6.5mm - 25cal = .007"

Freedom83 said:

Apologize gents. The 6.5 vs. 25 conversation is long. I suppose many have success stories, along with some failures. I like them both. But in my 40+ years of shooting, can't wrap my head around building a rifle for one bullet. So, thats why i'm asking questions.

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I've never built a hunting gun around a specific bullet, especially since most of these match bullets these days don't exactly expand predictably. I've built a couple custom bench guns around a specific bullet but that's not needed for hunting and sometimes a repeating short action is hard to get seating depth to jive with the long fast twist bullets and make them seat to mag length without giving up case capacity. Bench guns and hunting guns are completely different animals intended for completely different purposes

Just wondering if building a rifle for one 131 gr. bullet is worth it?

Mach 1 said:

I've never built a hunting gun around a specific bullet, especially since most of these match bullets these days don't exactly expand predictably. I've built a couple custom bench guns around a specific bullet but that's not needed for hunting and sometimes a repeating short action is hard to get seating depth to jive with the long fast twist bullets and make them seat to mag length without giving up case capacity. Bench guns and hunting guns are completely different animals intended for completely different purposes

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I use the Lee Factory Crimp die to run 110's in the little BLR 257. Can't get the bullet close enough to the lands per the magazine length. it seems to give the same result as seating bullets .005 off the lands.
Not an expert here, so thoughts?

Creedmoor shooter said:

Sierra says 7.5 twist. So far at 100 yards the largest group has been .550(3shot). I'm just wondering if my 8 twist will stabilize it well enough to shoot any kind of distance with it.

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for that particular bullet you should only be listening to Blackjack, his work is impressive.

Mach 1 said:

The 257 cal chambers will do anything the 6.5 will do, they just suffer from a poor bullet selection, but not that many years ago the 264 cal stuff didn't have a great bullet selection either. If hornady would have made a .257 creedmore the market would have trended in the 257 direction. I personally think the 6.5 cal is obsolete. The 6mm is arguably better to 1000 yards and past that range the heavy 30 cal bullets start to do well ballisticly

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he 6mm is arguably better to 1000 yards and past that range the heavy 30 cal bullets start to do well ballisticly. You were correct right up to the end of the sentence.A 6.5 is still spinning properly at 2k or more and is bested at a hell of a long way out by the .338. .30's are losing their attractiveness by the year.

Freedom83 said:

Sorry. thought this was a hunting thread.

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So what did I say that ruled out hunting....precision shooting?

Mach 1 said:

I've never built a hunting gun around a specific bullet, especially since most of these match bullets these days don't exactly expand predictably. I've built a couple custom bench guns around a specific bullet but that's not needed for hunting and sometimes a repeating short action is hard to get seating depth to jive with the long fast twist bullets and make them seat to mag length without giving up case capacity. Bench guns and hunting guns are completely different animals intended for completely different purposes

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I had my hunting rifle built and chambered with a long throat in 28 Nosler specifically to run the 195gr Berger.

So, got another question...
One year I had a quartering shot on an elk (coming at me). I had a Hornady 110 Interbond. It was close, and the bullet hit the spine. The bullet turned about 90 degrees & followed the spine. I had to follow a blood trail.
The next year, I had almost the exact the same shot. The Nosler Accubobond punched the spine & the elk dropped.
So, question is... What bullet do you prefer?
(That was my failure with a 25)

To RandyinVA.
Respecfully -No sir, about precision shooting... what you can do precise shooting with.
No offense meant.

I had a once in a life time shot at a Shiras Moose. I left the 25's & the 264 behind. I shot that bull with a 7x57 Mauser. One shot dumped him at 300 yards.

snox801 said:

Man I only have about 100 rounds down my .257 Roy 28" hart barrel. 10 twist. I ha e a 6.5 creed I use now that has replace the Roy because it's lighter and shorter. I may start using my .257 more for deer around here and try and burn out that barrel a bit faster. Then a proper 1/7 would be in order.

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Check out what your COAL (with the 131 BJ) will be before you spend money on a 257 fast twist. Mark V mag boxes (in that cartridge) are only about 3.4" COAL. You can lengthen the bolt stop and take out the mag insert to add more length to your mag box. You will not have to worry about freebore...

Freedom83 said:

Just wondering if building a rifle for one 131 gr. bullet is worth it?

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My way of looking at...you build a rifle that can shoot the long pointy bullets that you want to shoot. Everything else is just gravy.

My example, I built a 270 Wby with a mag box that can handle 3.7" COAL. So I can shoot the 170 Bergers and the 165 Matrix. 1-9 twist barrel. And I can shoot anything else shorter than that...

170 Bergers 3225fps

150 SSTs 3550fps

140 SSTs 3620fps

130 SSTs 3690fps.

So I believe if you build a gun to shoot the 131 BJ you will not be limited just to that bullet.

All this is half the fun of exploring a new bullet...

Why are we comparing one magic bullet in 25 cal to the normal everyday bullets in 6.5 cal. Why not make it fair, let's look at the 121 Flatline or something like that. I'm sure there are 6.5 solids that have a similar BC to the blackjack.

gregsjt said:

Why are we comparing one magic bullet in 25 cal to the normal everyday bullets in 6.5 cal. Why not make it fair, let's look at the 121 Flatline or something like that. I'm sure there are 6.5 solids that have a similar BC to the blackjack.

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Who in the world uses a solid to hunt with?.