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

The OP specified 600 yards, so why the 500 yard restriction? Why not limit it to 400 yards, or even 300? And why limit it to 300 when a "good" hunter could "get closer"?

Trying to justify any cartridge as the 'best' or 'king' or some other pinnacle superlative is a fool's game as it relies on judgement calls based on specific criteria that vary from person to person and situation to situation.

I like a variety of cartridges in the 25 to 30 caliber range. Some excel at one thing, others at other things. My .257 Roberts is a superb choice for long range, low volume varminting, much more so IMHO than my 7mm RM - but the 7mm RM is an easy choice when it comes to elk. My .30's are nice but to match the trajectory and wind drift of my 6.5-06AI you have to get into much heavier bullets and a lot more recoil.

Over the last few days I ran the numbers for a bunch of different cartridges and loads and came up with several that stood out, using 600 yards with drop, drift and retained velocity and energy - along with recoil and component availability - as the criteria of interest. Factory ammo and rifle availability were secondary as the plan is to reload and, if necessary, rebarrel and/or restock. The goal was to help select cartridge that would be suited for Daughter #1 for elk and down that would provide more reach than her current .308 Win load. Her hubby and I handload, she does not. She is petite and recoil sensitive so a fairly lightweight rifle and relatively light recoil were important.

Using 7000 feet above sea level and MPBR zeroes for a 6" target, 10mph xwind, the loads below were the most interesting. Daughter's current .308 Win load is listed first for comparison.

.308 Win / 130g TTSX @ 3045fps (Daughter's current .308 Win load)
600yds = -57.4", 1929fps, 1074fpe, 26.7" drift

7mm RM / 150g Long Range AB @ 3200fps
600 yds = -41.2", 2427fps, 1961fpe, 14.7" drift

6.5-06AI / 130g Scirocco II @ 3161fps (my 6.5-06AI load)
600yds = -41.9", 2425fps, 1697fpe, 14.2" drift

6.5 PRC / 130g Scirocco II @ 3050fps
600yds = -46.6", 2331fps, 1568fpe, 14.9" drift

.280AI / 162g ELD-X @ 3000fps
600yds = -47.3", 2350fps, 1987fpe, 13.7" drift

.280AI / 168g Long Range AB @ 2950fps
600yds = -49.9", 2294fps, 1963fpe, 14.4" drift

.270 Win / 150g Long Range AB @ 2850fps
600yds = -55.7", 2183fps, 1587fpe, 16.0" drift

I was leaning toward finding a lefty Savage and rebarreling to 6.5-06AI or 6.5PRC. Finding a lefty 7mm RM or .280AI would also have been acceptable. What I found was a lefty Remington M700 of 1975 vintage, chambered for .270 Win. With the 150g LRAB loaded to 2850fps it does what I was looking for with a hair under a calculated 18 ft-lbs recoil. Her current .308 load is at 15.8 ft-lbs but in terms of retained energy (1500 ft-lbs) the .270 will do at 655 yards what the .308 will do at 395.

Nosler offers the 150g LRAB in .270 Win factory ammo, but we plan to reload. If for some reason the rifle doesn't shoot, it will get a new barrel - possibly in 6.5-06AI or .280AI to take advantage of the wider bullet selection for those calibers.

Is the 6.5 the 'king'? Depends.

It means some will shoot anything else, to keep from shooting a frigging 270..... If it ain't clear now, ask Ingwe.

Or you could rebarrel to a faster-twist 270....the 6.5-06 is never going to beat the 270 with like bullets, loaded to same pressure.

There is a nice Remington 700 in the classifieds, a 6.5-06

Damn that's nice.

The 'problem' with the .270 is the selection of high BC bullets is not as wide as with the 6.5 and 28 calibers and, with the notable exception of the Nosler 150g LRAB, the .27 bullets seem to have lower B.C. values than the 6.5 and 28 caliber options. Particularly for bullets I consider best suited for game (read no thin-skinned bullets);

Oh, that makes it clearer for me.

As I have aged, taking the path of least, or at least lesser, resistance makes more sense to me now than it did in my youth.

Perhaps this is a "cool" verses "practical" situation. I shoot a couple of rifles chambered in 256 Newton, a cartridge that has a high "cool" factor and a very low "practical" factor.

None of my lever guns have a high 'practical' factor for my hunting needs. .22LR. .44 Mag, .30-30, .375 Win, .45-70. Love to shoot them all, though. Their 'fun' factor far outweighs the low 'practical' factor.



Still scratching my head as to why I have 3 AR-type rifles, .223/5.56, .300BLK and .308 Win. Hate chasing brass, hate the ergos. And why do I have so many handguns? The AR's are practical if civilization as we know it today collapses, the semi-auto handguns are for small game (.22's) and defense and the revolvers mostly for home defense and fun. Guess that is good enough reason.

You might never forget to pack you ammo for an out of state hunting trip, but I have loaned my spare rifle to guys that did twice.

One guy had traveled from OH to the high plains of eastern CO and when he was unpacking at the motel, he discovered that he didn't have any 6.5x55 ammo and there was none to be found anywhere he called closer than a six hour round trip away. He was all in dither about it, so to calm him down, I loaned him my S&W C in 30-06 and he punched his tag somewhere around Wray the next afternoon. It is a situation that probably doesn't happen often, but it does happen on occasion and having the option to buy common factory ammo when it does is a real benefit.

Of the 5 cartridges that you shoot in lever guns, I would categorize only the 375 as being impractical, because of the lack of factory ammo and components. There are few more practical cartridges than the 30-30 and few better if it used within its performance envelope.

Long ago I started taking two rifles when the distances were measured in hours.

That doesn't help, though, if you forget to pack any ammo and have oddball chamberings.


Got to camp one year and discovered that since I had swapped one of the rifles at the last minute I had .257 Roberts ammo for my .45-70. Fortunately, the other rifle and ammo were good to go.

I think the slow-twist 270 is slowly changing, as it is with every other popular caliber. You are correct that the "tougher" high-BC bullets are fairly limited in the 270 right now, but still, a faster twist isn't going to "hurt" anything, and a specific throat on a rebarrel would likely give you the accuracy you are after with a specific bullet. That was all I was getting at. No one is going to force you to shoot "target" bullets at elk. I understand it is a religious thing with you....

When I pack for a trip, I start with.......

Tags

Guns

Ammo

Money

Everything else........

I agree a faster twist won't hurt anything, but it won't improve current bullet selection either.

As to 'target' bullets, my preference is practical based on experience and the ranges at which I typically shoot (all under 500 yards with all but 3 or 4 under 350).

Yeah, ol Rupert does look princely, reminds me of the prince in "Braveheart."

I'm a believer in check-lists. More than one private pilot has killed himself and his passengers by failing to use a pre-flight check-list and forgetting to turn on the pitot tube and/or carburetor heat when required.

This is a fabulous cartridge.

I have a nice 6.5/06 built on a Mark X action I need to pass along to somebody. It is very accurate with <100 round count on a 26 inch barrel. I built and broke it in about 8 years ago, then got distracted by other things. I'd probably sell it for a little more than I've got into the barrel, because most people won't like the stock, and there are some flaws in the blue.

You aren't likely getting all the BC out of the 150 LRAB now, with a 1:10 at 7K and 2850fps. And why the concern with 600 if all the shots are closer? Strange.

all calibers and all the different cartridges are great to shoot and hunt with and I also use plenty different loony stuff, but to be honest just the lowly 30-06 will still do it all just fine.

Very interesting campfire conversation here - and I am covetous of Huntsman22's 6.5 PRC build. I posted this to share my excitement over my new build and put a question mark in the title because I do not definitively state the 6.5-06 is the King but enjoy the debate, learning more about this great hobby in this forum and it is certainly an overlooked cartridge. Everyone is drawn to this sport for different reasons and none are invalid as long as enjoyment is derived. I personally like building the ammo, selecting the right rifle, cartridge, bullet and scope - leading to the challenge of taking difficult game in conditions that can be quite demanding.

I started building this rifle because I was shooting hundreds of rounds a year at the range with my 300WSM to practice for the annual Elk hunt in the mountains where over the last 4 years the animals/shots have been between 225yds and 430yds, (except the year we only had cow tags and a big bull walked close enough in dark timber where if I had a bayonet on my rifle I might have killed him). I think I damaged my right shoulder and was getting tired of the recoil hence the need for something lighter. I inquired about having the 300WSM Sako converted to a 6.5 PRC which probably is a better Elk 6.5 for these long shots - but the magazine was just a very small amount too short.

I observed when I first got the rifle that the ballistics were very close to the 270 only with better BC's, less recoil and I like the 6.5 mystique. Having a requirement of such long shots on big animals in harsh conditions and the desire for a great deal of practice with my older shoulder limits the choices somewhat for me.

The very first time both my son and I punched our Elk tags were on the 4th day of freezing all day with no animals sighted, when on the last day of the hunt, late in the afternoon before going home empty handed and when it had warmed up a bit - a herd of about 15 came out of the timber where the guide chased them out, running at full speed in a valley about 40 yds below the perch we were on and 240 yds horizontal distance. I called out the last one was mine and for my son to take the second to last. I had my 300 WSM and my son had the 7Mag I gave him, A hale of bullets erupted and both of us emptied our 3 rounds in the magazine and he was fast enough to get a 4th reloaded and shot. He put two in the shoulder of his cow and I had one in the shoulder and one in the back hind quarter of mine. We were shooting Partitions and did not even know we both got one until we climbed down the cliff face and found them both in the tall grass about 30 yds apart. While we were butchering them the guide neglected to tie his horse up and the horse ran off - we tried to approach him but he kept putting more distance on us and finally disappeared. It was about 30 minutes before sunset and we were about 5 miles from camp in real extreme country. Fortunately when we got back to where our horses were tied up the guides horse had returned there instead of heading back to the base camp - so none of us had to walk out. This was one of the best days of my life - sharing this experience with my son.

I understand that 6.5 CM's are killing Elk all the time but the long and sometimes rushed shots in the wind we have had experience with, still have me doubting if the 6.5 is best for these conditions. It seems like the conversation in general has migrated to very long shots and BC's. I am relatively new to hunting Elk and intuitively it seems that I should be thinking about Taylor knockdown power and massive energy transfer like what a 300 or 338 gives to make sure the animal gets the ethical kill it deserves when the shot is not perfect. I will try out the 6.5-06 next October then decide based on the results, whether to put a second barrel on my 6.5 CM switch in 7 SAUM, 7 WSM or back to 300 WSM. Perhaps practice all year in with the Creedmoor and then put a Proof Carbon for the bigger caliber (save weight), sight it in, take a dozen shots and take it on the hunt. I have posted pictures of our great day with both the animals.