Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 6.5-06

After my previous post I'm really interested in the 6.5-06. Seems really easy to form the brass. I really like the B.C. on the 6.5 bullets. I've read where the barrel on a 6.5 x 284 doesn't last very long (700-1200) shots is this also true for the 6.5-06 and for that matter is that tru for all 6.5's. Give me so pros and cons to this caliber. It will be build on a 700 LA. Thanks for all the information so far.

The two cartridges are almost identical in case capacity and should therefore give identical barrel lifes.

But the 1200 you quoted (I had not previously heard 700) refers to 1000 yard target shooters. Since (a) accuracy goes bad at the longest ranges first, (b) your hunting rifle accuracy requirements are probably not quite as fine as these target shooters, (c) they are shooting 142 grain bullets at the maximum possible pressures, probably more than your average pressures, and (d) 1200 rounds comes pretty quick for a target rifle but takes forever with a hunting rifle, then I would not worry about it. You'll probably get more than 1200 by a good bit and won't have any more problems than a lot of other cartridges like .300 magnums, the 25-06, etc.

Make sure you consider rate of twist when deciding on a barrel for your 6.5-06. I have one with too slow a twist(1 in 10")to stabilize anything over a 100 grain bullet. I have a 6.5 X 55 with a 1 in 8" twist that is accurate with any bullet I've tried from 100 to 140 grains.

That being said should I go with the 6.5 x 284 then?

My 6.5-'06 is built on a Rem M700 standard action with a 23.6" Shilen 9" twist barrel. It will stabilize bullets up to 160 gr round nose, but won't handle 165 gr semi-spitzers. I form brass from .25-'06, although I recently got some .270 brass that I want to use.

I was initially attracted to the 6.5-'06 by all the bullets available for it, compared to only 130 gr and 150 gr for the .270. Nowadays with today's bullets I would just buy a .270 and go hunting (Win, WSM or Weatherby) or a .280 (Rem, SAUM, WSM or Ackley).

jim

Excellent points. I have 6.5-06's with 1-9 and 1-8 barrels and both twists are extremely accurate with all bullet weights I have tried in them. After a few hunting seasons, I still don't know which twist is the "best." I built a 6.5-284 with a 1-8.5 twist and that certainly would work with a 6.5-06 as well. As far as brass, I use Winchester .25-06 brass initially run through the 6.5-06 resizing die and loaded. There is a certain amount of fire-forming that is done, but I am getting excellent groups with this new brass loading. It is best to keep the "new" loads separate from those put together in the formed cases because POI can be different.

As far as barrel life, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I have a friend that sent over 5,000 rounds down a 6.5-06 barrel with no real loss of accuracy. Over that time, a load he used early in the life of the rifle opened up a quarter of an inch, not enough to cause any problems for a rifle to be used for hunting big game.

I think they are both an excellent round the 6.5-06 and the 6.5-284 and they should both perform the same ballistics,I own 2 6.5-06s and no 6.5-284s,6.5-284 brass is very spendy and expensive and the 6.5-06 brass is very easy to form as all you need is some 25-06 or 270 win brass and some dies and your in the game........

What kind of talk is that? Nobody wants to hear that. You should be ashamed!

The 6.5-06 sounds VERY interesting. How much of a velocity edge does it have over the 6.5x55? I really like my Ruger/Swede with 140 grain bullets (as I'm sure everyone is tired of 'hearing' by now).

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6.5-06 or 6.5-284? After owning both and shooting them on deer and antelope, I can't see much, if any, difference on paper or game between the two. Coyo has it right, due to brass costs alone, the 6.5-06 makes more sense.

Big Red,

I compared the numbers for 6.5X55 (23" barrel) and 6.5X63 (AKA 6.5-'06) (24" barrel) with the 130 gr bullet in Nosler #6 and got 304 fps higher velocity for the longer case. So call it 275 fps...

jim

Thank you for the info, LCDR Dodd. Three hundred fps increase, eh? That would give the 6.5-06 at least another hundred yards of range in energy/momentum over the 6.5x55, although I admit I have not yet come up against the range limit of the 6.5x55.

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Hey, its the Internet, just call me Jim!

Some 6.5-'06 cartridges with the 130 gr Berger VLD loaded; they looks like 3,000 fps just sitting there.

jim

Data for the swede is usually under what can be achieved, because of the older rifles that it may be shot in.

I have owned and shot some pretty hot calibers in my lifetime..What I have come to believe is most any of them will last many more rounds than some claim or believe..It is all a matter of how you use them..Use one reasonably and don't let it get too hot to touch and most any of them will last beyond 3000 rounds...Run rounds through them fast and furious and most of them will burn out plenty fast. I had a 264 go out in 650 rounds...I had and old Swift that I cooked at beyond 4000 FPS for years, it must have had 5000 rds through it but never let it get to hot to touch..It shot the same 1/2 group when I sold it that it shot when I bought it...??????????

What I don't understand is why one would think the 6.5x284 or the 6.5x06 would burn up a barrel, its should be no different than a .284, 270 or any simulair caliber..It's just not that hot even with light bullets..

Big Redhead,

The Nosler numbers for the 6.5x55 vs. the 6.5-06 arentt exactly comparing apples to apples, because even though the Nosler 6.5x55 data is a little warmer than some, it is still reduced because of older military rifles in 6.5x55.

A more valid comparison would be to the .260 Remington--which has slightly less case capacity than the 6.5x55 and is loaded to "modern" pressures. Here the difference is 200 fps with 130-grain bullets, and the .260 test barrel is 1" shorter than the 6.5-06's. Toss in the slightly greater case capacity of the 6.5x55 and the real difference is about 150 fps. This also corresponds closely to calculations made with the 1/4 rule.

Thanks for the insight, JB.

So, it sounds like the difference basically doesn't amount to a pinch of blowsand.

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I had a 6.5-06 made with a medium-heavy Schneider barrel. It shot the single tightest group I have ever fired in my life--3 shots overlapping at 500 yds! But the gunsmith cut the neck so loose that case life was very shot--the extreme expansion/resizing cycle split the necks after only a couple of loadings.

I decided I couldn't live with that, so had the barrel rechambered for 6.5-284, with a tight neck. The 6.5s shooting the really sleek target bullets from 130-140 are great at long range (which for me stops at about 600-700 yards just because I do not have opportunities to shoot further.)

I think the 6.5-284 got a reputation as a barrel burner because the target shooters shoot long strings that heat the barrels way up. I can think of no explanation why a case that burns 55 gr of powder in a .264 bore should be an excessive barrel burner, and my limited experience bears that out.

Straighten the wall of the 55, and now your even less distance away from the 6.5-06...


6.5x55BJAI...

John,

I was trying to compare loads at the max allowable pressure for the cartridges in CIP/SAAMI terms, or 63,000 psi piezo for 6.5-'06 and 51,000 psi for the 6.5X55. I know the 6.5-'06 is a wildcat, but I was going with the A-Square pressure data.

I don't recommend publishing 6.5X55 load data that exceeds the standard maximum average pressure.

Did you do any pressure testing with your 6.5-'06 article?

jim

Personally, if those were the choices, I'd go with the 6.5-06. Cases are (probably) easier to come by and, from the shape of the two cartridges, the 6.5-06 MAY feed a little better.