6.5-300 Dakota

[dr14]

Was thinking of building a 6.5-300 Dakota for whitetail deer hunting out to 600 yds max. I would be using an action off of a Remington 7 ulta mag. Probably will be shooting a 120-140 grain bullet. I was hoping to get by without fireforming but don't fully understand all the advantages of it besides more case capacity. I'm looking for any input anybody might have on doing a 6.5-300 Dakota and if there is any reloading data on it. I guess it would be similiar to Kirby's 6.5 AX. New to most of this but trying to learn.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Personally, I'd rather use the 7Ultra or the 300 Dakota that you mentioned. Either would be much easier and cheaper to deal with and both would be deadly on whitetails out past 600yds.

On the other hand, a 6.5-300Dakota is something that no else at the range will have and working up your own loads may be an enjoyable challenge. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

I am thinking it would be a kick *** 600 yard whitetail getter. JMHO. Good luck.

 

[James Jones]

that round would be very overbore but so what if its not gonna be shoot a whole lot no problem but unless you going with a barrel over 28" or so I don't realy see any advantage balisticaly over the 264Winmag.
The standard 7mm Dakota is a neat round or maybe a
7mm-300Dakota shooting a 160gr Accubond would make it a 600 yd deer gun easly probably enough for Elk that far and deer out past 1K
But personaly my longest shot on a big game animal which was a 120 od pound white tail doe was at a lazer ranged 618 yds abd that was shot with a 22" barreled 308 win and a 175gr SMK , she only went about 60yds or so after the hit.
Just to let you know that you don't need to be burning 75+ grains of powder paying $3-$5 per shot and get kicked hard to make the kill shots

 

[Mysticplayer]

Cool wildcat indeed. However, the 6.5-06 in a 26" tube would be just effective. I had one with a 24" tube and with toasty loads sent 140gr SST at 2950fps. No issue at 600yds for deer. In fact, I would have gone to 700yds if the op occured.

for load info, look up the 6.5 STW. Pretty close to the same case volume.

Jerry

 

[dr14]

Thanks for the input guys. Yea it's that cost per gain that says no but then again it's something i want to try and will probably do it.

 

[James Jones]

Here is another option you may want to look at if you bent on the 300Dakota case. With the advent of the new great high BC bullets that Kirby is using for the 270AM you could neck the 300 down to 270 and shoot one of the high BC bullets and you would have a 1000yd gun , I would think that you could push a 160gr bullet to 3200-3300 fps with that bore diameter.
Just another angle to look at but the 6.5 would make for a great LR gun but from my personal experiance the 140 class match type bullets don't like to be pushed much past 3000fps then the accuracy suffers .

But hey if you just have to have one and thats what you want then get after it , like it was mentioned before anything based on the Dakota case will be somehting differant.

 

[.338Fan]

I like the 6.5 Dakota idea myself but opted to build a .264 Win Mag instead. I like the 6.5mm calibers myself and wanted to push the new 6.5mm 130gr Swift Scirocco pretty fast and went with the Win Mag. That bullet from Swift has a BC of .571. I can't wait to see what it does in my rifle when it's done. If you like the Dakota idea run with it you will more than likely be glad that you did in the end.

 

[Fiftydriver]

Dr14,

My 6.5mm AX is getting 3300 fps with a 140 gr Partition in a 26" barrel. I have only been able to test one load so far and will do more testing soon but it is a pretty potent round.

Wildcat Bullets offers ULD RBBTs up to 169.5 gr in 6.5mm and pretty much any weight down from that as well. There is also rumored to be an Accubond in the works as well.

A standard 6.5-300 Dakota would be a great choice for a 600 yard whitetail rifle. For all practical purposes identical to my 6.5mm AX. Performance equal to a 6.5 STW but in a much more compact package. This was the design reason for my 6.5 AX.

This is the 264 Win Mag on the left, 6.5mm AX in the middle and 270 AM on the right.

A 270 version with the Wildcat 169.5 gr ULD RBBT would also be quite impressive as already mentioned!! There will also be much heavier 270 Wildcat bullets coming out soon as well.

Kirby Allen(50)

 

[lboom]

Guys, I have been working the loads for a 6.5 dakota and have been pleased with the results. I took a old 264 wrm and bored it to the dakota. It instantly shot patterns of 1/2 inch wiht a barrel that would never shoot better than 1 inch. I am coming close to the 7mm dakota velocitys . Yes,it does shoot faster than a 264 and much straighter. 7mm cases resize without any problems. I have reloaded some cases 20 times in load devopement with no sign of failure and they still have tight primer pockets. shoot ing 81.5 grains of h1000 with 120 grain barnes, .441 bc 3500fps love it

 

[CHARLIEDUECE65]

Any new information on this wildcat and how it worked out?

 

[WildRose]

I am thinking it would be a kick *** 600 yard whitetail getter. JMHO. Good luck.

The .260 Rem, 6.5 Rem mag, or .364 Win Mag will all make you a great 600yds deer rifle with far fewer issues to deal with and none of them will be the barrel burner that what you are looking at will be.

 

[lboom]

Im still very happy with the 6.5 dakota. I have went threw 18 pounds of powder,approx 1700 rounds and have seddled with the 140 berger,74.6 grains of retumbo at 3450 fps. I respectfully disagree that a .260 or a .364??? will compete with this round. dont want so much speed then run 68-70 grains of retumbo and still get 3200 with a 140 grain.want more then go with a 108 or a 120 at 4000pfs-3600fps. Its fun to shoot this gun at 1000 yards,no muzzle brake either. my two cents

 

[midnightmalloy]

Oooh how about a 6.5/7LRM! has all what your looking for with a standard bolt face.