LongRangeLapua
Active Member
What do yall consider the king of Long Range (1000+) of 6.5 calibers, and why? Just want to see everyones opinion.
6.5 Calibers?
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ICANHITHIMMAN
Well-Known Member
The fastest one
Kevin Thomas
Well-Known Member
6.5x284, based purely on the fact that it already dominates the 1,000 yard prone matches. Easily the most popular cartridge for this game, and that's saying a lot. Fast, flat shooting, a terrific array of match bullets available for it, mild recoil and decent (a strictly relative term in this context) barrel life and there ya' go.
Trickymissfit
Well-Known Member
I just pulled up the scores for the 1000 yard Old PA benchrest shoots in 2011 and 2010 (2012 are not posted yet). In the light gun matches I saw lots of 6mm and 6.5 stuff with a lot of .30 caliber stuff. Looks like the .300 WSM is making a lot of waves in both light and heavy stuff. Of course theres a lot more involved than simply aiming and pulling the trigger. Saw a lot of .300 WBY mags and .308 Baers (almost identical). In the light gun catagory top 10 groups) you had two 6mm rounds, three 30 calibers, four 6.5's, and one with no equipment spec. There were three 6.5/.284's and one 6.5x47 Lapua. Best group was from a 6x47Lapua. What these sheets don't say is what the weather was like that day, and that can be important when you see the 6mm's in there.
gary
Trickymissfit
Well-Known Member
just checked the West Virginia matches, and hardly anybody was shooting a 6.5 caliber anything. Did see several 6mm's and mostly 30 caliber stuff as expected. Once again weather conditions may have came into play there
gary
benchracer
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I have a 6.5 Swede, 6.5-284 Norma, and a .264WM.
Recently, I had the chance to shoot the Swede and the 6.5-284 at 600 yards for the first time. The Swede shot really well in tough wind and mirage conditions. I was surprised though, at how much easier it seemed to shoot "through" the conditions with the 6.5-284. I was shooting 140g Berger VLD's with the Swede and 140g AMAX's with the 6.5-284.
I would estimate that the 6.5-284 was running about 200fps faster than the Swede. The difference between the two was subtle, but decisive. I would expect that difference to be magnified at 1000 yards.
Where my .264WM is concerned, I am still in the middle of load development with it so I don't really know what it's true potential is. At this point, it doesn't look like I will be giving up anything in accuracy to either of my other 6.5's. In the end, I expect to be able to get 3150 or so with the 140's. If that is the case, I would expect it to outperform the 6.5-284 to roughly the same extent that the 6.5-284 outperformed the Swede.
I know that there are bigger cased 6.5's like the 6.5 STW and the 6.5 RUM. Assuming that the bigger cases would be able to maintain the accuracy level of the smaller cases, I would think that one of these would be the KING of the Long Range 6.5's. That also assumes that existing powders are slow enough to take advantage of the additional case capacity and that the high bc 6.5 bullets available would be able to withstand the additional velocity without bullet blowup.
I am thinking that with the right Cutting Edge bullets and slow enough powder the STW and RUM would be monsters at long range. Yes, barrel life would be short. But, for field purposes, I don't consider that to be an important consideration.
Recently, I had the chance to shoot the Swede and the 6.5-284 at 600 yards for the first time. The Swede shot really well in tough wind and mirage conditions. I was surprised though, at how much easier it seemed to shoot "through" the conditions with the 6.5-284. I was shooting 140g Berger VLD's with the Swede and 140g AMAX's with the 6.5-284.
I would estimate that the 6.5-284 was running about 200fps faster than the Swede. The difference between the two was subtle, but decisive. I would expect that difference to be magnified at 1000 yards.
Where my .264WM is concerned, I am still in the middle of load development with it so I don't really know what it's true potential is. At this point, it doesn't look like I will be giving up anything in accuracy to either of my other 6.5's. In the end, I expect to be able to get 3150 or so with the 140's. If that is the case, I would expect it to outperform the 6.5-284 to roughly the same extent that the 6.5-284 outperformed the Swede.
I know that there are bigger cased 6.5's like the 6.5 STW and the 6.5 RUM. Assuming that the bigger cases would be able to maintain the accuracy level of the smaller cases, I would think that one of these would be the KING of the Long Range 6.5's. That also assumes that existing powders are slow enough to take advantage of the additional case capacity and that the high bc 6.5 bullets available would be able to withstand the additional velocity without bullet blowup.
I am thinking that with the right Cutting Edge bullets and slow enough powder the STW and RUM would be monsters at long range. Yes, barrel life would be short. But, for field purposes, I don't consider that to be an important consideration.
Kevin Thomas
Well-Known Member
OP's original question asked specifically about 6.5mm cartridges. I'd also add that I don't shoot 1,000 yd Benchrest, but prone/sling matches. There, the 6.5x284 dominates the field. Changing a bit with the advent of F class, but that wasn't the OP's question.
Are there other 6.5s that give higher velocities? Sure thing. But they also bring in a bunch of nasty problems with them that take them out of the running for prone competition. Any cartridge is merely a series of compromises, and "the best" cartridge is merely the one which fits our own needs most closely.
Are there other 6.5s that give higher velocities? Sure thing. But they also bring in a bunch of nasty problems with them that take them out of the running for prone competition. Any cartridge is merely a series of compromises, and "the best" cartridge is merely the one which fits our own needs most closely.
Some of the old time longerange hunters considerd the 6.5x300 wby to be the best longerange hunting cartridge. Also at the Williamsport Pa. Club Ritchie Kepp won the aggregate shooting a 6.5x300wby, but that was years ago.
Drags
Drags
Catfur
Well-Known Member
I think claiming that a round is the best round because it dominates bench rest, or some other competitive shooting discipline at some distance is pretty bunkum. Competition shooting puts much different demands (down in the details) on a shooter than hunting. Your answer may well end up completely different based on what you want, a light carry rifle for hunting; weight no obstacle hunting rifle; F-Class; benchrest?
I have a friend at work who is pretty big into F-Class (shot 5th at recent nationals match at Whittington). He uses a 7mm (and says a great many of the other competitors do, too), but says he wishes he could use his .338 EDGE. The fact is he just can't handle the recoil from that, when he is going to have to shoot literally hundreds of rounds over a several day period. Barrel wear is a factor they consider too, if you're going to put several thousands of rounds downrange in a year, you just can't afford a barrel-burner. Even if cost is no object, you might end up burning a barrel out in the middle of a match, and losing that way.
You need to answer the question of "What do I want?" before you can answer the question of "What's the best round in this caliber?"
I have a friend at work who is pretty big into F-Class (shot 5th at recent nationals match at Whittington). He uses a 7mm (and says a great many of the other competitors do, too), but says he wishes he could use his .338 EDGE. The fact is he just can't handle the recoil from that, when he is going to have to shoot literally hundreds of rounds over a several day period. Barrel wear is a factor they consider too, if you're going to put several thousands of rounds downrange in a year, you just can't afford a barrel-burner. Even if cost is no object, you might end up burning a barrel out in the middle of a match, and losing that way.
You need to answer the question of "What do I want?" before you can answer the question of "What's the best round in this caliber?"
