6.5 opinions

[mark fox]

Gary r Its a simple chioce. 260 ai borerider throat and use lapua small primer brass. It can be up loaded to out preform the 6.5- 284 it can be down loaded to save on powder. the ia & borerider improves accuracy and velocity & throat life . the small primer makes it more accurate and allows you to run more preasure that gives you more preformance if desired the 6.5/ 284 is great. but is harder and requiers more work to make it a -.200 shooter even with lapua brass the 40 deg shoulder also requires less trimming. that means longer case life. Plus the 260 ai with 140s will fit into a short action and the 6.5/284 in 140 will not. the only other round I would consider in this class is my 6.5 banchee but you would not be intrested its way better..

Mark Fox,
" Bad *** Gun Works "

 

[scottishkat]

Hi Gray,

I believe the 6.5x284 is probably the better choice for your uses especially if you want to hunt to 600 at a push. The 260 Rem is a great round and I have 3 currently and owned a 4rth. If you review the case capacity of your choices with 140 gr bullets the 260 comes in at 47.4 gr h20, 6.5x55 50.2 and the 6.5x284 is 58.4 so the advantage of case capacity is with the 6.5x284. The 260ai is probably greater than the 6.5x55 but somewhat less than the 6.5x284.

The difficult part comes into play with your specific firearm and the speed at which it shoots. You could purchase a 6.5x284 that is slow and end up with a fine firearm that acts just like a 6.5x55 with more powder.

That's just a risk with the custom build.

I also own a 6.5-06 and a 6.5x284 the 6.5-06 has a speed advantage over the 6.5x284. But the length of your magazine may hinder your ability with it where no such problem exists with the 6.5x284.

I also owned the 6.5x55 that I wish I never parted with and in a modern action it is as stated by others a great choice but on average it will not perform a great deal faster than the 260 rem in a long action with the bullet seated on the shallow side and the same barrel length. I personally don't believe either are reliable big game rounds at 600 yards on average. I think 4-500 is a more reasonable limit.

On average neither will outperform the 6.5x284 in like firearms. I am not familiar with the 260 AI but I don't believe it will get you to 58 gr of capacity or be any more efficient than the 6.5x284.

In any case best of luck with your new build all the choices mentioned here are excellent IMO. I have been a fan of 6.5 mm cartridges for nearly 15 years and will probably own all of them eventually.

Shoot straight all

Bob

 

[Gray R]

I can't say I've ever heard that a small primer is more accurate. Also I'm running a long action so all considered will fit. Thanks though

 

[shortgrass]

Long action? Go with the 6.5 x 55! Good brass used in a modern made action, the choice is obvious. Make sure if you do decide to go that way that a reamer for a "sporting" chamber is used instead of the SAAMI speced. The SAAMI speced has way too much freebore.

 

[acloco]

Long action? Go with a 6.5x55 AI. Lapua brass, on the cheap, as mentioned before. Able to seat those looooong bullets out there.

My 6.5x55 AI runs 3100 fps with 140 & 142 gr bullets.

 

[scottishkat]

I can't say I've ever heard that a small primer is more accurate. Also I'm running a long action so all considered will fit. Thanks though

Based on my review of the 6.5x47 the small rifle primers show a lot of promise. there's a need for experimentation though.

 

[B23]

With all due respect and I truly mean that, especially considering how great this conversation has gone, I don't understand why you would "improve" the 260 Rem when it only gains 5-6% or 3-3.3gr H2O, depending on the reamer used. At very best, a 260 Ackley, only, matches the case capacity of the 6.5x55.

Maybe we should be comparing the 260AI to a 6.5x55AI. The 6.5x55AI will still have much cheaper Lapua brass but will gain nearly 10% in case capacity once it's fireformed.

Everyone has their reasons for why we do things but in my opinion, the gain in performance by improving, ohhh boy am I potentially opening a huge can of worms , any of the 243, 260, 7-08, 308 cases just isn't worth any other gain there may be. I think if you want more performance than the 260 offers, go with a bigger case.

As for one being anymore accurate than the other, forget about it, they're both outstanding in that department!

 

[Gray R]

I was getting 3125 with 140 vlds in my 6.5x284 that I rebarreled to 338/06 and since I have the brass I'll provly just go with that. And a lot of it has to do with reamer availability but I appreciate all the responses

 

[Mikecr]

I don't understand why you would "improve" the 260 Rem when it only gains 5-6% or 3-3.3gr H2O

Case improvements are not solely about capacity, as results are not muzzle velocity only.

Often improvements lead to reducing capacity.
Like If I were improving a 6.5x284, I'd immediately reduce it to 260AI capacity, take out body taper, and increase shoulder angle. I'd also set my chamber clearance to mitigate case yielding across the board. This would be a LR cartridge for 140gr bullets, given sustainable ACCURACY as the goal.

If I were designing the most accurate mid-range 26cal, I'd improve a 260Rem to end up at the 6.5x47L. Well that was easy, someone already did it for me and it provides an edge, for it's purpose, over all other 26cals.
This is why we have a 6.5x47L, even while we could have stuck with 260 or 6.5x55 or 6.5x284.

I don't have a problem with the 6.5x55.
But given a choice, I'd pick an improved version at best capacity for bullet and powder desired.
With this, if I improved a 6.5x55, I would hold the capacity right where it is. The last thing I would want is to alter that capacity or velocity one way or another -as that would not be an improvement.

 

[Greyfox]

I am a big fan of the 6.5 and use them almost exclusively in recent years for both hunting and competition. After looking at all the various flavors, I have settled in on the 6.5-284 and the 260 Rem, both producing benchrest level accuracy in my rifles. I use 140/142gr bullets at 2750-2800FPS in the 260, and 2950-3050 in the 6,5x284's. Excellent brass is available from Lapua and Norma for both and developing accurate loads is straightforward. I use the 260 for my competition work under 600 yards and the 6.5-284 for all my hunting/shooting which stretches out to 1000+ yards. The 260 would do fine for the hunting/shooting you describe and save costs in components and longer barrel life.IMO.

 

[Gray R]

Golly. Every time I make up my mind someone like grey fox makes way too much sense and now I'm torn again!

 

[B23]

Golly. Every time I make up my mind someone like grey fox makes way too much sense and now I'm torn again!

One thing that is certainly in your favor, you can't go wrong with any of them! gun)

 

[Gray R]

Hey that's te truth!

 

[mark fox]

reason for the ai in the 260 is wider straighter powder colums burn powder more consistant. sharper shoulder less growth. reason for the small primer higher preasure rated. standard 6.5x55 case was designed for way less preasure than the 260 case the small primer bumps it to about 68,000 cup. thus allowing a wider range of powders and thus performance range as far as the small primer being more accurate look at the research that has be done. Do the search. Dont get me wrong the 6.5x55 is a great cartrage. have had them before. i also have 257 robersts ai. but for the same reasons as the 6.5x55 is not at cartrage that i would choose for a performance cartrage. and the reason for having the 6.5 in my openion is to take advantage of the b.c. a safer higher velocity is also part of the reason. The 260 just like the 6.5-55 is very easy to make very accurate. much less tinkering work than the 6.5-284 or the 6.5-06