6.5 Cruise Missile

[BlackpowderSweden]

I have been testing with the 6.5 Cruise Missile in my 6.5x55
So far have been quite succesful!




Nose Sized to bore dimension (6,49)


Base Oversize to fit the case neck when chambered, with minimal blow by


Catridge OAL


Brinell Hardness


Group 50m Benchrest


100m Group


Another 3-shot 50m group

[Blintersifrid]

Wow.

That's quite the projectile there.
I see how it got its name.

How much does one of those weigh?

'Sifrid

[Char-Gar]

How fast are they flying?

[ukrifleman]

I use the Cruise Missile bullet in my 6.5x52, M91 Carcano with some success.
I trialled the original 170gn bullet, but found the best for my rifle was a cut down mould that produced 150gn bullets.
ukrifleman.

[BlackpowderSweden]

The bullet weighs 170gn
I was using 16gn old Norma R123, similar burnrate to 2400?
Velocity was about 1650fps
Will try some Norma 200 and XMP5744

[justing]

that's one big boolit.

[BlackpowderSweden]

Ukrifleman, I have two moulds as well, have been thinking of milling down one of them like you have done.
Then I would probably not have to size down the nose to make it chamber.

[hickfu]

Hey those look pretty cool, Maybe I should try something like that in My 6.5x57 Mannlicher....

Doc

[ukrifleman]

The cut down mould works well for me. I use the bullet un-sized at .2695 in my Carcano, with the gas check attached with Loc-Tite and lubed with 2 coats of Lee Liquid Alox.
ukrifleman.

[Larry Gibson]

From the bullet holes there appears to be some instability?

Larry Gibson

[swheeler]

Larry beat me to it, shows up real well on targets

[Bullshop]

I thought so too. Drop the load a grain and shoot another target. If the holes are round we learned something. Another way to try is add a grain and shoot another target if they dont hit it or if the holes are more oval we learned something.

[45 2.1]

I thought so too. Drop the load a grain and shoot another target. If the holes are round we learned something. Another way to try is add a grain and shoot another target if they dont hit it or if the holes are more oval we learned something.

I'll save you some trouble.... they begin to keyhole when you reduce the velocity to about 1350 fps. Of course, going up in velocity will make them quite stabil.... but that depends on some things like loading them properly.

[Bullshop]

I guess it will depend on the twist. My current rifle has a slower than normal for caliber twist of 1/10" There will be other things that effect it as well like boolit hardness and pressure. All powders are not created equal. How about barrel ware?
Another thing I was getting at is that, and I am not silly enough to say this will always happen to everyone but it did happen to me is that shooting the CM fairly soft in a milsurp barrel with a fast powder at some point near the upper end of pressure for the powder the boolit would make a buzzing noise in flight and never touch the target. Any of those boolits I found in the berm were bent in a C shape. I cant confirm if they bent in flight and that is what made the buzz noise or if impacting the berm is what bent them.
Maybe I was just pushing them beyond the alloy limits and they were loosing the groove but I did not get leading that will usually result in such a case.
I do know that I have heard the buzz noise before when shooting long 45 cal rifle boolits with too slow a twist for the length of the boolit.
Those boolits would group great at 100 yards but somewhere at about 250 to 300 yards they would loose stability and begin to buzz. At that point they would greatly increase in drift and drop. A buzzing boolit offers greater side area for wind to push against and frontal area to add drag.
I dont understand why the 6.5 CM would begin to buzz at a certain pressure/velocity like the long 45 with insufficient spin when the 6.5 has adiquate spin. If not inadiquate spin then something else, what?

[BlackpowderSweden]

So far I have only tried 15, 16, 17gn of R123 and 16gn seemed to be the sweet spot accuracy wise.
Then I have tried different lubes, rcbs green, Lee la, ls alox 2500, ls caranuba red, and the rcbs green have shot the tightest Groups.
Then I have tried different alloys, first 20% lino 80% pure lead for about 16brinell , then tried 3% antimon alloy for about 11 brinell, the harder alloy had the better accuracy.
My Gun has a New barrel with a 1-8" twist, chambered it with a clymer standard reamer, wich seems to have a Long lead.
I Think that my stability issues are beqause the bullet is to Heavy.

[JeffinNZ]

Ah yes, the oval boolits holes showing the presence of the Cruise Missile.

[Tom Myers]

I was using 16gn old Norma R123, similar burnrate to 2400?
Velocity was about 1650fps .

My Gun has a New barrel with a 1-8" twist, chambered it with a clymer standard reamer, wich seems to have a Long lead.
I Think that my stability issues are beqause the bullet is to Heavy.

Twist rate is influenced by length (although length also influences weight)
Scaling out the image of the Cruise Missile bullet, the length appears to be close to 1.378 inches long.

Although this calculation formula is only a guideline, I have found it to be a reliable indication of the velocity required to adequately stabilize a bullet base upon caliber and twist rate.

V = ( L * T ÷ D² ÷ 3.5 )²

To find velocity, "V"
Enter 1.378 as length ,"L"
Enter 8 as twist, "T"
Enter 0.267 as diameter, "D"

The minimum calculated velocity for optimum bullet stabilization is 1952 fps.

You can eliminate the calculations by using this online Twist / Velocity / Length calculator.

Hope this helps.

[Bullshop]

"I Think that my stability issues are beqause the bullet is to Heavy. "

Or are they bending? Do you hear a buzzing sound from the boolits in flight? Maybe that very slight tipping would not cause the buzz noise. Once they start wobbling enough to print very elongated holes on the target they do buzz.

[45 2.1]

The minimum calculated velocity for optimum bullet stabilization is 1952 fps.

It surely does............. Oldfeller wanted a heavy hunting boolit for the 6.5 Swede and this is what we came up with. Some other folks besides me have taken the Cruise Missile well past what has been discussed on the forum here.

"I Think that my stability issues are beqause the bullet is to Heavy. "

Or are they bending? Do you hear a buzzing sound from the boolits in flight? Maybe that very slight tipping would not cause the buzz noise. Once they start wobbling enough to print very elongated holes on the target they do buzz.

Stability issues come from trying too low a velocity. See the above post by Tom. Full tilt the Cruise Missile will hold 2 MOA providing its loaded correctly and the shooter is up to it..

[BlackpowderSweden]

I will try for higher velocity with XMP5744 and Norma200