Thread: 6.5 06

Right y o guys and girls
So I've decided to go down the custom-build road with a carbon wrapped barrel, and looking hard at the 6.5 x 06. That way I can still use my Mk 5 .270 Weatherby action.

Just need some pros'and cons help from those that have a 6.5 06 cos I really know nothin about them.
ANY advice will be a huge help,........thanks in advance

I understand its performance is very similar to the 270 win

Handled one of those carbon barrels rifles at GC.A lot lighter and nicely balanced.

@Brian has a lot of experience with the 6.5x06

Ive seen his knock over a lot of animals with 100 or 110 Barnes TTSX.

There is a few about I have success accuracy wise with H4831 but quite slow in my barrel and H1000 [ ar2217] accurate but faster
apparently the pixie dust R26 is the go but........ where is it.

Should have added 6.5-284 is as near as identical ballistically and a lot easier to get to shoot (but I've never had one)

Its the barrel life that bothers me, or lack of compared to other 6.5's

And as had been said 6.8 06 ( aka .270 ) or 6.5 / tomatoe, potato

Originally Posted by johnd

Its the barrel life that bothers me, or lack of compared to other 6.5's

And as had been said 6.8 06 ( aka .270 ) or 6.5 / tomatoe, potato

Barrel life shouldn’t be a big concern. The good old .25-06 is essentially the same case with a smaller projectile and is good for 1500+ rounds.

My past experiences with 3 iterations of 6.5-06 have been uniformly underwhelming. Although all three were Mauser 98 based to be fair - getting a 98 to shoot is never a sure thing unless your name is @nor-west.

The first one didn't deliver anything like decent velocities and was only fair accuracy wise. The second was a bit shot out to be fair but didn't shoot.

Finally I tried a brand new cut rifled Kreiger barrel on my last one and it damm well refused to shoot despite a lot of pissing about - but the barrel was proven was fine when I much later reused it in a 6.5 Crudmoor build.

Were it my $$ (and an action as nice as a MkV) I'd be looking at something more modern . . . .

Just get a new 6.5 PRC and avoid wasting money that you’ll never see back if you have a change of heart, which seems to happen an awful lot with these sem-customs.

Have owned a 6.506ai for a few years. Built on Sako75 action that started off life as 2506 and when bbl got shot out I decided to build something different hence the 6506ai. Started off trying to base loads on 2213 and RL19, then 2217 running 140 gn pills. Accuracy was excellent but speed was underwhelming (2750-2800 fps). More recently been playing around with RL25 and getting much better speed (2930-2950 fps) and good groups (0.6-0.7moa) running the old 140gn AMAX. With RL26 I’m guessing might do even better. Ballistically the 6506ai and 6.5-284 should be much of a much, as you see with 280ai & 284s. Pretty cool calibre, yanks reckon they can get over 3000fps. Recoil is mild as

6.5-06........great calibre, throws good quality, high BC 6.5 projectiles, as well as any other 6.5 variant. And can shoot very accurately in plenty of decent actions - I would suggest the Mk V is a decent action. No feeding problems in an action that was previously a 270. I would suggest that if you have a hankering for a 6.5, the give the 6.5-06 a go. And let us know how you get on.

Originally Posted by Husky1600

6.5-06........great calibre, throws good quality, high BC 6.5 projectiles, as well as any other 6.5 variant. And can shoot very accurately in plenty of decent actions - I would suggest the Mk V is a decent action. No feeding problems in an action that was previously a 270. I would suggest that if you have a hankering for a 6.5, the give the 6.5-06 a go. And let us know how you get on.

Ive got a few options
In saying that, I dont really have a hankering for a 6.5 06, just that if I run with that then the bolt face will need little to no work.
6.5 PRC is also an option, and so is .280 Rem
See the thing is that after shooting the mighty .270 for 40 odd years ya tend to get a bit set in ya ways, especially when mine shoots so well, and then to be told that .270 in a carbon barrel is like rocking horse shit......well whats the world coming to!!! I mean fuck me!!!

Anyway, have to make a D fairly soon , and get on with it

Originally Posted by Bos

Ive got a few options
In saying that, I dont really have a hankering for a 6.5 06, just that if I run with that then the bolt face will need little to no work.
6.5 PRC is also an option, and so is .280 Rem
See the thing is that after shooting the mighty .270 for 40 odd years ya tend to get a bit set in ya ways, especially when mine shoots so well, and then to be told that .270 in a carbon barrel is like rocking horse shit......well whats the world coming to!!! I mean fuck me!!!

Anyway, have to make a D fairly soon , and get on with it

What carbon barrels have you looked at?

Originally Posted by Shearer

What carbon barrels have you looked at?

Bartlein, Trueflight, Hardy