Got the 16.5" put together!

[JFComfort]

I got this thing put together so I can play with it a little bit. Its not in its final form yet. I have to replace the Nightforce 33 MOA base with a 20 MOA and get rid of the factory Remington adjustable trigger and replace it with a Jewell. Once that is done and I have it Cerakoted it will be good to go!

So far I'm really linking it! Dane has been getting great results with 123 grain bullets and Varget. I am looking forward to getting a load together for this thing. When the Delta P. Design 6.5mm suppressor comes in someday this thing will really rock! My team mate Tyler has noticed the short barrels we've built (Ty and Dane both have 16.5" 6.5 CM's) have zero shift between their muzzle brakes and suppressors!

My match rifle is still in parts, gonna pick up the US Optics ER-25 tomorrow and when the other chassis comes it I can get it back together. I'm also going to finally have it coated instead of running a bare barrel.

 

[wburke2010]

Damn, That is a good looking rifle.

Walter

 

[TXBRASS]

Think I'm in LOVE!!!!!

 

[VJJPunisher]

Shorties are ghey

 

[jonaddis84]

Damn I thought I was crazy for going 20" with my CM! What velocity do you get out of those?

Ive tried Varget and 130vld which isnt ideal and got 2850, waiting for 4350 and hoping to get 2900 and a good load.

I do love me a shorty barrel and that is a fine looking rifle there.

 

[JFComfort]

Right now the 123 gr bullets and Varget are looking promising. Our 139 gr H4350 (41.6 grains) team load shoots great but its slow, something like 2,550 fps.

 

[ranger1183]

Excellent job. I very much like the folding concept and you've done well with this rifle.

 

[PatrickChewing]

JF,

Looks great. I bet that thing is a ton of fun to shoot!

 

[RRA_45]

That is one nice rig!

 

[JFComfort]

Shitty cell phone pictures, but here is the 16.5" next to my 26" match rifle.

The short barrel trued into the inboard spider. The thing is a bit of a pain to set up, but worth it.

 

[kyyotestalker]

gotta love a snub nose 6.5!

 

[chainring]

Nice. Barrel profile and diameter at muzzle? Got a 16.25 build going right now.

 

[tctlrld]

It's counter intuitive but I always loved a short barrel on my long guns and the longer barreled handguns (Glock 34 / M&P Pro).

 

[JFComfort]

Nice. Barrel profile and diameter at muzzle? Got a 16.25 build going right now.

Its a Rock Rem Varmint contour 0.888" where the brake and barrel meet.

 

[HOGTOOTH5R]

Man that is a SWEEEEEEET Looking Shorty! Can't wait to put mine in a Folder Chassis now! Awesome Rifle sir!

 

[JFComfort]

Thank you HOG!

Here it is all done! fireguyty did a great job with the Cerakote!

And done!

 

[chainring]

Cool. Looking forward to my 16 inch - yours looks good.

 

[matty86suk]

Nice, let us know how it shoots, I'm putting together a 16.5" 308 using a tac21 chassis.

 

[D Miller]

Damn I thought I was crazy for going 20" with my CM! What velocity do you get out of those?

Ive tried Varget and 130vld which isnt ideal and got 2850, waiting for 4350 and hoping to get 2900 and a good load.

I do love me a shorty barrel and that is a fine looking rifle there.

With my 16" creed im seeing 2740fps with 123 and varget. Want to try a slightly faster powder but ill wait until its available again rather than pulling my hair out trying to find some.

 

[JFComfort]

I have been informed the rifle isn't finished, needs the bolt handle upgraded and the bolt needs to be coated.

 

[JFComfort]

With my 16" creed im seeing 2740fps with 123 and varget. Want to try a slightly faster powder but ill wait until its available again rather than pulling my hair out trying to find some.

Very curious how the CFE223 and the 123 gr load testing is going to go. Hopefully we can get them going in the 2,800 fps range without beating the hell out of the brass. I would be beyond happy with that!

Then if we can gather data on the 16" rifles/load like we have for the 26" match rifles and the 139 load we would be set!

 

[Direct_Fire]

Which Mcree is that? I have a 18" FN PBR that I am looking to put into a Mcree.

 

[Cuckler]

That thing is bad ass! Love mcrees chassis. Scotts a hell of a guy too. Im waiting for my .308 barrell from krieger now for my next mcree build, now it looks like i need a shorty 6.5cm! Finding this post literally just cost me money...THANKS.

 

[JFComfort]

Went out today and Gale got her rifle zeroed! It shoots great and she did a great job, even with the crappy Remington X-Mark Pro trigger. She was 3/3 at 320 yards and 4/4 at 715 yards! Her 3 round zeroing group was well under 0.5 MOA!

Dry fire practice before she started shooting

 

[chainring]

Nice. Very nice.

 

[RobertB]

My 20" 6.5 CM shoots great. The short bbls are awesome. Good luck with it.

 

[Short-bus]

Definately interested in velocities. I kinda figured that the lighter bullets would be the hot ticket with the 6-6.5mm bullets and short barrels. I have a 16" .308, and was seriously thinking of doing a 18" 260 when I rebarrel. Maybe compromise and go 20" and see if I can get the best of both worlds. Either way, good looking rifle.

Branden

 

[JFComfort]

I will keep ya'll updated on 123 gr velocities.

 

[Ouch!!]

Try some xbr 8208?

 

[JFComfort]

Try some xbr 8208?

Varget and the Hornady 123 gr. A-Max's got us about 2,750 fps before we were just burning powder. The load was very accurate. Dane wants to try CFE223 and see what that gets us. We hope to get a 123 grain bullet going 2,800 fps or more. If the short barrel can do that it will be perfect because we shoot a 139 gr. at 2,800 fps + out of the 26" match rifles.

 

[lead ƒarmer]

Great looking rig, and to think I got so much crap for wanting a 20-22" 6.5CM. Everyone told me it had to be 26" minimum. I'm glad to see I'm not alone in my appreciation for a handy rifle.

 

[jonaddis84]

Just started loading my 20" with 130 Berger and imr 4350, got 2920 with 45 gn and no pressure, node appears to be at 44.5 though and 2900.

Galaxy S3 on tapatalk

 

[Jedi]

Nice work bro
short n fat is where its at
Run some RE17 n ya could pick up 100-150fps

Your going to quickly hate those long barrels, short n fat just makes sense unless its a f class rig
the new powders all but eliminate the loss of fps, expect you should hit 2850fps or there abouts with 123

 

[chopper duke]

I'm loving it!! I'm thinking of a 16" in .300wsm but I was told I was crazy for even thinking it.

 

[jbailey]

Here is another powder suggestion for you: N540.
I have a 21" 6.5x47 and was moving the 107gr SMKs at 3100fps w/ 40grs of N540. The 107gr SMK, given its long length, will not move that much faster than the 123gr'ers.

 

[JFComfort]

Which Mcree is that? I have a 18" FN PBR that I am looking to put into a Mcree.

Its the G5 TMAG folder, McRee also makes a carbine chassis that uses a AR rear and short, light fore stock.

Nice work bro
short n fat is where its at
Run some RE17 n ya could pick up 100-150fps

Your going to quickly hate those long barrels, short n fat just makes sense unless its a f class rig
the new powders all but eliminate the loss of fps, expect you should hit 2850fps or there abouts with 123

Thanks Jedi, will give RE17 a try also!

 

[JFComfort]

Here is another powder suggestion for you: N540.
I have a 21" 6.5x47 and was moving the 107gr SMKs at 3100fps w/ 40grs of N540. The 107gr SMK, given its long length, will not move that much faster than the 123gr'ers.

Thanks for the suggestion! I will see if I can dig some up and give it a go.

 

[D Miller]

I should have 1k 123 scenars showing up Thursday. Component and powder availability is putting a hurt'n on testing different loads.

 

[Supergyro]

Beautiful rifle! Can't wait to finish my 16...

 

[Strive4More]

Just wondering if you've thrown her on a scale yet. I've been reading a lot of Jeff Cooper commentaries (great read if you haven't yet! Get the commentaries not the gunsite gossip. Its the unaltered version) Anyways he speaks quite in depth of his Scout rifle concept and this seems fairly close to that idealogy. Having a lithe rifle capable of hitting accurately and easily shot offhand could be handy at quite a few competition stages. That is one sweet looking rifle you have there in any case!

 

[JFComfort]

Just wondering if you've thrown her on a scale yet. I've been reading a lot of Jeff Cooper commentaries (great read if you haven't yet! Get the commentaries not the gunsite gossip. Its the unaltered version) Anyways he speaks quite in depth of his Scout rifle concept and this seems fairly close to that idealogy. Having a lithe rifle capable of hitting accurately and easily shot offhand could be handy at quite a few competition stages. That is one sweet looking rifle you have there in any case!

The rifle is a heavy pig, to make it significantly lighter but still have the accuracy I'm accustom too I think I would have to go with a carbon wrapped barrel from Proof Research. Using a bathroom scale the rifle is about 13 lbs, not the range Jeff Cooper would have wanted. I have read his comments about the scout rifle, I like the concept but don't like long eye relief scopes. My team mate D.Miller's rifle is more inline with his outlines because of the lighter chassis and lighter scope.

The rifle shoots great and I think Gale likes having her own gun when we head out shooting. One of these days before it gets hot I would like to get all the girls out (wives of my team mates) to do some shooting together. D.Miller, fireguyty and I are working on loads for the short barrel, so far we really like them. They seem to have zero shift between muzzle brakes and suppressors and with faster powders and lighter 6.5mm bullets you are shooting circles around a .308 (other than energy on target). I love how handy the rifle is and its nice putting a precision rifle, AR-15 and other range toys all in the same drag bag!

 

[JFComfort]

Made it out to do some load testing with D.Miller. I started by checking the rifles zero with the 139 Scenar/H4350 team load. We did a work up with IMR XBR 8208, started at 34 grains and ended at 38 grains.

139/H4350 average velocity- 2578.5 fps (shoots great, 19 MOA to 715 yards)

123/XBR results

34 grs avg- 2522.0 fps
35 grs avg- 2567.6 fps
36 grs avg- 2625.0 fps (very low spread)
36.5 grs avg- 2670.4 fps
37 grs avg- 2688.0 fps
37.5 grs avg- 2711.8 fps
38 grs avg- 2752.2 fps

All of the loads shot really well, the zero was pretty close with all the loads we tried. I think we are on to something but I don't feel we will get the 2800 fps we wanted.

 

[JFComfort]

Did a short write up on the short barrel rifles on our web site

Short Barrel 6.5mm Rifle | Sin City Precision

I'll continue updating the load development work, we are wanting to test IMR XBR 8208 a little more and try RE-12. So far Varget is looking really good, it isn't the fastest but the load is very accurate.