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That's the price I was quoted for a barrell change.I'll call them again Tuesday.thanks ovenpaa

Swapping the barrel does not take many minutes, I have 7,62x51 rifle plus 6,5x47 barrel on my FAC and 1200 rounds for each so I can swap from one to the other when ever needed. These days I use the latter most of the time however I have a couple of 7,62x51 barrels to go back on when I do decide to swap back.

A wee hijack here, if you don't mind...

AI AE. Are the magazines compatible across all of the upgrades, AE, mkII and mkIII? And are the magazines used in the AE, those that are commonly used in the AICS, where as the AW is double stacked...

Any ideas?

From memory the AI/AE MkIII uses the AICS the previous models were single stack 5 or 8 shot magazines.

My AE 3 takes single stack 5 and 10 round mags.
TBH I hardly ever use them.
You can lob a round in and it will easily chamber.

Ovenpaa wrote:Swapping the barrel does not take many minutes, I have 7,62x51 rifle plus 6,5x47 barrel on my FAC and 1200 rounds for each so I can swap from one to the other when ever needed. These days I use the latter most of the time however I have a couple of 7,62x51 barrels to go back on when I do decide to swap back.

How did you get on with the AI action's firing pin set-up with the cartridge's small primer (and its tendency to crater / blank) Davey?

Did you have to bush the bolt? (I know of another AI user who had quite a bit of trouble after his initial rebarrelling from 308 to the 6.5.) I had a 308 Win FN SPR (heavy duty model 70 Winchester pre-64 type action) rebarrelled to the 47 Lapua in its early days and it was disastrous. I had to have it rechambered to 260 Rem to be able to achieve proper 47 Lapua / 260 MVs. This was likely a particularly susceptible example, but I've since regarded the Lapua number as better suited to custom target actions with small dia. firing pins with small bolt-face clearances.

The primers in the image came from loads that were only 1 to 2gn above Viht's starting loads and way below maximum levels.

Laurie, I totally agree the standard AI firing pin will lead to occasional pierced primers and gas cutting of the firing pin with hotter loads (For me it was around 2/50) However I found a drop of 0.1 Grains of Varget removed the problem with the 123 Scenar I was shooting at the time. Bushing the bolt and machining the firing pin to 1,6mm makes all the difference and I could comfortably head up another 0.5+ grains.

These days I am shooting 129 grain Hornady Interlocks with TR140/RS50 and can run quite quick MV's with no visible over pressure with the CCI Magnum primers I use. One thing I will say is people do tend to push the 6,5x47 with 139/140 grain bullets, my view is if you 'need' to shoot such a weight bullet go to a .260 especially

Ovenpaa wrote:These days I am shooting 129 grain Hornady Interlocks with TR140/RS50 and can run quite quick MV's with no visible over pressure with the CCI Magnum primers I use. One thing I will say is people do tend to push the 6,5x47 with 139/140 grain bullets, my view is if you 'need' to shoot such a weight bullet go to a .260 especially

I agree. The Lapua design is superb with bullets up to 123gn and for some people and rifles, 130gn. It's just that bit undersized and too heavily stressed with anything heavier - but there are contrary views on that from some of the American aficionados. Many people forget (or are maybe unaware) that Lapua never intended its little 6.5 to be a 1,000 yard match cartridge or largish deer killer - the company's view is that what the 6.5X55mm SKAN and 6.5-284 Norma are for - but as a replacement for the 6mm BR Norma with 90-105gn bullets in the 300-metre ISSF / CISM 3-position discipline.

Now you have me thinking about the 6.5X284,seems a fantastic round but I only do up to 1000yds so it may be overkill

nearly there wrote:Now you have me thinking about the 6.5X284,seems a fantastic round but I only do up to 1000yds so it may be overkill

A very good round, but ..... long action (>3-inches COAL), rapid barrel wear (900-1,300 rounds life).

6.5 Creedmoor or 260 Rem would be my 6.5 of choice for general range use especially in a magazine rifle. They give very similar performance to each other, but there are pros and cons. They do the same thing as the 47 Lapua, but no small primer issues, less stress / lower pressures, and are better suited to the 136-142gn group of bullets.

For single shot rifles and magazine fed long action jobs, little beats 6.5X55mm in handloaded form as an all-rounder.