6.5 prc vs 6.5-06

[Weatherby Fan]

It's basically the same as far as performance goes, if you like doing all the extra work resizing brass go for the 6.5-06.......
I had the same dilemma a cpl years back as I wanted a 6.5-06AI in the worst way and my Gunsmith talked me out of it and suggested the 6.5-284 and I've never looked back, I also have a cpl 6.5 PRC 's and having another built as we speak,
I prefer the 6.5 PRC over any of them now.

If your looking for more performance you can alway step up to the 6.5 SAUM since there's brass for it now.

 

[KurtB]

My 6.5-06 brass prep involves taking 270 winchester, running it through a 6.5-06 die and trimming to length. So not a lot of effort, and feeds great. Have killed a lot of stuff with using 140 vld and throat is a bit cooked. Today shot the 156 EOL in it and looks very promising again. RL26 has it performing at a higher velocity band than previously.

 

[NEMTHunter]

https://shermanwildcatcartridges.com/6-5-sherman

 

[Don A Parsons]

I'll be the only dude with a 65 for the Elk hunt this year in our group of hunters...

Kind of an eye open'er changing from the Ought-6 to the 65/06,,, that's the way it goes I guess...
At least I'll find out first hand how it works so long as they come in close...

Good times fore sure

 

[KurtB]

Near or far, been a lot of critters harvested with my 6.5-06 and 140 vld. May be even better with the 156 EOL. Worked up to 55 grains of RL26 today with it. No pressure but finding some accuracy at 54. Running that for a few more tests. 3.44 OAL.

 

[highdrum]

If your willing to hand load, and want most performance on a long action mag without barrel burning cases like 26N or a belted 264wm, I'd suggest the 6.5 saum, it's 100fps faster than the 6.5-06/6.5prc, 75fps slower than 264wm, 150fps slower than a 26N with equal length barrels, advantage gets better as the barrels get shorter. There are quality brass sources from ADG and Bertram, there is factory ammo available from Ruag/norma that's loaded to prime's specs. I have one and it's a fantastic rifle. However I'm building a 257saum to shoot the blackjack Bullets currently so it'll be sold.

 

[Don A Parsons]

Actually the 6.5/06 is fairly close to the same velocities,,, its like splitting pigs hair in the difference of 1 to 200 ft-per seconds... The furry critters would hardly know the difference when impact plows into the Wrapper... LOL

I like to see 0.0010 or 0.0015 expansion on the shoulder... Spring back I call it... I do the all out average using 20 cases that have been shot...

My barrel when new was showing signs of 0.0020 at 2750 ft-per seconds soft load on the 147gr booltiz with round edged primers,,, they didn't start square-ing off till I reached 2830 ft-per seconds...

So I tested fired 1 case 5 X's to check for shoulder bump back along with primer pocket loose-ness,,, its still a go as I raise the powder charge for this now that 300 + shots have been launched down the pipe...

Pretty sure it will be in the 2900 to 2920 bracket for a hot hunting charge this season,,, 2800 is good enough for my needs.

Fast and flat shooting fore sure...

H1000 will get it there,,, I'll test the RL powders this winter...

The stainless steel barrel on this build will last me a few years since I normally do the kool down between shots,,, The old school idea using the Battery powered Coalman air-matters pumps works awesome...

3 shots over a 7 minutes with 3 minutes of air-flow pump time to kool it to out-side air temps,,, a dab of case lube grease on the bolt lugs along with a fast wipe of Wipe-Out / Accelerator after 50 ish shots to lesson carbon build up at the throat burn area...

Hopefully I'll see 2 to 2200 launches before the groups start to open up on the V Ring at 900 meters,,, more outters then inners will down grade this rifle to hunter class at that point...

Like the old guy said,,, 1 to 1 1/2 MOA is good enough for the up close and personal in the hunting category,,, of course I like to see 0.25 in match...

I see Lapua doesn't make 270 Winchester brass to size up,,, so I'll stick with my sized down Ought-6 Lapua brass now that its fully prepp-ed...

I pulled off a 2 1/2" fourteen shot water-line group at 400 yards last week... Hopefully I can squeeze it down to less than a 1/2" over the next 3 days @ the 500 mark,,, that's one of the benefits of reloading right at the range since my set of wheels has a built in control center cube on the back... Ha... 7 years of loading ammo on the road is a breeze,,, some where in the Americas I call it...

All mid-bore cartridges from 6.5 to 30 cal... Laboratory on wheels for the last 3 rifles,,, 1 of them is getting shelved this summer as a back-up unit,,, most likely my 30-Ought-6 Sherman since its dialed in with its special load from years ago...

I posted above why I picked the 65/06 for this build,,, we wanted to run the factory 30/06 bolt instead of doing the PT-&-G that we normally do on these builds...

We mic the action at 0.7062 then healed out the back of the factory bolt to allow for an expansion collar to fill in the rear bolt kick up,,, its an old bench rest trick from years ago... The collar is locked into place as we mill it once more then buff the bolt down to a chrome like finish using auto-sol... Super smooth and fast bolt cycles when you get it right... Ha...

Yuppers,,, no need in my world to strive for maximum ft-per seconds when I rather go after tight groups when they happen...

All good so far

 

[Don A Parsons]

So far so good as the last 3 powders I threw at the 6.5/ A-square seem to show good signs of tight groups,,, H1000 has shown the highest ft-per seconds,,, ELD-M's 147gr are sitting at 2850 ish,,, 53.5gr of H_1000... I hope to try the RL-19 since its suppose to clock the same speed...

Dam she shoots good,,, at least Im getting sound feed back from those gongs...

 

[Bbear]

Thought hard on the 6.5-06 but in the end I went with the Newton rifle in 256. Make my brass from .270 as I have 2 25-06's in the safe and don't want to screw things up. If I can get out to the range again, I'll keep working on the load. Planning on either 123 gr Scenars or 129 gr ABLR.

 

[laker]

Near or far, been a lot of critters harvested with my 6.5-06 and 140 vld. May be even better with the 156 EOL. Worked up to 55 grains of RL26 today with it. No pressure but finding some accuracy at 54. Running that for a few more tests. 3.44 OAL.

How fast are you getting the 156 EOL moving. A box just showed up in the mail today for me

 

[KurtB]

Had the 156 EOL doing 2820 fps with 56 grains of RL26. Have to keep in mind that is an 18" barrel. So pretty easy to figure another 150 fps or so at 24". Best accuracy for me was at 54 grains of RL26.

 

[laker]

Had the 156 EOL doing 2820 fps with 56 grains of RL26. Have to keep in mind that is an 18" barrel. So pretty easy to figure another 150 fps or so at 24". Best accuracy for me was at 54 grains of RL26.

I was hoping for 2850 with 24" barrel. You got me excited now

 

[KurtB]

I'd start around 52 grains and workup to your 2850 fps target speed. 3.44 oal is where mine are seated.

 

[Nomosendero]

It's basically the same as far as performance goes, if you like doing all the extra work resizing brass go for the 6.5-06.......
I had the same dilemma a cpl years back as I wanted a 6.5-06AI in the worst way and my Gunsmith talked me out of it and suggested the 6.5-284 and I've never looked back, I also have a cpl 6.5 PRC 's and having another built as we speak,
I prefer the 6.5 PRC over any of them now.

If your looking for more performance you can alway step up to the 6.5 SAUM since there's brass for it now.

Looks like if you went with a 6.5-280AI and used Nosler 280AI brass or others there would not be all that much work. The performance difference with the PRC is minimal. My feelings would not have been hurt at all if Nosler had made that offering as they did with the 280AI but I see no way that could happen now.

I will likely go with a 6.5 PRC because of being a factory chambering & one of my boys will probably be using it some day and as of now they don't load their own.