Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting What's the deal with all the 6.5mm?

You said that, not me.

The point is if you don't understand the simple concept of why competitive shooters use cartridges that make it easier to hit what they're shooting at in all conditions, you won't understand what is significant about being able to fire a bullet with a BC of .600 at 3000 fps

I'm hung up on the idea of using target bullets for hunting. I see it all the time, I just can't bring myself to do it.

rc: Oh...make no mistake ...I do understand completely.
You may not have meant it to sound the way it did,but that's the way it came out.

Just because I don't predicate my choice of hunting calibers and bullets based on what match shooters use,doesn't mean I have no undertstanding of "why" they use what they use.

For over 40 years I've been a member of a club dominated by match shooters,many of whom can and do compete nationally and internationally and do pretty well no matter where they go...from Perry to Quantico, Palma matches in Canada,Australia, etc....some of these guys are personal friends of many years. I know what they shoot and why.I would not want any of them shooting at me at any distance.

In the aggragate they are outstanding shots....some are hunters with some experience.But none have a lot.

Across the board, they are generally not the right people to take advise from when it comes to cartridges and bullets for BG hunting,for a host of reasons too numerous to bother with...I would a bit rather take my advise about such things from people who in the aggragate have seen thousands of BG animals killed...folks on here like Johnny B,Phil Shoemaker,JJ Hack, RinB....and a good many others I know personally with high carcass counts.My own experience does not match theirs...but I have been around a little bit myself here and there,and seen enough in the way of calibers and bullets at work, to know a 6.5 is not the last word on BG calibers.

Of the people I know who have shot a LOT of animals in varied places and continents under widely varied conditions,only one used a 6.5 of any type(John Burns).....the rest are predominantly 270,7mm and 30 caliber shooters.And by an overwhelming majority.

In general, and to be honest, I don't find a lot of the advise given out by avid match shooters particularly good advise for general purpose BG hunting.The two guys I mentioned in the post above are both very knowledgeable and skilled rifle shooters.....in the aggragate I doubt they have 20 animals between them....one killed an elk about 20 years ago in Colorado(the only one he ever shot I think)at about 550-600 yards,the longest shot he has ever made on an animal...he used a 270 Winchester that he bought from me.

I really can't take seriously any notion that someone armed with a 7/08 vs a 6.5 Creedmoor(say), is somehow severely handicapped for general BG hunting..

Nor can I accept the rather obvious implication that anyone not shooting a .600 BC bullet at 3000 fps is somehow clueless and the discussion is far over their heads,ie, we are stupid, lack experiece, and the match shooters have all the answers.......these kinds of notions are precisely among the reasons I don't listen too hard at all to match/tactical shooters when it comes to bullet/caliber choices for BG hunting across the board.

2750 with a 168 looks pretty optomistic out of the 7mm-08.

Hodgdon's reloading center shows max loads at 2650

If a .600 BC bullet drifts 1" less at 300 yards than a bullet with less efficiency, it could be the difference of putting that bullet in front of the diaphram, instead of behind it.....meaning the animal dies right there, or you go looking for it and maybe not recover it. I'm not saying 6.5's are the "world beater" of big game hunting rifles, that would be ludicrous. I'm just stating what I've seen in competiton and in the hunting fields here in the west....take it for what it's worth.

Also, I'm not suggesting that the 7-08 is superior in every way. I'm just trying to keep it real.

I definitely see some advantages of the .260 over the 7.

Me too. The advantages are minimal, and like I said, If you already have the 7, no need to change really for hunting.

If you have neither and are gonna choose however...