What 6.5mm for silhouette

[Jerry G]

What would be the best 6.5 for shooting silhouete and why? The reason I ask is a friend and I want to build new 6.5mm guns. Me for Silhouette and he for long range shooting. I would think the best silhouette gun would be the best for both.

[lone ringer]

Jerry, you could build a 260 or 6.5X47 Lapua. They both perform about the same on silhouettes. The 260 you can load a bit faster but I think the 6.5X47 Lapua has the potential of being more accurate. If you do not want to spend a lot of money on brass and dies get the 260 but if you do not mind paying almost $1 per piece of brass and around $60 for new dies then get the 6.5X47 Lapua.
I love mine but I still use the 260 Remington. Another option is the 6.5MM BR but you have trouble knocking down all the rams that you hit.

[Jim Beckley]

Hard to go wrong with any 6.5. I have shot 6.5x55, .260 and now both my SR and HR are chambered in 6.5x 47 Lapua, which I feel is just about right, but that's my thoughts.

[thskeer]

You are going to compromise if you want both Silhouette AND Long Range performance.

For SIlhouette I built 260 Rem's, and I absolutely LOVE that cartridge.

I have, ummm.... extensive, experience in the LR game, and right now the best choice for a 1000 yard gun would be a 6.5-284. It is a short, fat case that gives about 100 percent loading density when shooting 140-142 grain bullets over 3100 fps. Brass is available from Norma (some of the best in the world) and loaded ammo from Black Hills. Most LR being shot prone or F class where 12 to 18 pound guns are common, so recoil is mitigated by that. If you put the 6.5-284 into a 10 pound silhouette gun you'll have to down-load a bunch for the first 3, and then maybe crank it up a little for Rams. In that case, you are WAY overgunned for 75 percent of the course, and probably overgunned for the last.

The 260 will work well for LR, but it lacks the pure velocity, and therefore wind-bucking ability, of the 6.5-284 (maybe the 6.5-06 if you dont mind the brass forming steps). It does GREAT on the Silo range with lighter bullets for the first 3, and you really dont have to max it out to slam rams, unless you have a strong wind from the uprange side sort of holding them up.

For my money, I'm going to stick with the .260 Rem for now. In the end I'll probably try the 6.5 Creedmoor as it has slightly better efficiency for the 6.5mm bore (plus a family connection.)

Tom

[BlauBear]

The shorter 6.5x47 case helps constrict or compress the powder which results in better accuracy, so the Lapua case definitely has an edge at Silhouette range.

However the standard case length of the 260 is a definite advantage when feeding from a magazine and if you load cartridges on a progressive press, and the higher case capacity should let you load for longer ranges. And it is a durned good cartridge.

In your case I'd give the 260 a really good look even though you'd give up some accuracy. I currently have a single shot Stiller chambered in Lapua for silhouette (ready for Benton, Kitty?) but wouldn't mind using a 260 - lack of practice and skill in high power will cost me a whole lot more targets than the cartridge.

[Jim T.]

I have a 6.5x47 and like it. However, the price of brass is beyond idiocy. Why does this brass cost almost twice as much a 6.5x55 Lapua brass? For this reason I would strongly consider chambering my next barrel in 6.5 Creedmoor. The Creedmoor brass is almost 40% cheaper than the 6.5x47 brass and is made in the USA. I do not have first hand knowledge of the quality or longevity or the Hornady brass and that is something I would have to research further.

See the link below for an article on 6.5 variants that should help you out.

http://demigodllc.com/articles/6.5-shoo ... dmoor/?p=1

As far as a long range caliber, I think .284 (7mm) is proving to be superior to the .264 (6.5mm) caliber. If I were going to build a long range rifle today I would look real carefully at the .284 Winchester or its improved version, the .284 Shehane. See the article at the link below for info on this cartridge and why 7mm is the way to go.

http://accurateshooter.wordpress.com/20 ... ong-range/

[ywltzucanrknrl]

Most any 6.5 is a good choice. I have been shooting mostly 6.5's since the late 70's when I picked up my first Swedish Mauser. I'm a real fan of the 6.5X55 although I've owned, hunted with and shot 260's, 6.5-06's, 6.5x284's and 6.5X55's. Just a few thoughts---make sure you get the correct twist for the bullets you want to shoot---there are several factory 260's out there that don't have the twist to stabilize the heavier bullets. The 6.5x284's are great, they shoot like a laser, but they are pretty hard on barrels---you will get at least 2x the barrel life out of a 260 or 6.5x55 over a 6.5x284, depending on how you clean and how you handload. Most all the rifles I've had have been accurate (some with factory and some with custom barrels), even the old Swedish Mausers will shoot MOA or better if they have a good bore. I've had good luck with rams with my 6.5's, although I'm still shooing mostly the Sierra 155's HPBT's that are now discontinued, but have also used 140's and even some 120's with good success. Good brass is available for pretty much all of the 6.5's and it's pretty easy to make brass for the 6.5-06 and 6BR. There are quite a few people who compete with 260's in both silhouette and long range and do well, but the rifles are set up differently---stocks and weights are generally quite different.

[BlauBear]

Good article comparing the different cartridges! Hard to disagree.

[Jerry G]

You guys are giving me some very good information, keepit comming. Stocks would be different for the sil and LR guns.

[Jim T.]

More info at the link below. Discussion is long but has some good info and opinions.

http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthr ... er=1234512

[jneihouse]

I shoot the 6.5X47L and the young man that I coach/spot for shoots the .260....So I've had the opportunity to shoot both extensively and to shoot them back to back...my impressions FWIW, others here have a lot more practical experience, is that the 6.5X47 needs less powder to do the same job the .260 does...More powder, more recoil, and it is a differnce you can feel in the shoulder...The 6.5X47L is more expensive to get into due to the higher cost of brass, but the Lapua brass is very high quality and I have zero complaints....Premium .260 brass can be just as expensive, so maybe that's not a real factor...the .260 with the original factory barrel was a bit finicy with the heavy bullets, this due most likely to the rate of twist Remington chose for this round in their guns...It's made to stabilize the lighter bullets so you have to work at getting the heavier bullets to group well....This .260 was re-barrelled by Mark Pharr over the past winter with a faster twist premium barrel and the finicky has gone away.

Just an observation, but as flat as the .260 shoots and the versatility of having bullets all the way from 80 plus grains to 142 (or heavier) it's amazing that this round never really took off with hunters...Maybe I'm just missing something?

Either way you go you surely can't go wrong.

Kitty

[BlauBear]

That's a good point about the brass, Kitty. Nosler 260 brass costs about what Lapua 6.5x47 does, but in both cases it's easy to see where the money went. They're heavy and well finished, and need little or no prep before loading.

[Jerry G]

Thanks guys. I have ordered a Lawton 700 action for the 6.5 x 47L. Next comes a 8 twist bbl from Dan.