Anyone hunting deer, coyote, etc with 6.5x47

[KPK]

I'm struggling on the direction of a new all around rig. Originally I wanted a 20" 6.5x47 for a truck/farm gun. I get to over thinking and always go back to something more. 6.5 saum or similar. The fact is I feel like 800yds with the 6.5x47 should be somewhat easy to accomplish and if I think I'm gonna need longer I can grab the 26" 300 win mag with 230g bullets.

So......ease my mind with the 6.5x47. I know it will work great for a short suppressed hunting rig. Currently have a Manners EH5A, Rem 700 action, and PTG bolt with small firing pin on the way.

I know it's not a big time thumper like most of you guys run, but a 140 even at 2700 will hit pretty hard.

Do it or go bigger? Going to do a match gun in 6.5x47 too. Have a 6x47 and love the case. Ease of loading, recoil, etc.

 

[trebark]

6.5x47 is an awesome round. Load it with the 130grain berger hybrids and H4350 and you will achieve 2900fps. Run the ballistics and you will find it is capable of killing deer waaaay over there.

 

[DM770]

I have killed a few deer with the 140 Berger Hunting VLD without any issues, longest being just over 500.

 

[KPK]

6.5x47 is an awesome round. Load it with the 130grain berger hybrids and H4350 and you will achieve 2900fps. Run the ballistics and you will find it is capable of killing deer waaaay over there.

Trebark that's bullet I really wanted to try. 2900 possible at 20" and suppressor? If so there's no question!

Thanks for the info DM. I shot a doe at 450 with my old 260. Great bullets!

 

[trebark]

My buddy killed an antelope at 675 with 130grain pill

 

[JamesBailey]

Trebark that's bullet I really wanted to try. 2900 possible at 20" and suppressor? If so there's no question!

No way. My 21" 9 twist Krieger sents the 130's at 2800. If you want 2900 w/ the 130's you will need at least 24". Aggressive reloaders can try RL17 and really stuffing the case (the x47L cases can handle pressure well), but you will burn the barrel out not to mention the brass. An extra 50fps simply isn't worth it. You might touch 2900 w/ the 123's, but again, that is running a bit harder than recommended.

Now if you want speed and a short barrel 6.5x47, try the 107's. Over 3000fps easy. Hits hard inside 400, that is for sure!

 

[Cold Trigger Finger]

KPK;
Yes, go for it. I have been working on my 6.5 Creedmoor hunting for a few years now and this fall finally got the time to really start putting it to work.
I was after a similar use working rifle. I started with a Ruger M77 Mk2 Hawkeye in Stainless with a 26" barrel. . I got it pretty well wrung out with the 26" but wanted a carbine more than I wanted velocity. So I took a Sawzall and hacked the barrel off. Squared it up with a flat file. Crowned it with an RCBS chamfer tool then a cone abrasive bit in my Dremel tool
. Finished length is 18.6"
Accuracy is the same. Still prints most loads in the .2s and. 3s at 100. Still prints sub 1" groups at 300 meters.
My 140 gr bullet velocity now runs around 2650 fps with 43 gr H4350. We were in the middle of a massive rabbit die off that brought the fur bearer pop down to nothing. . Not the bunnies have rebounded as has the predators.
I didn't get time to hunt moose this year but have done well on caribou. 3 so far this fall. All with my little 6.5 carbine. Shots from 40 yards to 360 yards.
I had a fixed 10x on it and a Boyd's Tacticool stock on it. After the 40 yard kill in the first season this fall I decided enough was enough. I got a 1-4×24 SWFA SS Classic scope and put the factory synthetic stock on it. Then on the 2 nd day of the 2 nd subsistence caribou season. I got 2 more bou. One at 360 yards and one at 300. Both 1 shot kills. The 360 yard was a small cow that I wanted to give to some friends and the 300 was a bull for us. 360 yd was with the 130 gr Swift Sirocco and the 300 was with a 130 gr TSX. Both pushed by 43.5 gr of Rl17. Cci 200 . Both mv are 2775 the TSX has the lower SD but both are making sub 1/2" groups at 100 on 4 power.
I saw a bunch of bou killed in 2 days. All the others with 30 cals. All but 1 of those ran a fair amount farther than mine did. Which both only made it 20' or less.

 

[Cold Trigger Finger]

The reason I used 2 different bullets is I wanted to see how the TSX would work on bou. . It worked great.
The 1-4 SWFA worked perfectly. The image quality is very good and the quick ranging reticle let me know close to exactly the range as the band was walking thru. Later I lasered it and found it was 360 yards on the dot. From the reticle I got 375 yards. I held on the reticle and made the shot with total confidence using a shooting stick I cut from a willow. In the sitting position.
I know 360 yards is not long range. But with the setup I have I would have made the same shots at 500 yards. Which tho still is not long range. It is a pretty good poke from a high sitting position. Which is about as close to the ground as we can be around here and still see above the brush.

 

[Cold Trigger Finger]

As soon as fur primes up here. I'll be using my Cogburn Fat Bike to access my calling stands and using the Creed for all myfur calling. The short barrel will be nicer getting thru the brush to where I can call an.opening.