Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 6.5x55 vs 260 Rem vs 6.5-06

I have and use 2 out of the 3. I don't have a 6.5-06.
Along with my 7x57, they are my favorites.
My .260 is an early Model Seven, as I bought it shortly after Rem, offered the .260.
Topped of with a Leupold 2x7 Compact, It's a pleasure to shoot. Kills things dead with the factory fodder.
I've been a Swede fan for years, still owning intact Milsurps and a handful of sporters.
They kill good too.
Speaking of 100 year old cracked receiver, plugged up bore antiques,Here's a pair of peep sighted carbines I posted before. No Safe queens here, they get used.

I just finished helping my neighbor with a new 6.5/06 with a 26" Pac Nor barrel, short leade.

Since he hunts deer, he is interested in a 300 yd deer rifle.

We do our reloading at the rifle range so changes can be made easily.

We started off with the 129g Hornady's, and at 3225 fps they were printing 3" groups at 300 yards (not a calm day). The 120g Sierra's at 3260 fps were grouping slightly smaller at 2 1/2".

After cleaning the gun, we made the decision to do our testing at 100 yards instead of 300 due to wind factor, we could see the bullets stringing left to right on the target at 300.

The Sierra 140g Game Kings at 3040 fps shot a .177 group at 100 yards and the 140g Hornady SST at 3100 shot 1". The 120g Nosler Ballistic tips shot groups between .200-.300 at 3090 fps.

The 140g Sierra Game kings shot groups between .200-.500 in the 2850 fps area with a slower burning powder than we had previously tried.

My neighbor was extremely happy on his first day at the range with his new 6.5/06. Pac Nor surely did a great job for him.

Not into 6.5's at all.
Just wanted to say that SU35 (one of our posters) shot a Buck in Washington State a few years ago with his 260 Rem at 507 yards.. I am mucho impressed, with his shooting first, and the chambering second..

into 6.5s all the way,a pair of swedes and a pair of 06s and I just love em especially the 6.5x55,deadly accurate,easy on the recoil and just kills the objective dead in its tracks,Havnt had a 260 Rem yet but hope to get there soon.............

I agree with all of the above.

Only point I would make is that the 6.5-284 is now available in properly headstampe brass with match grade components and a plethora of relaoding data.

That's a distinction in its favor, with almost equal ballistics to the 6.506.

BMT

I'm another confirmed 6.5 slut. I flirted with the idea of a 6.5-08 clear back in 95. Then in 96, we were casually screwing once in a while. Here it is 2008, and the Model 7 in 260 will get barrel #5 screwed on it real soon, so we've been marathon porn humping for the last 10 years at least I've lost count of how many 5 Lb jugs of RL19 have gone through the Model 7. But all the barrels I've cooked seem to live 1200-1800 rounds. They'd prolly go longer, but once groups go from the .3's and .4's to MOA, its discouraging.

I'd like a Swede in a T3... If I found myself lusting after a 25-06, I'd build a 6.5-08 for the same reason I went 260 instead of a Bob.

If I really wanted something different and wild. I'd build a 6.5WSM. That would be a sweetheart for Eastern Montucky hunting fo' sho'.

NATOshua spoke to God and asked him to solve his cartridge woes. God said, "Let there be the .308 casing! Thou may neck up or neck down! It is better to leave as is! That which cannot be hunted with my casing shall be left to live!"

I forget where that is in the bible, but am pretty sure it is in there somewhere!

God spoke again in the Book of Mormon, I believe, and amended the above statement. "Don't be tempted by the .284 casing! Thou will surely have OAL issues somewhere along his righteous path!"

Fellow campfire members:

Please note our dear friend OCC has been struck down for his blasphemous statements.

His smouldering shoes are around here somewhere ...

Besides the only thing the book of Mo got right was advocating polyamorous fondling of rifles.

GE

Where would one find Mule Deer's recipes for loading of the 6.5 x 55 ?

I have a Tikka 6.5x55 loaded with the 130 gr. Swift Scirocco II and it chrono's @ 2950 check the B.C. and compare it to the 270 factory fodder and I will beat it @ 4-500 yds and so on (.571 B.C.)

I have had 4- 260's and I am not impressed with the accuracy.
1- Remington Mt LS
1- Browning composite stalker----junk
2- Kimber Montana's -----New biggest junk

I have a 6.5x284 shooting the same Swift bullet and still have a little work to do, but the 6.5x55 is shooting about .375 3-shot groups a lot of the time.

My .02 cents go 6.5x55 and never look back!

6.5whitetail. I can tell you from experience that any accuracy issues you've had with the 260 was not a fault of the caliber. I've cooked four quality barrels in the caliber and they were all in the .2's and .3's before they got sick. These were not bull barrels either. These were all barrels that were on a Model 7. The beefiest one went .625 at the muzzle (22") and was heavily fluted. In all its incarnations, the Model 7 has never gone over 7 1/2 Lbs on the scale.

I had a semi custom 308 at one time in my collection that was a 700 SA Remmy, wearing a Lilja #1 contour pipe in Lone Wolf Stalker. Best it could do was in the .450's. That one is still killing critters in Canyon Ferry courtesy of Cousin Donny. Then there was the Other Model 7, Also wearing a Lilja (although a #2 contour) that was stocked by Fajen, also a blueprinted action, and the best it could ever do was in the .540's. Although, that rifle got nice and toasty on more than one dog town, and I did not do a lot of load development when it was nice and fresh from the smiths shop. That Model 7 is still riding around in a ranch truck in Eastern Montana taking its toll on ranch vermin all over Blaine County...

I guess what I'm getting at is that given the same amount of work by a competent gunsmith, the caliber itself has been one of the most accurate I've encountered. Take that Model 7 LS you had... Blueprint the action, buy a Hollands lug, a pipe from Dan Lilja or Jeff Lawrence in a 1:8" twist, have a competent smith put it all together, then have it stocked by somebody who knows what they're doing, and I'll bet it shoots in the .3's with most bullets.

Moby--Various back issues of Rifle and Handloader mags. His "Loads That Work" (right title??) can probably be referenced here by someone with a better memory than mine. JB also has written a number of other articles referencing 6.5 loads, particularly with the 120 X-Bullet. He's no doubt a Swede slut too, but recently has been seriously double-dating the 7x57.

Dan- Between you and looking at the new Nosler manual that .260 is starting to look like a dog that can hunt...alot! I guess I'll just have to get by with my .338 Win Mag again for this year, but next?

Shootem:

Just found JB's article at http://www.loaddata.com/articles/PDF/Handloads%20That%20Work.pdf

Thanks for giving me the name of the article.

Well, if your going to AI the '06, you can AI a 55 and they ain't bad.... 6.5x55 AI. PO Ackley it seems did a '260AAR' a 7x57 case blown out IIRC, just 2mm shorter than the 55. Said it was a very good round. Lapua brass blown out, first rate brass....should knock on the door of the '06 and 284 cases, which are too overbore for me.....but some like 'em that way.

Keith, my pac-nor 6BR fast twist took my furthest deer LRF at 400 yds, not out of bounds for even the smaller 6.5's by any stretch using good bullets/placement.

As to 507 yds w/260, seems the long range guys are using the 260AI w/140 amaxs to at least 600. More power (read KUDOS) to those who can place shots that far in field conditions....I am not practiced nor confident past 400 at this time myself.

As to the 6.5WSM, I spoke on the plane to the 2006 Shot show, w/a 'Smith' who was raving over his new flavor the 6.5WSM, and the conversation did not last much past my asking him bbl life......the number was not very much....so if a 260 is cooking them in 1200-1800 for top accuracy......figure less than 1k.

A 6.5/284 is a nice round said by those who don't mind barreling often for match guns, or the casual guy who wants to have option of buying factory ammo that will run w/'06, etc sized 6.5's.

For me, I'll take a 260 or 6.5x55 depending on gun and will contend having my share of experience w/each and the 55 has given ME easier accuracy, but the 260 will do fine with good gun/loads. Current Sako running 5/8-3/4 out the box, nothing fancy on loads, Rem brass, etc. Better than I can hold in the field.

Now if you want to build an even more accurate SHORT actioned rifle, chamber in 6.5x47 Lapua, or 6.5 Creedmoor, both have factory ammo and come very close to 260 ballistics for all practical purposes, esp. in hunting length bbls.

Now I have also owned a 6.5TCU handgun, and it'll do White-Tail easy to 200 yds, maybe further depending on load/bbl length, etc. Does not seem to be hard to find most ANY 6.5 round liked by those that Choose that particular round, but the consensus seems that 6.5's by those who use them are doing well regardless of fruitless comparisons of cartridges ballistic performance that within most normal hunting ranges, and on North America's most common big game....deer, they all work well, with most all available bullets. Subtle differences in accuracy, maybe more in performance whether 260 up to 264 WM, and then there is bbl life.....choose what offers you what you need, and the pros/cons you can live with.

In a long action, one might argue a 25-06 or 270 in a 24" with good loads can run real well next to a 6.5/06 to most hunting ranges. All three are capable, the shooter is the determining factor on success IMHO. Bonus for some the two above are in factory rifles/ammo easily found.

I have wondered about some cartridges seeming to have inherent accuracy, assuming it was the cartridge proportions or shapes. But then we had several threads about WSM shapes not being any more accurate than longer AI rounds, or belted magnum rounds.

So you really feel the two rounds you mentioned would on the average be more accurate than a .260 Rem. or 6.5 Swede?

I shoot 6.5s....the real answer is gonna be the configuration of the rifle...the shooter & loads of course....whether its a 15# table gun or a 7# mtn rifle...either will be accurate to its own...1/4" groups @ 100 or one minute of deer or antelope @ 200 yds..I would also look at the cost/availablitity of brass & dies...flip a coin on the 260 or 6.5x55...

Stray Dog, I think on average, yes a 6.5x47 and 6.5 Creedmoor has proven easier to obtain bug hole accuracy primarily due to two factors, 1) shorter case to allow optimal seating w/long bullets, still feed in a mag, and still reach the lands, and 2) Brass quality.

If Lapua made 260 brass, and you loaded to reach lands, then a 260 would be VERY close IMHO in accuracy, but the shorter neck round and lower quality brass that Rem makes, does not let it shoot quite as well.....unless you start turning necks/sort brass and again seat to the lands. Tikka hits the nail on costs of dies/brass and heck many factory gun options, but were I wanting to feed a short round, and building a gun, I'd be pressed to run a 6.5x47 or 6.5 Creedmoor for a medium capacity 6.5mm.

I did say 'short action' as the 55 will run with the best. Europe has 2 VERY proven rounds, the 6.5x55, the 6mm BR and now the 6.5x47 when it comes to long range accuracy, and factory ammo is had with all.

One round that gets my attention that is rarely mentioned, the 6x47 Swiss Match, had they done a 6.5 version, it'd been a virtual duplicate of the 6.5x47 Lapua and I can tell you those folks at the 2006 SHOT show at the RUAG booth, were pissed seeing all the attention at the Lapua booth created by the 6.5x47. Perhaps Lapua engineers took the 6x47 SM to a new level, nothing new, taking older ideas, and improving or modifying.

One point worth noting, nobody says you CANNOT build a 6.5x55 on a short action, as w/todays top premium bullets in 120-130gr, a 6.5x55 short throated, can do alot, and run the excellent Lapua brass....cheaper than the 47 brass, con may be that most/all factory ammo would not fit/feed in a short action so it might be a reloaders only proposition, really tipping the hat to the shorter 6.5s designed for SA. I doubt it's done often, and a 'niche' specialized set-up, but it can and has been successfully done. BTW, 257 Roberts can/have been built on SA's also, but then again, many 6.5/284s are set up on long actions to utilize max powder space, and reach lands, while keeping bt juncture at/above the neck/shoulder.

BTW, stray dog, take a look if you have not seen reports on the Les Baer 6.5 Grendel AND the DPMS Panther 6.5 Creedmoore, BOTH have shot .5moa or better consistently and factory ammo. The 260 Panther seems to do closer to 1 moa, not bad.....but..

Pointer. I had a brief fling with a 338 WM. At the time I thought it was a good idea for a Montana gun. It never really occoured to me that a 225 Partition was overkill for Whitetails. I pushed a pretty good buck off his bed about 50 yards in front of me, popped the safety off and busted him right through both lungs... After a very poor 150 yard blood trail, I found him 3 hours later. That Partition blew clean through him, .338" hole on both sides. Lesson learned, you can use too much gun...

Then I got called out of the blue by the FWP one winter. They asked me if I filled an Archery either sex elk tag in district 690. I said no... They told me that they were having a "game damage" late season cow only hunt. That sounded like a whole lot more fun than hunting coyotes in January, so I loaded up my crap and took off. At the time, the 260 was the only big game rifle I owned that wasn't at the gunsmiths. Day one, sunrise, we were sitting right on a rise overlooking "Farmer Bob's" haystacks. I picked out the biggest cow in the group, and double lunged her. She humped up, walked two steps and fell over dead. The shot was about 250 yards. The autopsy revealed massive carnage caused by a 140 Partition that left the muzzle around 2740 FPS. Another lesson learned... You can't shoot a big enough caliber to make up for poor marksmanship. That shot I made on the cow was textbook perfect, I friggin Aced her...

6.5BR. I could get more service life out of a barrel if I could live with a MOA gun. Like I said before, it just bums me out when a gun goes from .3's and .4's to MOA. My brother has a 260 also, just a cheapy Remington 700 stock as grama's boobs (with a trigger job) that's always been a MOA gun. The other day he told me he figures his is up to 2000 rounds or so. He says it fouls a little worse than it used too... He's got the same problem that I do, its an easy caliber to get along with and gets used year 'round. He's had his since winter of 99.

65BR,
Thanks for sorting it out, very interesting......