Another Kimber project rifle

[horsemen61]

@MCMXI I’m glad it’s working out for you! I’m happy to see that and nice shooting!

 

[MCMXI]

2946 fps from factory 143 is good if I read your post right.

Ha! Ha! Oops ... yes, average velocity is good. Odd that the 147gr factory stuff is so much slower, but the ammo is from three years ago around the time the 6.5 PRC was introduced.

 

[troy fairweather]

Ha! Ha! Oops ... yes, average velocity is good. Odd that the 147gr factory stuff is so much slower, but the ammo is from three years ago around the time the 6.5 PRC was introduced.

I think I remember early on the ammo was warm, they dropped the charge some because the soft brass. Wish there was a good was to test the hardness, mine gets ejector marks even with lighter loads, some guns seam to not get them as much.

 

[MCMXI]

I think I remember early on the ammo was warm, they dropped the charge some because the soft brass. Wish there was a good was to test the hardness, mine gets ejector marks even with lighter loads, some guns seam to not get them as much.

Interesting. The Kimber has a spring loaded ejector at the rear of the action so no ejector marks on my brass. I'm definitely looking forward to the Lapua brass although it'll probably be years before I can get my hands on any given the current situation.

 

[Nature Boy]

dang!

Factory ammo too. Imagine what a developed load would look like. I bet you could eliminate all that vertical dispersion

 

[MCMXI]

I dropped the two barrels off to Proof yesterday afternoon for engraving and just received a text and photo to inform me that they're ready to be picked up! Great work Proof!

In other news, a couple of people have expressed interest in buying this rifle including an ex coworker and a member from another forum on which I mentioned ordering a Sako S20. I'm not sure I want to sell it though. I modified the receiver slightly to provide clearance for the bullet tip when inserting a loaded magazine and have been playing with magazine feedlips to get this rifle to feed as smoothly as possible. It's looking good right now.

 

[troy fairweather]

That was quick with proof.

This proves you need to build guns in threes so you can sell a few to your buddy's and still keep one lol.

 

[taliv]

Need an update on this. How are you liking the 6.5prc?

 

[horsemen61]

Need an update on this. How are you liking the 6.5prc?

Agreed!!!

 

[MCMXI]

Need an update on this. How are you liking the 6.5prc?

@taliv, I like the 6.5 PRC enough to have recently bought a Sako S20 Hunter in 6.5 PRC. I think it's an excellent cartridge, for what though I'm not sure, but I like shooting it, I like loading for it, and I like that it's kind of easy to hit stuff a ways out. Both the Kimber and Sako are on the heavy side so might not be great hunting options, at least not for the sort of hunting I do up here, but they sure are a lot of fun. I'm still waiting on dies from Redding so have taken a bit of break from shooting the two but will get back to it soon I'm sure. It was way too cold to shoot a couple of weeks ago and I still need to fabricate a magazine release for the Kimber. Also, I ordered the Sako Precision forend to switch out with the Hunter forend. It was supposed to be here already but the recent storms in the NE have delayed delivery.

 

[taliv]

for practical applications, i miss shooting my 260AI, with 140g going about 3000 fps. right now, i sort of have it bracketed, with a 300NM on the high end, and a 6.5x47L on the lower end. I always wanted to go back to the 260AI though, but use brass with small rifle primers, and a defiance XM action. I figure that combo would get me back to 3000 fps, with appreciably longer brass life.

but then i got to thinking, when i saw someone offering a lefty defiance xm with a proof cf barrel in 6.5prc, that it might be a better choice. or maybe, a 6.5prc ackley haha

i was looking around at reports of velocities, and it seems like a lot of people are pushing 140-143 bullets over 3100. seems like twice as much powder for an extra 300 fps, plus the rare xm action and mags, is probably not a good deal. but hey...

 

[troy fairweather]

for practical applications, i miss shooting my 260AI, with 140g going about 3000 fps. right now, i sort of have it bracketed, with a 300NM on the high end, and a 6.5x47L on the lower end. I always wanted to go back to the 260AI though, but use brass with small rifle primers, and a defiance XM action. I figure that combo would get me back to 3000 fps, with appreciably longer brass life.

but then i got to thinking, when i saw someone offering a lefty defiance xm with a proof cf barrel in 6.5prc, that it might be a better choice. or maybe, a 6.5prc ackley haha

i was looking around at reports of velocities, and it seems like a lot of people are pushing 140-143 bullets over 3100. seems like twice as much powder for an extra 300 fps, plus the rare xm action and mags, is probably not a good deal. but hey...

My m18 6.5prc when loonwulf had it he got a touch over 3000 with 147 eldm using rl-25 or retumbo I believe. That's with a 24" barrel and limited with hornday brass, with adg or the new lapua coming out should be easy. See some guys pushing the 156 at 3000 using the adg brass and rl-26

 

[LoonWulf]

I was at just under 3100 with what i decided was a max charge of retumbo....as in It was getting extra crunchy. If your willing to pinch the crap out of the powder or have a longer OAL than the mauser did, then you could probably break 3100 pretty easy with Ret.
Id actually expect RL-26 to be about perfect for the 6.5PRC.