6.5-06

ShrtRnd

ShrtRnd

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Anyone shooting currently or has some decent bench/field time with this caliber? I've done a search and didn't come up with much.

It intrigues me and I have a ton of 6.5mm projectiles, 06 brass and powder.

Ballistically I see some closeness between 140gr 6.5-06 loads and 160gr 30-06, but was curious if just kind of duplicating what I have in my 6.5Swe and 06 other than having an oddball caliber with funky name.
 
Not to deter your interest in the 6.5-06 as I was always quite surprised no mainstream company ran with that cartridge.....I thought it was an ideal hunting round, 6.5-280AI maybe a better option also intrigued me.

If your looking for that area of performance go 6.5 PRC or 6.5-284, or maybe a better option down the road will be the Weatherby 6.5 RPM which is just an extended version of the 6.5-284, at least with these three options you can get loaded factory ammo/head stamped brass.
I had a Wby 6.5 RPM built on a Kimber Montana 84L and its a dandy of a hunting rifle and extremely accurate pushing a 156 Berger at 3070fps with 65.0grs of R26
 
Gatehouse said:
It's always been a good cartridge but these days you may as well go 65 PRC unless you just want to be different for no real difference.
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I've looked at all the newer 6.5mm variants, but I no longer want to chase 100-200+ fps of extra speed at the expense of barrel life, throat erosion or a whats hot for the moment Caliber.

The 6.5-06 interested me based on my stockpile of components and the ease of utilising 25-06 cases for reloading.

I do appreciate all of the alternate suggestions guys, gives me some more food for thought for sure.
 
I had one for a couple of years, and did some very good long range shooting with it. It was put together by Jim Strelioff who posted here as RockChucker until he passed away a few years go. It didn't seem to matter what bullet you fed it, it shot tiny groups.

Used it on a couple of caribou, one shot each, and it went to a new home. It wasn't anything that my 270 couldn't do at least as well.

Ted
 
Why not? said:
I had one for a couple of years, and did some very good long range shooting with it. It was put together by Jim Strelioff who posted here as RockChucker until he passed away a few years go. It didn't seem to matter what bullet you fed it, it shot tiny groups.

Used it on a couple of caribou, one shot each, and it went to a new home. It wasn't anything that my 270 couldn't do at least as well.

Ted
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There might be some common sense and wisdom here. At the same time, I can't think of any reason not to build yourself what you want and can afford.
 
If you have all the components etc. that you need, and like 6.5’s, I think it’s not a bad idea at all.

In reality it won’t do anything in the field noticeably different than the 6.5 x 55, or the 270 Winchester, but your access to already paid for components is a real edge for you.

Personally I mostly shifted to the 6.5-06 from the 6.5 x 55 because brass for the -06 family round is virtually free and of virtually unlimited supply, whereas the European round can have new brass shortages if I want new brass, and is definitely not free for the taking every time I go to the range if I’m fine shooting 1F brass. And getting about 125 FPS more performance when shooting free brass is a good thing too.
 
And this was my whole thought process on this really, was the reloading component aspect.

I have looked into the 30-06AI and 6.5-06AI but didn't see much gain performance wise. Other then having something funky on the Bench/Field I don't see myself pursuing either of those.

I've cruised the EE and other sources for at least a 700 LA action, seems a few people are looking but no-one is selling. Rem 700 actions are fairly cheap in relative terms although I could go all out with a Defiant, Stiller w/a Wildcat Composite stock for an all-out Custom build.


Northman999 said:
If you have all the components etc. that you need, and like 6.5’s, I think it’s not a bad idea at all.

In reality it won’t do anything in the field noticeably different than the 6.5 x 55, or the 270 Winchester, but your access to already paid for components is a real edge for you.

Personally I mostly shifted to the 6.5-06 from the 6.5 x 55 because brass for the -06 family round is virtually free and of virtually unlimited supply, whereas the European round can have new brass shortages if I want new brass, and is definitely not free for the taking every time I go to the range if I’m fine shooting 1F brass. And getting about 125 FPS more performance when shooting free brass is a good thing too.
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I had a 6.5 - 06 for several years. It was a dandy, flat shooting rig that accounted for quite
a few Whitetails and Muleys, plus one cow Elk. All I ever shot out of it was the 140 Partition.

Don't believe that I recovered one bullet from that rifle/chambering. Very effective when you
put that long, slim bullet in the right place. Longest poke, IIRC, was 440 yards, 4x4 Muley. DRT

I believe another gunnut who posts on here still owns that rifle. Dave.
 
Back in the 70's at Barotto Sports in Calgary we built several 6.5 x 280 Imp's... it's a great 6.5 cartridge...

Almost as good as the old .270 Win.
 
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