I'm thinking of a new rifle as a bench toy for myself and in a few years, as a first rifle for my oldest. Out of the 3, which would you choose? Rifle will probably be a tikka. I'm leaning towards the 6.5x55 right now.
Competed with 6.5s and have shot LR with 6.5s for years... covered the bases and love them all.
Are you planning to build the rifle or just pick one of the shelf?
As a range toy, how many rds per year do you plan to shoot?... yes, it really matters
For hunting, "in a few years", is your kid(s) going to be engaging game beyond 300yds?
What type of distance do you plan to shoot at while at the range?
There are F Open competitors who do very well at 1000yds with the 6.5X47L... as have those with the 6.5X284. The difference between the smallest and largest options with a 140gr type bullet is 200'ish fps.
The bore life can be as much as triple.. of course how fast you run any case will greatly affect the end result but the best accuracy for most mid sized cases is typically near full throttle so...
If this is going to be a range rifle AND there is a good chance the family will want to join, consider a match barreled bench set up for now.... and then go back to the hunting set up in a few years when the kids want to head into the field.
It is just a simple barrel swap... and besides, if you used the factory barrel as a range toy, it will be replaced by the time your kids want to go hunting
So....
Jerry