6.5x57

[weaver77]

i been nocking the idea of a 6.5x57 around but dont want to buy the expensive dies so i came up with this and was wondering if anyone else had tried it i have 6.5x55 dies and 7x57 dies so i was thinking that i could neck size the 7x57 cases down in the 6.5x55 dies then seat bullets with ith 6.5x55 seating die load and shoot them then the once fired brass could be partialy resized (maybe push the shoulder back .002) in the 7x57 die with out the expander ball in or swaping in the 6.5 expander and decaping rod and again neck sized in the 6.5x55 dies and use the 6.5x55 seating die to seat bullets i know it sounds like a lot of trouble but i dont think it will be as bad as it sounds after a good load is found then just load up a bunch at one time and youre good for awhile if anyone has tried this please chime in or if you have some better sugestion please post it i havent put the rifle together yet so i cant really experiment yet

thanks weaver77

[Doble Troble]

I think your plan has a *chance* of working. Its one of those situations where you'll need to try and see.

 

You'll definitley be able to neck size, but eventually you'll need to bump the shoulder.

 

A 7x57 die will bump most of the shoulder, but will tend to create a bit of a "false" shoulder right at the neck. Also, you'll want to check into the design of your reamer to make sure that it doesn't deviate from or attempt to "improve" the parent cartridge (ala 257 Roberts).

 

Creating a false shoulder can be used to advantage when trying to blow a wildcat forward in a chamber without seating bullets out to maintain headspace.

 

Will 0.5 mm of false shoulder prevent chambering in your case? It might with a tight chamber, and you might be able to get away with it, but its not something to build a target gun around.

 

I made a 6.5 x 55 BJAI that I attempted to get around buying (or in my case making) a sizing die for. I used the Lee 6.5 x 55 neck sizing die which worked great for a while, but after about half a dozen reloads I started having trouble closing the bolt. I eventually had to make a sizing die, which was a real learning experience.

[Spiris]

Anything is possible but there are dimensional differences in the 6.5x57 and the 7x57 besides the caliber. You might run into headspace problems because of those differences unless you create an initial false headspace with the 6.5 sizing die. I've listed ammoguide's dimensions for the two. I realize that you are doing this just to do it, but I'm sure you know it would be more sensible to have another 6.5x55, a ballistic twin. But then, I'm not always sensible at times. Just be careful!

 

http://ammoguide.com/?catid=16

 

 

http://ammoguide.com/?catid=401

 

Spiris

[weaver77]

well i dont want to do it because its sensible i want to do it BECAUSE CHICKS DIG IT or so ive heard i was thinking about that little bit of neck and was thinking i might be able bump it back while neck sizing with the 6.5 x55 full lenght sizing die i just run it down till it sizes the whole neck plus a couple thousands to bump the neck shoulder junction back then bump the rest of the shoulder back in the 7x57 die i was also comparing case diamension drawings on both cases and all three sources had slightly different diamensions the sierra books i think are the closest then when i think about it more i think its going to come down to the actual reamer dimensions i will have to wait untill i have it fully chambered to know for sure if the reamer is an acutual 7x57 necked down to 6.5 or a 257 bob necked up to 6.5 i think i have a pretty good chance to make it work if its the other version that i have only read about and not seen with the 6.5x55 shoulder moved forward 3 mils then i think i will be SOL and have to get special order dies but i think that one is the european version and the 7x57 or 257 bob based one is pretty much standardized here if i can manage to gather the componets to get the rifle put together i will post my findngs

thanks james