6.5 opinions

[.30US]

I went through this same dilemma on which 6.5mm, as well. When I first joined this forum, the 6.5-284 was THE ne plus ultra in F-Class which bled over into the hunting community, not that it has slipped much, but other options are now considered as viable for long range use. All the talk of wildcats and the benefits of Ackley Improved cartridges really got me interested in trying one. I bought a 6.5mm barrel blank, but got stalled on the project for a few years. The "plain" .284 Win started gaining in popularity, so I thought I'd sell my 6.5 barrel that had been sitting and stick with a 7mm since I'll always have 7mm bullets around and have no other 6.5s. It didn't sell, so I took the 6.5 barrel to my first riflesmithing course and built a 6.5X55mm Bob Jourdan Ackley Improved. Had I found a short action donor rifle cheap to build on, I would have built a standard .260 or 6.5 Creedmoor, but in a long action, the BJAI seemed like the most practical for me. As previously mentioned, 6.5X55mm brass is the cheapest in Lapua's lineup. The "improved" 6.5X55mm comes awfully close to the 6.5-284 in capacity, too. I'm looking forward to seeing your finished rifle.