6.5mm Decisions Decisions

[f21sh]

Hi All, Hope everyone is enjoying the Memorial Day REMEMBER. Question looking and trying to make a decision on which 6.5mm cartridge to chamber the 6.5mm barrel I just received from Krieger. I thought I decided on 6.5mm Creedmoor. I would like to setup the rifle on long action and be able to use for both hunting rifle for the wife and F-Class / precision rifle for me. I keep going back and forth from gren. to 6.5mm WSM, 26 nosler. Looking for true velocities 140 gr. 1:8 twist finish 26" between 2900 - 3100 fps. anyone with experience/ advice?

 

[Mike Bryant]

I'd go 6.5 Creedmoor over the other two. Better barrel life than the 6.5 WSM or .26 Nosler. The .26 Nosler will require feed rail alterations to get it to feed if you are using a 700 action as well as it would be better to use an action with a 1 1/8" diameter barrel thread for the .26 Nosler instead of the normal 1 1/16" diameter tenon. WSM brass has been difficult to find in the past few years. 6.5 Creedmoor brass and loaded ammunition fairly easy to find. If you use a center feed magazine, the 6.5 Creedmoor shouldn't have much trouble feeding from a magazine. All the 6.5 Creedmoor I've built have been on short actions. Whether you can get the velocity that you are wanting, I don't know as I've never chronographed a 6.5 Creedmoor. I don't remember what velocity I was getting out of my 6.5x47 Lapua but I was shooting a 130 gr Berger with it.

 

[Dave Tooley]

If you're going to use a long action consider the 260 Rem. It's longer, will feed better and with a long throat will out perform a standard CM. Also consider the 260 Imp for a boost in performance. Even a 6.5X57 or 6.5X55. It's out in public now. The military will be going to a 6.5 of sort in the next few years. 260's are already in the mix by some units.

 

[BG Gunworks]

Used to be the availability of Lapua brass gave the edge to the .260 Rem; but now that Lapua is making the 6.5 Creedmoor as well (don't know if it's actually hit the streets yet) it's really a wash. The long action will give an edge for mag feeding- I have a .260 in an AICS chassis and the 140 VLD's I use are a bit longer than mag length so I need to single feed.

 

[parshal]

I've made a few 6.5 WSM recently all on long actions. They can be finicky to get to feed properly but do just fine once it's good. You'll easily achieve 3100 with 140's and won't be near max pressure. I'd imagine the barrel would last a long time at that speed. I doubt it will last as a long as a Creedmoor though. WSM brass is expensive, too. If you're looking in those velocities I'd stay with a Creedmoor or something similar. You won't need a 26" barrel to get that speed either. The WSM is all about speed and needs a 26" to get to 3200 and beyond!

 

[Boyd Allen]

A friend has built and shot long range rifles in several calibers, thee different 6.5s. One of them is a 6.5-06. It shoots as accurately as his 6.5x284 and will move 140 gn. bullets to the middle of the velocity range that you specified. No one talks about this cartridge much, but brass availability, quality and cost are all good. I know that this cartridge is not as trendy as some others, but functionally it has a lot to recommend it.

 

[ebb]

Boyd the 6.5-06 according to "Cartridges of the World" has the same H2O capacity as the 6.5-284. I used to talk on the web to a J Husky from Alabama. He had 260 rem, 6.5-284 and 6.5-06, I asked him how come the 6.5 -06? He replied " I have a 55 gallon drum of Lake City 06 match brass". It made all kinds of sense to me then.

 

[Bill in AZ]

Hi All, Hope everyone is enjoying the Memorial Day REMEMBER. Question looking and trying to make a decision on which 6.5mm cartridge to chamber the 6.5mm barrel I just received from Krieger. I thought I decided on 6.5mm Creedmoor. I would like to setup the rifle on long action and be able to use for both hunting rifle for the wife and F-Class / precision rifle for me. I keep going back and forth from gren. to 6.5mm WSM, 26 nosler. Looking for true velocities 140 gr. 1:8 twist finish 26" between 2900 - 3100 fps. anyone with experience/ advice?

Thread has kind of gone cold but I have been shooting NBRSA 1,000 yard Matches for a few years now with a custom built 6.5x284 (BAT action, Krieger barrel, etc.) It has allowed me to bring home a few trophies including one just this last weekend. Only downside is barrel life is 800 to 1000 rounds and after that pretty hard to shoot tiny groups anymore. Nothing wrong with 6.5 Creedmore either!

 

[langenc]

A friend has built and shot long range rifles in several calibers, thee different 6.5s. One of them is a 6.5-06. It shoots as accurately as his 6.5x284 and will move 140 gn. bullets to the middle of the velocity range that you specified. No one talks about this cartridge much, but brass availability, quality and cost are all good. I know that this cartridge is not as trendy as some others, but functionally it has a lot to recommend it.

Should be relatively easy to make a 30-06 into a 6.5-06.. Lots of brass and all you need is a couple dies and new barrel, or complete gun. Great bullets available in that caliber.