another Which 6.5 and what caliber bullet for Hunting/ shooting paper?

[excaliber]

I've been reading all the posts I can here on 6.5's and it's been a real eye opener for sure. The more I read the more confused I am.

I'm looking for a gun for my Wife and it looks like one of the 6.5's would be the ticket.
It will be mostly a range gun but I'd like to see it used on Muleys too. I see many like the 6.5 CM but most of these 6.5's are all around the 2700 fps range with 140 gr bullets. Are all of them SA guns?

When I looked at all the load data on the Hodgdon site there really isn't much difference between them until you go to the 6.5 Rem Magnum and 264 Win Mag.

I was looking at the 6.5 Sherman but I think it may be more recoil wise than the Wife would like.

For a reloader does one of the 6.5''s have a overall better efficiency?

How does someone decide on which 6.5 is the right one? Would the 129 Accubond be a good bullet for the 6.5?

 

[el matador]

For a low-recoil gun I'd go with one of the short action rounds like .260 Remington or 6.5 CM. Yeah they won't push the 140s super fast, but who really cares? The 120-130 grain bullets are still great performers out to 500+ yards and they kick less. The lighter bullets work well in short barrels so you can keep the overall size and weight of the rifle down.

I just bought a rifle for a kid to take deer hunting. I settled on the 7mm-08 shooting 120 grain bullets at around 3000 fps. This will be a great deer gun inside of 500 yards, and I could also stretch the range out a bit more by using 140-150 grain bullets. The kid isn't likely to shoot much past 300 yards though so I'll stick with the 120s for his hunt.

 

[Clucknmoan]

I was in the same boat a few years ago and settled on a 6.5 x 284. Couldn't be happier, 140's right at 3000 and 147's just under that. My wife and teenage daughters shoot it all the time, no kick and its a hammer on mule deer. Hell of a lot of fun to shoot.

 

[CLICKBANGBANG]

Creedmoor. Tons of factory ammo and a lot of custom ammo. Short action. Lowest recoil (besides Gren). Bullets still perform out to 500 and up to 650 yards. Long barrel life. I like my 6.5 Creedmoor. Slap on a 20 MOA base and a Sightron. You'll be good to go.

Fast is fun, and it will reach a little further, but everyone is dialing up when shooting LR. If I want faster or further, I'll go up to a 7mm.

 

[MudRunner2005]

For a handloader, go .260 Rem or .260 AI.

Remington has several new options in the .260 Rem cartridge. It was long overdue. My favorites are the Magpul model and the 5R Gen2. I have two 5R rifles, and they shoot lights-out. One shoots sub-1/4 MOA routinely, but if I'm not having a perfect day, it's between 1/4-1/2 MOA average.

https://www.remington.com/rifles/bolt-action/model-700/model-700-sps
https://www.remington.com/rifles/bolt-action/model-700/model-700-vtr
https://www.remington.com/rifles/bolt-action/model-700/model-700-magpul
https://www.remington.com/rifles/bolt-action/model-700/model-700-5-r-series-gen-2

 

[FEENIX]

I've been reading all the posts I can here on 6.5's and it's been a real eye opener for sure. The more I read the more confused I am.

I'm looking for a gun for my Wife and it looks like one of the 6.5's would be the ticket.
It will be mostly a range gun but I'd like to see it used on Muleys too. I see many like the 6.5 CM but most of these 6.5's are all around the 2700 fps range with 140 gr bullets. Are all of them SA guns?

When I looked at all the load data on the Hodgdon site there really isn't much difference between them until you go to the 6.5 Rem Magnum and 264 Win Mag.

I was looking at the 6.5 Sherman but I think it may be more recoil wise than the Wife would like.

For a reloader does one of the 6.5''s have a overall better efficiency?

How does someone decide on which 6.5 is the right one? Would the 129 Accubond be a good bullet for the 6.5?

I started both my boys hunting at age 10 with a 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser (Carl Gustaf 1894M carbine with 18" barrel). There is something nostalgic about this cartridge/chambering and has been around longer than our venerable .30-06 and still going strong esp. in the EU.

She's not fancy, just simple and effective since 1894 - keep it simple! gun)

For a factory rifle I'd go with the Savage 12 LRP in 6.5 CM ...

[ame]https://youtu.be/cYOTKrYhvZA?t=13[/ame]

Good luck!

 

[BEEMAN]

Don't overlook the 6.5X47. Has a little less case capacity than the Creed or 260 but will run very close to them. You say mostly range work so I feel the X47 would be perfect. I shoot mine out to 910 yds all the time (far as my range goes ). All three have great Lapua brass now. Get some H4350 and some 130 Bergers, CCI450 and the X47 works great. Barrel life is very good and recoil with a brake is almost non existent. You did mention a Sherman. Barrel life will be much less and will produce more recoil. My Sherman is a pleasure to shoot and recoil is not bad at all. But when you start talking Sherman it is not what I would call a practice gun. It is a top performer in a 6.5 hunting scenario.

 

[Deleted member 46119]

So far, no one had reported a 6.5 Creedmoor chambered rifle as a poor shooter.

Factory ammo is very accurate.

Power out to 500 seems right.

I've only been up close and personal with the Savage.

Recoil is at "wife" levels. For range and occasional hunting.

I went 260 for strictly target work, single load.

264 WM, 6.5 SSM, and other 6.5 magnums will have recoil.

 

[excaliber]

Thanks for the info everyone. I think I'm going to get the Wife a 6.5 Creedmore and I'll get myself either a 6.5-284, 6.5-06 or a 6.5 Sherman.

I think we'll have it covered this way.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

We have done quite a bit of work with various 6.5's. I did not catch if you are doing factory rifles or custom. Less options with factory.

The Creed has gained a huge following just from the great marketing. If I were choosing a cartridge on this scale it would be the 6.5X47 Lap. In my opinion the most efficient 6.5mm out there. Super brass and very good performance for amount of powder used.

For a bigger 6.5mm I would go with the 6.5-06. I think gives the most performance with the least amount of work. Easy to load using 25-06 brass. Just run through the FL sizer in one step. You could do an Ackley 40* shoulder with just one extra step to fire form and have pretty close to a top end 6.5mm. Hard to justify this extra work now with the 26 Nosler. That would be my choice for top end 6.5mm.

As far as bullet we run our 124g Hammer Hunter for longer range work with the 8" twist. If you have a 7" twist custom you could run 137g Hammer Hunter for long range work. We run the 124g to 3150fps in the 6.5-06 and run very close to 3000fsp with the 6.5X47 Lap.

My .02

Steve

 

[elkaholic]

One thing that is often overlooked is versatility with various loads. When we think magnum, we always assume eveything HAS to be loaded to max! I have loaded 140's in my Sherman with H4350 at around 3050' and I think the charge was about 54 grains. It shot bugholes with noticeably less recoil and still outperforms most of the other 6.5's. You can always load down, but if you start small, your options for UP are limited! I would just consider what and how far you want to shoot and base your decision on that. I standard 260 Remington is a pretty darn good all around no fuss 6.5.......Rich

 

[Clucknmoan]

One thing that is often overlooked is versatility with various loads. When we think magnum, we always assume eveything HAS to be loaded to max! I have loaded 140's in my Sherman with H4350 at around 3050' and I think the charge was about 54 grains. It shot bugholes with noticeably less recoil and still outperforms most of the other 6.5's. You can always load down, but if you start small, your options for UP are limited! I would just consider what and how far you want to shoot and base your decision on that. I standard 260 Remington is a pretty darn good all around no fuss 6.5.......Rich

So true. If I would have known more about the Sherman when I built the first 6.5 284, I would have went that route.

 

[Deleted member 25294]

Thanks for the info everyone. I think I'm going to get the Wife a 6.5 Creedmore and I'll get myself either a 6.5-284, 6.5-06 or a 6.5 Sherman.

I think we'll have it covered this way.

All good choices, recoil wise I'll put a plug in for either the 6.5x284 or 6.5 SAUM.
I just re-barreled a tikka to 6.5 SAUM for a lightweight hunting setup, and at 8.2 lbs scoped, a 140 vld pushed with 61 grains of H1000 @3075 FPS has much less recoil than the last 270 or 308's that I've shot.

 

[WeiserBucks]

6.5x284 for me, great brass , very accurate and mild recoil . Any of the mid capacity 6.5's will work well .