remington_nc

I see alot of talk on here about short actions. Have any of you ever used a 6.5 Rem.Magnum?..............AWESOME.......it is a great gun, i think it came out about the same time as the 7mm and got lost so it was discontinued. My friend has one and it is very nice, have to reload for it now since the no longer make factory loads for it.

Ever seen one?

GTBuzz

Yeah, I have seen one and I have seen the .350 Remington Magnum as well. The 6.5mm RM was brought out in 1966 and designed to offer .270 Winchester performance in a short action rifle. The problem wit h the 6.5mm RM is that the case is really too long to be used in a short action. It requires the relatively long .264 caliber bullets be seated deeply to fit into a 2.8" magazine box. Remington could only load up to 120g bullet in the cartridge due to the short action. 6.5mm cartridges are really best with 140g bullets. Compounding this problem was the 18 1/2” barreled Remington 600 carbine that had horrendous muzzle blast and ballistics that fell way short of the velocities Remington published with a 24” test barrel.

Remington finally chambered it in the 24” barreled M700 in 1971, but it was too late.
Now if you put this gun in a standard length (3.340" ) action with a 24" barrel, it would be sweet.

remington_nc

My friend' s is a Model 660........not sure of year,but it does have a 24" bbl.

GTBuzz

The Remington 660 was made from 1968-1971 and Remington claims.50,536 were made. It should have a 20" barrel else someone has rebarreled it.

frizzellr

Actually the 7mm Rem Mag preceeded the 6.5 Rem Mag by a few years. I don' t really think it had much to do with the 6.5 not catching on. What it did do was pretty much push the 264 Win Mag into obsolescence. The 6.5 Rem Mag failed for the reasons GTBuzz mentioned, along with the fact that the 6.5mm bullet was never really popular with the masses and is just now being realized as an excellent caliber. The Remington 660 was just the wrong platform for the 6.5 Rem Mag. Can' t very well drive a Ferrari down a dirt road and expect maximum performance. Personally I think the Rem 660 would have been better off if chambered in the 358 Win. It is a true short action cartridge and has plenty of punch even with the short barrel. The Rem 600 in 308 was another good rifle for stand hunting or stalking through the undergrowth, but I guess that is a different topic.

seattlesetters

If you want a true short action 6.5mm that performs like a .270 Win, try the 6.5mmx.284. Simply awesome performance to very long range and very little recoil. [:-]

neweboarhunter

If you want a 6.5 then get the " original" 6.5x55 Swede. Load a 140gr bullet and go hunting. This cartridge will do anything the 7mm-08, .270win will do inside 250 yards or so.

Hey Frizzellr, what to you think of the new Browning ' 81 BLR Lightweight in .358 win. that should be the perfect launcher for that round.

frizzellr

neweboarhunter, I have never been a Browning fan but what I would like to fine is one of the Savage model 99' s that were chambered in 358 Win. What I could do is rebarrel a Savage 110 with a 358 Win barrel. They are available from Midway for about $150 or so. I don' t really need a 358, but it is just one of those cartridges I find interesting for some reason. Oh, I read an article the other day about converting a Marlin 336 chambered in 35 Rem to 358. That might be a consideration as well since it would make a short, handy rifle with a good amount of smack on the business end.

neweboarhunter

Frizzellr,

I have been looking for a Savage M99 in .358 win and .284 win for a few years now with no luck, all I find is .300 savage, .243 win and .308 win, I can' t even turn up a .250 savage. You could do the Midway switch barrel concept, but to my way of thinking the .358 seems suited for a nice levergun with a 20" barrel. Also you can have the various Reminton pumps rechambered from .35 rem to .358 win that would be o.k. too.

frizzellr

Yeah I am thinking about a brush or treestand gun. In other words a short, quick handling rifle with more punch than the anemic 30-30 Win or the 35 Rem. I think I will go the Marlin route.