6.5 - 06 Questions

[bubba300]

I am building a 6.5 - 06 on a Rem 700 action for mostly long range target , coyotes and the odd deer.Just wondering what length of barrel I should go with,what have you 6.5 - 06 shooters found works the best.I figure I am going with a 26" in a #4 contour with a 1 and 8.5 twist, but I am open to your suggestions. I plan on using 130 & 140 Gr. Berger VLDS or Long Range Accubonds if I can find any.Any suggestions would be greatly appreceiated.
Thanks

 

[.284]

I have a 24 inch 8.5 twist. Shoots the 140 Bergers just under 3000 with H1000. Of course everything rifle is different but I use 57.7 grains. There is load info in the nosler manuals for other powders and bullets. I never tried any other bullets.

 

[dan belisle]

Depends on the balance and weight you want to carry. If it's going to be used as a walk around gun, a thinner barrel and a length that balances the rifle more neutrally will work better. If you're going to mostly sit, longer/heavier profile will be fine. - dan

 

[vviking]

Mine is 24 inches, med. contour, 8 twist. It is happiest at 2975fps with 140`s, mostly Amax. .. R22, R25, H1000, Retumbo. .. R22 most accurate, Retumbo the fastest at 3100fps. Brass suffers at that speed though.

She was all done at 1000 rounds.

 

[gunpro]

Current rifle is on a T3 action and has a 25" barrel that is .900 at the muzzle. It shoots like a dream but you want a good sling when taking it out to play. Barrel is a Gaillard 1 in 8" twist. I have shot both 139 gr Hornady, 140 Accubonds and 140 gr Berger VLD's with it, though not nearly as much load development time as I thought. The Hornady A-Max put 5 rounds on top of each other at 100 yards. It was definitely the tightest grouping I have measured thus far. The Accubond knocked down a nice buck last season as did Hornady the year before. I haven't run the chrono with any loads but have used Hunter and H4831 and both produced very good results. Not worried about the top end speed as I am willing to trade a bit of speed for accuracy if need be.

I have also built a couple with success on a 24" Mauser actioned rig, 26" Ruger action and the first time I experienced this round the rifle had a 28" barrel that was 1.0" at the muzzle with a 1 in 8.5" twist. Definitely not a walker but again easy to shoot accurately.