Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 6mm br vs 6.5 creedmoor to 300 yards?

I'm relatively new to precision shooting and reloading. A few years ago I rebarreled a savage 12fvss 308 win to 6.5 creedmoor. My goal was to develop a load that would shoot .5" 5 shot groups at 100 yards and than try my hand at long range target shooting. Through lots of trial and error and help from fellow campfire members I improved my reloading skills and got to my .5" goal. As much as I had dreams of long range shooting it just hasn't happened and 300 yards is the farthest I've shot.
I have close to 2000rds down my barrel now and I'm thinking of rebarreling again in the not to distant future. I'm thinking about giving the 6mm br a try. I've read that flat base bullets can be more forgiving than boat tails at shorter ranges. I see that many shooters have had good luck with the Berger 80gr FB bullet. The other thing I like about the 6mm br is the availability of Lapua brass. I'm thinking about starting with Lapua brass, CCI br4 primer, IMR 8208xbr powder and Berger 80gr FB bullet.
In general is the 6mm br with FB bullets a better choice for 300 yards and under or should I stick with the CM and BT bullets and continue to tinker. I don't compete but I would like to continue developing my shooting and reloading skills and shoot the smallest groups I can.

If you have a supply of 6.5mm bullets and like the Lapua brass, why do't you simply barrel to 6.5x47 Lapua?

Alan

I recently built a 6br sporter on a 722 and my only regret is not building one sooner. It's the only sporter I have that genuinely approaches bench-rest accuracy. The low recoil, low powder charge, and ability for longer shot strings before overheating the barrel has me grabbing it almost every time I go shoot.

Even though you're not looking to shoot long range with it, I'd still recommend that you get a faster-twist barrel. I used a #3, 8.5 twisted Krieger with the .236 bore and it lets me shoot anything from a 70 grain TNT Speer (great, cheap benchrest style bullet for short range) to the 95 SMK's I most often shoot with it.

If you enjoy tinkering, tweaking, and getting that last bit of accuracy it might disappoint you as .5 moa takes almost no work. You can essentially take a case from the blue box, seat a CCI 450, charge, seat a bullet and shoot little groups. 6mmBR.com, accurate shooter, or whatever the site's called has many loads that work--I used the 8208 for lighter bullets, and RL 15 for heavier. I also use a Redding S die with a .266 bushing (actually chokes it down to .265) which gives it about .003" neck tension.

Thoroughly enjoyable chambering.

I would build a 6XC rather than the 6BR,but thats me.What ever floats your boat!!!

If you're limited to 300 yards I don't think you can do better than the 6BR when it comes to barrel life, accuracy and component availability. The 6XC is a great round if you need punch downrange, but, within 300 yards, the added velocity (and concomitant decrease in barrel life) might not be an advantage worth having.

If you're limited to 300 yards I don't understand why you didn't just stay with a 308.....provided the recoil isn't messing up groups.

I've had el-cheapo factory 308's do under a half inch five shot groups with uniform bulk brass and easily obtainable bullets from Hornady, Sierra and Nosler.

I hear some get the same results without even reloading....

I've seen a few bone stock rifles that can shoot amazingly well. My stock savage 308 could shoot .5" 5 shot groups at 100 yards with factory ammunition too but not very consistently. I don't compete but I enjoy shooting the smallest groups I can. I did a search of short to mid range benchrest shooter and see that the vast majority of them use 6mmPPC or 6mm benchrest. There must be something to that. My aftermarket 6.5 creedmoor barrel with hand loads can shoot .5" very consistently but I'm now hoping to build a rifle that will shoot well under .5". The more I look into the 6mmBR the more I like it.

If I was asked to build a 300 meter rifle, I would have a tough time recommending anything but a 6BR. It just works. My own dedicated 300 M "F" classer is a 308 but only because I wanted to use something other than a BR! I also have a BR and it is so much easier to shoot it feels like cheating. GD