6.5 PRC Short Barrel Hunting Setup and Twist Rate

calamjn

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
Minuteman
  • Mar 1, 2018
    329
    147
    Birmingham, AL
    I’ve seen some posts here lately about the 6.5prc barrel twist rate directly correlating to the bullets blowing up. I’m building a short hunting rig to shoot suppressed but keep mv fairly fast. I was wondering if those out there with more knowledge than me thought there may be issues with my 16.5” PRC build. My specs would be:

    Tikka T3
    16.5” Proof Barrel w/ 7.5” twist suppressed.
    Would be shooting a solid bullet. I really like the Barnes lineup of hunting bullets so would likely be shooting a 120grain TTSX or 130grain TSX. I’m thinking at 16.5” w/ those bullets I’d be getting around 2850+ fps
    Id be using it early through late season so temps would be wide ranging from 70* down to 20*most likely.
     
    No way in hell youre blowing up a TTSX with that combo. You wont blow up a jacketed bullet either. Thats basically long barrel creedmoor velocity.

    The 127 LRX is excellent, id try that over both ttsx’s.


    Edit: Proof research doesn’t make a 6.5 PRC prefit thats slower than 7.5 twist, even at 26” length.
     
    Last edited:
    With an 18in shooting 140 ELDM'S, I'm getting 2720 with 53 grains of 4831SC. I tried RL26 and it was waaaaayyyyy slow.
     
    How slow? Been thinking I’d run that in my 20” suppressed setup behind either the 127 LRX or a similar Hammer bullet.
    At same charges, RL26 was about 100 FPS slower. However, these were at low charges. I wanted to keep the recoil lighter since this is a NRL open light setup that's sub 12 pounds. I could have really increased the charge weight with RL26, I think I would have had to be at a much higher charge with more recoil to match the speed I'm getting now. RL26 does have a higher max charge than 4831sc, 57 grains vs 54.7 according to Hornady.
     
    I’ve seen some posts here lately about the 6.5prc barrel twist rate directly correlating to the bullets blowing up. I’m building a short hunting rig to shoot suppressed but keep mv fairly fast. I was wondering if those out there with more knowledge than me thought there may be issues with my 16.5” PRC build. My specs would be:

    Tikka T3
    16.5” Proof Barrel w/ 7.5” twist suppressed.
    Would be shooting a solid bullet. I really like the Barnes lineup of hunting bullets so would likely be shooting a 120grain TTSX or 130grain TSX. I’m thinking at 16.5” w/ those bullets I’d be getting around 2850+ fps
    Id be using it early through late season so temps would be wide ranging from 70* down to 20*most likely.
    Did you get this built?