Thread: My new 6.5 wildcat home build

6.5 AD wildcat home build.
Tools needed - an angle grinder and some old dies lol.

Hi guys, been a busy year but I’ve had time to do a few projects, one was developing a replacement for a 6.5 Grendel that I sold. I really like the Grendel. Wanted a short action caliber that was a powder sipper and had at least 400m capability but built on a light weight rifle for the bush. Short enough to fit in a Howa Mini type of thing. I had a bit of 8208 powder and liked the idea of VonGruffs GrendelMax. Started down that road and found quickly that custom dies were extremely expensive and a custom reamer was over $700 from the USA.

My solution - my own wildcat - dies cost $120 and no custom reamer required - just kiwi ingenuity and that saved $1500 plus on a rifle build and gave me better ballistics than I imagined.

Anyways here is is - the 6.5AD

2850fps 123eldm

I’ll upload more in the build story over the next couple days as I find time

So I'm guessing it's .308 family but shorter??? Bigger guess would be 260 or possibly? x55 reamer short stroked in to make chamber and bum ground off dies by same amount....

I formed brass from 6.5Creedmoor brass a mate gave me for free. Dies are a 6.5 Creedmoor with 5mm sliced off the base. Then I got 6.5 creedmoor barrel and gunsmith docked 5mm off the tread and fitted it to the rifle.
I chose that length as I wanted to be able to have the option of factory 6GT SRP brass.
Essentially this calibre is a 6.5GT without needing a custom chambering and 6.5GT dies

I like it. Well done mate. Keep us posted on how this true blue Kiwi calibre goes.

Fun

I shifted away from the idea of a howa mini and built on a Tikka M55, if I had stuck with the howa mini idea I would have gone 3mm shorter in case length - and when you are just lopping off the end of dies with the angle grinder your case length is customised to suit action with a wildcat. And as I formed the brass from a 6.5creedmoor the brass length can be made to suit. I would then not be able to use GT brass. But this can be formed from just about any 308 faced brass. 270/308/243/708/260/Creedmoors. Brass forming was a pain and time consuming but I’m glad I did it, learnt a fair bit on the journey too

Pardon my ignorance. Do i understand correctly that this is essentially an intermediate between grendel and creedmor?

I’ll try find a pic of it next to the creedmoor

Very nice I like it. What does the AD stand for?

Hiya STC, exactly what it is.
I had a 14” Grendel built on a Zastava mini. I didn’t like the action much, and the velocity was a bit on the low side for the distance I would often want to shoot at. Also a factor was a 308 boltface and wanting to use cheap/free brass.
I actually had a switch barrel rifle built and made a 2nd wildcat in 30cal with subsonic in mind. Bit of a play around project for my 50th birthday to see what was possible. (On a low budget)

Nex to a 6.5Creedmoor

So did you chop the tenon/thread on the barrel with the angle grinder as well?

Originally Posted by inglishill

So did you chop the tenon/thread on the barrel with the angle grinder as well?

What if he did, the shoulder still needs set back in a lathe.

This is an awesome build, I'm very envious. I considered doing this many years ago when trying to plan the rebuild of a Mauser Kurz action, but eventually chickened out and went 6.5x47

Originally Posted by Tentman

What if he did, the shoulder still needs set back in a lathe.

This is an awesome build, I'm very envious. I considered doing this many years ago when trying to plan the rebuild of a Mauser Kurz action, but eventually chickened out and went 6.5x47

'What if he did?', My question was not an accusation, it was just a question?

Trueflite guys shortened the tennon and fitted the shoulder up for the right head space. No chamber adjustment needed. So a person handy with a lathe could do this price of cake. But that’s not my skill set.