So I just had a 6.5-06 built. Shot out the throat in my rem 700 25-06 and decided to go with a 6.5-06 as it is an easy case to form from all of the 25-06 brass I have.

The action has been trued, and a bartlein stainless barrel installed, cut to 25 inches with a 11 degree target crown. The barrel is a 1 in 8 twist. I put a bc m40 style stock on it, black with red webbing. Bedded with devcon. Timney calvin elite trigger, set at 8 oz from the factory. Topped with a vortex 6x24 pst. 20 moa rail.

Anyways, had to describe it because I don't know how to post pictures yet. Loaded 140 berger hybrids over test loads of 53, 54, 55, and 56 grains of h1000 for a ladder test. Loaded extra of the 53 grain loads to sight in with. 4 shots to dial it in, and then 3 shots of the 53 for a group. Weather was crappy and my chrono wasn't reading so I decided to forgo the rest of the test loads. But the 3 shot group was just under half an inch at 100 yards, and were nowhere near the lands as I got excited and loaded them before I had the rifle in hand. And to top it off, when I got home I cleaned the rifle and it only took 5 patches to clean! I am impressed by the quality of the barrel and performance so far, and I cannot help but think that the rifle will shoot extremely well after I tune the loads in a bit. Anybody have any experience with the 6.5-06 and want to share loads?

Sounds like you will be pleased. To post pictures,load your photos to Photobucket. Becide every picture in photobucket is a IMG code. Just keep 2 browsers open when you post here,your thread and your page on Photobucket. To post a picture just copy the IMG code at Photobucket and paste in anywhere into your thread text.

My 6.5-06 with a 23" brux barrel and 140gr VLD's shot well with 50gr H4350 but the brass life was short(too much pressure) 2950 fps

Switched to RL-17 50gr and got 2950 fps with the same accuracy, and the brass life is good.

RL22 and H1000 with 140s has been good. Think 56 of H1000 got me 2940.

Here is a pic of the rifle.



And that is about where i hope to be 30338

Wow !
WTF melted your blind ?

Rifle looks good tho.

Haha... observant! There was a fire... didnt get in but almost. it did however shatter a pane in the sliding door and melt the shades... wonderful wake up call having a firefighter bust in your bedroom and wake you up in the middle of the night. Like something out of a teenage girls dream haha

I think you'll get there. My barrel is 24.5". Nice round and gives you a lot of reach without a lot of recoil.

Mine shoots great with 53.5 to 54.0 H4350 and a 123 AMax or 127 LRX. 56-57 of H1000 with the 140s with good brass life.

I have built ~ 30 rifles for myself over the last 15 years, and the one 6.5-06 has been the best.

6.5-06 A square reamer
Shilen select match stainless #3 taper 5R 8" twist 24" finish
Boyds pro varmint stock
Timney trigger
Dumoulin Mauser action
homemade Aluminum round rear pillar
home made Aluminum flat front recoil lug/ bedding
Custom FL sizer body from Forster neck honing service by paying for double hone out fee from 25-06 body to 0.292" neck.
Custom collet neck die mandrel from Lee Custom Mandrel reduction service by paying triple fee for 270 mandrel from a collet neck die down to 0.262", but leave the top 1/4" alone to fit a 270 collar.

120 gr Nos Bal tip moly with 50.7 gr IMR-4166 powder 3.34" , Win 30-06 brass, Chronographs at 3197 fps
Averages 0.92" 5 shots at 100 yards first trip to range
Sighted in to 600 yards.
Killed a whitetail doe at 629 yards.

In 2017 I will build at least one more 6.5-06.
Probably with Rem 700 and or Savage 110 actions.

My 6.5X06 build is a Tikka T3 with a Shilen 1-8 twist #3 at 25"- 54 grs of H4831 and 140 SST Hornady ....makes it shine.
Smoked a coyote the other day at 633 yds first shot kill

I am loving the tales of long shots... this will predominantly be my match gun but I plan on poking a few coyotes with it this winter...

I also plan for this rifle to get me to a mile. Farthest so far is 1200 with my custom 220 swift with 75 amax's. If I can do that, a mile with the 6.5 shouldnt be too much of a problem, right?

That should get you to a mile.

I was shooting to 1800 yards with another forum member a while back. I was shooting 208 Amax from a 308, he was shooting 140 Amax from a 6.5 Creedmoor.

We were both hitting, with almost the same dope. My BC advantage, and his MV advantage kind of equaled out.

We were at about 4300 ft, 60F.

The spot that I have scoped out will be at about 8000 feet

You'll be right in there.

I'd be looking at 140-ish gr bullets from Hornady or Berger.

I'll take it!

I am shooting and doing barrel break in with a box of 140 berger hybrids at the moment, but think I will switch to either the hornady eld-m's in either 140 or 147. Cheaper than the bergers and supposedly better bc. Cant hardly find em in stores anywhere yet, always sold out... you bastards are buying them all before I can haha. Might have to break down and buy them online and pay the darn shipping.

I bet ya would! I really like the looks of it. Dont think I could part with her...

Nice rifle

Mine shoots 140's very well with H4350 and H1000 but IMR7828 is the most accurate powder for me.

in my Pac Nor Super match, 53g of R#22 with a 130g Accubond, .008 off the lands shoots sub 1/3" groups day in and day out, 3150 fps, 26" bbl, win brass, cci250, forget ruining cases.

So I got some load development done a couple days ago while I am visiting my folks here in michigan. Got ahold of some 140 eld's and worked with those. They like to be seated out about 30 thousandths from the lands to shoot best. Found a node at 2892 fps, and all three teat loads at that velocity produced the exact same velocity, 2892 fps. They also stacked into one small ragged hole at 100 yards. Loaded up some more and took it out to 500 yards to see what they would do, and I stacked 6 shots into a group measuring just a bit over 2.5 inches. I was shooting off a bipod with no rear rest, i think the amount of wobble I had in the crosshair means it would have done better. Win for the new rifle!

Congrats on the rifle. Mine is a fluted heavy-barrel in a laminate stock and heavier than I want to carry far. Would love to have one with a sporter weight barrel and lighter stock to carry.

I haven't weighed this rifle yet, but it isn't too bad and I can easily see carrying it for hunting. I am really happy with the bartlein #3 contour. I think it is a nice mix of stiffness without being too heavy

RIdgegoat, what powder was that last load using? Excellent performance. My 140 VLDS liked a pretty big jump also. Just started experimenting with the 147 ELDs in it.

The last load was 57 grains of H1000. All 3 chrono readings read 2892 with a 26 inch barrel. I think another node could be reached around 59 to 60 grains if one really needed the extra speed but I like the idea of a bit more barrel life. Let me know how the load development for the 147's go, I havent been able to find any yet.

This thread is dangerous for my new .25-06. I just bought a box of 85gr BTs yesterday with the plan to go for the most (accurate and safe) speed I can get for hold-on-hair coyote hunting. But I've spent hours studying ballistic tables and the lineup of slippery 6.5 bullets available, and know there are more efficient ways to burn 60grs of powder.

I'll be watching for your future posts Ridgecoat, and learn along with you.

I've had excellent luck with the 140 VLDs on all manner of game. That said I am thinking I can get the 147s up to around 2900 and would like to see how they do. Will keep you posted. H1000 is what I am using as well.

Mine liked 7828 with 140 vlds. I really liked the concept but trusted the smith too much on the reamer spec. It's amazing how may smiths with years of experience still miss the boat on things like neck diameters and freebore. I told him what I wanted and he said his reamer was almost exactly that. It wasn't even close. I ended up with a .290 neck and too much freebore. I had to turn necks even necking up thin walled ww 25-06 brass and the base of a 140 vld was half way up the neck starting out. No room to chase.

I explained I wanted simple one pass resize, reliable hunting performance with room to chase with vlds. His 40 some years of experience and his reassurance made me think he had it but he missed it in every way. Simple hunting round easy to form brass did not mean turning necks to me. He throated it long because he said I told him for 140 vld's and they are long bullets. Amazing that he didn't understand that vlds require a shorter freebore than a round nose. I tried to explain but he thought I was nuts thinking a vld needed less free bore than a round nose. Tried to tell him than the rifling doesn't engage at the bullet tip and talk ogives and some basic trig but he just went ape about all his years of experience etc. an old dog that didn't comprehend the vld new trick.

Ended up selling the thing dirt cheap to my accountant who said he liked to turn necks. One more lesson I keep learning about why it's better to just spec and buy your own reamer than trust an old dogs experience when he shuts down your questions.

As bad as the whole deal was I saw the merits of the 6.5-06 and even the 6-06 if done right. I'm trying to get the nerve up to try again.next time it'll be a .298 neck and the bearing surface/boat tail junction will be spec'd for 130 vld's at the neck shoulder junction. It'll give 140's some room to chase.

On a Rem action it feeds slick, holds 5, can run 2950 with 140's in a 22" tube, and has plenty of room for seating in that mag box. My fat fingers also prefer a long action and it's slick feed angle despite the few ounces of extra weight and having to carry that 3/4" longer gun. I'll just find someone to share the reamer with next time and have jgs do one right. A Rem 700 with a standard Rem sporter at 22" in an edge chambered right could do a lot of things well.

Bb

My 25-06 loved the nosler 87 grain ballistic tips. I used imr 4831. Might be worth a try

Thanks. I'm going to start with H4831 because I have more of than H4350----------and can replace it easily. I might end up trying 100gr BTs, and 4831 should be good there for sure.

Good luck 222 rem. Hopefully she will be a shooter for ya

Ridgegoat,

Sounds like you have a winner there. Nice rifle.

Curious what made you go on an 06 case instead of possibly a 284 case?

The rifle was a 25-06 in its past life, and i have a lot of 25-06 brass. Easy forming.

OK does the 6.5 -06 have a better barrel life than the 6.5 - 284?

It has a longer neck, so in theory, probably. But the shooter's habits are a bigger factor, so good luck trying to sort through all of the barrel life reports.

Case capacities are very similar, but the neck is a bit longer as 223rem stated. So theoretically, they should have similar barrel life sans the neck. But it is kinda a crapshoot. I figure going with a milder load will extend barrel life for me, and i am hoping to get 2000 rounds out of it at least. Anyone used hex boron nitride and have an opinion on it as far as extending barrel life?

The 6.5-284 is supposedly more inherently accurate as well, but mine seems to be fine on that front. I am curious to see what the barrel life will be on this rifle and am keeping a round count on the barrel. So I will be able to relay that later.

Very nice rifle