 yards I got about .5" of vertical in the 3 shot group, but almost 2" of horizontal stringing when shooting off of a bipod. The horizontal is all my fault and the poor (lack of) bedding. That shows some real promise though!

The most important info to come out of it though was the correction from a 100 yard zero to a 290 yard zero. It took exactly 2 MOA to be dead on at 290 yards from a 100 yard zero. Going with a 3450fps muzzle velocity and a 2 MOA correction, the BC of the 160gr Matrix VLD is right at .68. Now that's impressive! The next trip out will be testing at the 290 and 700 yard targets.

I didn't have a ton of time to shoot yesterday but I got a little bit in at the 800 and 1225 targets. This is the 800 yard spot. The black circle marks the 800 yard gong. The 1225 is a rock off in the other direction.

[Biggerhammer]

6.5 Badger/ 160gr Matrix VLD (Left). Parent case .338 Ultra Magnum(Right).

[jay.sharkbait]

6.5 Badger/ 160gr Matrix VLD (Left). Parent case .338 Ultra Magnum(Right).

Why didn't they use the .300 ultra as the parent?

[b23]

Since they "improved" the case, I was sort of wondering that myself.  I would guess case capacity of a 300RUM and a "improved" 338RUM would be nearly the same.  There is certainly Pros and Cons to each. 

It looks to be around a 35 degree shoulder with very little taper but the RUM cases don't have much taper to start with.

I'm going to assume you get your best results with powders that are on the very slow end of the chart.

[bearpaw]

That's pretty interesting yorke, I look forward to hearing more!

[jay.sharkbait]

Since they "improved" the case, I was sort of wondering that myself.  I would guess case capacity of a 300RUM and a "improved" 338RUM would be nearly the same.  There is certainly Pros and Cons to each. 

It looks to be around a 35 degree shoulder with very little taper but the RUM cases don't have much taper to start with.

I'm going to assume you get your best results with powders that are on the very slow end of the chart.

I was thinking a 300 improved......I mean as long as we are being ridiculous and all..

[Biggerhammer]

It's a 40 degree shoulder. With the shorter .338 Ultra Magnum case , it makes it easier to run it as a repeater with the 160gr Matrix out of a Rem700 Mag box. Those were my thoughts when I drew up the reamer. That along with the free bore.

[jay.sharkbait]

It's a 40 degree shoulder. With the shorter .338 Ultra Magnum case , it makes it easier to run it as a repeater with the 160gr Matrix out of a Rem700 Mag box. Those were my thoughts when I drew up the reamer. That along with the free bore.

Whats the COAL with the 160's?

[b23]

It's a 40 degree shoulder. With the shorter .338 Ultra Magnum case , it makes it easier to run it as a repeater with the 160gr Matrix out of a Rem700 Mag box. Those were my thoughts when I drew up the reamer. That along with the free bore.

I wondered if that maybe had something to do with it.  All though setting it up as a single shot certainly wouldn't hurt anything.  I can't imagine keeping it a repeater so you can shoot it faster is something you really want to do with this chambering anyway.  Well, not if you want the throat to last more than 500 rounds. 

I'm guessing you'd see pressure a lot sooner with more taper in the case as well.  Those straight cases with minimal taper have a sneaky way of hiding pressure signs.  3450 is flat screaming with a 160gr. pill in a 6.5mm bore.  Should have called it the "Screamin Demon" 

How long is the barrel on your 6.5 Badger???

[Biggerhammer]

It's a 40 degree shoulder. With the shorter .338 Ultra Magnum case , it makes it easier to run it as a repeater with the 160gr Matrix out of a Rem700 Mag box. Those were my thoughts when I drew up the reamer. That along with the free bore.

Whats the COAL with the 160's?

3.680

Here's a pic of a loaded 6.5 Badger cartridge in a standard Rem700 Ultra Magnum mag box (Left) on the right is a longer Wyatt's extended ultra mag box.



Wyatt's Remington extended ultra box(Left). Factory ultra box (Right).

[b23]

With either of Wyatt's ext. mag boxes, in a Remy 700, you'd have lots of room if your COAL is only 3.680.

[Biggerhammer]

Yorke is testing the cartridge with a 30" barrel.

[Biggerhammer]

I came up with the 6.5 Badger because I wanted a serious open country Mule Deer slammer in a sporter weight.

I went from one xtreme to the other. My first Ultra Magnum based wildcat was the .450 Ultra Magnum, a .375 Ultra Magnum necked up to .458. Then I decided to do the 6.5 Badger, I currently have a reamer in the works built around using the Matrix (.270) .277 175gr VLD in a 8 twist barrel.

.450 Ultra/500gr Hornady (Left)   6.5 Badger (Right)

[yorketransport]

BiggerHammer's beat me to all of it! The whole project is really his, I just sacrificed the barrel and powder.

The improved 338 RUM case is with in .5 grain of a straight RUM case but with the ability to cycle through a Rem action. It's just a little too long to feed from a standard Savage long action mag, but they could be modified to work.

Since they "improved" the case, I was sort of wondering that myself.  I would guess case capacity of a 300RUM and a "improved" 338RUM would be nearly the same.  There is certainly Pros and Cons to each. 

It looks to be around a 35 degree shoulder with very little taper but the RUM cases don't have much taper to start with.

I'm going to assume you get your best results with powders that are on the very slow end of the chart.

It's pretty hard to find powders slow enough to work really well. Right now I'm using US869. There are a few slower powders out there, but this is about the slowest ball powder I can get. Extruded powders would give powder bridging issues with the sharp shoulder and small bore diameter. Even with max loads (which the 3450 certainly is!) there's still a decent amount of case capacity left.

The Nosler cases I'm using now have 1 fire forming load (Bullseye and COW) and 2 full power loads through them and the primer pockets are still tight. I've had poor results with Nosler brass in the past but this stuff is holding up better than I expected. I don't expect much more than 4 full power loads before the cases need to be scrapped. To be fair, I don't expect much more than 600 rounds from this barrel before it's done.

Andrew

[Biggerhammer]

A barrel and ALLOT of powder.