So I just had a 6.5-06 built. Shot out the throat in my rem 700 25-06 and decided to go with a 6.5-06 as it is an easy case to form from all of the 25-06 brass I have.
The action has been trued, and a bartlein stainless barrel installed, cut to 25 inches with a 11 degree target crown. The barrel is a 1 in 8 twist. I put a bc m40 style stock on it, black with red webbing. Bedded with devcon. Timney calvin elite trigger, set at 8 oz from the factory. Topped with a vortex 6x24 pst. 20 moa rail.
Anyways, had to describe it because I don't know how to post pictures yet. Loaded 140 berger hybrids over test loads of 53, 54, 55, and 56 grains of h1000 for a ladder test. Loaded extra of the 53 grain loads to sight in with. 4 shots to dial it in, and then 3 shots of the 53 for a group. Weather was crappy and my chrono wasn't reading so I decided to forgo the rest of the test loads. But the 3 shot group was just under half an inch at 100 yards, and were nowhere near the lands as I got excited and loaded them before I had the rifle in hand. And to top it off, when I got home I cleaned the rifle and it only took 5 patches to clean! I am impressed by the quality of the barrel and performance so far, and I cannot help but think that the rifle will shoot extremely well after I tune the loads in a bit. Anybody have any experience with the 6.5-06 and want to share loads?
