Latest 6.5 wildcat

[JB02]

Big fan of the 6.5 sweede the 260 rem and the creedmore, and absolutely love the grendel. All the 6.5s excite me though. I really want to play with the 6.5 x284 but barrel life is less than stellar from what I'm told.

You also need a long action to get the most out of it.

 

[6Dasher]

More powder means less barrel life, it's as simple as that. If you want to push a 140 to 3100fps and use 54gr of powder vs 2800 and 46gr, you're barrel will wear more.

I love my 6.5-284, it's accurate, recoil is mild. But it's overkill inside 500y IMHO. If you can't read the wind, not even e 338 is going to save you mwuhahaha

 

[DesertLefty]

While we're adding oddball 6.5's to the list, here's a "6.5 Vais" that I used to shoot 10 years ago.

It's an improved 6.5x55 Swede with a 30-degree shoulder and a nice, long neck. It was sweet and VERY well behaved - 3000 fps shooting moly'd SMK 142's.

I think that Geoge Vais had a whole line of improved cartridges that he developed.

From left to right: 260 Rem, 6.5x55 (original), 6.5 Vais, 6.5-284, and 30-06.

 

[turbo54]

While there aren't a lot of big differences from one ~45gr powder 6.5mm to the next ~45gr-charged 6.5mm cartridge, the devil is in the details.

Personally, I think the 6.5CM and 6.5SLR are optimal as a tacmatch cartridge:

1. Both can propel a 140gr bullet to ~2850ish, which is plenty of horsepower/speed to be competitive (though theres an argument for the 6mm's)
2. They run properly in a short action, which gives more magazine capacity.
3. They can have the bullet seated "optimally", with the bullet shank north of the neck/shoulder junction. 6.5CM can do this in most magazines, the SLR requires the front plate to be removed from AICS mags, Alpha mags, or AW mags.
4. They fit/feed from AW mags perfectly. 30º shoulder is ideal for this. The SLR almost seems like it was designed to fit the AW mag.
5. The SLR has the advantage over 6.5CM in that parent brass (243win) is very prolific.
6. Neither needs fireforming.