26 Nosler or 6.5 Prc Hunting

[popgun240]

I'm building a 6.5X284 Norma on an old Ruger 77 with Tang Safety. It's past Anterless season left the Cows and Spikes high because not enough song nor cold Temperatures. Site manufacturer at 1000+ yards. Nothing I'm ever going to shoot will kill at that range with any force. U still believe your correct in that evaluation. The 6.5PRC for everything BUT BULL ELK . Good luck on the Draw.

 

[Ferguson]

Take away all the variations. Barrels, actions, ammo and skill levels. We're talking same bullet with different chambering. The brass dimension and powder quantity are just propellant and energy. I believe he was talking "strictly hunting" am I correct at this point? OK. Speed equals energy. It takes energy to kill. In all bullets except the ablr, it takes 1800 fps to open up the bullet. Isn't this true? Isn't this the "Long range hunting" forum. The range of a 143 eldx at 3050 fps, for bullet expansion is 943 yards. The energy at that speed is 1029 ft pounds. To get 1500 lbs of energy it needs to be traveling 2173 fps. That's way back at 630 yards somewhere.
Now add 200 fps to that bullet. It extends the range to 1069 yards for bullet expansion and for 1500 lbs energy it is at 750 yards.
Also speed results in better trajectory and less wind drift. "More room for human error"

 

[.30cal fanatic]

PRC based on ammo and reloading parts availability alone not to mention your barrel life. If it's going to be a true LR hunting gun you need to practice with it and train hard with it to achieve the longer shots reliably, 20 rounds a year won't cut it.
IMO the 6.5's make for great plinking guns, doesn't make a lot of sense to have one as a barre burner, build something with a **** tonne of oomph in .284 or .30 as the energy is worth the lack of B/Life

 

[AFraser]

If you're hunting Elk at around 7,000ft, a 143 ELD-X fired at 3050fps will hold 1500 lbs of energy out to 790 yds.
At that altitude, a 6.5 Creedmoor will achieve the same at 490 yds with Factory ammo, and ~580 yds with handloads (~2800fps).
Can't see why someone would want a whole lot more power than the PRC!!

 

[Sending156s]

If you're firing 800 rounds a year through a 26 Nosler, then the cost to rebarrel it shouldn't be an issue. It was never designed to be a high volume plinking gun; it's a hunting cartridge.

You wouldn't put a set of high performance race tires on your daily driver and then complain about tread life, so why would you use a high performance chambering for general plinking and complain about barrel life?

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The person that fires the most rounds including dry firing, practice shouldering rifle while getting on target fast with both eyes open, uses one rifle the most will always be the better shot (given equal eye/hand coordination, vision, steady muscles with strength) than someone who has their safe queen "hunting rifle" with racing tires that they are limiting rounds on. If you would use your hunting rifle for plinking, target shooting, etc instead of keeping round count down you would increase your accuracy as a hunter.

I shoot out about a barrel a year on my 14# 300 WM, but I can probably get on target & kill quicker than most building these 7 - 8 # rifles. And it's all due to using it for all kinds of shooting, picking a target, throwing it to my shoulder, eyes to scope, seeing how quick I can get on target & stay for 2 seconds, & even at an old age staying in physically top form.

Best wishes to you........we would both be better off if we were out shooting instead of being on this forum.
USMC VV ERA
Celer-Silens-Mortalis

 

[Don A Parsons]

X'S 3

6.5-300 Weatherby. Simple fast and fun fore sure.

 

[yorke-1]

_————————————————————————————————————————————————
The person that fires the most rounds including dry firing, practice shouldering rifle while getting on target fast with both eyes open, uses one rifle the most will always be the better shot (given equal eye/hand coordination, vision, steady muscles with strength) than someone who has their safe queen "hunting rifle" with racing tires that they are limiting rounds on. If you would use your hunting rifle for plinking, target shooting, etc instead of keeping round count down you would increase your accuracy as a hunter.

I shoot out about a barrel a year on my 14# 300 WM, but I can probably get on target & kill quicker than most building these 7 - 8 # rifles. And it's all due to using it for all kinds of shooting, picking a target, throwing it to my shoulder, eyes to scope, seeing how quick I can get on target & stay for 2 seconds, & even at an old age staying in physically top form.

Best wishes to you........we would both be better off if we were out shooting instead of being on this forum.
USMC VV ERA
Celer-Silens-Mortalis

A competent shooter can shoot any gun well. Anyone can practice with a "trainer" rifle for the bulk of their shooting and then easily switch over to a different rifle for hunting. Ballistics is nothing more than the proper application of math and physics. If a capable shooter plugs good information into a ballistics calculator he'll make an impact the same as a shooter who's fired hundreds of rounds a year through the same gun. In fact I'd go so far as to say that a competent shooter who shoots a variety of different guns is a more versatile shooter and a better over all marksman than the one gun marksman.

This was all different in the days before reliable and accurate ballistic calculators when a guy who shoots the same gun all the time knew his ballistics by heart. Now anyone with an accurate chronograph can get reliable ballistics data in 20 shots or less.

 

[CUTTER1]

I have both in custom rifles! Love the PRC. The 26 is ok but really need Berger to release the 154gr EOL to make superb! I have 28 Noslers and probably my favorite all around hunting caliber

 

[JimmyCP]

JimmyCP what were the specific issues you had to send two of them back for? While I don't currently have a 6.5-300 Vanguard, I have a couple of other Vanguards/Howe 1500's that shoot well. And due to want a new rifle/cartridge desease have been contemplating one of them. Appreciate the info.

Both could not group with weatherby factory unless we flushed out the copper every 7th shot. Even with that at 200 yds groups were 6 to 8 inch. After the 7-8 shot they went crazy. Flyers everywhere.
When you have shooters expecting at least 1 moa and been shooting the 6.5 x284 and 264 win mag, they were pretty upset with this round.
May have been bad luck twice but with both rifles and factory ammo we were getting 20 to 50 fps deviation. Ended up shooting a total of 6 boxes of ammo, swapped out scopes bases etc. Sent them back to wetherby both got rebarrel.
Because of their venture I opted to just build another 264 win mag.
Sorry for the late reply been a little busy.

 

[JimmyCP]

I have 5 264 bore rifles- two 6.5cm, 260ai, 6.5-284 and a 26. Nice to have steps in the same caliber, pretty easy to do comparisons between them. The prc is balistically identical to a 6.5-284, its a nice spot to be in speed wise and still easy to load for. The 26 will always be pickier, but I still get some very good accuracy at some very good speeds (127lrx at 3495). You can push a 6.5-284 with 140's over 3k but to run powders that are not temp sensitive you are likely just under 3k.
Of the two in the op and for a pure hunting rifle I would go 26. The extra hp is nice, and accuracy will always be a rifle specific thing- get a bad one and either cartridge won't be great. For most the barrel life of a 26 is many years, if you burn one out its a simple job to rebarrel. If you are seriously into shooting and shoot a couple times a week a barrel is a consumable just like bullets/brass/powder are.

We're pushing one 6.5 284 with 140 sst 2940 with retumbo the other 3060 wth 140 sst with h1000. Both using wlrm primers one in nosler brass and one in norma for the test.
Retumbo 8fps average between 10 shots, h1000 12 fps

 

[JimmyCP]

Barrel life in my opinion should be relevant only to those having just one rifle in the safe.

I agree. I have guys talk about barrel life on my hot rods and I tell them that the argument doesn't make sense.

My hunting rifles maybe see 5-8 shots at most a year after I've developed a load. Do the math on that. A barrel that has a 500 round life on it will outlast me and possibly the kids.
I've got plenty others that I can go out there to the range and blast away that cost less to shoot.

 

[JimmyCP]

FOUND A DEAL... $600
Weatherby Vanguard Badlands 6.5-300 Wby Mag Bolt Action Rifle 26" Barrel 3 Rounds Badlands Camo Synthetic Stock Burnt Bronze Cerakote Finish
Adjustable Two Stage Match Trigger $600
https://www.cheaperthandirt.com/pro...s&refType=&from=fn&ecList=7&ecCategory=472501

6.5-300 Weatherby Magnum ammo
Range: $1.96 - $4.95 PER ROUND
https://ammoseek.com/ammo/6.5-300-weatherby-magnum

(L) 130-GR. SWIFT SCIROCCO
(R) 127-GR. BARNES LRX

OR THESE:
Weatherby Select Plus Norma Spitzer 140 Grain Brass 6.5-300 Wby. Mag 20Rds
Specifications:

• 
  
  • 140 Grains
  • Norma Spitzer bullet
  • 20 rounds per box
  • Muzzle velocity: 3304 fps
  • Velocity at 100 yards: 3085 fps
  • Velocity at 300 yards: 2679 fps
  • Velocity at 500 yards: 2308 fps
  • Muzzle Energy: 3393 ft/lbs
  • Energy at 100 yards: 2959 ft/lbs
  • Energy at 300 yards: 2232 ft/lbs
  • Energy at 500 yards: 1656 ft/lbs
  • Uses: Long Range Hunting, Medium Sized Game

https://grabagun.com/wby-6-5-300-wby-ma-140gr-sptz.html

BETTER YET:
Weatherby Select Plus 140GR BERGER VLD 6.5-300 Wby. Mag 20Rds

• 
  
  
  • 140 Grains
  • Berger VLD projectile
  • 20 rounds per box
  • 3315 FPS at the muzzle

https://grabagun.com/wby-6-5-300-wby-ma-140gr-vld.html


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Weatherby Unprimed Brass 6.5-300 Wby. Mag 20Rds $36.09
https://grabagun.com/wthby-brass653-up-brass-6-5-300-wby.html

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LOAD DATA
https://www.weatherby.com/media/weatherby/65300_Loads.pdf

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Good luck.

 

[DJ Fergus]

I shoulf have added to my earlier post. If I had 1 cartridge to use for the rest of my life, it would be the 7mm Remington Magnum

I know this is an old thread, but I'm with you on this. Every thing that folks have wanted for long range has been there all along: 7mm rem mag. 180 gr bullets buck the wind with the big 230 gr 30 Cal's and beat the 6.5s. The 160 gr 7mm hang close with the 6.5 140 gr.

 

[Litehiker]

Ya gotta ask yourself if finding 26 Nosler in the years ahead will be as easy as finding 6.5 PRC.

Eric B.