Please advise on best 6.5 for my new build

[tmmcampbell]

Long story short, I have a 60 yr old Mark 5 300 Weatherby that has great sentimental value to me. The barrel is shot out. I've decided to re-barrel it to a 6.5. for several reasons. 1. I want to hunt with it again. 2. I want less recoil (no muzzle break!) I would like to be around 20 foot pounds of recoil.

It will be used for deer and antelope. I have several other larger calibers for larger critters. I'm planning on shooting 135 badlands Precision bulldozer-2 bullets, and h1000, h4350 or vv570. (I have several pounds of these powders) I would like to be as far north of 3000 as I can get.

I saw weatherby came out with the 6.5 rpm and thought I had it. However, it won't work with my magnum bolt face. Now I'm leaning towards the .264WM.

Considering my parameters is there a better cartridge for my needs?
Thanks in advance.

 

[340Wby-4-everything]

264 wm is one of my top all time faves but will far exceed your recoil requirement if in a light rifle. But, just push its wt to over 8.5lbs you should come in rt about 20lbs + or - a bit. There are lots of charts out there that can give you rough guidance to cal, bullet wt, speed and recoil metrics

 

[smokey3]

Long story short, I have a 60 yr old Mark 5 300 Weatherby that has great sentimental value to me. The barrel is shot out. I've decided to re-barrel it to a 6.5. for several reasons. 1. I want to hunt with it again. 2. I want less recoil (no muzzle break!) I would like to be around 20 foot pounds of recoil.

It will be used for deer and antelope. I have several other larger calibers for larger critters. I'm planning on shooting 135 badlands Precision bulldozer-2 bullets, and h1000, h4350 or vv570. (I have several pounds of these powders) I would like to be as far north of 3000 as I can get.

I saw weatherby came out with the 6.5 rpm and thought I had it. However, it won't work with my magnum bolt face. Now I'm leaning towards the .264WM.

Considering my parameters is there a better cartridge for my needs?
Thanks in advance.

Why not do a 6.5x300 Weatherby. You should be able to use the 300 Weatherby brass and just neck it down. I'm not 100% sure though, maybe someone could verify if that is a viable option. I have a Vanguard in this caliber and it really doesn't kick bad at all with the factory 127 & 130 grain bullets and if you reload you can load it as stout as you like or back it down some. Plus Peterson is making brass for that caliber now. Your magnum bolt face will work also. H1000 & VV 570 are great powders in this platform as well.

 

[WildRose]

Long story short, I have a 60 yr old Mark 5 300 Weatherby that has great sentimental value to me. The barrel is shot out. I've decided to re-barrel it to a 6.5. for several reasons. 1. I want to hunt with it again. 2. I want less recoil (no muzzle break!) I would like to be around 20 foot pounds of recoil.

It will be used for deer and antelope. I have several other larger calibers for larger critters. I'm planning on shooting 135 badlands Precision bulldozer-2 bullets, and h1000, h4350 or vv570. (I have several pounds of these powders) I would like to be as far north of 3000 as I can get.

I saw weatherby came out with the 6.5 rpm and thought I had it. However, it won't work with my magnum bolt face. Now I'm leaning towards the .264WM.

Considering my parameters is there a better cartridge for my needs?
Thanks in advance.

Absolutely nothing wrong with the .264 WM or the 6.5-300 WBY for that matter.

Just plan to stock up on brass as you can because sooner or later all belted brass is going to get tough to find and extremely expensive when you do.

The 6.5PRC is another but it's not quite going to equal the Wm and certainly not the Wby.

If it were me and all I cared about was performance and recoil I'd go with the WM or the PRC as the 6.5-300wm will be the stoutest when it comes to recoil.

Just make sure you get one with an adequate tw rate to stabilize at least 150gr Vld/hybrid types and the 140gr Monos.

 

[tmmcampbell]

Thanks for the responses. I was planing on 1in 7 twist which should stabilize my chosen bullet. Lol and as of late I stock up on all shooting supplies when I find them.

I've read the 6.5-300 and 26 nosler in a 8-9 lbs rifle run around 26-28 foot pounds. The older I get the less I like the hard kickers and this will be a hunting only rifle so want to stay away from a break. My 300 wsm has around 27 foot pounds. I shot the 300 Weatherby for over 20 years and never missed an animal because of recoil. I bought into the hype and bought a 6.5 prc and thought wow this is fun to shoot. would like to keep it around 20ish for this rifle.

 

[snox801]

What about a .257-6.5 Weatherby. About the most simple neck up possible. Well above 3k with what you want. Little recoil.

 

[Sid Post]

What about a .257-6.5 Weatherby. About the most simple neck up possible. Well above 3k with what you want. Little recoil.

Or, how about a 257 Weatherby since he already has the 6.5PRC? Sure it won't run the pre-selected bullet but, the 257 Weatherby isn't a slouch on most things people hunt CONUS and they are relatively soft on the shoulder.

 

[TN David]

I'd go with 264 Win Mag or 257 Weatherby. I built a 264 Win Mag off of a donor Howa action I had, also have a Mark V 257 Weatherby, can't go wrong with either one.

 

[MT-Shooter]

One consideration you might want to think about is brass availability. Doesn't do much good to have a nice rifle that you can't even shoot.

 

[big johnson]

Fast twist 25 or 26"barrel 264 WM. No feeding problems and you can run long heavy bullets if you choose to and use 7mm RM brass in a pinch. I built a 6.5 PRC on a long action and it doesn't feed real good ,had to use a cf. mag box , wish I'd went with the 6.5 saum.

 

[snox801]

Or, how about a 257 Weatherby since he already has the 6.5PRC? Sure it won't run the pre-selected bullet but, the 257 Weatherby isn't a slouch on most things people hunt CONUS and they are relatively soft on the shoulder.

I would have said that but he asked for a 6.5.
I thought heck it would take very min neck expanding and be ready to launch them over 3k being very soft on brass.

 

[257WTBY]

257 WTBY necked up to 6.5 and have a blast. Should be relatively soft recoiling and super easy to neck up brass.

 

[entoptics]

JBM - Calculations - Recoil

www.jbmballistics.com

Ran some rough numbers, and 264 Win Mag sounds about perfect. 8-9 lb rifle equals 19-21 ftlbs of recoil with a 135 grain bullet at 3100 fps.

I have a 24" 264WM, and am getting 3050 fps with a 147 grain ELDM, though it's a bit hard on my old R-P brass. The 135 SBDII should be an easy 3100 fps, and will stomp on deer/antelope out to 600 yds or more I'd think. Perfectly capable on elk out past 400 probably.

Word of caution on the SBDII. I just tried some 140 gr 0.284, and the manufacturers B.C. appears wildly inflated. I measured 3 shots with a LabRadar, and all three came in at 0.500 G1, which is only 89% of the quoted 0.560 G1. 1:8 twist 5R barrel, so more twist than required per manufacturer. Still very good for a 7mm 140 gr class copper hunting bullet, but a heck of a long ways off what the manufacturer claims.

 

[Aussie Hunter Steve]

6.5-300 Weatherby Magnum....it's an awesome round! What do the other 6.5 rounds offer that can't be fixed with the 6.5-300? Burning out a hunting rifle barrel is the nicest thing you can do.