fireforming 6.5 Creedmoor from 22-250 brass

[bruce drake]

Last month I decided to try to reload and fireform my 22-250 brass over to 6.5 Creedmoor with my standard 6.5creedmoor load with 120gr bullet (I use 250 Savage load data for my 120gr 6.5CReed loads) and I was finding problems with splitting case necks and excessive case stretching with the brass at the cartridge head.

fast forward 30 days to today's trip to the range with freshly loaded 6.5-250 brass (22-250 brass when run through a 6.5 Creed sizing die reforms the neck and shoulder to the proper diameter and neck size but the 250 body taper is still there)

25gr of IMR 4895 and Lyman's 140gr 266469 mold bullets was the suggested 2000fps load for the day.

My goal was to simply blow the shoulder and the cartridge body out to the 6.5 Creedmoor cartridge shape (Yes, I know the reformed cartridge has 1mm shorter case neck from factory brass but I was not going to let 400 pieces of 22-250 brass be sitting on a shelf for no reason.)

Thankfully, my rifle decided to shoot a very nice group for the day in fireforming these cartridge cases. I may save this load for future 100 yard NRA Highpower rifle matches! A couple of clicks up and boom, I'd be eating the center out of this target.

Oh, and the brass formed perfectly this time around.

[floydboy]

Bruce,

I just built a 6.5 Creed this fall. Wanted a long range hunting rifle without the recoil of my 30-06. So far have been very pleased with J-words but haven't shot any cast with it yet. I'll keep my eye out for a 266469 mold to try. I used 308 LC brass to form my cases. Was very pleased with my results. Thanks for the load data.

Floyd

[sparky45]

I have been necking up my 243; seems to work well in my RPR Creedmoor.

[bruce drake]

I've built 6.5 Creedmoor brass from 308 and 243 brass before and I like the 243 brass out of preference but I was sitting on a whole bunch of 22-250 brass that I wanted to get back into circulation.
The 140gr lead bullet works great in this cartridge. Its a Louverin design so a lot of lube rings to fill up on this Round nose design. I am considering talking to Mountain Molds into making a truncated cone nose design to the basic Louverin design just to give me a little higher number on the ballistic coefficient

[sparky45]

I understand Bruce, that's the same reason I went with 243 brass.

[bruce drake]

Yep. Sometimes ingenuity trumps availability. I don't care for Hornady brass at all and if you want factory 6.5 Creedmoor brass, than you'll most likely find it in Hornady brass without breaking your bank. Nosler and Norma offer the 6.5 Creedmoor brass but they are pretty dang proud of their brass at almost twice what they charge for a 243Win or 308 case.

So with that, I went back to the cartridge that evolved from the same parent stock as the 6.5 Creed, the 300 Savage. The 300 Savage is hard to get along with the 250 Savage case but the 22-250 is very easy to get. An easy fireform with a cast lead bullet and its good to go for NRA Rifle matches.

Bruce

[jonp]

Starline makes both SRP and LRP 6.5 brass.

Thanks for the thread. I usually buy a rifle with reforming brass in mind but the T/C Compass in 6.5 Creemoor was on sale with the rebate for under $200 so I couldn't stand it. Now I have a place to start.

I just bought an Osprey 6x24 Scope at a gunshow with a sub $500 1,000yrd rifle in mind to see if it would work.

What alloy you using in that 266469? Are you annealing the brass before resizing or after?

[bruce drake]

I anneal after the fireforming just to put all my brass at a fresh starting point.

My current alloy? 90-5-5
90% reclaimed shot from Roto-metals, (https://www.rotometals.com/reclaimed...ags-50-pounds/ )
5% Super Hard Lead Alloy (https://www.rotometals.com/super-har...imony-70-lead/ )
5% Roto-Metals 40/60 Tin/Lead Solder (for the tin) (https://www.rotometals.com/solder/ )
According to the cast bullet alloy spreadsheet, I get about a 15-16 Brinell hardness with this mix which puts me around Lyman #2 or Hardball alloy characteristics.
I note I didn't add my Lube in my first post. White Label Lube's Carnauba Red which is rated up to 2700fps but I've never rolled it up that fast in any of my Cast bullet loads.

[WJP]

I've probably got 500-600 22-250 cases I've been looking to do something with. I just hate the time and expense of fire forming them. May have to try a handful to see how they do.

[TAC14]

Uh------

Sell the 22-250 or whatever brass and buy the right stuff.

22-250 marked case + .263 bullet =s danger !

[earlmck]

Uh------

Sell the 22-250 or whatever brass and buy the right stuff.

22-250 marked case + .263 bullet =s danger !

Not that much danger -- JC himself couldn't chamber a Creedmore in a 22/250.

[500Linebaughbuck]

Uh------

Sell the 22-250 or whatever brass and buy the right stuff.

22-250 marked case + .263 bullet =s danger !

all i use is 22-250 brass and thats been 8 or 9 years since i bought the 6.5 creedmoor in a ruger hawkeye. it isn't dangerous.

[bruce drake]

wow...Tac14 banned in less than 100 posts...

And yeah, ain't no way a reformed 22-250 will ever fit back into a 22-250 chamber with its shoulder blown out into 6.5 Creedmoor.

[FergusonTO35]

Well, I am now looking to reform some cases into 6.5's. I am loading for a basic Remington 700 ADL sporter and if I can get sub-1" out of it with a Sierra Game King I'll be happy. I don't think a slightly shorter case is going to affect anything for my use, and I do have some .22-250 brass. My understanding is that all I really need to do is run the .22-250's through the 6.5 sizer and fireform. I would rather not spend my Sierras on fireforming and don't have any 6.5 boolits. Should I give CoW a try? Does any particular powder work better than others?

[Texas by God]

Uh------

Sell the 22-250 or whatever brass and buy the right stuff.

22-250 marked case + .263 bullet =s danger !

Why? It won't fit in a 22-250 anymore. Necking up brass keeps you from having to turn necks as well.

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[Texas by God]

I just noticed how old this thread is. I've never done the COW thing but people on here swear by it. #4 buckshot(.251") could be flattened a bit to serve as a bullet I bet. I don't NEED a 6.5 Creed but I'm looking hard at those buttugly T/C Compass. And I have a million 22-250 brass.

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[500Linebaughbuck]

back in the day it was hard to find 6.5 cm cases. so i necked up 22-250 to 6.5mm . i still have them along side my 6.5cm hornady brass. they(22-250/6.5) have about 12 - 14 reloads on them.

[FergusonTO35]

back in the day it was hard to find 6.5 cm cases. so i necked up 22-250 to 6.5mm . i still have them along side my 6.5cm hornady brass. they(22-250/6.5) have about 12 - 14 reloads on them.

How do you fireform yours?

[Rockydog]

In the original post Bruce Drake mentioned that he had case stretch at the case head. There is a simple fix for this situation that allows the 22-250 case to headspace properly IN YOUR RIFLE. Simply expand the 22-250 neck to .277 or .284 (7mm) prior to sizing in the Creedmore FL sizing die, set to proper shoulder length for your rifle.

If the .22-250 case seats too deeply before the shoulder hits the Creedmore chamber running a .277 or .284 die in the neck before sizing in the Creedmore will create a false shoulder that will hold the rear of the case against the bolt face of the rifle effectively controlling the headspace. RD