Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 6.5 PRC.....What About It

I saw a new Howa in 6.5 PRC at a very good price, but have no experience with the cartridge. Anyone that has experience with one, I'd love to hear what your thoughts are. I'm just wondering if it's really any improvement over the Creedmoor version in that caliber.

I like my 6.5 PRC, the is it an improvement over the 6.5 Creedmoor question, I guess that depends.

You’re burning more powder, generating more recoil and reducing barrel life for greater velocity. How important is that velocity to you?

A friend has a Christiansen and likes it. With 130 Bergers in a 20” barrel it’s still quite a bit faster than a Creedmoor in a longer barrel (I THINK he’s getting around 2950). Very accurate. Rough on deer innards.

That said; his longest shot was on a doe at 280-some odd yards, which any Creedmoor could do with an even shorter barrel.

My thoughts, strictly from considering it a fair bit, not having used it... If you're wanting to stretch the range with a bit with less drop and windage it's an improvement over the CM with the trade offs GRF noted.

The platform it comes in should be a consideration concerning mag box. It's a bit of a tweener on OAL. I'm not up on the action length Howa makes it available in. If it's long you have extra room to play with, at the trade off of a long action. If it's a true short action, you may be limited on OAL.

I guess that answers my question partly anyway. I have two 6.5 CM's and regularly shoot them at steel out to 500 yards, and would feel comfortable shooting a deer at 400 yards................but the ranges at which I normally shoot deer are 300 yards and less. So, I have no need for a "better" cartridge. But, I do like trying different rifles and different cartridges, so that was my reason for asking.

Itsa nice!!!

At the last minute I swapped my 6.5CM for my bud's 6.5PRC when the distance was out beyond 460 yards. A little more MV for a little less on-the-fly guesstimating where to place the crosshair.

I like the PRC cartridge and the rifle. If I didn't already have the CM I'd acquire the PRC. But there isn't enough practical hunting differences for me to swap out the CM for the PRC.

However, YMMV.

A couple of years ago during COVID, I woke up one morning, knowing my life would not be complete without a decent, semi-high-end bolt action 308. I could not find one for love nor money. I did find a Cooper Raptor in the 6.5 Creedmoor, and decided to take the leap. Accuracy, even with factory was just nuts. Handloading it, people will call you out if you don't take pictures. If this was so good, the PRC would be better. I can't say it's better, but it definitely is just as good. In my eyes, the 6.5 Creedmoor is a better 308, and the 6.5 PRC is a better 270 Winchester. With less recoil (although that might just be my perception) and certainly more accurate. So much so, that I sold my 270, and I'm firmly on the 6.5 train.

I'm still eyeing a semi-high-end bolt action in 308. I don't know why. I might need therapy.

Well, I’d certainly never tell someone NOT to buy a gun!😂

I have a 6.5 Creed and a 6.5 PRC. If I had to part with one, I'd part with the PRC. It's accurate, recoil is manageable and ammo is becoming more available. It will give an easy 200 FPS over the Creed. I can't envision ever needing that though.

I think of the 6.5 PRC as a 6.5 Creedmoor Magnum. It's the Creedmoor with a bit more recoil in exchange for a bit more velocity. I think the biggest use cases for the 6.5 PRC over the Creedmoor are:

(1) shots at long range, over say 400 yards, or

(2) hunters who ordinarily would go with the Creedmoor but want a rifle with a shorter barrel (such as for a suppressor) and go with the PRC and its added power to make up for the shortened barrel's lost velocity. In other words, if you chop your barrel from 22" to 18" and lose around 100-200 fps, you can get that 100-200 back by chambering for the 6.5 PRC instead of the Creedmoor, especially if you handload.

I suppose a third category would be hunters who go with the PRC because they think the Creedmoor is insufficient for larger game like elk, but there's considerable evidence that it's adequate elk medicine so your mileage may vary.

My 6.5 prc has proven to be the deadliest caliber and most efficient as dead-right-there without taking a step. All this courtesy of hornady pro hunter 143 grain ammo.

6.5 PRC .. my advice is to avoid it like the plague. I'm on my third .. foolish AND stubborn .. and I'm approaching done. Accuracy has been poor. All 3 might get a near-MOA group now and then but never repeatable. All had pressure problems with Hornady factory 147 grain ELD match ammo. The first was just a little spooky, the second blew primers now and then, and the current one blows primers about 10% of the time and a good portion of the other shells show gas leaks around the primer as if they're on the hairy edge. That's ammo from several different lots.


I can sit down with my current 6.5 PRC, shoot it side by side with a cheap Remington .243, using the scope that just came off the PRC so it ain't a scope problem, and the .243 will scare the snot out of half inch for 5 shots and the PRC will be lucky to get in around inch and a quarter. My lever action .45-70 will tie the PRC's best groups and beat its average.

So, on paper, advertising, etc, 6.5 PRC seems like a great idea. In practice, it fails to deliver.

Tell that to my Sako S20. Mr MaGoo can shoot sub moa with it and Norma factory ammo.

I have a Weatherby Vanguard (Howa) in 6.5 PRC. Shoots and feeds like C h I T.

Action is long enough to house a 300WM.

Guns looks cool though. Aside from my 6.5 Grendel I’m sticking with the classics. I have a tainted opinion, but in real world application, I’d say the PRC phenomenon (all of them) is nothing more than a gimmick.

yeah , all the Creedmoor rounds are gimmicks too , just like the PRC s.................LOL

Lol

I have both a CM and a PRC. I used the PRC exclusively last year on varmints and deer. I had a string of 20+ kills without a miss on varmints and between family and friends, it took 6 or 7 deer. All one shot kills with only one buck running about 75 yards and not DRT.

Using ELD-M 147gr

The CM never left the safe.

I'd say the 6.5 PRC is a better .264 Win Mag.

You're condemning the PRC based on a sample of one rifle's performance?