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

You asked, I answered.

The 6.5-06 I shoot is on a Ruger Hawkeye action with an E.R. Shaw stainless 24" light sporter weight Bbl. 1/8 twist. It is deadly accurate using the Barnes 120gr TSX @ 3277 fps & IMR 4350 powder. Sighted 1 1/2" high at 100yds puts it dead on at 225yds. I live & shoot at an elevation of 7630 here in SW Colorado. '. It will drive these bullets completely thru elk. I have my own range & have shot this load out to 400 measured yds with no problem. It gets there right now. Have shot beyond that range at rocks but have not measured the range. It has to be well beyond 500. This rifle will drive 140gr bullets to 2950 fps with no strain according to my chronograph. I use primarily once fired 25-06 brass. Using 270 works but requires an extra step to trim to length.This cartridge comes in between the 260Rem/6.5CM & the 264 mag. It is a delight to shoot. Same velocity as the 6.5PRC at a fraction of the cost. Unlimited inexpensive once fired brass which is what I use. Will take heavy big game with moderate recoil. Much more enjoyable than my heavier cal rifle & takes the same game. As to my 30-06 & 338 mag they have set for years with out being shot. Heavy recoil, no thank you any more.

Great feedback - and i suppose i am a rifle loon

On walmart , i guess i could forget my ammo as i approach 58 but i might also forget my gun, i just sold my 338 wm and 300 wsm and am having my a custom built in 6.5 cm with the proceeds, not because i might forget ammo but when i am too lazy to reload i can buy hornady awesome ammo for 32 a box,

The 6.5 cm gives all the joy of the swede plus some with cheap and available bullets and ammo and is a pleasure on long sessions on the range

What that 6.5-06 gives me over the cm on the 400 yd shots on elk is a little more margin for misreading the wind or a rushed shot

I plan on a pig hunt this summer in texas and my son and i will shoot the 6.5s if i can talk him out of his ar 15 223

We are used to freezing on 3rd and 4th season in the high country every year so texas will be nice

I kill all kinds stuff with my 7mm-08. I can find ammo in lots of stores. Enjoy your 6.5-06!

Since having my brain infected by MD's writings I own a 257 Roberts, 7x57 and a 6.5x55. I reload for all three and keep one of the cheap Allen brand elastic cartridge holders on both of the Ruger stocks (257 UL and 6.5x55 Hawkeye African) with nine rounds of my hunting loads. The CZ 550 in 7x57 has a Monte Carlo stock so two boxes of reloads are always stored in the dedicated rifle case pocket for that rig. Haven't forgotten ammo through the years but take the mentioned precautions just in case.

Well actually...there are quite a few guys that say that. Most of them shoot plastic stocked rifles in common chamberings, probably have "blister pack" Nikon on top of it.

How crude...now if Walmart would start stocking GOOD 8x57is ammo at a better proce than Graf's...

6.5-06, 7mm-08, 6.5 Creedmoor, 270 Winchester, 280 Remington, at the end of the day it doesn't really matter. Something to type about in the wee hours of the morning while a pork shoulder gets finished up is about it.

I happen to like my lefthanded McMillan Compact in edge, the black teflon coated metal, the #2 Hart has been stellar and it has a nice trigger. If it was chambered in 280 Remington I'd be talking about how great 180 Scenars are at 2700 fps. But since it is a 6.5-06, I'll wax on about the greatness of 140 vlds. I find I am worrying less about rifles and more about how many hunts I can squeeze in.

At least I am very sure my 6.5x47 Lapua is far better than any 6.5 Creedmoor or 7mm-08. Those other two don't come close. You know, case design and all that.

Yes, efficiency and inherent accuracy in case design are what really matters.

That, and a pill with high SD.

Well said, especially the part about getting more hunting in!

At the end of the day I like shooting most everything and honestly I don’t feel like anything I’ve ever carried really limited me much either.

y thoughts exactly Kurt. I'm waaay more about trips than I am wares, always have been.

I do like my 6.5 ai, never have forgot my ammo.... Grin

I may be a kill-joy and I am not trying to create a conflict, but I do always try to interject truth and facts into the discussion.
Here are some facts that most of the worshipers of the demi-god called "BC" seem to be unaware of.

If we look at a BC of about .480 (which would be many of the bullets you can fire from a, 30-06 some of the good 7MMs or some of the flat base 270s) and we start that bullet out at 2900 FPS with a zero at 300 yards and we track it's trajectory out to 900 yards we will find the impact is 24 feet low if we held the cross-hair dead on that 900 yard target.

If we look at a BC of about .600 (like some of the better 6.5 MM bullets) and we start that bullet out at 2900 FPS (which a 6.5-06 may do and a 264 Win Mag can do with no problem) with a zero at 300 yards and we track it's trajectory out to 900 yards we will find the impact is 20.5 feet low if we held the cross-hair dead on.

So at 900 yards the difference is 3.5 feet. 42 inches. That's it and that's all. If we look at the highest of the 30 cals, 7mms and the 270s for BC, we get numbers in the .49 to .525 range and that makes for a difference at 900 yards of only about 2 feet 3 inches. 27 inches! That's all! (but note, some 270 Winchesters , all 270 Weatherbys and Short mags, and the long barreled 30-06s, as well as the 300 mags and the 7MM Mag can all drive their bullets faster then most of the new 6.5MM shells can, so at 900 yards the difference would be even less then those I show here)

If we are speaking about hunting (or combat sniping) we have to acknowledge that we have no advantage at all, of one rifle or cartridge over any other, if you can't make a 1st round hit from a cold bore. That means if we had a 30-06 with 1/3 MOA capability and a '6.5anything' with a 1/3 MOA capability, both can hold a group at 900 that will get the job done. If we zeroed both rifles spot on at 900 yards and asked any reader here to make a 1st shot cold-bore hit 100% of the time on an 8" target with no misses ever, even with all conditions known, on a groomed field, with the exact distance known and no tricky angles and no tricky wind patterns, what percentage of us can do it?

So if you can't do that 100% of the time you have no ethical reason to try it on an un-wounded game animal.

If you are in the small percent of men or women who can hold that well, and break the sear that precisely, at that range, 100% of the time, you have the skill to do it with any round or rifle accurate enough to put 100% of it's shots into 8" at 900 yards, so BC is not really anything to worry about in the 1st place. At lest not the difference in BCs from the standard 30-06, 7MM or 270, as compared to the new super-slick 6.5 MMs.
We are not talking about comparing a 150 grain flat nose 30-30 to a .600 BC here------ or some pistol bullet.

If you can hold well enough to make a hit you can hold it.

If you can't don't shoot, even if you could miss with a round that shot 2 feet flatter.

It's just a large load of salesmanship as a rule.

Is the 6.5-06 a real good tool for hunting?
Yes!

Just like MANY other rounds are too.
A better question is "are you the "king of all non-dangerous game shooters"?

This is 98% about the shooter and 2% about the tool he is carrying.

I'm a yuge 25/06 fan myself, but would be more than happy to slum a 6.5 version.

Not trying to create conflict here, but since when did pontificating about your opinions become "truth and facts"?

Szihn, very good post. Few hunters should even be thinking about extended range shooting at BG. I hunt in Utah on a CWMU ranch and we have a very strict policy, if you wound an animal, however slightly, that is not recovered you are done hunting. Period. Therefore, we have few hunters willing to take ify shots.

Roger.

Allow me to rephrase:

What will the 6.5-06 do that a 7mm-08 won’t, using less powder, that is significant inside of 500 yards?




P

If you like it, mission accomplished. Anything you do or buy will be picked at and criticized here by the disgruntled, envious, and other varieties of jackholes. For maximum enjoyment, keep it to yourself, go forth and slay.

Sounds like a nice one. Enjoy.

I'm not what most consider a loonie ,but I do have more than 2-3 in my safe.Every one has their favorites but to say any one caliber/chambering is the perfect one I have to run the BS flag up.It might be perfect for that one individual,but with a little shopping around and experience,that same person might find another just as perfect.

I have killed elk, and more than a few, with .308, 7 Rem Mag, 7mm Weatherby mag, 44 mag, 50 cal muzzle loader, 30-06, 30-30,probably a few I have forgotten and most of them with varying bullet weights. From 10 yards to 400 yards or so. I do hunt deer and antelope with a 6.5 Swede and .243.I could probably kill elk with them,as others do.

I can't say I have seen any difference in the killing ability of any and I could pickup any of them and go out and kill elk,deer, antelope., but realizing a few of them have distance parameters

What will the 7-08 do that a 6.5 Creedmore, .260 Remington, or Swede won't, using a lighter bullet with less recoil, that is significant inside of 500 yards?

That would have been my answer as well...

Cartridges are more alike than different, and most are equal inside 500 yards on most game.

I wish the 6.5-06 of been a factory round but its not, and thats the number one reason I would not have it or any other wildcat because if you fly and a bag with your ammo does not show up you will be looking for a different rifle. I also don't think there is magic in the 6.5 bullet and I have been hunting with a .264 Win Mag for the past 30 plus years. Do I think it's good yes but not magic.
If I was really wanting a 6.5-06 performance I would buy a .270 Win. rifle and I doubt you can tell a difference in the field between the two.
Why do I say this, I sold my .270 Win because it jammed one day and lost confidence in it and was young and thought I needed a Magnum and in 30 plus years there has never once been a shot I would not of taken game that I could not of done with a .270 Win.
Now if you want something thats just different thats ok too, but just know for 99.9% of your hunting there will be little difference in these two, paper ballistic does not kill game but good shooting does.
Good Hunting
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