Why no love for 6.5 PRC for 1 mile shoots....??

Where you shooting to a mile in CO I want to take my creed to a mile just for kicks.

Yes... I live 15 minutes from Cameo. Cameo is a world-class facility. They even have a great archery range and two separate ranges for shooting clays, the best I have ever seen.

Also be aware that there is also a Fish and Game Range, just north of Salida that goes out to 1,000 yards.

And of course, you can just do your own thing and find some BLM land and go shoot for free, you just need to have your own targets or steels.

.......
 
Starting back about 6 months ago, I started researching a gun and load that would provide some fun, shooting 1 mile..... maybe out to 2,000 yards, on a seriously tight budget. Over and over I read that a .338 bullet was the minimum and it needed a BC over .7 and muzzle velocity close to 2,900 fps. Most authors laughed at anyone trying to do those shots with a 7mm or a 6.5mm.

So I ran the ballistics over and over with ammo off the shelf and hand loads and I was perplexed. I found the 6.5 PRC to be a contender on paper. .... so I bought one. (never mind the issue of finding ammo or even brass)

Look over these numbers below and tell me the 6.5 PRC can't do it... and then tell me why...???

Honestly, I would have gone 7mm Mag, but it takes a 8.5 twist barrel for the 180-190 gr bullets and pretty expensive shooting platform for the 7mm to find its magic... and then you have barrels burning out really, really quickly....

I did a 6.5 PRC with glass for less than $1,500. Savage 110 Tactical, Burris XTR II 5-25x50, 20 MOA Rail.

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Do it and learn why the competitors use the big 338s on up. It's the Best way to learn! Of your not competing, just having fun, then even more reason to just go shoot.
But the bigger bullets move wayyyyy less in the wind. They do even better than the higher bc would suggest. More consistent etc..
 
Finally took the 6.5 PRC to the range and it was horrible. Straight up horrible.

3-4 MOA..... I ain't kidding.

It would throw three bullets sub-MOA and then a bullet 4" to the south west. Then two bullets on the bullseye and then two bullets 5" to the north east. Completely unpredictable. I checked the scope mounts and everything, every shot was tight and solid.

Very frustrating.

A custom gun maker was shooting next to me and he kept encouraging me, to keep shooting. He claimed that it really takes 100 round to 'burn in a barrel'.

100 rounds... are you friggin kidding me? 6.5 PRC is over a $100 a box. $600 in ammo to break in a barrel? Heck, after 20 rounds my .308 Win Ruger American Tactical was sub-MOA.

I am so ****ed...... I even checked the two main bolts that screw the receiver to the stock. They were hard and rock solid.

Just so you know... it wasn't the shooter.... Dialing in another new ELR, I was shooting a 7mm Mag. It was sub-MOA right from the start. At the end of the day, I put 5 bullets in a Dime at 100 yards.
 
Finally took the 6.5 PRC to the range and it was horrible. Straight up horrible.

3-4 MOA..... I ain't kidding.

It would throw three bullets sub-MOA and then a bullet 4" to the south west. Then two bullets on the bullseye and then two bullets 5" to the north east. Completely unpredictable. I checked the scope mounts and everything, every shot was tight and solid.

Very frustrating.

A custom gun maker was shooting next to me and he kept encouraging me, to keep shooting. He claimed that it really takes 100 round to 'burn in a barrel'.

100 rounds... are you friggin kidding me? 6.5 PRC is over a $100 a box. $600 in ammo to break in a barrel? Heck, after 20 rounds my .308 Win Ruger American Tactical was sub-MOA.

I am so ****ed...... I even checked the two main bolts that screw the receiver to the stock. They were hard and rock solid.

Just so you know... it wasn't the shooter.... Dialing in another new ELR, I was shooting a 7mm Mag. It was sub-MOA right from the start. At the end of the day, I put 5 bullets in a Dime at 100 yards.
If you checked everything out on the firearm and OK, next time when going to the range bring a" MAGTRONMETER" to check the magnetic field in the area.
ONLY KIDDING
COBigJohn sorry to hear that your new 6.5PRC is not shooting good groups. Have a gunsmith check the Crown and maybe move it back about 1/32". Have seen amazing results in accuracy by doing this.
Could be a bad barrel from the Factory.
I'll PM you and maybe we can talk about it.
Len & Jill
 
What stock do you have on your rifle and what were you using for a front rest?
 
Finally took the 6.5 PRC to the range and it was horrible. Straight up horrible.

3-4 MOA..... I ain't kidding.

It would throw three bullets sub-MOA and then a bullet 4" to the south west. Then two bullets on the bullseye and then two bullets 5" to the north east. Completely unpredictable. I checked the scope mounts and everything, every shot was tight and solid.

Very frustrating.

A custom gun maker was shooting next to me and he kept encouraging me, to keep shooting. He claimed that it really takes 100 round to 'burn in a barrel'.

100 rounds... are you friggin kidding me? 6.5 PRC is over a $100 a box. $600 in ammo to break in a barrel? Heck, after 20 rounds my .308 Win Ruger American Tactical was sub-MOA.

I am so ****ed...... I even checked the two main bolts that screw the receiver to the stock. They were hard and rock solid.

Just so you know... it wasn't the shooter.... Dialing in another new ELR, I was shooting a 7mm Mag. It was sub-MOA right from the start. At the end of the day, I put 5 bullets in a Dime at 100 yards.
Is it bedded?

I've gotten to where I won't even fire the first shot from a rifle until I've bedded it and torqued the action screws properly because of results like you're seeing.

The guy you were speaking to was right unfortunately, Most don't seem to really settle down at least in my experience until I've got somewhere between 40-80 Rounds through them which gets pretty darned stiff at todays prices.
 
The gun has the Savage synthetic stock. I have a bi-pod mounted.

Bedded????.... NOPE... No customizations on stock or bedding.

This is it.....


COdJ03E.jpg
 
The gun has the Savage synthetic stock. I have a bi-pod mounted.

Bedded????.... NOPE... No customizations on stock or bedding.

This is it.....


COdJ03E.jpg
I bet your forend is flexing and making contact with the barrel. That's pretty common when using a bipod on those factory stocks, especially with a long and heavy barrel.

An easy way to test it is to shim the action in the stock. You can do this with some aluminum muffler tape in a few minutes. You'll basically cut small pieces of the tape and layer it between the bottom side of the action and the stock where the screws go in. You want the little aluminum tape "shims" to rest on top of the aluminum pillars in the stock. You're essentially building extensions to the aluminum pillars in the stock. It should only take 3-4 layers of the aluminum tape.

The goal is to just shim the action enough to get your barrel free floating and far enough away from the stock that it won't make contact with the forend. You'll also want to make sure the rear tang of the action isn't making contact with the stock. Savage actions typically don't like to have any contact between the stock and the rear tang.

If your groups improve after shimming the action and torquing it back into the stock, you can start thinking about bedding the stock or opening up the barrel channel. This is just an easy and inexpensive test to see if bedding or opening the barrel channel will actually help before spending time or money modifying your stock.
 
I bet your forend is flexing and making contact with the barrel. That's pretty common when using a bipod on those factory stocks, especially with a long and heavy barrel.

An easy way to test it is to shim the action in the stock. You can do this with some aluminum muffler tape in a few minutes. You'll basically cut small pieces of the tape and layer it between the bottom side of the action and the stock where the screws go in. You want the little aluminum tape "shims" to rest on top of the aluminum pillars in the stock. You're essentially building extensions to the aluminum pillars in the stock. It should only take 3-4 layers of the aluminum tape.

The goal is to just shim the action enough to get your barrel free floating and far enough away from the stock that it won't make contact with the forend. You'll also want to make sure the rear tang of the action isn't making contact with the stock. Savage actions typically don't like to have any contact between the stock and the rear tang.

If your groups improve after shimming the action and torquing it back into the stock, you can start thinking about bedding the stock or opening up the barrel channel. This is just an easy and inexpensive test to see if bedding or opening the barrel channel will actually help before spending time or money modifying your stock.

The barrel floats when on the bipod. And I don't mind the work of bedding, I have done several. I'm just disappointed when a gun isn't at least 1-1.5" MOA out of the box.

I have two of these Savage 110 Switchbacks. The other is a 7mm RM and it is set up identical, with bipod and 5x-24x scope and it is grouping 3/4" at 100 yards with no modifications and Federal Ammo. This is what I expected from the 6.5 PRC.


........
 
I bet your forend is flexing and making contact with the barrel. That's pretty common when using a bipod on those factory stocks, especially with a long and heavy barrel.

An easy way to test it is to shim the action in the stock. You can do this with some aluminum muffler tape in a few minutes. You'll basically cut small pieces of the tape and layer it between the bottom side of the action and the stock where the screws go in. You want the little aluminum tape "shims" to rest on top of the aluminum pillars in the stock. You're essentially building extensions to the aluminum pillars in the stock. It should only take 3-4 layers of the aluminum tape.

The goal is to just shim the action enough to get your barrel free floating and far enough away from the stock that it won't make contact with the forend. You'll also want to make sure the rear tang of the action isn't making contact with the stock. Savage actions typically don't like to have any contact between the stock and the rear tang.

If your groups improve after shimming the action and torquing it back into the stock, you can start thinking about bedding the stock or opening up the barrel channel. This is just an easy and inexpensive test to see if bedding or opening the barrel channel will actually help before spending time or money modifying your stock.

By the way, I purchased a small roll of stainless sheet that is 4x thicker than tin foil. I use it to shim up the "inards" of my motorcycle shocks. I can cut it with a heavy pair of scissors and I am thinking of using it to shim this gun.


I would certainly bed it before wasting any more ammo. Be sure it is torqued to spec as well.

Yeah, I will go ahead and bed it.... and while I am at it, I will probably "Epoxy UP" the for-end of the stock, to get it stiffer.

..........
 
By the way, I purchased a small roll of stainless sheet that is 4x thicker than tin foil. I use it to shim up the "inards" of my motorcycle shocks. I can cut it with a heavy pair of scissors and I am thinking of using it to shim this gun.




Yeah, I will go ahead and bed it.... and while I am at it, I will probably "Epoxy UP" the for-end of the stock, to get it stiffer.

..........

If you have the tools to do so cut a channel from the recoil lug to just short of the end of the stock big enough to put a 3/16 piece of allthread. Fill the space with epoxy like you were going to bed it full length and drop the allthread in.

Be sure it is fully free floated before you start so you don't end up with full contact or that's going to create a whole nuther set of issues you'll have to correct later.
 
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