Why 6.5 prc?

We have 2 Christensen 6.5. PRCs. Mine 24", son's is 26". We do ladder tests. With 143 eldx, his sweet spot is 3200fps, mine 3160fps. They both shoot sub .5 moa. We had 6.5-284s, best we got was 3020fps. We can have a lot of wind & distance shooting. Easy to reload. We both are extremely glad we made the switch!
Well, that's about the same speed what hodgdon says they can get with a 6.5-300. That's pretty amazing
 
I'm just curious, I see where a lot of guys are looking for the highest velocity possible, why not choose something more designed like the 26 nosler or 6.5-300? I got to wondering while I was sizing some for a guy and noticed the brass from hotter loads was pretty stretched and hard to resi

I'm just curious, I see where a lot of guys are looking for the highest velocity possible, why not choose something more designed like the 26 nosler or 6.5-300? I got to wondering while I was sizing some for a guy and noticed the brass from hotter loads was pretty stretched and hard to resize
because some think "some is good, more is better and too much is just right"
 
I do like as much velocity as I can safely and accurately get out of any firearm I use to take game or in self defense. Higher velocity means flatter trajectory, longer range, and more energy delivered to the target. I mostly use my DTA-SRS A1 for long range precision shooting. I have a 31" Bartlien 6.5 PRC barrel that works extremely well, and because the SRS is a bullpup the OAL is only 44 inches. I am using close to the max load suggested by Berger of N570 for their 156 grain EOL bullets and am getting an average 3311 fps velocity with sub .5 moa groups. I do have a longer throat so I can use all of the case capacity, and am using ADG brass. These loads are stout, and I do not recommend any hotter. I find that my bolt lift gets harder if the velocity goes higher than 3360 fps, so with my setup I am maxed out. If I were simply target shooting I would probably off about 1/2 grain, but I like where I am at with the PRC now, and it shoots great.
 
I thought about the 6.5 PRC but I had a long action laying around so I built a 280 AI shooting 162 ELDM I am pleased with velocity and accuracy. Someday I will build a 6.5 PRC in a lightweight configuration. I am sure it will be awesome.
 
Is it a necked down 300 prc?
No, the 6.5 PRC is a short mag based off the same case design, ie. the base and web area are all very similar. The grand father case is the 375 Ruger. The 6.5 PRC maxes out around 60ish grains of most powders and most people are shooting 56-60grains on their max loads. The 300 is a very long cartridge and holds more along the lines of 80grains of powder. The actual total water numbers for both cartridges vary depending on manufacturer. Essentially the both designs ie. SAAMI spec, supports longer heavy for caliber bullets. This is one of the major differences from the say 300 Win Mag SAMMI design.
 
I'm just curious, I see where a lot of guys are looking for the highest velocity possible, why not choose something more designed like the 26 nosler or 6.5-300? I got to wondering while I was sizing some for a guy and noticed the brass from hotter loads was pretty stretched and hard to resize
You can get cartridges that can be run a lot faster than the 6.5 PRC, but because of the wide availability of ballistic calculators and ways to computer elevation and wind changes has some what nullified general need to have the faster bullet in the woods. Consistent accuracy has become one of the primary goals, and I think has begun to out weigh ultimate speed. That's not to say you can't achieve both but finding consistent accuracy and ease of finding accurate loads tends to be easier at the medium speeds you can achieve with the 6.5 PRC or the 6.5-284 versus say a 26 Nosler. From my experience long very over-bore cartridges tend to be very finicky. My 7mm STW and 7mm RUM were both was more finicky than my 7mm LRM. Now with enough experimenting I could get the longer cartridges to shoot, where my LRM would easily eat almost everything I tried. I don't know if its related but I have found very fast bows tend to be harder to tune than medium speed bows.
 
The only reason for these new cartridges is that the older sisters (i.e. 6.5 creed vs 260 Remington and the 6.5 PRC vs 264 Remington Mag) were developed for the older slower twist barrels in the rifles built back in the day. The newer higher BC heavier bullets today won't group out of those older rifles, so now we have these new cartridges. For some reason the rifle manufactures won't build rifles in the old offerings with the tighter twist barrels, probably because if you were to shoot the modern rounds through the old guns you wouldn't be able to get tight groups and therefore create bad publicity for those cartridges. So Ruger and Hornady teamed up to provide better options for the 6.5 and are building off of the success and offering other caliber options. Also, the Creedmoor was developed for the Army Marksmanship Unit almost 30 years ago and was the best kept secret for a few years as they dominated with this round in the competition arena in the early to mid 90's. So if you are a reloader, don't discount a custom build in the older cartridges. I know for sure that you can get an extra 100fps out of the 260 Rem. You just won't find factory ammo in the heavier bullets.
 
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