Interesting thread, for sure.
If the Pro needs a 30" bbl. to burn all that powder and perform as designed, maybe Nosler nailed it with the 26.
The 26 Nos case capacity may be about as much as one would want for a 26" barrel in a hunting size/hunting weight 6.5mm rifle for general use.
The Pro appears to be a very specialized set up for ultra LR shooting and maybe not ideal for general hunting use.
Just a thought.
DF
The 30" Bartlein barrel was threaded, chambered/headspaced then removed and has not been back on yet,
All load data/velocity was obtained with the 27" Brux barrel which has a muzzle brake machined into the extra inch ......
That Brux barrel has 100 rounds of cream of wheat and 20 gr Blue Dot fireforming loads and 450 rounds of 160gr Matrix and Woodleigh bullets through it, I ran out of 160's and stopped shooting , got a couple boxes of the 150 gr Matrix VLD's but have not shot any yet, The last 40 round string shot with the 160 Matrix bullets was with 100 gr of US869 for an ave of 3500 fps with 3 shot groups ranging from 3/4" to 3/8" at 100 yards... The Brux barrel is an 8.5 twist that I meant to burn up during load developement but it has held up very well, It would appear the case design with the much longer neck coupled with the WS2 bullet coating and WS2 bore prep is doing it's job ..
Frankly I can't wait to yank that Brux off to see what the 30" 8 twist 5R Bartlein will do but the damn thing won't give up .... I have not messed with it since that last load developement shooting session and have been involved with my other wildcats,
The 160 gr Woodleigh Weldcore bullets shot some nice groups at 3444 fps and that load will be used for "general hunting use" on moose by my teenage daughter this fall .
This cartridge was developed several years before the 26 Nosler came around and has done everything it was supposed to do .
Are you really saying that because the 6.5 PRO is so much faster than the 26 Nosler that it's not suitable for general hunting ?
