OT but gun related. Shooting the 6.5mm TCU

[bigbore442001]

Oen day I should buy a lever action rifle but I am definitely addicted to the Contender and the various barrels chambered for that gun.

A short time ago I was surfing the internet and came across an ad for a used 14" TC Contender barrel chambered in 6.5mm TCU. The barrel was really cheap for that class of barrel and the muzzle had been threaded for a barrel extension to be used as a carbine. Anyways, I bought the barrel and it needed work. The original owner had done a do-it-yourself Brownell's baked on gun finish that didn't really take. So I scrubbed off the old finish and polished it on a wire wheel until it really shined. I had an old tube of bluing paste and decided to blue it myself. No matter what you do those cold bluing kits never really give you a true factory finish. Nothing like a professional hot blue or other finish for looks but it would do. The finish came out looking more like pewter but it should stand up to most of what I do. I was looking for some reloading dies on the internet in the hopes of finding a cheaper set but that never came to fruition. I broke down and bought a brand new set of Hornady New Dimension dies from Midway. When the package arrived I checked them out. I am impressed with the quality of the dies. They put a lot of thought and I hate to admit it but they seem to be superior to RCBS. The neck expander of the die is tapered like a tear drop thus minimizing the chances of splitting case necks. The bullet seater has a reciprocating collet to ensure perpendicular seating.

I had some load data off the internet as well as from my well worn reloading guide for the Contender. I looked up data from Hornady as well as Sierra as a guide. While at work I chatted with my parents on some free time and asked my Dad for a favor. He was going to see the doctor and was going to be in the general area of one well stocked gun shop. I asked if he could pick up a box of 6.5mm bullets in 100 or 120 grain weight. I figured that would be a good start and a great coyote bullet to play with, if I could get the buggers to come in front of my stands.

Loading this wildcat is very easy. Well, sort of. The case is based on a 223 Remington necked up to the 6.5mm bullet. Originally it was intended for silhouete shooting but a small fraternity of handgun hunters have adopted it for varminting as well as deer and pronghorn antelope at reasonable ranges. According to the Hornady data out of a ten inch barrel the maximum load of H322 powder under a 100 grain bullet will produce 2200 fps. I figure with the 14" barrel I am getting 2400 to 2500 fps.

Dad bought a box of Hornady 100 grain soft points for me and recieved some sticker shock.He hasn't been reloading for many years and was in a bit of a surprise when he saw the price of reloading components. Later he commented that it might not be a bad idea to start bullet casting for practice. Not a bad idea but we need to get on topic here.

I will admit that I did crush a few cases. I found out that I needed to lube the inside of the necks on WW virgin brass during the initial resizing process. I did malform a few cases but I still loaded them up and was able to shoot them.

Today at the range I took the barrel for its first firing, at least for me. I mounted a 2x Burris scope on the barrel as it was on something I did not plan to use for the foreseeable future. I know some will say why such a low powered scope on such a round? Well around here in southern New England as well as northern New England most of the shots at varmints of the coyote catagory will be under 100 yards. That is the way it is here. In fact I expect to shoot around forty yards or so in the stands I use for game. So the 2x is pretty much the idea power for such use.

My first shot was done with a bit of trepidation. The Hornady loading data called for 28 grains of H322 while most other manufacturers pegged the maximum load at 26 to 26.5 grains. I figured that the engineers at Hornady knew what they were doing so I went with their data. The first shot went off but did not hit the target. Neither did the next several so I brought the target in very close. The scope adjustment was way off and required turning the rear base of the scope mount a bit to center it and then the turrets were used to fine tune the shots. The gun at 25 yards basically made one hole groups for a lack of a better term. I know I should shoot it at 100 yards but I sighted in at the 25 yard handgun range and didn't feel like walking down to the rifle range in the rain at our club. I figure that I will play around with it more on another day at loner ranges.

One of the things that I noticed after firing was the sharpness of the case shoulder as it fully expanded in the chamber. The rounds of virgin brass did not show this but after firing I can see the chamber is very straight and has a very sharp neck to it. One quirk I notice was that one of the crushed cases when fired now has a perfect ring around it. I don't know if it will split on the next firing but I will toss it into the brass bin.

The next step in this saga will be to shoot at the 100 yard range. Again for my uses around here it will be just fine. Now. I gotta get out that last meat sicle before the spring thaw comes in.

[Hobie]

I have TWO 7mm TCU barrels. The shortest, 10", and the longest factory length, 21". I was surprised by how little velocity one gains in the 21". There is a 400 fps gain using the 130 gr. and H4895.