The 7mm Geramo......Going to Shoot It Tomorrow.

jackie schmidt

jackie schmidt

New member
This is basically a 6.5 X 55 necked up to 7mm and Ackley Improved. We start with Lapua 6.5 x 55, which is excellent brass.

Geramo Villarreal had this reamer ground a while back, so Geramo, Ed Bernabeo, and I have chambered up Rifles to shoot it. I got all of the chambers identicle so we can use Ed’s loading dies, as mine are on backorder. We are heading to Walker County in the morning to see what we can do. We have a good selection of bullets, powder including Reloader 16, 4831sc, Reloader 25 and H1000.

The case has a .313 neck and a freebore to handle 160 through 180 grn bullets.

I make the case the same way I make my 30 BR cases. I took an old 6.5 X 55 barrel, drilled just enough out to accept a 7mm pilot, and chambered it for the 7mm Geramo. When you fire a loaded 6.5 x 55 round in the barrel, out comes a fully formed case ready for neck turning.

I bought a new 1.250 straight 7mm Krieger blank off of a fellow shooter on Accurate Shooters Classifieds. I put it on my Bat M in a Shehane Stock. The barrel finished at 32 inches. I put a weight system in the back to kinda balance the thing out. Bix &Andy trigger, Valdada 36x scope.

Her are a couple of pictures. The parent case, fireformed, and neck turned to .013 thick.

Just a fun gun.

http://benchrest.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=23645&stc=1&d=1590884295

http://benchrest.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=23646&stc=1&d=1590884397
 

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Ed, Geramo, and I had a great day at the Tomball Range today, we all three shot our Rifles chambered in 7mm Geramo.. We had planned to go to Walker County, but decided to just go to Tomball.

We set up at 200 yards. 4 flag set. Conditions were typical Tomball.

I concentrated on the Hornady 162 grn ELD Match bullets, trying several loads and seating depths. We all finally settled in on just off the lands for a seating depth.

The load I settled in on, the one that these groups were shot with, was 57.3 grns of H1000. Out of the 32 inch barrel, the velocity averaged 2940 FPS with extreme spreads in the 10 to 15 FPS range, with standard deviations at around 5. This appears to be a very efficient case.

This 6.5X55 Lapua Brass is top notch. One thing I did have to do to by bolt was chuck it up and bore about .003 out of the nose. The 6.5X55 rim is a few thousandths larger than a standard .473. The case head fit, but would not eject. Simple fix.

200 yards is a pretty good distance to tune a case such as this. We were not able to make it up to Walker County to shoot at a longer distance.

I also tried Reloader 25 and 4831sc. Neither performed as well as the H1000. Velocity was good, just could not find the best tune.

None of us experienced any pressure signs, extraction was effortless. Ed and I had 20 cases, we fired all about 5 times each, primer pockets stayed tight.

I’m not sure exactly what the ultimate accuracy potential of the Hornady 162 ELD is, I have it shooting at a mid to high “two” agg level. These are 5 shot groups. The one group at the bottom was with the 180 Berger Hybrid. I don’t know the load as Geramo loaded them for me. They were shooting quite well in his Rifle.

I think I will take the barrel off and make a tuner for it. In some of the loads we tried, the SD and Extreme Spread were good, but the rifle was locked into a horizontal tune, spreading out over an inch. A tuner could help in that department.

http://benchrest.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=23655&stc=1&d=1590980623
 

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Jackie,
the case head dia is a problem in the usa.
American brass in 6.5x55 is based on the 30'06 and has a 473 case head, and an under sized body dia.
stick with the lapua brass.
surplus rifle shooters will wrap tape around a case to hold it centered when first fired.
 
RL-23 has been the best for me in the 6.5 x55 BJAI/142gr Precision Ballistics as well as in my .284 Win/ 184gr hybrid. I think it might be a workable powder in that case with a 7mm bullet.
 
rsmithsr said:
Jackie,
the case head dia is a problem in the usa.
American brass in 6.5x55 is based on the 30'06 and has a 473 case head, and an under sized body dia.
stick with the lapua brass.
surplus rifle shooters will wrap tape around a case to hold it centered when first fired.
Click to expand...

We did have a tad of a problem. Ed’s Rifle has a Kiff bolt that worked fine with the .480 rim. My Bat M and Geramo’s Viper bolt would accept the case, but it would hang up on ejection. I chucked both bolts up and took about .003 out of each bolt face counterbore diameter. Problem solved.
 
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