Thread: 6.5CM craze

Originally Posted by Gkp

Well over rated IMO. They don't have the SD to knock down an animal as quick as a 308. From what I have seen it always takes more than one shot to kill a red.
The flip side is that they are nice to shoot, very accurate and low recoil. That said so is my 308.

Na mate, I've had numerous bang flop kills. The barstards don't even have the decency to roll down the hill for me

Just like a 260 or swede except you can buy factory ammo and everyone Chambers a riflein the cartridge. More of a good thing is a good thing.

always makes me wonder how good these new cartridges are quite a few come up second hand fairly fast after they come out whats with that go and buy one then find out its not so great or something

I am enjoying my 6.5CM... had it for about 6 month. I stepped up from a 223 that I bought for enjoyable target shooting and chose the 6.5 looking for moderately tame recoil that I could begin to scratch a long range itch with.

I am not a hunter and cannot comment on knock down power, but what I will say is that up until 4 weeks ago I had not shot past 200m, then with a little ballistics help (Bloke with Kestral) ...on a good strong windy day, I was regularly getting on steel over 1000m away... now I am hooked.

Originally Posted by northdude

always makes me wonder how good these new cartridges are quite a few come up second hand fairly fast after they come out whats with that go and buy one then find out its not so great or something

Probably because in a real world situation at hunting ranges; most 243+ calibres in the boiler room knock animals down

Originally Posted by northdude

always makes me wonder how good these new cartridges are quite a few come up second hand fairly fast after they come out whats with that go and buy one then find out its not so great or something

Some guys just have to try out that new caliber then move on to the next big thing, some guys are always looking for the silver bullet. Some guys find they need to paint the house / buy a car and sell their rifles.
Its like toyota hiluxes too theres always heaps of them for sale.

I find arguments in the caliber intriguing.

Some don’t like it because it’s ‘new’ and the ‘normal’ caliber works better anyhow...

Funny though as that’s probably just human nature. Change is the most difficult thing to deal with as we get older or for those comfortable with what works for them.

I like most people my age (mid 40’s) thought it would be a craze but it’s been around a while and is most likely here to stay.
Does it work? Yep, smashes everything I’ve aimed at within 400yds Andy probably further as did my .223, .243, my mates 7mm08 and .270
No, it’s not the ‘One ring to rule them all’ but it’s inherently accurate and easy to shoot while being kind on barrels so it’s a winner in a lot of areas.
You won’t find me on a soap box preaching about it, just as you won’t find me throwing poo at other calibers to make myself feel good about my choices.

I did have to find out why people love it though and I can see why.

Thanks for all the feedback. Looks like the round is so popular because the factory got it right first time. An OAL that you can seat projectiles way out & still fit a mag, twist rates matched to high BC bullets, factory ammo that just shoots well in most 6.5cm rifles. Not sure if I'll hop on the bandwagon yet....

do you hand load plenty of caliber options if you do

Shots 21 - 24 from a brand new Tikka 6.5CM, at 150y from a shitty position standing on one tip-toe to shoot across the tray on the back of a ute. My Remington 6.5CM put ten consecutive shots inside 1.2" on one very fine day. Other calibers can do the the same, but you can't call that kind of performance a craze.

Originally Posted by LJP

An OAL that you can seat projectiles way out & still fit a mag, :

You need to watch the COAL/ Mag thing... I found the Maximum COAL I can use and still have 0.5mm jump, is still 1mm more than I can fit in the Polymer AICS mag using the 147gn ELD-X... Have a steel mag on order now.

It was designed for American cross the course match shooting at 200 300 600 yards it has lower recoil than the .308 and heavier projectiles than the 5.56
and has better 1000 yard performance than the other two, For a pure hunting 6.5 the 6.5x55 is all you need with 140 gr bullet for long range and 156 gr RN in the bush.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...lt-machine-gun

Originally Posted by Wingman

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...lt-machine-gun

Now that was an interesting read!

re-inventing the wheel you could say..... looks like a souped up M60 ...PIG... I did notice there was no comparison between them two...as for closing comment re short range round...funny how the 5.56 didnt have enough legs for out long but it convineintly got over looked for up close ,feed it with the origonal rounds it was designed around..a 55 grn and give it a slower twist rate so the plurry things can get unstable and the short range thing is no longer an issue....
looks like another case of someone creating themselves a job by trying to fix a problem that wasnt there in first place (like when the powers that be decided the 5.56 was better for troops than the 7.62....... bet your bottom $$$ the guys on front line would have preferred a FN or M4 than the colt M16s they were issues...and then they got ammo that was redesigned by office number crunchers and it made situation worse


oh shit Im ranting...
must go make cuppa tea...