6.5 badger project teaser

[AWS]

Northland Shooters Supply has "Remage" barrels.  Remington 700 barrels with a nut.  Pac Nor used to make Remington barrels with a nut also.

[Biggerhammer]

Northland Shooters Supply has "Remage" barrels.  Remington 700 barrels with a nut.  Pac Nor used to make Remington barrels with a nut also.

Yep. Pac-Nor, Benchmark, McGowen, blackhole Weaponry Etc. All Do Remage barrels with the nut.

[Hornseeker]

5 mils? Daaammm.... I know that is a small amount... can you tell me what that really means in inches of trajectory?

You guys are having way too much fun... or... is that possible?? hehehe

[BULLBLASTER]

5 mils? Daaammm.... I know that is a small amount... can you tell me what that really means in inches of trajectory?

You guys are having way too much fun... or... is that possible?? hehehe

180 inches from a 100 yard zero! For comparison my 300 rum shooting 215 bergers at 2950 takes roughly 6.3 mils or 226 inches from a 220 yard zero! That will be a flat shooting sob!

[rbros]

It is a barrel burner, but fun none the less.  Built a couple with a similar cartridge, 6.5/338 RUM Imp, a few  years ago.  US869 worked pretty well, as did N570 when it was available. 

[aer212]

It is a barrel burner, but fun none the less.  Built a couple with a similar cartridge, 6.5/338 RUM Imp, a few  years ago.  US869 worked pretty well, as did N570 when it was available.

When you say barrel burner, how many shots are you talking about? Also what kind of feedback did you get on the 6.5/.338? Reason I'm asking is I'm looking at having something fast built using the 6.5.

[yorketransport]

It is a barrel burner, but fun none the less.  Built a couple with a similar cartridge, 6.5/338 RUM Imp, a few  years ago.  US869 worked pretty well, as did N570 when it was available.

US869 is on my very short list of powders to try. The stick powders seem like they'd cause bridging problems with the sharp shoulder and narrow case neck. Plus it seems like the ball powders burn slightly cooler than comparable stick powders.

When you say barrel burner, how many shots are you talking about? Also what kind of feedback did you get on the 6.5/.338? Reason I'm asking is I'm looking at having something fast built using the 6.5.

I'm expecting somewhere along the lines of 600 rounds before accuracy really starts to fall off. That's assuming that I keep the barrel cool and clean.

Andrew

[Dan-o]

You guys have too much fun.......

Cool looking project, for sure.

[yorketransport]

I finally got a chance to shoot the Badger yesterday. This trip out was running powder charges of US869 in 1 grain increments from 90gr up to 99gr. No groups, just trying to get a baseline for max pressure and get the scope zeroed.

The results? I need to switch to Federal 215 primers . I ran the charges up to 95 grains which gave 3460 fps with the 160gr Matrix VLD. At 95 grains I got a slightly heavy bolt lift and I'm just starting to see a ring from the ejector if I hold the case at just the right angle. Primers look good though and are still slightly rounded at the edges. At this point, 95 grains of US869 is my max working charge. 94 grains gave 3419 fps and no signs at all.

The problem is that I got powder fouling and poor ignition with the CCI 250 primers that I had available. It wasn't bad, but the powder was obviously not being ignited very well. I suspected that this may happen if I didn't use the Federal primers. I solved that problem last night and ordered 3000 Federal 215 primers though.

Here's the gun as it sits. I lost a bet with a friend and had to try a Vortex scope, so I thought this would be a good test for it. I'm not unhappy with the scope at this point and I think it's actually a decent match. I'll see how it stacks up compared to the VX-3, Mk 4, Sightron SIII, Bushnell ERS and Nightforce scopes when we get them all together.


Hopefully I'll have more data after next weekend.

Andrew

[Biggerhammer]

Good to hear, the velocity is good @ 3419 and 94grains. Seeing that the 6.5 Allen Magnum pushes a 142 Sierra MK at 3381 with 94gr of US869 out of a 30" barrel and your pushing a heavier bullet. Looking forward to what you can squeeze out of it. Using Fed 215's. Can you post a pic of a fire formed case compared to a unformed .338 Ultra case?

I'm looking forward to shooting the chambering myself as soon as work slows down, you're havering all the fun for the time being.

[yorketransport]

Good to hear, the velocity is good @ 3419 and 94grains. Seeing that the 6.5 Allen Magnum pushes a 142 Sierra MK at 3381 with 94gr of US869 out of a 30" barrel and your pushing a heavier bullet. Looking forward to what you can squeeze out of it. Using Fed 215's. Can you post a pic of a fire formed case compared to a unformed .338 Ultra case?

I'm looking forward to shooting the chambering myself as soon as work slows down, you're havering all the fun for the time being.

That was exactly my thought.  I'm not at all unhappy with the numbers I saw. I don't think that US869 is slow enough though. There's still a lot of room in the case.

I'll get a picture up later of the two cases side by side. Plus I have one on it's way to you tomorrow.

[Biggerhammer]

Cool...  Thanks...

[Biggerhammer]

Do you have any Accurate 8700?

Maybe try:

Ramshot Magnum
WC-860
WC-872

[yorketransport]

Here's a fully formed 6.5 Badger case next to the 338 RUM parent case.

[Biggerhammer]

Awesome!!!