Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 6.5-06 - King of all non DG hunting calibers?

After some feedback from these forums I have locked down my no-DG hunting gun and wanted to share my observations and solicit feedback. It may just be the perfect solution for everything but rabbits and dangerous game. In other words Coyotes - Elk

The gun is a Sako 85 Hunter which I bought pre-owned at Cabelas with the original 30-06 barrel in a box and an unmarked 6.5-06 barrel in a 22.25 in length on the gun - 1:9 twist. I had it verified and stamped by a gunsmith before I shot it. The scope is a Bushnell 6500 Elite 2.5 - 16 x 50 scope Mil Dot Reticle with Sako Rings. The rifle and scope weigh 9.4 lbs. The Bushnell seemed a good value at the time for less than 600 dollars.

After much reloading I have settled on a Hornady 143 ELD X with 51.4 g RL 22, WLR Primer in 25-06 Brass necked up with Redding Dies. I am getting 2806 fps measured with a Magneto at 5500 feet elevation in 70 degrees in an indoor range. The rifle is shooting .75 to 1 in groups for the first two sets of three rounds - The Sako locking mag which I actually like carries 5 rounds a nice advantage over the 6.5 PRC and other magnums and short fat cartridges

At 8500 feet and 35 degrees, 200 yd Zero - where I hunt the federal ballistics calculator shows it will carry the minimum Colorado recommended energy of 1500 and velocity of 2000 out to 600 yds for Elk - the recoil energy is 14.62 lbs and 10fps. Perfect for me.

The rifle has excellent balance, the barrel is heavy enough to shoot 10 - 15 rounds for practice and the scope seems well made, has accurate adjustments, parallax to 10 yds and seems to have better glass than my Nightforce NXS (which does have better turrets and seems more durable) the scope also has a no questions lifetime transferable warranty. The Hornady bullets are inexpensive, easy to load and while I have not verified, are supposed to be deadly at almost all hunting ranges. The brass can be easily made from 25-06, 30-06 and 270 - the most plentiful brass on earth.

The 6-5-06 has significantly more velocity than the much celebrated 6.5 CM, perfect recoil, and is very close to the new 6.5 prc (in the same sized barrels) the hornady ammo lists 2960 in their factory PrC ELD-X load. I imagine my exact load would easily make 2860 in a 24 in barrel. The load appears to be just as accurate as the much hyped new 6.5's and I do not think it is an overbore, but this is subjective.

I wish the scope had MOA hash marks on the reticle to match the turrets instead of mil dots, and I really like illumination which this one does not have although the glass is so bright I have great visibility in the before and after sunrise/sunset realm when the Elk are most active. I am thinking about getting Nikon Laserforce Bino's and Kenton Custom turrets to expedite the shot. For the next barrel I am considering a 24" for more velocity from Mark Chanlynn who has an excellent reputation and is local to me here in Longmont Colorado. I would probably move to a 1:8 twist in the new barrel as it is supposed to be optimal for larger bullets over 130 although perhaps I should not fix something that aint broken.

I would appreciate opinions in this. I was never able to get the 140 Nosler AB's to group. I am considering either a Swift 120 A frame or Nosler 130 AB for smaller game although I like one powder, one bullet for everything and might just let it be.

I would love to hear feedback on this project from others.

Sounds like a winner. I'm very happy with my CZ 550 American in 6.5x55, which is very accurate.

Does every Walmart that carries Ammo sell them? Then what do you do If you drove across 4 states to hunt and something happened to your ammo. Just a thought.

My 6.5-06 has an 18" barrel and gets 140 Berger VLDs going around 2850 fps using RL26. Not sure I would claim it is the greatest cartridge known to man kind, but I do like it a lot. Mine is a 8 twist.

Never lost my ammo but it would be a problem if you did.

Been hunting for 60 years, never forgot my ammo!! Just a thought!

I truly understand why any hunter wants to create or use something unique, we all do in our own way. What makes a wildcat hard to sell is where the results already exist such as a 7x57 which will already send a 150gn bullet at 2800fps and offer a decent selection of bullet designs in that weight as well as offer an additional 25 grains at the same velocity many .30/06 factory cartridges propel a 180 grainer.

The original purpose of a wild cat cartridge was to fill a gap. Those days are gone.

Having said that, please ignore everything I wrote and enjoy your rifle. It will do everything you planned for it.
John

It's a great round as is the AI version, which gets you another 100 fps. Mine gets 3050 easily with 140's and a 24" barrel.

My only 6.5MM shoots only Round Nose Bullets in 156 and 160 grain weights. It shoots only 2250 FPS out the muzzle.

But it works ok.
2018 #1 Ant. Buck by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep]

What does it do that a 7mm-08 won’t?




P

I like the 120 Barnes TTSX in my 6.5-06 and Creedmoors. Very accurate, hammers deer and pigs. I killed these four today and yesterday. All dead right there.

Thinking about setting up Daughter #1 with a 6.5-06AI for just that purpose. A .280AI and 7mm RM are the other leading contenders. My 6.5-06AI is a heavy barrel and I'd love to have a sporter-weight.



.25-06 brass is what I use as well - run it through the 6.5-06AI die to size the neck and fireform. Fireform loads are a Hornady max charge of H4831SC for the 6.5-06 with a 140g A-MAX. WW brass and CCI 200 primer for 2760fps in my 1-8 twist, 24" barrel.

Hunting loads are a 130g Swift Scirocco II at 3161fps using IMR 7828SSC. Given a MPBR zero for a 6" circle (277 yd zero, 328 yd MPBR), it is down only 41.3" at 600 with 13.4" drift at 10mph xwind and 2463fps/1751fpe retained.

By contrast, a 7mm RM/150g Nosler LRAB @ 3200fps is down 40.5" with 2466fps/2026fpe retained. A 6" MPBR yields a 279 yd zero and 329 yd MPBR. Drift with a 10mph xwind is almost identical at 13.8"

For a mild-shooting, hard-hitting cartridge, the 6.5-06AI is hard to beat and the standard 6.5-06 isn't far behind.at 3090fps with a 24" barrel (Hodgdon data for the 130g Scirocco II).



One advantage of the AI form is the .25-06 stamped cartridges fire-formed to 6.5-06AI cannot be loaded in a .25-06 chamber. THat, more than any other, is why I went AI. Don't want someone trying that after I'm gone.

If I was building another 6.5 for myself, a standard 6.5-06 would be a great choice, but I'd probably go AI again for the same reason stated above. Like you say, coyotes to elk. And I'd add a few p-dogs, too.

I was bored one day so I studied sierras reloading book.

Man what a phone book that is!

Anyways looks like the 25/06 was ballistic wise a superior non belted magnum of them all.

Me thinks the 6.5 06 might be a wee bit better........but the ammo.......I have forgot the ammo .

Guyotrd, it sounds like you have a winner there. Shoot the heck out of the rifle before you rebarrel it. You might like it fine the way it is. I have mucked up more than one perfectly good rifle by trying to improve it. I have lots of rifles, but the one I took to Colorado in November was a "beater" Sears Model 53 in 30-06 I bought from a friend who is too old to hunt any more.

Marty

guyotrd,

Interesting.

I have been a semi-loony 6.5 fan for a while. Have owned and hunted with them in cartridges from the 6.5x54 Mannlicher-Schoenauer to 26 Nosler, and right now have eight 6.5 rifles in seven chamberings in the same range (two are 6.5x55's). Have also owned and hunted with a bunch of others, including a custom 6.5-06 with a 26" barrel. It's best load used various 140's with a charge of H1000 a grain over the pressure-tested max listed in Hodgdon's data, which got around 2950 fps.

Using the common 25-30 fps per inch of barrel length, that works out to just about what you're getting--which is about 50 fps faster than the velocity I'm getting from the 22" barrel of my present 6.5 Creedmoor, with Sierra's max published maximum charge of IMR4451 and the 143-grain ELD-X. Maybe my 6.5 Creedmoor has a "fast" barrel, or maybe many new powders have been designed around the incredibly successful 6.5 Creedmoor. But there it is.

Whether the 6.5-06 is the greatest all-around non-dangerous game cartridge depends on your perspective, but in my experience a bunch of rounds would qualify., even the ho-hum .308 Winchester. Have now seen the 6.5 Creedmoor take big game from pronghorns to big elk quite handily, with a variety of bullets. Have also seen the same thing with other cartridges, including the .308 and even the .375 H&H.

What all this boils down to is just about every rifle loonies like to think they've found the "perfect" cartridge, for at least one year, or maybe 6 months. In fact that quest defines "rifle loony." As a result, we keep trying different cartridges, apparently in the hope that one will finally change our life and end the search. So far I've yet to see a real rifle loony stick to their latest perfect choice. In fact, based on the evidence of the Campfire Classifieds, many move on to something else before they ever hunt (or even fire) with their previous choice.

Good luck with your perfect non-dangerous big game rifle!

As has been said:

The world is full of all-around cartridges... all-around hunters are harder to find.

Shoot a 140 grain bullet with a .600+ BC.

I know Walmart is where I shop for all my guns, ammo and reloading needs! Said no one.

Some don’t move on, they wake up one day and realize they own a bunch of rifles. I have a journal to keep straight which ones are sighted in, need sighting in, and rifles that need worked on. It’s hell to be a rifle looney!

Which is significant past 600 yards, but how often is that an issue?