260 Rem., 260 AI, 6.5x55 AI, or 6.5 PRC

[lawofsavage]

Which would you choose and why. Any feedback is appreciated but I’ve included more details below if you’re interested haha.


My main goal is to have something easy to learn reloading with (I like having an option for factory ammo too) that I can get also get really really nice performance out of as well.

I’d really like to push the 147’s as close to 3000fps as I can but I’d be reasonably happy with anything 2850 and above. The faster the better though. I’ve seen people reporting great results with RL26 and 147’s especially with longer barrels and I plan on something between 26-28 inches, probably Rem Varmint contour.

This will be mostly for competing in local prs style/ practical matches with some hunting when I’d rather use it than a lightweight hunting rifle haha. I have standard bolt face and magnum bolt face tikka actions that I can build on and I’ll be using ctr bottom metal and dropping it in a McM A5. Everything is ready to go except the barrel and I’m currently shooting the factory loaded 142 grain fgmm in 27” 260 with the above parts that I’m happy with but would like more speed.

I know these types of threads get annoying but I’d rather annoy a few people and save some money and be happier with my choice haha and there are some really knowledgeable people here.

 

[Mj1995]

In my opinion if you are already shooting 260 and you want something faster the 260 ai would make the most sense seeing as how you are just looking to add a little bit of velocity. However I don't have either so i can't give you any actual data.

 

[lawofsavage]

Yeah, that’s sort of the direction I’m leaning as well just for how easy it would be. The only thing that’s holding me back is I can’t really think of any downsides to going with the 6.5 PRC and it should be higher performance. I don’t see it burning barrels out substantially faster if I want to use RL 26 and 147’s in both.

 

[V-Ref]

Who makes PRC brass now and 5 years from now?

What if I decide to run a Hodgon Extreme or Alliant/IMR temp solid powders...can I meet my exterior ballistic goals with xyz chambering?

Are off the shelf high quality (i.e. Redding Type S etc) available and readily supported ?

Can I setup the chambering to reliably feed out of the mag with a variety of bullets in case my barrel doesn't like bullet A, B, or C?

I would start by asking the questions above

 

[lawofsavage]

All very good points and why I’m asking in here. I’m sure this can be picked apart haha but I’ll attempt to answer based on what I know at this time ?

1 - PRC losing factory support is a risk I’m willing to take but I do agree the possibility of it going away is definitely a negative. But, the option of using the loaded ammo from Hornady makes up for that to me for now.

2- I think H1000 would do almost as well as RL26 in the barrel lengths I’m thinking about but I’m not sure about how much velocity I’d lose.

3- I have no idea because I haven’t started reloading yet but I’m glad you mentioned this so I can look into it.

4- My understanding is that the ctr mags allow for something around the range of a 2.94” coal. PRC I think will be borderline too long depending on the powder used, seating depth, bullet choice, reamer used, etc... but I don’t have the best understanding of all this yet.

 

[V-Ref]

I believe the barrel life will be very close to each other in the chamberings you mention. Heat/pressure is what kills barrel throats, x performance is y barrel life. There's no way around physics.

Shot string intensity/length, barrel lots of steel, cleaning regimes, reloading pressure levels, etc will add spread to the scatter chart on this data point, but there all gonna be in the same ballpark.

 

[lawofsavage]

I would think so as well and thanks for the input.

Running the numbers on Nosler 130 RDF at 3150fps or above is pretty interesting and seems to be really flat. It doesn’t seem like it would be a ton more recoil than pushing a 110 grain bullet the same speed out of a 6mm and the 130 rdf’s and the 110 smk’s Have very similar bc’s. If a guy is just competing to improve his skills and have fun then it seems like the 6.5’s would offer better barrel life and have the advantage when it comes to hunting and higher bc bullets when playing around at the longer distances.

For the guys that are knowledgeable about it, I’d love to hear any tips or htigms to consider when specifically setting up a barrel to push a specific bullet as fast as possible.