I am thinking about building a new hunting rifle

[Brad Norman]

Looking at a low recoil rifle with good down range statistics. I have a remington 700 donor and have bought a Rifle Basic trigger to start. I have so many different rifles and calibers I am kind of at a place on what to build that meets a low recoil rifle. One caliber I have been looking at is the 6.5 SUAM. Have any of you had experience with this caliber?

 

[Rick Richard]

Took a New Mexico bull at 367 yards this past season with 6.5 SAUM and 140 Berger.

 

[Brad Norman]

My Son and I have been hunting with a 6.5X284 with the 140-grain A-Max (now discontinued) at a moderate velocity . . . a bit under 2,900 fps. I've found this to be very accurate in a factory Savage hunting-weight rifle. I managed a .75" 5-shot group at 200 yards one lucky day shooting off my backpack. Certainly the rifle and ammo are are more accurate than I am, and more than adequate for hunting purposes. We've harvested Pronghorn, Mule Deer and a bull Elk, with one-shot kills.

In my humble opinion, this caliber has all the terminal horsepower that I've come to expect from my old .270 Winchester with 150-grain handloads, but it recoils less somehow, bucks the wind better . . . which can certainly be an issue in Nevada . . . and it's a pleasure to see the bullet holes stack on top of each other at the range.

There are so very many great 6.5 cartridges to choose from, and it would be tough to pick a bad one, but if you're a handloader I don't know of a better all-around combination target / hunting round.

Happy hunting!

 

[105amatt]

257 Bob?

 

[Mach 1]

I'd like to try a 257 caliber rifle chambered for the 131gr blackjack bullet. It looks very promising.

 

[osok-1k]

I simply cannot understand why people reply with in a way that has nothing to do with the parameters set out in the original post. The man has a .264 barrel, why talk about 7-08, magnums or other non .264 cartridges? Anyway, you're 260AI is an excellent choice as you can shoot 260 Rem ammo in a pinch. I would suggest to thread the muzzle while it's being chambered, if you ever wanted a suppressor or muzzle break, it's already done.

 

[FIGJAM]

I simply cannot understand why people reply with in a way that has nothing to do with the parameters set out in the original post. The man has a .264 barrel, why talk about 7-08, magnums or other non .264 cartridges? Anyway, you're 260AI is an excellent choice as you can shoot 260 Rem ammo in a pinch. I would suggest to thread the muzzle while it's being chambered, if you ever wanted a suppressor or muzzle break, it's already done.

I think you might need to go back and read the OP's post - I don't see where it says he has a .264 barrel.

 

[LVJ76]

I simply cannot understand why people reply with in a way that has nothing to do with the parameters set out in the original post. The man has a .264 barrel, why talk about 7-08, magnums or other non .264 cartridges? Anyway, you're 260AI is an excellent choice as you can shoot 260 Rem ammo in a pinch. I would suggest to thread the muzzle while it's being chambered, if you ever wanted a suppressor or muzzle break, it's already done.

Provably got confused with another post, the barrel has not been chosen yet, that's what the OP is asking feedback or advise on.

 

[105amatt]

I simply cannot understand why people reply with in a way that has nothing to do with the parameters set out in the original post. The man has a .264 barrel, why talk about 7-08, magnums or other non .264 cartridges? Anyway, you're 260AI is an excellent choice as you can shoot 260 Rem ammo in a pinch. I would suggest to thread the muzzle while it's being chambered, if you ever wanted a suppressor or muzzle break, it's already done.

No mention of having a barrel. Just mentioned a 6.5 saum.