Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Which 6.5 to build?

My daughter started with a 260 at 12, and now that she is all grown up and hunting elk with her husband, uses a 7-08 for everything.

Like EFW said, keep it simple--particularly if she is walking away from the house with it....sometimes it is kinda hard to test reloads in your daughter's rifle when she is four states away...:)

Thanks guys!

Very true on the 4 states away thing. Might have to go Creedmore. 260AI does have some cool factor though and if she gets in a pinch then she can always just shoot factory fodder.

Lee

One like my .260AAR would be very nice. It is the .257AI necked up to 6.5. It treads close to the 6.5-284 in velocity and is very accurate.

Id say Creedmore, just do to the ammo availability. The Hornaday match ammo is great. I agree with the "just cause you reload dosen't mean your daughter always will"

Make your decision based on components or some other criteria. The 260 vs CM vs x47 are ballistic ally identical. There's not enough difference to even talk about. Unless you're the type that can be sure 30 more FPS is due to the cartridge ad not a faster barrel.

Ebby, checked case capacity and the vanilla 260 has 6 grains more capacity than the 6.5x47 with appropriately seated 140 Amax's. I sent a barrel and donor to IT&D today and chose the 260 over the 6.5x47 or Creedmore simply because I believe re-sale will be easier with the 260...I have a problem sticking to one rifle.

I have two daughters in their early 20's and set them both up with vanilla 243 ADL's, 243 should be available almost anywhere for a long time. Since you may hand it down to your daughter, that may be something to consider, build what you want and set the kids up with what makes sense long term.

There really is not a wrong choice here. They are all winners.

The mag cases could load 140 NP's for elk.

The CM and x47 load 140 VLD's.

The AI will shoot 130 VLD's at 3,000.

I tested my 6.5x47 in actual cold weather, not just single digits, and with cci 450s which I use year round with 123gr to 140gr bullets, there are zero problems.

Here is what I reported a few years ago in a mother thread:

**********************
A while back I asked on the forum if anyone had experience with the 6.5x47 in cold temperatures and if there were any issues with delayed ignition or no bang at all. My questions were not answered to my satisfaction so I had one build over the summer and went out today in -33F (not counting windchill which was -47.2F) and wanted to see for myself. I left the rifle and ammunition exposed on the bench for the entire session (3 hours) and then fired several shots prior to packing up and going home. Load was 36.3gr Varget with a cci450 and 140 bergers. Every single load went bang perfectly just like in the summer. No delay or anything. My group and POI was unchanged as well. I was going to use 22-250 in cold weather if needed but I won't have to go through that now. The cci450's and varget work perfectly in -33F and if you've been wondering if small primers will be a problem, perhaps I have given you some useful information.

*********************

To the OP: I highly recommend the 6.5x47 lapua.

I went plane Jane 260. defiance rebel, mcmillan Classic in rhino, and bartlein #3 at 22". Smithed by dana english. Ships to me this Monday. For me it was brass availability such as Lapua and roll my own off of the abundance of 308 and 243 I have. I didn't go AI because reloading is new to me and didn't want to get in over my head at the beginning. The creedmore just didn't really have enough to sway me seeing as I can only buy hornady brass. I bought 3 boxes of hornady 243 brass last year, and most had dented necks, and primer flash holes way off center. I bought some remington like that before too. I know dented necks don't matter but it bothered me. I guess my ocd covers reloading too

I own 4 Swedish Mausers, have sporterized and shot one. It shoots ok.

I have built (2) 260s
Mauser 10" twist Douglas
Mauser 9" twist Shilen

Neither of those shoot well.

I am building a 6.5-06 ratchet rifling 8" twist right now and have fired it 36 times.

This 1.4" 5 shot group 142 gr Nos AB LR at 100 yards is cherry picking. I still have problems.

I like burning powder and making noise. Built on a blueprinted LH SS 700 Ultra Mag action.

Forster does not make 6.5-06 sizer dies, nor does Lee make 6.5-05 collet neck dies.

But Forster offers a honing service on their FL die necks. So I ordered a 25-06 FL die body with the neck honed out to 0.292". They charged double [$20 hone +body + Ship = $57.70] for the extreme honing from .272" to .292".
With this die body and a 6.5-06 Hornady sliding sleeve seater die, I have a quality 6.5-06 die set.

But Lee does offer a collet neck die mandrel reduction service. So I ordered a 270 mandrel reduced from 0.275" to 0.262", but leave the top alone @ 0.275" where it fits in a 270 collar. They charged triple [$15 labor + $5 parts + $6 shipping = $26] for the custom step.
With this I was able to convert an extra 270 collet neck die to make a 6.5-06 collet neck die.

Another vote for the 6.5-06

I'm building a 6.5 Creedmoor on a .22-250 70's vintage M-700 with a tired barrel. I bought a used HS stock (26 oz.) on the Fire Classifieds. I'm fitting a 24" #2 Shilen Match. I like the way the Creed was designed around the SA. It's a neat set up for long, heavy bullets and I like neat.

I have a custom FN 98 Mauser/Shilen CM 6.5x55, a custom Pre-64/Krieger 6.5-284 and a M-700/Shilen Match 26 Nos. So, I have plenty of 6.5 components.

DF

good info, Clark