600 Yard Gun

[milanuk]

Ummmm... hmm. Ok. I'll confess to not having used the 6.5x55. But I'm not followin how a cartridge w/ slightly greater powder capacity (hence it sends more grains of powder down the bore every shot) pushing the same bullet at the same or slightly higher velocities equates to longer barrel life. Not saying it hasn't, or can't happen, but it does seem a little counter-intuitive. Care to fill me in here?

Thanks,

Monte

[a.JR]

Monte,Sorry for not quantifing my statements earlier..In my area of the world the 6.5x55AI can and has played the game right up there with the best in "Long range Benchrest" and the 6.5x 308 is not to be seen in any results anywhere..The reason for the better case life is A :-a 40 thou longer neck.B:-the 40 deg shoulder angle.C:- the ability to shoot accurately and at the right speed for the projectile with the same charge of a 4350 style powder as the 08 version uses of a 4831 style ..We have found it necessary to use only approx 46 to 47gns of H4350 (ADI 2209powder)to get 2935fps ..JR.ps...I have checked the results of the major benchrest sites in your country and cannot find a single 260 or 6.5x08 that is winning but i can find the '55AI .

[milanuk]

Fair enough. I guess I'm the odd man out here because I don't necessarily consider what's the norm in BR to be the end-all be-all of the universe of 'what works' at any given range. Others do, and they have their (justifiable) reasons. My personal 'style' of LR shooting/hunting usually involves some packing in of the equipment, not terribly far, but further than I'd want to carry a full bench setup (about 10 yards max!). So I start looking to other disciplines, like F-class, Long Range Highpower, and Tactical matches. The 6.5-08 doesn't exactly dominate there either, but it doesn't do to shabby either.

I'm not entirely sure why the 6.5-08 wouldn't be competitive if someone really put their mind to it ( and no, I'm not volunteering for that one! other priorities!). I mean, the parent cartridge is wonderfully accurate. Most of the derivative cartridges are at least above average w/ regards to accuracy. It gets to 600, or even 1000yds w/ speed to spare, and the available bullets are the same as any other 6.5mm. 100fps isn't a whole hell of a lot of difference in terms of actual clicks on the sight, whether it's irons or scoped (assuming 1/4 MOA clicks. Perhaps a different matter if using 1/8 MOA clicks).

Anywho, I'm going to give the soap box a rest for a while. If no one else wants to shoot the 6.5-08 because it's not a 'real' BR cartrige, hey, that just makes brass that much easier (and cheaper) for me to find! To each their own [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

YMMV,

Monte

[a.JR]

Monte,I think the last part of your post says it all ,as long as "your happy" with the combo you shoot for both target and hunting thats all that matters...What will make me happy is a gun wins consistently at the two distances i choose to compete at... My interest in carrying a 60 lbs+ gun in the field is nil so it's competition for me and the reason for me responding to Terry's original question..JR..Jeff Rogers