Thread: Short barreled 6.5 CM

Was wondering if anyone has real world experience with a short 16” or thereabouts 6.5CM?

Friend is looking for a cheapish lightweight rifle mainly for the bush but with the ability for the odd shot out to around 400 or so. Was thinking hacking down a tikka would be an option. Cheers

308

Long range is knowing your gun, target, load and your stress level.....doesn't matter if its .22 or a "fancy boy" caliber. my dad taught me know your gun first even if the barrel is bent.....you will know where it shoots when you learn your gun and yourself

Hacking a creedmore would make far less sense than hacking a 308. Cost and performance wise

Short barrel and creedmoor don't normally go together - shortest factory barrels are 20" heavy profile.
You don't need a creedmoor if your ranges are maxing out at 400 yards - consider looking at a 6.5 grendel, 300blk, or 7.62x39 in the Ruger American Ranch rifles - these all come with 16" factory threaded barrel, they weigh 6lb so make awesome bush rifles and they are new at $1k from 55six.

Originally Posted by mimms2

Agree with everything but the x39... that's really not a 400yd cartridge.

.223 would do fine for this scenario. Or as above, 308.

7.62x39 is most effective within 200 which makes it a great bush rifle - will drop a lot but has a maximum effective range of 400y so for "the odd shot" it could fill the roll (wouldn't be my choice - I'd go with the grendel).

Nothing wrong with a Creedmoor cut short if that's what you want.
You should still get good speeds with the right powder.
I would still load 143 ELDX or 140 ELDM and you should still be getting around 2600 to 2650fps.

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Originally Posted by 25 /08 IMP

Nothing wrong with a Creedmoor cut short if that's what you want.
You should still get good speeds with the right powder.
I would still load 143 ELDX or 140 ELDM and you should still be getting around 2600 to 2650fps.

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Thanks, that’s what I was thinking. Was keen to see if there was anyone on the forum that had loaded for one and what had worked. I didn’t put enough detail in my original post.

Originally Posted by 25 /08 IMP

Nothing wrong with a Creedmoor cut short if that's what you want.
You should still get good speeds with the right powder.
I would still load 143 ELDX or 140 ELDM and you should still be getting around 2600 to 2650fps.

Sent from my CPH1903 using Tapatalk

You might get to that speed yes, but it doesn't automatically mean you will find an accuracy node at or near max load. So worst case could end up with 2200fps for 14xgr bullets. I think you have to drop down to something like 120gr range to claw back some speed. Those bullets will still have a decent BC so won't matter too much for out to 400m.

Interesting to hear some more opinions as I am contemplating to do something similar.

Originally Posted by JaSa

You might get to that speed yes, but it doesn't automatically mean you will find an accuracy node at or near max load. So worst case could end up with 2200fps for 14xgr bullets. I think you have to drop down to something like 120gr range to claw back some speed. Those bullets will still have a decent BC so won't matter too much for out to 400m.

Interesting to hear some more opinions as I am contemplating to do something similar.

I was thinking a 130 vld or scirocco. I need a donor rifle for something else so thought I could get a factory 6.5 and cut it down before I do my build. If it works my mate will get the benefit of a no risk experiment. Read some stuff on a couple of US sites and it definitely seems to be viable.