Rifle Build looking for advice

[Hunt7112]

I currently shoot a 7 rum with .743 inch group at 200 yds with reloads, and my sons 300 rum is at .434 inch group at 200 yds also with reloads however they are both at about 12.5 lbs outfitted. not super heavy but am wanting to build a light weight coues gun. I asked the gun smith that has done all the work on these two rifles and he said he would build a .264 win mag what are your opinions on this caliber. Thanks for any input.

[STOMP442]

260 Remington can tackle coues as far out as you would like to with a whole lot less powder and recoil. 6.5-06 Ackley improved will do anything the 264 win mag will and much more efficiently. Just about any of the 6.5 offerings out there make perfect coues medicine. If you plan on utilizing one of your current magnum actions then the 264 win mag is the obvious choice. 6.5 SAUM and 6.5WSM are also great options.

[scoutm]

I had a .264 WM built for me a little more than a year and a half ago. I'm very happy with it - I love the high BC bullets available in the .264/6.5 caliber.

 

The things I wrestled with when making my choice were magnum(.264WM) vs. non-magnum (6.5x284 Norma) bolt face, Short vs. Long Action and barrel length.

 

As stated, I am happy with mine but if I were to do it again knowing what I know now (you can learn a lot in a year and a half) I would have made a few different choices. There isn't one single factor that would drive the changes in the choices I made its more a function of how the choices interact with each other.

 

I went with a 25" barrel to save a little weight while sacrificing negligible performance - should have gone with 26" as there's no benefit to the trade off.

 

Given the powders available you can get almost as much performance out of a 6.5x284 and fit it in a short action with a standard bolt face hence some weight savings and arguably a stiffer ("more accurate") action. I didn't go this route as I was concerned about the short action not accommodating the longer bullets in the heavier weights but this could have been addressed through an extended Wyatt Magazine.

 

Many will argue that you can get more performance (100-150 ft/sec) out of the .264WM than the 6.5x284 but then you can argue you can get even more out of the 26 Nosler but what's the cost of that added performance - more powder, shorter barrel life. Knowing what i know now the cost benefit just isn't there at least for me.

 

So to do it again I would go with a 6.5x284 with a 26" barrel built on a short action with an extended Wyatt Mag. I would have a slightly lighter rifle with almost exactly the same ballistic performance.

 

In the end you really can't go wrong with either.

[Hunt7112]

what are your thoughts on carbon fiber barrels are they that much lighter, are they worth the money.

[308Nut]

what are your thoughts on carbon fiber barrels are they that much lighter, are they worth the money.

IMHO carbon fiber and steel just do not have a relationship that begets good performance where rifle barrels are concerned. Better to have a smaller contour all steel barrel than a heavy hybrid.

 

As far as cartridges, my vote goes to: 260rem, 284 win, 308 win. All make great coues cartridges and work well with 'lighter' rifles.

[azelkhunter2]

Sir..Please give me a call. I have had several full build rifles built over the past several yrs and can give you a great deal of info. Dave 602-228-1719

[Hunt7112]

Thanks for the info and input. so many choices. I do love our ultra mags but just have an itch to have another rifle. Just trying to decide on caliber. Dave I will give you a call. Thanks

[oz31p]

I got tired of dragging a heavy rifle around so after doing a ton of research I when with a t/c pro hunter. It's not pretty, it's not flashy or custom. But It shoots moa out to 1000 yards. And fully outfitted fully loaded it's under 7lbs.

[azhuntnut]

I'm in the process of building one right now and I went with the 6.5 Creedmoor. I'm trying to go for lightweight also, so I'm using a 20 inch lightweight contoured barrel. The Creedmoor doesn't loose much velocity when the barrel length is reduced. I'm not concerned about the barrel heating up since it will be used for hunting and not the bench. I've included a link to show how cutting down the barrel length affects velocity.

oz31p talked about the TC Encore route. I have done this already, and you can build a very lightweight rifle for sure. In fact I have one chambered in 7mm-08 and with the scope that is 6.5 pounds. The barrel is only 16.5 inches long. It was built to carry in my backpack. The only problem with the encore is how the barrel attaches to the frame. It's not perfect, but it works. David

 

http://www.sincityprecision.com/?p=1503

[Elitegt500]

I got tired of dragging a heavy rifle around so after doing a ton of research I when with a t/c pro hunter. It's not pretty, it's not flashy or custom. But It shoots moa out to 1000 yards. And fully outfitted fully loaded it's under 7lbs.

 

What barrel are you running on your t/c. I bought a 257 from mgm and on the second barrel (the first one wasn't reemed right it was denting the shoulder in on the brass when reloaded) we could not put together a group better than 2".

[oz31p]

Not to hijack this thread. But it's a factory 26in pro hunter in 300 win mag. Shoots sub moa with hand loaded 200g sierra game kings

[scoutm]

I, too, am going to be building a 6.5/.264 next year. That being said, since I reload all of my own ammo, the options really open up.

 

I am not too much of a cookie cutter type of rifle shooter. I like different, oddball, wildcat cartridges.

 

The choices I am looking at are:

6.5 Super LR (short action or long action) basically a .243 necked up to .264 w. 30° shoulder

6.5x55 Ackley Improved 40° (long action)

6.5 Roberts Improved 40° (long action)

6.5-.284 Norma or Winchester (long action)

.260 Rem Ackley Improved 40° (short action)

6.5-06 Ackley Improved 40° (long action)

 

I have two other Ackley chambered rifles (.250 AI & .25-06 AI), and love the brass life, and velocity gains they give. I think the .260 AI would not show nearly as much of a gain as these two, due to the fact the case already has very little body taper. But the 6.5x55 AI and 6.5 Roberts AI should be closer to what would be expected for gains. The 6.5-06 AI should show about 150-200fps gains too. Plus, they look so darned sexy!

 

 

Here's one you may want to add to your list...First thread talks about the development of the new case and the second thread shows the field testing...it's and interesting read.

 

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/6-5-ss-final-design-109263/

 

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/6-5-sherman-shortmag-field-test-116269/

[oz31p]

I, too, am going to be building a 6.5/.264 next year. That being said, since I reload all of my own ammo, the options really open up. I am not too much of a cookie cutter type of rifle shooter. I like different, oddball, wildcat cartridges. The choices I am looking at are:6.5 Super LR (short action or long action) basically a .243 necked up to .264 w. 30° shoulder6.5x55 Ackley Improved 40° (long action)6.5 Roberts Improved 40° (long action)6.5-.284 Norma or Winchester (long action).260 Rem Ackley Improved 40° (short action)6.5-06 Ackley Improved 40° (long action)I have two other Ackley chambered rifles (.250 AI & .25-06 AI), and love the brass life, and velocity gains they give. I think the .260 AI would not show nearly as much of a gain as these two, due to the fact the case already has very little body taper. But the 6.5x55 AI and 6.5 Roberts AI should be closer to what would be expected for gains. The 6.5-06 AI should show about 150-200fps gains too. Plus, they look so darned sexy!

I understand. What keeps me from any thing unique is that ever few months something whips the media in to a frenzy anti firearms talk. Causing component shortages. Usually the oddball stuff is the first to sell out.

[WampusCat]

Same boat as several on here. Before I took off in June I dropped off a Krieger 6.5mm 1/8.5" barrel and a 700 short action with my smith. The plan was to have a "lighter" Coues slaying 6.5x47 Lapua waiting when I return. I say lighter but when it was time to buy the barrel I couldnt convince myself to go smaller them a Rem Varmint profile. Old habits die hard I guess.

 

I chose the Lapua for several reasons; better barrel life than 6.5x284, long neck, very accurate cartridge, low powder consumption, quality brass availibility, less wear and tear on the suppressor, and I had great experiences with a creedmore i owned.

 

Pretty solid plan until I discovered the 6.5 4S (Super Secret Squirrel Sh*t) and the 6.5 SS (Sherman Shortmag) recently developed. Everything I wanted plus lots more velocity. Loaded slightly under max potential with 140s between 3000-3100 fps guys are experiencing 4,000+ rounds of barrel life (huge to me) with the lower pressures invloved. If you dont want an oddball chambering or messing with lots of case prep then these are probably not for you. To me its a small trade off for obtaining the perfect match of charcteristics for my goals in a rifle. I am not a speed freak as most of my arsenal lobs long heavy for caliber bullets at relativley tame speads compared to most of the western magnum needing crowd. I cannot however, argue with more fps without punishing the throat of the barrel. One of these is definitely right for me and other like minded folks.

 

Now I cant decided what to do.

 

OP - The 264 WinMag is more than capable of launching some great 6.5mm projectiles at blistering speeds but, all (4) of the 264WMs I have experience with were very tempermental and the barrels didnt last long. My advice would be if you want 6.5mm with ammo available off the shelf I would stick to the .260 Rem or Creedmoor. The natural abilty of these cartridges make up for their slighlty slower speeds than the 264 WM. My .02

[DesertBull]

What are the supposed advantages of the creedmore over the other SA .264's?