6.5 Badger update!

[PNW4Life]

I know this an old thread but I'm curious if any more work has been done with this round. With the newer 6.5mm projectiles coming out from Sierra, Hornady, and Berger I'd love to know more about this round.
What it costs to chamber a barrel?
Cost of dies?
I've been kicking around the idea of running a long throat in a 26 Nosler, but this Badger sounds more interesting to me. 500-600 rounds in a hunting rifle doesn't sound bad at all.

[Biggerhammer]

My action I used to develop loads for the 6.5 Badger is at the gunsmith, I need to get a barrel sent his way. I've have just been way busy lately. On the first chamber, I threw the dice and tried a BlackHole Weaponry barrel in a 8 twist. The polygonal rifleing did not hold up well to such a over bore, hi Performance super Magnum chambering.

It lasted a little over 200 rounds but was shooting really well with the 160gr Matrix VLD's. There are only three barrels that have been chambered in 6.5 Badger. Mine, Yorke's and a gunsmith did a barrel for himself.

Yorke was launching the 160gr Matrix VLD with a real world BC of .685 @ 3460 fps !!!

I had CH4D tool and die do my custom dies, I have had them do all my wildcat custom dies. They are $89.00 a set plus a little shipping.

I'm kicking around putting the Badger on hold for a bit and having my action rebarreled with a Bartlien 7mm, 8.7 twist, chambered in 28 Nosler and throated for the 7mm Berger 195's.

Left to right.

450 Ultra Magnum, 6.5 Badger, 28 Nosler.

[yorketransport]

Mine’s still going strong at 230 rounds. I just stuck with the same load using the 160 matrix and I’m still happy. You’d torch a barrel pretty quick if you play with a bunch of different bullets.

If I did another 6.5 badger barrel I’d use a gain twist barrel with a 1-6” exit twist. Throwing a heavy, long bullet this fast is pretty hard on the barrel and the projectile.  The gain twist helps even out the pressure curve.

[PNW4Life]

I'd be looking to run the heavies only... 147 ELDm, 150 Matchking, 155 EOL... in a 28" CF barrel. I dig the pics showing the Badger sitting in between the 28 Nosler and your huge round.
I'm sure this rifle would last a lifetime of hunting, especially if I use a cheap 6.5 barrel to get brass formed and dial in a load before throwing on the CF barrel to finalize a load.
Who's your smith?

[Biggerhammer]

I'd be looking to run the heavies only... 147 ELDm, 150 Matchking, 155 EOL... in a 28" CF barrel. I dig the pics showing the Badger sitting in between the 28 Nosler and your huge round.
I'm sure this rifle would last a lifetime of hunting, especially if I use a cheap 6.5 barrel to get brass formed and dial in a load before throwing on the CF barrel to finalize a load.
Who's your smith?

Feel free to message me when it comes to the reamer and "Go" gauge. I have a set of dies on hand.

[PNW4Life]

If I did another 6.5 badger barrel I’d use a gain twist barrel with a 1-6” exit twist. Throwing a heavy, long bullet this fast is pretty hard on the barrel and the projectile.  The gain twist helps even out the pressure curve.

Interesting.
What twist would you start with? 1-8"? With a gain twist, would there be some extra speed to pick up?
I wonder if Hardy would be able to put together something like that...

[Biggerhammer]

Yorke has some input when it comes to a gain twist, he has done the math. I have never personally owned a gain twist or shot a gain twist barrel.

I'm going to have another Badger reamer done and tweak the shoulder angle a little. The 40 degree shoulder is too steep and really limits powders that can be used due to powder bridging, causing  pressure spikes and erratic speeds with some powders.

[yorketransport]

If I did another 6.5 badger barrel I’d use a gain twist barrel with a 1-6” exit twist. Throwing a heavy, long bullet this fast is pretty hard on the barrel and the projectile.  The gain twist helps even out the pressure curve.

Interesting.
What twist would you start with? 1-8"? With a gain twist, would there be some extra speed to pick up?
I wonder if Hardy would be able to put together something like that...

I'd actually start at around 1-12", or maybe even slower, and go to a 1-6" twist. When you think of a bullet engaging the rifling, think of the clutch on a manual transmission and a higher bullet weight being analogous to a higher gear in the transmission. With a lighter bullet you can engage the rifling faster without running into issues because of the lower inertia (ability to resist change) of the lighter bullet. The heavier bullets have greater inertia, and just don't want to go from zero to 306,000+ RPM without a fight. In a car, that's like trying to dump the clutch from a dead stop in 3rd gear. It's not that you can't do it, but it's just not ideal.

Think of gain twist rifling as a way to "ease" the clutch out and slow down the acceleration of the bullet from 0-306K RPM over a length of 26" instead of .5". Just like slowly easing the clutch out will allow you to start a car in a higher gear, gain twist rifling will allow a heavier bullet a smoother transition up to full exit RPM. This is easier on the bullet jacket and changes the pressure curve in the barrel.

The down side to the whole thing is that there aren't a lot of options for gain twist barrels, they're more expensive, and the wait times are pretty excessive. You'll notice though that gain twist .375 barrels are almost the norm for all of the new "super 375s" being used in the KO2M and other ELR guns. It has a lot to do with the heavy for caliber, driving band bullets needing a more gradual transition up to full RPM. Those guns are a pretty extreme example, but the same logic applies to the smaller chamberings.

[PNW4Life]

Yorke has some input when it comes to a gain twist, he has done the math. I have never personally owned a gain twist or shot a gain twist barrel.

I'm going to have another Badger reamer done and tweak the shoulder angle a little. The 40 degree shoulder is too steep and really limits powders that can be used due to powder bridging, causing  pressure spikes and erratic speeds with some powders.

What would change the angle to? 35 degrees?

[b23]

I'm going to have another Badger reamer done and tweak the shoulder angle a little. The 40 degree shoulder is too steep and really limits powders that can be used due to powder bridging, causing  pressure spikes and erratic speeds with some powders.

I know you weren't getting any bridging with US869 because it's a ball powder but were you getting any erratic velocities with it?  As you know, US869 kinda burns like wet coal, something I've found with using it in my 30-338 Lap Imp and 338 Lap Imp is it'll give me crazy ES #'s if I'm not seating my bullets 15 thou or closer.  Whenever I'm 15 thou or closer my ES will come down into the low teens or better.  Just a thought if you already aren't doing so.