Your forgetting the "S" in this whole WSM equation. You can't fit a 180 gr boattailed into a 7mm "S"hort action without having seat it so deep that it loses its its ability to be a magnum round.

I will give you that the barrel life is somewhat shorter on the 6.5, but i dont think the BC argument is a good one. A 140 gr 6.5 vld has a bc of .640, a 168 gr 7mm vld has a bc of .643. Both rounds moving 3000 + fps at the muzzle but the 6.5 is doing it with less powder and a projectile that is 28gr lighter. If 2 rounds are performing basically the same I am going to opt for the one with significantly less recoil. The 180gr 7mm vld has a bc of .684 which is not a huge advantage over the 140gr 6.5. If it's all about BC why aren't we all shooting .338s or .50s?

As I mentioned before, if you want a 6.5, great! I have and love my 260, but it won't do what my 7 RM with 180's will do. It also has a longer barrel life, less recoil, and costs a bit less to shoot.

I don't have a 300 because the 7mm is the highest BC hunting bullet on the market. I built the 7 to hunt with, not compete with, like my 260. Yes barrels are consumable, but the plan has always been to be conservative with the amount I shoot the 7, because the barrel will probably be done in 1000 rounds. It did an awesome job, ringing steel to 1047 yards in September, it did an awesome job killing an elk in November, it did an awesome job killing whitetails this weekend, and it will do an awesome job on the next hunt I take it on.

I'm not advocating he build a 260, I'm advocating getting better results for what he is wanting the rifle to do. If he "wants" a 6.5mm, fine, but in a WSM the 7mm will provide him with what he wants even more so. If he still wants a 6.5 because he wants more speed, no problem, but he didn't emphasize that on the first post. Now we can move on, since that appears to be the case.

Might want to look at the 338 300grain match grade elite hunter with a bc of .818 or the 250 grain at .682. That's off the Berger site. Might want to update your chart.

When you're slinging 250 gr of lead does it really matter if it's a "hunting" bullet. Also bullets that big are no fun to shoot at a reasonable speed.

Maybe so.

I had a LH Rem700 action that used to be a 338 Win Mag to build from. Keeping the bolt and action I did the best that could be done.

O2b are you building it on a long or short action? Do you have to have custom dies or is it possible to use a full length 270wsm die without the expander ball and a neck bushing die? I'm asking because I'm wanting to rebarrel a 300 win mag and this is one of the ideas I've had.

I'm not sure who told you a 7mm has the highest bc hunting bullet. You might want to look at some 230bergers with a bc of .71 or some 300 grain 338s in the .8. If memory serves the 180s in a 7mm are around .648. Don't get me wrong the 7mm is great but its not the end all be all.

Keep us posted on the build. I'm curious if it will match a 264 win mag. I believe it will run very close to it.