Hammer hunter in 6.5 WSM

[Red Rabbit]

1 hour ago, firstcoueswas80 said:

Why leave 200 fps on the table,  Doug? 

The ejector marks are indicating pressure.  I tried measuring case expansion but I do not have a mic.  The caliper was showing an increase of 0.001" from 3174 to 3367.  There was not a big jump of velocity from 3367 to 3392 with the last set, indicating near max (although more data points would be good).  6.5 RPM load data showed 3200 as max.  https://weatherby.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/6.5WBYRPM_Data.pdf

And its not a 26 Nosler 😉

[452b264]

2 minutes ago, Red Rabbit said:

The ejector marks are indicating pressure.  I tried measuring case expansion but I do not have a mic.  The caliper was showing an increase of 0.001" from 3174 to 3367.  There was not a big jump of velocity from 3367 to 3392 with the last set, indicating near max (although more data points would be good).  6.5 RPM load data showed 3200 as max.  And its not a 26 Nosler 😉

When the 6.5 RPM first came out I believe they stated it had about the same case capacity as 264 win? Interesting cartridge.

[Red Rabbit]

This table was posted on another forum.  If accurate, the RPM is very close to the WSM.  When I measured my 6.5 WSM case capacity, it was about 7% less than the 264 WM

[452b264]

13 hours ago, Red Rabbit said:

This table was posted on another forum.  If accurate, the RPM is very close to the WSM.  When I measured my 6.5 WSM case capacity, it was about 7% less than the 264 WM

Weatherby needs to chamber the 6.5 RPM in the vanguard.

A little less velocity and great accuracy is better then blistering speed, and possibly a bit better barrel life. I am looking forward to your final load development since I just acquired some RL 23/143 gr. HH for my 280 AI.

[rcdinaz]

The Badlands bullet is ver cool looking.  Have you shot this one as well?  I know the Hammers have a lot of good press, curious about the other.  

I may grab one of these and see how they shoot in one of the 6.5x284's.  Nowhere near the the case capacity so that may be a challenge for bullet seating depth.  

[Red Rabbit]

On 4/18/2020 at 10:01 AM, rcdinaz said:

The Badlands bullet is very cool looking.  Have you shot this one as well? 

 

The Badlands Bulldozer is the most accurate bullet I have shot from my 6.5 WSM.  I did not get to try it on the last elk hunt as I saw more feral horses than elk.  But is fun to play with new bullet and loads, hence the effort with the Hammer Hunter.

[rcdinaz]

29 minutes ago, Red Rabbit said:

The Badlands Bulldozer is the most accurate bullet I have shot from my 6.5 WSM.  I did not get to try it on the last elk hunt as I saw more feral horses than elk.  But is fun to play with new bullet and loads, hence the effort with the Hammer Hunter.

Awesome!  I just ordered a box.  will try to work up a load before the end of the quarantine.

[10Turkeys]

Those of you that are playing with this bullet, how are you seating it in relation to the lands?

[Red Rabbit]

41 minutes ago, 10Turkeys said:

Those of you that are playing with this bullet, how are you seating it in relation to the lands?

From the hammerbullets.com website " We have found that Hammer Bullets are not sensitive to seating depth.  Seating to mag length for repeating rifles or just off the lands will generally work very well without need to adjust for better accuracy. "

Maybe Lance can share what he has found.  I am starting 0.025" off the lands and will see how they group this week.

[Red Rabbit]

Finally got out to shoot some 5-shot groups at 100 yards yesterday. Velocities of the groups averaged from 3251 to 3294 fps.  SD varied from 18 to 90.  Group sizes ranged from 0.57 to 0.93".  I don't know about the set that had a extreme spread of 195 and SD of 90, although the group size was 0.82".  The brass that averaged 3294 showed some ejector marks.   Next will be to vary the seating depth of the load that gave the SD of 18, from 0.02 to 0.10 off the lands.  If all goes well, I will buying some more bullets as the first 50 Hammers will be almost gone.

[lancetkenyon]

On 4/19/2020 at 1:56 PM, Red Rabbit said:

From the hammerbullets.com website " We have found that Hammer Bullets are not sensitive to seating depth.  Seating to mag length for repeating rifles or just off the lands will generally work very well without need to adjust for better accuracy. "

Maybe Lance can share what he has found.  I am starting 0.025" off the lands and will see how they group this week.

I have been starting mine out at .050" jump, similar to what Barnes recommendsand and what they have all liked.  They all shot so good, I never even played with seating depth.

[Red Rabbit]

After shooting the 5-shots groups with increasing charges, I chose the charge of 67.5 gr Ramshot Magnum to try different seating depths even though Hammer Bullets says it does not make much difference.  I chose 67.5 gr as it had the best combination of ES and group size from the previous set.  I loaded up 5 rounds each with the bullet seated 0.018, 0.045, 0.070 and 0.095" off the lands.  This morning I went out and shot the groups at 100 yards and allowed 6-7 minutes between rounds for the barrel to cool.  I started with the 0.095" off (labeled 3.275 COAL on the target) figuring the pressure would increase as the bullet was seated closer to the lands.

For the target images, 3.275 COAL corresponds to 0.095" off, 3.300=0.070, 3.325=0.045 and 3.352=0.018   The AVE VEL on the target table includes numbers for average velocity, extreme spread and standard deviation in that order.  Chronograph was a ProChrono at 10'.  Rifle is a Winchester 70 with 26" 1:8 Shilen barrel threaded with Omega Suppressor.

 

[MMACFIVE]

.

[lancetkenyon]

Have you thought about a different powder or primer?  Seems your ES/SD is quite high.  

RL23, H1000, Retumbo, RL26 (just watch temps over 85°), N565, N570.

 

[Coach]

If I were doing a custom job right now, 6.5 WSM would be it. Heck, I already have every other 6.5, and I do love the WSM. I've had great results from .270 WSM, .300 WSM, and pretty much everything 6.5 is golden, so there's nothing but good breeding in that mix.