Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles HEY YOU 6.5 PRC HUNTERS

Is the 6.5 PRC here to stay and is it a death ray on big game? Looking for testimonials from those with real life experience. What bullets perform well for you? What powders have you reloaders found to work best?

If you don't have a 6.5 PRC is this a hunting cartridge your considering?

Thanks

Gave my Tikka Roughtec to my son, now I've acquired a Sauer 100 Veil and am about to start load development. Thinking about starting with a 139 Scenar and RL26 or Retumbo.

Well, my T3x 6.5PRC puts nice holes in paper…but I carried it for a total of about 8 days in NY and PA combined, but never saw anything but ultra dinks! Dink bucks and small yearling does, none of which I was interested in taking. I’ll have to get back to ya on the killing results, but it shoots great and carries quite well. Think it’s here to stay though…mine is anyway. 😎

I've yet to come across a cartridge that's killed a damn thing. Bullets, yes. cartridge, no.

I've used the 6.5 PRC once. At the last minute when the distance was long-ish, I swapped my CM for my hunting partner's PRC. The 143 grain ELD-X factory round put the full size cow elk down out beyond 460 yards. No fuss, no drama.

The rifle was a CA Ridgeline. Nice rifle.

If I didn't already have a CM chambered rifle that I'm fine with, I'd consider the PRC, though that one shot I fired will likely never reoccur again. Not on big game anyways.

Makes a lot of sense Puddle, At 300 yards and closer I see no need for more than a 6.5 creedmoor

A good friend of mine has a 6.5X284 and shot his cow elk at 450 yards with a 153 a tip this hunting season. The exit hole was around 4" which I felt was rather impressive. Its a sample of 1 that I know of so I'll be very curious to see if the results are duplicated reliably


Trystan

Got a mauser m18 in 6.5 prc in 2020.......hornady 143 eld-x is the only ammo ive used......have yet to have a deer take so much as a step after getting hit....drt.

Can almost get boring.

Goodmorning JG, I haven't handled a Sauer 100 Veil but will have to look into them. I was planning on a tikka rouphtech but have been looking at other options as well. When you start with load developing and shooting the Sauer if you can post some about the rifle would be very helpful. Thanks


Trystan

"If you don't have a 6.5 PRC is this a hunting cartridge your considering?"

Not I.
Through the years the reality is that most of the game I've taken could have easily been done with a 30-30 or archery equipment.
My 7mm-08 is way over-kill for me.

No, but a friend of mine has one and shoots competition matches with his 6.5 PRC and claims it’s the most accurate rifle he has ever owned. I have a 6.5-300 Weatherby that shoots well, but perhaps not like the PRC as many claim. I really don’t have a purpose for a cartridge between the 6.5-300 and the .257 Roberts / 7x57 power range. Happy Trails

I've got on in a CA Mesa. I've loaded the 130 gr. Sirocco over 58.5 grains of H1000 for 3045 FPS and it's a sub .5 inch rifle. Pretty much the same with the 130 gr. Accubond. My hunting has either been done with the 143 ELD-X, which I'm out of, or the 130 grain Sirocco. With the 143 grain Hornady I killed 2 feral mouflon cross sheep on our deer lease at over 300 yards. One went straight down the other one took a step just as I squeezed it off and was gut shot. He went about 50 yards and died. I killed several big hogs on that lease with it as well. DRT and bullet passthroughs without much of an exit hole. I killed one whitetail buck with it last year at 200 yards and he never knew what hit him. Same thing this year only the buck was a little under 100 yards. Double lunged him and he ran about 65 yards an fell over.

Could I have done the same thing with another cartridge/bullet? Probably, but in the areas I hunt in west Texas shots can get pretty far out and, other than my 7 SAUM or my 7 RM, this is the rifle have the confidence in at ranges out to 600 yards. Will I shoot at a n animal at that distance? Probably not at a whitetail or muley, but I'd darn sure shoot at a pig at that distance.

If you have a 270 Win, you basically have a 6.5 PRC, just less expensive and more affordable ammo. The high BC bullet of the 6.5 has advantages after 500 yards but that's really it, the MV is about identical for similar sized projectiles. I'm not knocking the PRC, I think it's a great cartridge, just like the 270! The short, modern case design lends itself to more potential accuracy if that's what you're looking for.

How many national championships have been won using the 6.5 caliber? It was zero a couple of years ago don't know if that's changed or not. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the 6.5 PRC or the 6.5 caliber. I just never figured it could do anything my 6mm or 7mm couldn't do.

You bastard, you beat me to it.





P

Y’all can send your 6.5’s down the road because an article in Shooting Times Feb 2023 proclaims the 7mm PRC to be the best of the PRC’s. Apparently Mr. Von Benedikt forgot the 7mm Weatherby Magnum in his cartridge comparison heralding the 7mm PRC as all that and a bag of chips in the 7mm magnum category. It only bests the PRC by 200 fps… 🤣🤣🤣

Bumped off a big Aoudad in west Texas a little more than a year ago with a 6.5PRC. Borrowed rifle. The bullet was a Hornady A-Max (147 or 150 can't remember). Personally, not big on target bullets for big game but it sure worked! Broke the humorous just below the joint with the scapula and shredded the heart. Shot was a few steps past 350yds.

I know that a 270 would have done the same thing but have been enamored with the 6.5PRC since.

Don't have a good reason to own one but still want one. Seems to me like a "goldilocks" cartridge for reaching out at mule and coues deer out west. Bit more freight than a creedmore and a bit less drift than a 270. These advantages may be small (even mostly mental) but they are there.

Plus it would be fun!

I’m planning on getting one right after a .360 BuckWhanger.

The 7mm PRC is an entirely different class of cartridge designed for big game, not so much the competition circuit. The 6.5 is a short (maybe medium) case with capacity for bullets in the mid to upper 140s. The 7mm PRC is designed for bullets in the 170s and up. The 7mm PRC is a closer comparison to the 300 WM, not so much the 6.5. "Better" isn't always about velocity, it's about consistent accuracy and shootability, the 7mm PRC looks to be a winner if for no other reason that is sans a belt, a proper shoulder a respectable neck.

Amazing how many matches won, animals & bad guys killed with those horrible belts, weak shoulder and wrong necks.
IF the 7mm PRC has any advantage, I doubt there is one shooter in 100 who could prove it.
I'll buy your model 70 Super Grade in 300 H&H for enough money for you to buy a Savage in 7 PRC.
I'd give you even more if you had a H&H bolt gun chambered for these.







OMG look at that belt and body taper ---- totally hopeless.

Not one in 100 know why ------

I'll second that. I have them both and like them both, but to me and what I do with them, they go into the same slot.

Bought a Mauser M18 in 6.5 PRC. More accurate than I am on paper. Took it elk hunting this past year -- one shot 380 yards with 143 ELDX. I like it a lot. The rifle and cartridge.

I have heard others say and I agree it is along the lines of a "modern" 270 Win. I agree but it wont replace my love of the 270