Looking at a new hunting rifle.

[Esox]

6.5 creedmoore. I don’t hand load. The gunsmith I talked to said that his loved the 143 grain hornady factory ammo. I guess it’s a good deer hunting bullet too. Several other factory loads were sub moa in his. I’m hoping mine shoots one of them well.

That’s good to know about the scope! Thanks.

The scope I bought has a caliber specific range knob to put on the top after you zero at 100. I guess you can just dial in up to several hundred yards by 25 yard increments. We’ll see. The gun shop boys all used a similar set up and said it works well.

6.5 is an underrated bore size. Most are very accurate too. A friend shot a 6.5 Swede and the difference wasnt noticeable between it and my .270 until beyond 500 yards with comparable velocity handloads. The Swede doesnt shoot as flat.

My 6.5-20 came with regular caps and target turrets. For field use I've rarely had time to dial in the shot and just held over and into the wind a bit if need be. They're great on the range though.

The scope on my Browning B78 falling block single shot with a 26" hexagon barrel has a Bushnell scope on it that was bought at the same time as the rifle, 1976. That Bushnell came with a bullet drop compensator for different calibers. With 55 grain Federal factory loads it worked. Dial in the range from 50 to 500 yards and hold dead on.

Thats another very accurate rifle. The red dot is 1" diameter.

My nephew now has the other rifle my father bought at the same time. The same Browning B78 hexagon barrel but in 30/06. It does with Sierra 165 grain boat tail bullets what the .22-250 does with 52 grain match. I never would have guessed those rifles are as accurate as they are.

 

[Bhugo]

6.5 is an underrated bore size. Most are very accurate too. A friend shot a 6.5 Swede and the difference wasnt noticeable between it and my .270 until beyond 500 yards with comparable velocity handloads. The Swede doesnt shoot as flat.

My 6.5-20 came with regular caps and target turrets. For field use I've rarely had time to dial in the shot and just held over and into the wind a bit if need be. They're great on the range though.

The scope on my Browning B78 falling block single shot with a 26" hexagon barrel has a Bushnell scope on it that was bought at the same time as the rifle, 1976. That Bushnell came with a bullet drop compensator for different calibers. With 55 grain Federal factory loads it worked. Dial in the range from 50 to 500 yards and hold dead on.

Thats another very accurate rifle. The red dot is 1" diameter.

View attachment 965890

My nephew now has the other rifle my father bought at the same time. The same Browning B78 hexagon barrel but in 30/06. It does with Sierra 165 grain boat tail bullets what the .22-250 does with 52 grain match. I never would have guessed those rifles are as accurate as they are.

View attachment 965891

That is one hell of a rifle there. Wow, just beautiful.

I am not a bench shooter, but I might play with trying it. Thanks for the info and cool pics.

 

[Bhugo]

Picked up the rifle from the gun shop today! I had them mount and bore sight the scope. Boy does Leupold make nice scopes. Now all I need is for a nice day and time to go play at the range..... I think I am going to make a leather sling for it. I bought a few different boxes of ammunition for it and have been collecting a bunch of nice cleaning supplies. I figured I better upgrade my cleaning game a little.

 

[jkingrph]

I just started using a 6.5 Grendel AR on hogs this past winter,its a pretty nice rig the only downfall is the ammo,Its pricey,I will definitely load my own.My other go to rifles are a ruger american 308,or my trusty winchester 94 30/30.

I got interested in the 6.5 Grendel about 8-9 years ago and ended up building 3 AR types, one a mid length carbine and another big bench varmint type, both with gas piston systems, and another bench type, actually the first with the standard gas impingment operating system. When they came available I got a little CZ 527 American in that caliber. All are extremely accurate and a pleasure to shoot with the mild recoil. If you think ammo is pricy now, you should have seen it then, only one source and it was imported from Finland. I ended up getting a big supply of IMI (Isralie Military Industries) 7.62x39 brass, resizing it all down in a set of 6.5 Grendel dies, loading with a slightly reduced load and firing to fire form cases. Not a true 6.5 Grendel case as it uses a large rifle primer vs the Grendel's small rifle primer, but they work and shoot fine. I had a little trouble starting as my dies did not set the shoulder back quite far enough , I solved the problem by honeing a little metal off the top of my shell holder so the cases would enter the die a little more, I did not measure, but just honed a little then tried cases until they would chamber and the rifle would lock up properly. This was all before the SAMMI specs were published for the cartridge so everyone was pretty much on his own back then.

It's been a little over a year but I kept an eye on some of the ammo sites and bought some Hornandy ammo pretty cheap and found some on sale one day at Academy. I also put in a supply of Wolf ammo, not quite as accurate but it should be fine for pig or deer hunting.

Prior to all that my only 6.5 experience has been with a small collection of 96 Swedes.

 

[Bhugo]

I got interested in the 6.5 Grendel about 8-9 years ago and ended up building 3 AR types, one a mid length carbine and another big bench varmint type, both with gas piston systems, and another bench type, actually the first with the standard gas impingment operating system. When they came available I got a little CZ 527 American in that caliber. All are extremely accurate and a pleasure to shoot with the mild recoil. If you think ammo is pricy now, you should have seen it then, only one source and it was imported from Finland. I ended up getting a big supply of IMI (Isralie Military Industries) 7.62x39 brass, resizing it all down in a set of 6.5 Grendel dies, loading with a slightly reduced load and firing to fire form cases. Not a true 6.5 Grendel case as it uses a large rifle primer vs the Grendel's small rifle primer, but they work and shoot fine. I had a little trouble starting as my dies did not set the shoulder back quite far enough , I solved the problem by honeing a little metal off the top of my shell holder so the cases would enter the die a little more, I did not measure, but just honed a little then tried cases until they would chamber and the rifle would lock up properly. This was all before the SAMMI specs were published for the cartridge so everyone was pretty much on his own back then.

It's been a little over a year but I kept an eye on some of the ammo sites and bought some Hornandy ammo pretty cheap and found some on sale one day at Academy. I also put in a supply of Wolf ammo, not quite as accurate but it should be fine for pig or deer hunting.

Prior to all that my only 6.5 experience has been with a small collection of 96 Swedes.

Wow, that sounds quite tedious. I admire you handloaders that take odd calibers on. Very innovative folks.

 

[machinisttx]

Thanks for your insight! I heard the 260 Remington was Very similar to the 6.5 cm as well. If you have a second, what year is the m77 you still have?

I really have no idea... If I had to guess, both of them were made in the 90's. Ruger may be doing a better job with their barrels now...but I would still be hesitant to buy one if accuracy or long range shooting were the end goals. The bottom end Savage rifles have extremely poor quality stocks. Also, when I said "Savage", I was referring to the 10/110 series rifles and NOT the "axis" series.

 

[Bhugo]

I really have no idea... If I had to guess, both of them were made in the 90's. Ruger may be doing a better job with their barrels now...but I would still be hesitant to buy one if accuracy or long range shooting were the end goals. The bottom end Savage rifles have extremely poor quality stocks. Also, when I said "Savage", I was referring to the 10/110 series rifles and NOT the "axis" series.

I’ll have to see how good she does. I’m hoping they are doing better with barrels.

Those Savage 10/110 series are awesome guns. Everyone seems to rave about their accuracy.

 

[Bhugo]

FYI, I guess since 94 Ruger has been making their own barrels. Here is a “how it’s made” video that shows how hammer forged barrels are made. I thought it was cool....

 

[OkieStubble]

I’ll have to see how good she does. I’m hoping they are doing better with barrels.

Those Savage 10/110 series are awesome guns. Everyone seems to rave about their accuracy.

Can't get better accuracy from a rifle for the money.

 

[nortac]

A buddy of mine just recently bought a Tikka TAC3 A1 in 6.5 Creedmoor and topped it off with a Schmidt & Bender scope. Superb trigger, smooth as silk bolt action, incredible accuracy. I helped him correct a slightly canted scope as set up by the dealer and dry fired it, but have not been able to shoot it yet. He has shot some very small groups at 100 yds. with both factory ammo and handloads. I want one. He likes his so much he ordered another one in .308! Oh, and although it is a "tactical" rifle, he fully intends to take it to the woods hunting.

 

[OkieStubble]

A buddy of mine just recently bought a Tikka TAC3 A1 in 6.5 Creedmoor and topped it off with a Schmidt & Bender scope. Superb trigger, smooth as silk bolt action, incredible accuracy. I helped him correct a slightly canted scope as set up by the dealer and dry fired it, but have not been able to shoot it yet. He has shot some very small groups at 100 yds. with both factory ammo and handloads. I want one. He likes his so much he ordered another one in .308! Oh, and although it is a "tactical" rifle, he fully intends to take it to the woods hunting.

Bet that scope wasn't cheap.

 

[nortac]

Nope, it was top shelf but on sale, still cost way more than the rifle.

 

[Bhugo]

Nope, it was top shelf but on sale, still cost way more than the rifle.

I just looked those up. Wow, fancy optics.

 

[nortac]

Actually I was mistaken about the scope my buddy had on his Tikka, but still top shelf, it is a Steiner MX5i 5-25x56 MSR/MSR2 reticle.

M5Xi 5-25x56


https://www.steiner-optics.com/sites/default/files/generated/msr_ii_reticle_sell_sheet-r1.pdf

 

[HARMON]

Steiner scopes are very nice indeed, my brother has two bolt actions with Steiner's.

 

[jkingrph]

Wow, that sounds quite tedious. I admire you handloaders that take odd calibers on. Very innovative folks.

Actually with this caliber conversion not tedious or difficult at all. Just basically run 7.62x39 case through 6.5 Grendel sizing die and reload with slightly reduced charge. Charges I used would actually cycle my AR 15 so they were good for shorter range plinking. They did shoot quite a bit lower than full power Grendel loads.

The only other conversion I have done is for the .41 Swiss. The rifle I have is an 1871 Swiss Vetterli. First step is to convert the rifle to shoot centerfire ammo, which is quite easy. Next step is to make cases. You can use either .348 Wincester brass or 8mm French Lebel brass. My dies are from CH. First step is to expand the cases, then cut to length, then run through sizing die and load. This is one of the relatively first military cartridges and is black powder only. I did get a special mold for a heeled bullet but a .429 diameter bullet for say a .44 Mag pistol will work fine.

 

[Bhugo]

Well I finally had a chance to get out and shoot my new hunting rifle. The 6.5 cm is a fun round to shoot. Very little recoil. Maybe a little more than my 30-30. I broke the barrel in with a box of 140 grain fmj from sellier and bellot. It was cheap. I got it sighted in pretty good with the cheapies even as it was painfully slow shooting cleaning so often. I know a lot of people say it’s bs to break in a barrel, but since I buy hunting rifles every 30 years or so I didn’t think it could hurt.

I switched to Hornady Precision Hunter 143 gr. Eldx next. They shot beautiful. I shot 4 different 5 shot groups at 100 yards. This was my best at a bit over 1/2”. Believe it or not, that’s 5 shots. The wind was variable with 15 mph gusts occasionally so it wasn’t a big factor, but my targets were attached to a yard sign that wobbled a bit. My worst was 1.25 inches and the other 2 were about .75 and .9 inches. This will probably be my new hunting round.

 

[Bhugo]

I also shot 4-5 shot groups of the Hornady sst 129gr. Superformance. It’s a little hotter but I couldn’t get quite as good a group with them. This was about average with them. A touch over an inch, but I should give them a second chance. The wind had picked up a little and I had been shooting a long time. Anyhow, I think it is precise enough. It’s a better shooter than I am. I just need to do my job.

 

[Bhugo]

I was kind of amazed at how much easier it was to clean at the end of the break in compared to the beginning of the break in. When I say easier, I mean it was literally easier to push the jag and patch through the barrel.

 

[nortac]

@Bhugo , good shooting with the wind! Looks like your are off to a good start.