Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting 6.5 PRC ?

I imagine all this has been asked before, so I am sorry... BUT Wanting to go long on the cheap. Thinking about the Mossberg pred in 6.5 PRC. What powders are working for bullets 140 gr + and what BULLETS 140 gr + ?? How long is brass lasting ? Mag primers or no ? On a Mossberg or savage quality gun should I go through the break in process ? I have alot of R22 and IMR 7828 SSC and some regular cut also. I would like to gong out at 1K + before I sign my tombstone. Any help will be a help. Thanks, Ray

Ray, I have answered you on some of this 6.5prc stuff before so you must not trust what I said. I told you I'm up to 5 reloads on my Hornady brass so far. Should get at lest a couple more. I am shooting a Mossberg Predator 6.5prc and hitting my 619 yd gong with my 3-14 Leupold cds. Have not shot further yet but plan too. YMMV.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INFO. I DO APPRECIATE IT. I AM THINKING TYHERE MIGHT BE OTHER PEOPLE SHOOTING THIS AND MIGHT HAVE INFO ALSO. AGAIN, THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT. RAY.... CRAP... CAPS LOC. Powders.... bullets ??

You do know that most of your questions there is no straight answer? Too many variables....

My brass has a few firings and pockets still right, Alpha but you want cheap so disregard. See the variables?

I'm shooting a 130 VLD at 3200 with H4831sc, standard primers.

140 VLD, H1000, BR2 primers, ADG brass. Just under 3100fps. Lots of room for more speed, but it shoots teeny tiny groups out to 900yds so that's good enough. Sub 7lb rifle so hunting distances will be limited to 600 yds. I would be more likely to follow a break in process on a factory barrel then a custom barrel, more tooling marks to get rid of.

143 grain ELD-X with 58.0 grains of Retumbo is the bees knees in mine .........................just annealed after 3 firings and the Hornady brass is GTG.

Thanks, guys. YES, there are alot of variables to reloading. I figured I would need to buy new powder as I am running out of the old stuff and with all the new stuff out there asking a question might save me some time. Heck, I still have some H4895 from 1975. I have a hunting weight 280 AI that shoots 3" groups at 611 yards. This new gun is just for fun. Also, I do appreciate any and MOST all info but IF I ask a question more than once does not mean I do not trust you or your info. It means I would like to HAVE more info. It does not mean I am a retard. Thanks again and more info would be appreciated. Ray

Hornady factory loads of 143 eldx and 147eldm then reloads of 129 ABLR, 142 ABLR, 143 eldx, 130 AB, 140 Part. Most shoot less than MOA or a lot less. Mostly H1000 powder so far but will also try R26 soon. Only F210M primers.

Imr 7977 works well in my 6.5 Gap should work in the PRC equally well!

Was looking at reloading dies. What shell holder do you use for this animal >> I like Redding dies mostly ?? This deal is starting to make me sweet. Do I do the Mossberg for cheap of find a savage and spin on a 6.5 06 AI barrel. I always wanted a 6.5 06 AI. OH, the anguish ! Ray

Just buy 200 rounds of factory Hornady 147 ELDM, break in the barrel, maybe kill some stuff, and the use the brass to reload.
R26 and H1000 are your sweet spot for powders.

I would avoid Redding in this case. I started with Redding dies. They are not vented at the shoulder. I could not find a balance between the amount of lube needed to keep cases from sticking vs having so much the shoulders got oil dents. I wound up screwing up some brass, then tearing a case rim off as I reduced the lube amount. I replaced the Redding dies and shellholder with RCBS. Problems **ended**. I like Redding, but in this case the RCBS dies were markedly better and the RCBS shellholder was also a lot better making contact on more of the rim for a stronger "grip."

Regarding the 6.5 PRC overall, I was unable to get good, consistent accuracy from my 6.5 PRC, a Christensen Ridgeline. I shot it with factory 143 grain ELD-X ammo .. 1.5 - 2 MOA. I put some hundreds of rounds of handloads through it with Nosler LRABs, both 129s and 142s. I tried conventional tests, tried ladder tests. Jacked with OAL a lot. I used powders from H4831 to IMR 7828, RL 25 and 26, and Retumbo. Just no accuracy to be had at least not at the level I wanted, so I sold it. The one bright spot was the factory 147 grain ELD match ammo, however, the 147 grain ELDs were not available when I was load testing so I was unable to do any work up with them. Also, I did not try spherical powders or magnum primers. So I guess there were some "hail mary" possibilities left on the table. All in all, though, I was pretty disappointed.

Tom

Hey Tom--I have a set of Redding dies for my 6.5 GAP 4S and was getting shoulder dents also (Flattop_Johnny was doing the reloading) and he looked at the dies and said "there's no bleeder valve for oil to escape"! What is the matter with Reddington? Don't they get complaints?

WOW ON THE REDDING STUFF !! NEVER FIGURED THAT FROM REDDING. Going to look at RCBS today.
TOM... I had heard that Christensen had problems with being accurate.
Kimber7. You might be on to something there. That would get me some brass and give me time to get the dies and stuff.
LOTS OF PRESSURE JUST TO HAVE SOME FUN, HUH ?? THANKS GUYS !! Ray

I have a Christensen Ridgeline 6.5 PRC can put 5 rounds together at 100 yards you can cover them with a dime.
That's with 140 grain Berger and 127 Barnes.
I need to try Hornady ATips

I hope y'all have a blessed day.

This ^^^^^

I have the same issue with Redding dies no vent or bleeder esp on up stroke of die creates a vacuum. When I contacted Redding they said it was not needed.

$400 dollars in ammo to get some Hornady brass while burning up 200 rnds of barrel life all before starting load work up? That's too much wasted time, energy, and money for me. I'd buy some ADG brass off the bat (or Hornady if that's what you want), work up a load, and spend your time shooting it for what it's intended.

No. Use the Ammo to break in the barrel, and go kill some stuff. THEN start reloading.
Haven’t seen too many 6.5 PRCs that don’t shoot the factory Hornady 147 Ammo well.

Whatever toots your horn my friend

Have loaded THOUSANDS rounds with Redding dies. Never a problem.

Some thing wrong with lube and or how you are using it.


LC

I wish you were correct but you are not. Plain and simple, same lube, same lube pad, same everything except switching from un-vented Redding to vented RCBS dies and failure changed to success. It WAS the dies. Maybe it was just one bad set that got through quality control, don't know. I've had good luck with Redding in the past. Not this time. There is no getting around it, no excuses that change it.

Tom

I had fewer issues with all makes of dies when I got away from lubing cases with a pad. Imperial wax applied with my fingertips is what I use.

Yup. Never dented or stuck a case.

I put a bit on my fingers, then pat the tin of lube with my fingers every few cases. I twirl the neck between my fingertips, the body gets run deeper between the fingers. I stay totally off the shoulder.

I also run the case into a ceramic bead case neck lube thingy. Do thet before applying the case lube, unless you want to pick little ceramic beads off your cases.🤔

Just resized my 280 AI with Redding dies Imperial wax had to remove decapping rod to break the vacuum on the up stroke. Will gladly trade my Redding 280 AI dies for same in RCBS with a vent relief hole!!!! They stretch cases on the up stroke, less tapered
cases like the AI is where I see the most issues.

What would the decapping rod have to do with a "vacuum" on the outside of the case in the shoulder area?

You really don't know what you are doing......and KK Alaska knows less.

Both of you buy factory ammo before you blow your self up.


LC

Heres some reviews where they talk about the issue of lots of effort to get sizer button out of case neck with Redding dies, sounds like the Carbide button will help.


https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012424426/

Called Redding technical support, explained my issues with pulling sizing button through case necks on AI cartridges Tech support said the need to lube case neck insides (shoulder junction) Q tip with Redding sizing wax, on sharp shoulder AI cases. Also said to change radius on the neck button and polish same.

Redding sent me 3 case buttons which all had a different taper for my 257 AI, 35 Whelen AI and 280 AI for my Redding FL dies. Interesting the new sizing buttons had a different taper and work so much easier.

It was so difficult before have pulled the case neck off case several times. Thinking all my dies were early and did not have the neck button taper as the ones Redding sent me.

Thanks to Redding for the resolution.

h1000

Read JB's article in RifleShooter from last July.

Interesting thread, one of the nicest using die sets I've ever had were from Redding for the 338-06 with the tapered expander ball. Once fired 30-06 lubed with Imperial die sizing wax and 1 stroke down and up ready to prime and go. So you can imagine my surprise at how frigging miserable the same Redding dies in 22-250 worked trying to get the expander ball back thru the neck. Finally just got rid of them. MB

Mine is a Sauer Atacama

they finally got the 6.5 PRC chamber reamers ironed out last year or so and it’s good to go now... and of course earlier they had screwed with shoulder angle before it was released.

I’m contemplating doing a 6.5 PRC vs. the 7 SAUM I was going to build due to brass availability.

Fotis - you have any decent PD shooting up there ?

ABSOLUTELY

Nice, did you try any RL-26

I certainly did. 3080 fps and .45" or so BUT then the shortage started and worked up with RL25. Now I have 12 lbs of RL26 but loaded up the RL25 so until I run out I'll use the RL 25 I will use this load.
BTW more stable in temps than the RL 26.

While I'm a supporter of the 6.5 PRC and think it will prove to be a good round, note that the magazines don't say anything about it being a barrel burner, yet the 264 WM continues to be labeled. Both 264 & 6.5 PRC ballistics are nearly identical. I have a Sendero 264 and love it, but do wish it had a 1:8 twist for the heavier bullets. Mine will shoot 130's but not as accurately as 120's. 140 boat tails are not an option for under 1 MOA. Enjoy the PRC!

Mack284338
Just to show you I do listen, I bought the Marlin. for that price, I am VERY surprised with the gun so far. Just got it out of the box and like what I see. Ammo will be in on tuesday and away we go. Hope it shoots good. Ray

Marlin?

Yeah. As 'identical' as comparing the creedmoor to the PRC.

Apparently you have never noticed that the .264 has burns a lot more powder for relatively little added velocity about the 6.5 PRC. In fact, the .264's powder capacity, with a bullet seated, is almost 30% greater than the PRCs--and the heat of more burning powder is a MAJOR factor in barrel life.

WOOPS.... MOSSBERG.

I guess you're right that the 264 WM still has another 150fps over the PRC, which has about 200fps over the Creed. I thought I'd read that the PRC was roughly the same as 264 WM but not so. In working with my 264, I've noticed considerable differences in barrel heat depending on powders and of course charges. I migrate towards moderately slow powders rather than the super slow stuff and the barrel stays a LOT cooler. Admittedly, a 264 most of the time cannot benefit from its case capacity, but I've not seen evidence of erratic performance running charges of only 59gr.

I still find it funny how the 264 gets labeled as a barrel burner and no one talks of the 26 Nosler, 6.5-300 WM. Somehow these get a pass. The PRC is an interesting round and at some point I'll probably have one.

if you want in the game cheap, p.m. me (6.5 prc that is )....just spent my wad on a 6.5 rpm, so have a "turn key" available,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

any body got a max case length for the 6.5 PRC Ray

According to Hornady load data information, the maximum case length is 2.030" with a trim to length of 2.015".

Found it by using Google for "Hornady 6.5 PRC".

Thanks. I tried Hornady web sight, nosler, and other places

Ray 63,

Entered "Hornady 6.5 PRC load data" in a google search and got loads from Hornady for their two bullets with case dimensions on the first page just like in their loading manuals. You can print those pages for your records once you find them or save them as a pdf.