Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Which 6.5 and why?

I'm thinking of building me a 6.5 - something or other. I'm tossing out the question here to get some feedback/ suggestions / education / information to help me decide which one.

My goals are:

-Consistent 500 and in shooter.
-Occasional target and hunting out further - hunting to around 700 and target out to 1000 (further if I can find a place to shoot that far)
-cases fairly easy to find off the shelf or to make from off the shelf brass
-Can handle a wide variety of bullet styles
-Built on a 700 or Mauser long action (because I have those already)
-muzzle velocity of 3000 or slightly more with a 140 gr
- sporter-weight barrel

What I'd like to find out is:

- what cartridge and why?
- barrel length
- anything else I should be thinking of in regards to the 6.5 cartridges.

Thanks in advance.

I like the 264WM and have a Remington 721 with a 30" barrel. I have reached 3261fps with a Woodleigh 160gr PPSN so this will put you in the velocity range you want. A 26" barrel also works will with the 264WM, Most will say that barrel life is a issue with the 264 but it depends a lot on how you shoot. I shoot 85gr HP, 95gr Vmax, 100gr HP, 100gr Ballistic tip, 130gr VLD and the 160gr PPSN so there is a wide range of bullets that you can experiment with. There are a lot of 6.5's out there that will work.

Assuming your long actions are '06 bolt face, I'd go 6.5-06, or if you hate case trimming enough, the Ackley version of the same. One pass through the 6.5-06 die with a .270 case and you're done. 8" twist, of course…

John

26 Nos, 26" Shilen Match.

Because it be fast...

And easy to load for using ultra slow powders, US-869 the best so far.

I have a 6.5x55, 98 FN Mauser/23" Shilen and a 6.5-284 M-70/26" Krieger. These are both great guns and I like them a lot.

Because the 26 Nos is my latest, it's the one I'm working with currently. And, the one I'm working with at he moment is always my "favorite".

DF

+1. I was going to say .260 Rem until you included 1,000 yards and the long action. You'll get an extra 100 fps with the AI if you want it.

Why not a 6.5/284?

Agreed. The clear winner once you said long action, IMO.

I obviously like the 6.5-284. The 6.5-'06 would probably feed smoother than the 6.5-284 without tweaking the rails and follower, doing some smith work on the action. That said, it's not that big a deal to have a LA smoothly feeding the fatter 6.5-284 round.

DF

I had someone to suggest a 6.5x257AI to me once but I haven't tried it yet.

You're 3rd requirement is the main reason.

the 6.5-.280AI comes quite close to the capacity & performance of the 6.5 GAP/SAUM with a longer neck to help mitigate throat erosion.

There's zero practical difference between the powder capacity of .270 and .280 cases, in fact it's so small a difference in the weight of brass can cause some overlap. Also, one of his requirements is fairly easy to get brass.

My vote would be for the 6.5/.270, whether standard or AI. There's no ballistic difference between it and the 6.5-06 or 6.5/.280, but the neck's the longest of any, reducing throat erosion. And you can just run .270 brass into the sizer and not have to trim off a bunch, as you do with the 6.5/06.

Off-the-shelf brass is hideously expensive and .284 Win. brass can be hard to find.

my 260AI and 6.5-06's run pretty close in speeds. either will do what you want, as will the x47 and creed.....some will do it faster, some will do it longer....

a rig that doesn't crack a throat at 100 rounds is a bonus. It will be a coin toss between more math or more frequent barrel swapping.

If you likes Lapua brass you pays the price...

And you don't have to find .284 brass, just order 6.5-284 brass.

If headstamps don't matter and you aren't easily embarrassed, JB's 6.5-270 solution sounds good. That could be a creative use for .270 brass...

DF

Ahhhh, that would be the "off-the-shelf" brass I mentioned, correct?

And it's all expensive, not just Lapua. Hornady, Nosler, Norma, all well over $1/case.

Makes sense.

I'm just asking...never owned any of them.

Lots of good options. The Big 26 would sure be fun but it would be expensive to feed.

Yep.

I at one time thought 6.5-284 brass was expensive.

I at one time complained about Wby. brass prices, even went to the trouble to get a CH4D die to swage .25-06 W/W cases costing fifty cents into .240 Wby brass, costing a buck fifty. Now, I can't find fifty cent W/W .25-06 brass. I get the feeling when that brass eventually resurfaces, it won't be fifty cents any longer.

Then, I became interested in the 26 Nos. Even at SPS blem prices that brass is over two bucks a copy. But, it's very concentric, very high quality, already prepped, etc. etc....

At least that's what I keep telling myself.

So, I guess it's all relative...

DF

It really doesn't matter what you thought was expensive or what I think is expensive. Bob asked the question, I gave an answer. It's just one factor out of many for the OP to consider in making his choice.