6.5 - 2900 ft/s most efficiently?

[VLD Pilot]

Hello, I totally agree that the 28 Nosler caliber is a faster shooting caliber than the .270WSM, however there is a price to pay for that, and most of it for me is felt recoil. Another is that it burns a lot more powder and barrel life is shortened much for as a result. I am not trying to win a long-range, steel plate shoot by any means. I am a 400 maybe a 500 shot person maximum. I read a lot about BC, and I have done some research with drop tables/charts. From what I can determine from the drop tables, it takes a great deal in the BC of a bullet to make that much difference in drop for the distances that I mentioned about with the calibers that we are making comparisons with and that we are referencing from. A .270 Winchester vs. a .280 AI is not really showing me that much difference in bullet drop to make that much of a difference to me, "based" upon the distances that I plan to shoot. .270 Winchester is the #5 best selling ammunition on the market; components are not hard to find. And....its important to remember that I am shooting a deer at those distances, not an elk, or a moose, or anything larger. I might hunt coyotes, however I will be looking at 100-120 boat tail bullets at that same distance. I two long-action Ruger 77 in .270 Winchester. I am seriously thinking about turning them into .270WSMs. I figure with the longer action, I can leave the bullets out far enough so they can touch the lands without compromising feeding from a shorter magazine. I have to check with the people who are going to be doing the rebarrel work to find out if this is feasible to do. I totally believe that the .270WSM is the best of all three factory calibers. The .270WSM is on a par with the .270WM and it does it more efficiently with less powder and less felt recoil. Thanks for your input with this.

Your decision in the .270 in either the WSM or Standard case is very good for z hunting cartridge. Don't be misled by any other choice. If your using it for long range targets, maybe a different choice would be better but as a game taker, you won't do tons better with the recoil you'll deal with.

 

[VLD Pilot]

A .277 170gr Berger HVLD traveling @ about 3225fps gets close...

Guessing your using the .270 WBY to get those velocities. Step up from the WSM although wildcatting the .270 is another option. Sounds like the OP wants a milder shooting .270 but looking for the best performance in that case. I shoot a number of different bullets in my .270 win. They all give me outstanding killing performance on deer out to 400 yards.

 

[Alibiiv]

Yep the Berger 170 is the only exception thats about equal to the .284/.280 with 180 VLDs. Unfortunately that's one of the couple great BC bullets offered for the .277. It just never excelled in long range competition due to the 6.5/7mm competition.

Hello VLD, I totally agree with you on the .277s vs. 6.5-7mms. For me with the heavier .277s, the problem turns into one with changing the twists to meet the need of stabilizing the heavier bullets. I am interested in shooting 130s and 150s, and again with a "maybe" 500 yard shot. I have written numerous times here that I will not be hunting elk, mountain goat or Dall sheep in the mountains with this rifle, simply deer. And.....if you compare the BCs of the .277 130-150 bullets, with the BCs of the .284 130-150 and plug them into any of the drop tables, with any of the calibers we are discussing here, and then compare them there really is not that considerable of difference between the two out to 400 to a "maybe" a 500 yard shot to make that much difference. I hunt in the northeast, unless I am hunting on some really large farmland or on a power line, anything further is just not available; and, even if it were it were it probably would not be ethical for me to try the shot. I must say that I really enjoy reading the various treads and the information that I get on them. As a result I have found some really good data on barrels and various reloading data that has made a difference in my shooting fun.

 

[VLD Pilot]

Correct. To get into the highest BCs per caliber, you must go into the higher bullet weights per caliber. Even the 140-150 in the .277 is better than the 140-150 in the .284. That's actually a lighter weight bullet for the .284 than for the .277. Advantage...270 ! Thing is, your not losing using any of the .264,.277 or .284 caliber choice cartridges. Your choice simply is the .270 and is a perfect deer rifle within it's limitation( depending of course on bullet weight/design). I'll say this, if you chose to get a barrel twist for the 170 Berger, you could still easily shoot the 130,140 and 150s very accurately. It's typically the other direction when you get in trouble( picking a barrel for a 130 and trying to shoot the heavies)that gives you limited choices for bullets.

 

[Go 8mm]

What 6.5 cartridge will comfortabily shoot, with multiple powders (not just RL 26 because that is hard to find these days), a 140-143 gr bullet, from a 24 inch barrel, at 2900 to 3000 ft/sec the most efficiently...meaning the least amount of powder (least amount of recoil)? And preferrably without having to run super hot loads the whole time. Maybe a quickload question?

I'm going to build a 6.5 rifle and the 2900 ft/sec mark is what I want to achieve in a 24 inch barrel, and want to use the least amount of powder to get there.

Options I'm currently looking at are 6.5-284, 260ai (maybe stretching it with just a 24 inch barrel), 6.5-06, etc. I don't care to go over 3000ft/ sec so options like 264 win mag are probably out.[/QUOTE

I built a 6.5-284 and was very happy with it. I rechambered a Brownells 6.5 x 55 Sporter barrel and snapped it up a Yugo Mauser action. It was a tack driver and performed well with a lot of different powders. It was very accuarate. I am not marks man but could punch 3" groups at 400 yards with 140 grain bullets.

I gave it to a friend of mine a few years back. This friend had been hunting elk with a 270 for 30 years. He is now a 6.5-284 man.

In my opinion you should go for the load that is more compressed. It has been my observation that rifle shoot better groups and more consistent muzzle velocity with compressed loads. Powder shifting around in the case makes a difference.

My 6.5 will be on an 06 AI case. 284 brass is very pricey.