Help me choose 6.5 lrh or 6.5 predator

[brguide]

Okay I have really been wanting to extend my distance and stay supersonic. Both of my .308 can get out to 955 with 29.95 pressure and out to 1150 with 25.50 pressure. Being that these 2 don't stay supersonic and I want to reach 1400 or so and be supersonic i have been looking at the .260, 6.5x284, and 6.5 creedmoor. After 3 months of reading reviews it looks as if the creedmoor will last longer, lower recoil, COAL can be longer, and so on. So now that I have my caliber which of the 2 models do I choose. Either the Savage Long Range Hunter 6.5 creedmoor or the Savage 10 Predator 6.5 creedmoor. I have never liked pencil barrels and the LRH has a pencil barrel but I do like the fact that it has a cheek rest and 26" barrel but will it be as accurate and consistent as the 10 predator? I like the 10 predator because of the heavy taper barrel, tactical bolt knob, and the flutes heck I can always put a break on it if I have too. I am just stuck on these 2 guns and don't know which one will be the better of the 2. I have heard that the LRH has a tight action (like that of the model 12) but what about the predator does it too have the same action? If so I guess my best bet and safe bet would be to go with the predator. Please tell me there is someone out there that has these 2 rifles and can tell me more about them.

I am new to the forum but have been lurking in the shadows for awhile. A little about myself I am a licensed guide in Arizona and am a certified gunsmith (but have not got my FFL yet). I love hunting our grey ghost (Coues deer) and all of you know that most shots on them are 400+ yards. My longest Coues kill has been 650 yards with my .308. I had seen a 120+ buck a few weeks ago and had a tag but he was at 1385 and knew my gun may not kill him and did not want to chance it. Anyways thanks in advance for all your help.

 

[BrentM]

I am surprised you chose the creed over the 284 for the LR you are looking for. The 284 will give you more velocity, especially in these shorter barrels. My 6.5-284 is at 2940 fps with 140 VLD and I can go 2975-3000 if don't care about brass life. Clearly all 3 chambers are very good though.

I would do the 10 predator. I have a 110 predator in a 204. I have the 116 in 6.5-284 with predator style barrel, SS fluted 24". I like the heft personally. The LRH will be good too but it is not SS. So you kind of just have to pick your poison and run with it. Stainless steel, bigger barrel, stock cut for bigger barrel.

I don't like the cheek piece of the LRH but you will need to do something if you want really solid eye to scope alignment. I built my own for about $15.

Hope this helps.

 

[Nimrodmar10]

I may be able to help a little.

I went through the same decision about a year ago looking for an antelope rifle. My first decision was to go with a 6.5/260 caliber because of the long range accuracy. I looked at what was available and decided on the 6.5-284 Norma because of the extra velocity. This was a hunting gun, not a target gun. I didn't just need to punch a hole in my target, I needed to kill it. Since I was new to the caliber, I didn't want to spend the money on a custom rifle, yet. The only factory rifle that fit my needs was the Savage 111 LRH. I'd never owned a center fire Savage but people I trust bragged on them. The LRH had a 26 inch barrel, including the 2" muzzle brake, which can be opened or closed, by the way. The 111 LRH was also a long action, which let me seat the Berger 140 gr. VLDs I intended to shoot, very long. This gave me extra case capacity, which allowed me to load extra powder without getting high pressure. It also let me seat the VLDs out to the lands, where they like to be and still fit the magazine.

I liked the adjustable cheek piece. It let me have a solid cheek weld with the tall 56mm Nightforce NXS. I didn't really like the thin barrel, but with my reloads it turned out to be an honest .5 MOA gun out to 1000 yards. It also turned out to be a minute of antelope gun too. I used it on a Wyoming antelope hunt in October to kill two antelope, both over 600 yards. It was hard to get a shot much farther than that in the hilly terrain we were hunting in. Ninety five percent of the shots available were less than 200 yards or over 1500. No in betweens.

So, I'm guessing you're going through the same choices I did. It seems our requirements are about the same except the deer/antelope difference. I'm guessing the Coue's deer takes about the same amount of killing as an antelope does.

Oh, one other thing. The only advantage I kept hearing about for the other 6.5s were that they had better barrel life. I guess. But I wasn't looking for a target rifle, I was wanting a hunting gun. And if it only got the 1000 rounds or so that people said I'd get out of this barrel burner, so be it. I'll just screw another one on it. I think they're like $150 from Savage. Hope this helps.
Nimrodmar10

 

[stater61]

I think you should get a Savage or Stevens action and barrel it yourself, especially since you're a licensed gunsmith. Reason being you can use what ever barrel length and taper you want. You can also use the barrel nut or not that way.

I decided to make a long range rock killer, coyotes and what ever. I took a Stevens 22-250 and screwed on a Criterion prefit in 6.5 Creedmoor, head spaced it and was ready to go. It is a 28",1" bull barrel and makes the rifle heavier than I would want to carry. but you could go with a #4, #5 or Remington varmint contour to the length you desire.

The 28" barrel is getting me 2850 fps with a 140 Berger hybrid and H4350. I don't have my dope sheets with me but IIRC it stays subsonic to 1750 yds or so at 6800 in elevation. I think you're going to have to have at least a 26" barrel with a Creedmoor to stay subsonic at 1400 yds (just my speculation). Having not ran the numbers I just don't know if you'll get the velocity with a 24" non premium barrel. The elevation where you hunt will also be a determining factor.

I have the Creedmoor and 3 shooting buddies have the 260. The Creedmoor seems to be inherently more accurate than the other 3. Theirs are no slouches but not quite as good, and they have to work much harder at load development. I'm not knocking the 260 it just seems harder to obtain the results you want with it for not a drastic amount of gain in velocity. In my opinion a 260 imp would be better if you don't mind the fire forming etc.

I also shoot with a couple of guys at a plate at 1587 yds. One has a 300 RUM and the other a 338 RUM. Believe it or not I can hit the plate just as much as they do until the wind gets blowing fairly good. I just don't have NEAR the energy they do. That could be another factor with the Creed at 1400 yds, especially with a shorter barrel.

Anyway I just think a barrel longer than 24" will be a lot better in the Creedmoor for what you want. I also think that a 6.5x284 would be your best bet, also with at least a 26" barrel.

JH

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

Well the 6.5-284 really isnt that much faster than the Creed. Just a hair faster. If you reload, you can get the 140 humming out of a 24" @ somewhere around 2900-3000. But then you loose brass life etc. The Creed is a shorter cartridge making it inherently more accurate. Now out to the distance you suggested then probably the 6.5-284 will have a slight edge only because of the higher velocity. I own a Creedmoor and my dad also owns one and we absolutely love it. Great round. The Creed will have more barrel life, it has a shorter action, and it will have less recoil. For what its worth id just stick with the Creed......

 

[stater61]

Well the 6.5-284 really isnt that much faster than the Creed. Just a hair faster. If you reload, you can get the 140 humming out of a 24" @ somewhere around 2900-3000. But then you loose brass life etc. The Creed is a shorter cartridge making it inherently more accurate. Now out to the distance you suggested then probably the 6.5-284 will have a slight edge only because of the higher velocity. I own a Creedmoor and my dad also owns one and we absolutely love it. Great round. The Creed will have more barrel life, it has a shorter action, and it will have less recoil. For what its worth id just stick with the Creed......

Well you might get that velocity with RL-17 or even something else I don't know, but I think it would be at some pretty dang high pressures. If you're going to run that hot, you could do the same thing in the x284 and be a heck of a lot faster than the Creedmoor no matter how you run it.

Don't get me wrong I love the Creedmoor and will probably always have one around, but a 6.5x284 it ain't. I would probably prefer it to the x284 myself, until you start talking killing things at 1400 yds.

JH

 

[BrentM]

2900 to 3000 with a creed? I get it man, you love the creed, it's in your DNA. But this like saying a 3006 is just like a 300 mag. It just isn't the case. I am on my 10th reload with my 284 at 2940 from a 24. I can easily get 3000 if I go up a grain and bump pressure up. But it is on the edge. Do the math. It could be around 3025 to 3050 with a good 26" with a mellow load

Not sure about the creed being better than 260 either. If both rifles are shooting .3 moa, es is the same, and fps is identical then How in the world is it better? Just curious. I like case design better. I am thinking about building one for a buddy to have something different to play with but the 260 we set up was easy to tune. 26" barrel at 2810 fps shooting .25 to .3 with 140s. Nice rifle.

 

[Greyfox]

I own both a Predator in 22-250, and the LRH in 6.5x284. The both of these rifles are .25-.5 MOA shooters. I wouldn't call the LRH's barrel skinny at .73" at the muzzle, and does have enough weight to be very shootable at 1000 yards. The lighter barrel of the LRH does require somewhat more attention to shooting form/hold to extract the maximum accuracy compared to the Predator which is the general case for a heavy barreled rifle. In hindsight, I probably would have gone with the Predator instead of the LRH if it were available when I got the LRH. The Predator is dimensionally very similar to my Cooper 540 in 6.5x284. As to a 6.5 cartridge for game from 50-1000 yards, a 6.5x284, with a 140 Hunting VLD at 3000FPS is my personal, hands down favorite.

 

[brguide]

Thanks guys. I ordered the savage 10/110 predator in the 6.5 creed and topped it with a new Valdada 6-24x50 extreme moa scope. It should be here soon. I will let you all see it when she is done. Thanks again.

 

[BrentM]

Nice. Jealous. Want a new toy now.