Opinions on the 6.5 PRC

[hawkeyesatx]

Hey all!

I’m thinking of getting a rifle in 6.5 PRC, but know very little about the cartridge.

What has been your experience with the cartridge?
What range of game can it be used on?

Please impart your knowledge to me.

Hawk

 

[Red Leg]

Should be great - does about as well what the 6.5x57 and 6.5x54 have been doing perfectly for the last 100 years.

 

[sureshot375]

I have no direct experience, but it seems like a nice round. That being said, I don’t think you really get to any major benefit of the cartridge until you get out past 600 yards. I’d your shots will be under 500, it’s doesn’t seem to offer any real advantage over a host of other cartridges.

I was looking at getting one but went with 6.5 creedmoor as my primary use for the rifle was longer range target shooting and barrel life was an important factor for me. If If I was going to use the rifle for serious hunting I would have gone with the 6.5 prc or some other caliber. 6.8 western seems like a good hunting round.

 

[Red Leg]

6.8 Western ........ 165 gr bullet at 2970

7mm Mag ........ 170 gr bullet at 2950 Hmmmmm

I assume the point of most of these new creations is to harvest new customers not to harvest more game or introduce new capability?

 

[WAB]

The marketing geniuses can’t help themselves.

 

[C.W. Richter]

Hey all!

I’m thinking of getting a rifle in 6.5 PRC, but know very little about the cartridge.

What has been your experience with the cartridge?
What range of game can it be used on?

Please impart your knowledge to me.

Hawk

Seems like a great reason to pick one up...PRC shooting might be in your future! Don't use that logic with women...No charge.

 

[Mike Van Horn]

Resource the 6.5-284 which has been around for awhile. The PRC is it’s twin

 

[RTG]

6.8 Western ........ 165 gr bullet at 2970

7mm Mag ........ 170 gr bullet at 2950 Hmmmmm

I assume the point of most of these new creations is to harvest new customers not to harvest more game or introduce new capability?

Resource the 6.5-284 which has been around for awhile. The PRC is it’s twin

I agree that for most they are redundant cartridges. Neither are for me. If you want a long range rifle however, the new cartridges ship in guns that have correct twists for the longest, heaviest for caliber, high BC bullets that long range shooters want. That is not the case with most out-of-the-box 7mm Rem Mag and 6.5-284 rifles.

 

[C.W. Richter]

It's between the 284 (66gr) and WSM/SAUM (78gr) cartridge performance (all in .264). Wby sells some decent semi-custom guns in PRC. If looking for a hotter 6.5, I'd go with their 6.5-300 or the SAUM/WSM. If target shooting and most normal PG/deer/antelope/sheep hunting, the PRC is fine. With most hot 6.5s (and PRC is on the left side of that continuum,) handloading will almost be a necessity. You won't be finding factory ammo regularly, not to mention the benefits of handloading for your specific gun. If the std bullets are good to 950 yds for hunting in the hottest 6.5s (140 .287 and 160 .310 SD, .500-.600 BC) the PRC (assuming properly built, accurized rifle) is good to 100 yds less, generally speaking. The orig 6.5-300 wildcat was used for 3,000 yd competition. The small ballistics sold by the factory aren't taking advantage of this caliber (120ish gr) nor are they doing the target animals any favors. High SD is why Bell, Jameison, etc. killed elephant with this caliber bullets.

 

[One Day...]

Another aspect of all this, is how long will the ammo be commercially available? And where?

The .270 Win or 7 Rem Mag will be available for ever about anywhere in the world.

Look at what happened to some of the fashionable-fad-of-the-moment Winchester Short Magnums; Remington Ultra Magnum; Remington Short Action Ultra Magnum; Imperial Magnum; Lazzeroni Magnum; etc. etc.

Bottom line is that after the excitement of the moment and the impulsive buy of the 1,000 yard hunting rifle ( ), the ammo that gets produced long term is the ammo for which there are hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of rifles out there ... or a critical ethos that is a vital part of a corporate identify such as Weatherby (as long as they exist, and they seem to be doing well, they will load for their calibers)...

Edit: Ha! C.W. Richter and I must have clicked send at about just the same time and aside from the notion that I have a few doubts about hunting at 950 yards, we are apparently passing the same concern re. ammo availability...

 

[TucsonFX4]

I say buy it, but then again, I don’t trust anyone that says there’s such thing as too many guns.
That being said, I need a bigger safe before I buy more stuff to put in it. Due to that limiting factor, I’m doing a good job of keeping myself limited to no purchases that don’t fill an empty void in capabilities.

 

[Philip Glass]

I have two of them and have hunted with them. The 6.5 and .300PRC were designed to be very accurate at long distances. In a test with military snipers at the FTW ranch the .300 PRC beat all other cartridges in a long range competition.
Ive heard experts say the 6.5PRC hits as hard on game at 300+ yards as a .300Win. I wanted something bigger than the creedmore and that is how I got to own a 6.5 PRC. With the amount of power it has versus the recoil it produces I decided to get on for my wife. She and I will be shooting it in SA in June. Put it to the test!
There are plenty of cartridges to choose from these days but sometimes there is something new that is really intriguing.
It is so popular that ammo availability is limited and expensive right now. So that is a downside. I was lucky and my feed store got two pallets of Hornady ammo last summer. Regular price and no limit so I stocked up!
Philip

 

[Philip Glass]

Another aspect of all this, is how long will the ammo be commercially available? And where?

The .270 Win or 7 Rem Mag will be available for ever about anywhere in the world.

Look at what happened to some of the fashionable-fad-of-the-moment Winchester Short Magnums; Remington Ultra Magnum; Remington Short Action Ultra Magnum; Imperial Magnum; Lazzeroni Magnum; etc. etc.

Bottom line is that after the excitement of the moment and the impulsive buy of the 1,000 yard hunting rifle unsure, the ammo that gest produced is the ammo for which there are hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of rifles out there ... or a critical ethos that is vital part of a corporate identify such as Weatherby. As long as they exist, and they seem to be doing well, they will load for their calibers...

Edit: Ha! C.W. Richter and I must have clicked send at about just the same time and aside from the notion that I have a few doubts about hunting at 950 yards, we are apparently passing the same concern re. ammo availability...

Point well taken but maybe you don’t know just how popular this round is with not only hunters but also the long range shooters. It is being made by many rifle manufacturers now. It is here to stay.

 

[woods0824]

It's a great cartridge to build a light weight short action mountain gun for sheep, mule deer, etc. Light recoil and will throw 140 accubonds 3100 fps if you are a hand loader with H1000.
My hunting partner uses one and has taken a moose with it. Not the right cartridge for that job but it worked on a 350 yard shot.
6.5 bullets have great SD and generally penetrate well.
if you don't want a short action, then there are better choices, but in a short action it's great.

 

[One Day...]

Point well taken but maybe you don’t know just how popular this round is with not only hunters but also the long range shooters. It is being made by many rifle manufacturers now. It is here to stay.

I know Philip, but good luck buying a box in Bulawayo, Dar es-Salaam, Gaborone, or even Jo'Burg...

By the way this is no critic of the 6.5. I love my 1903 6.5x54 MS; the 6.5x55 Swede has a long history; the Germans have a justified love affair with both 6.5x57 and 6.5x68; the .264 Winchester was the one of the first real screamers; the .260 Winchester is a great round that deserves much better recognition than it gets; the 6.5 Creedmoor is a great paper puncher (although notoriously underpowered for what most folk use it for e.g. 600 yard Elk or Kudu); the 6.5x.300 Wby and 26 Nosler are beasts; etc. etc.

 

[C.W. Richter]

WSM is quite popular (and a great round, esp. on a mtn rifle where you can have a longer bbl and shorter action,) but the 257/264 wildcats are for the elite (with the proper twist and heavy, high BC/SD ballistics.) The PPC boys proved these short, fat cartridges super accurate (and the factories then latched on for profit!) My longest shot with the aforementioned on an animal was a calm, sunny day in TX at 720 yds. It surely has the terminal V and E to do the job, with the right rifle, proper handloading, and in capable hands. We practice same in summertime on 4" wide woodchucks, standing a foot tall. And, that sort of shot may be required on a successful sheep/argali or goat/ibex hunt! The PRC would do that too (under that distance.)

 

[Philip Glass]

I know Philip, but good luck buying a box in Bulawayo, Dar es-Salaam, Gaborone, or even Jo'Burg...

I love it! But that argument, although it is posed often in our discussions here, really does not apply as it may have in the past. The reason I say this is because many hunters have custom or hand loaded ammo they have made specifically for their rifle. In a worst case scenario where you ammo doesn’t arrive you just use a camp gun.
I mostly have tried and true calibers and have never been a wildcat fan but the PRC’s have intrigued me so here I am!
Philip

 

[Puddle]

I hunt elk with a 6.5 CM, but this season, looking thru a range finder at a bedded elk at 467 yards I turned to my hunting partner and borrowed his 6.5 PRC.
That's how I see the PRC - just a little extra horse power to deliver the same bullet with a bit more umph out there...

 

[One Day...]

I receive you loud and clear Philip, and I agree.

As I said above, no criticism of the caliber, it is a brave, and, it seems, successful attempt to get the 6.5 Creedmoor to a level of power compatible with ethical use on large game at long distance. So, just on this basis alone it earns points in my view. It will leave less wounded animals on the landscape.

As to the hunting it encourages (e.g. "std bullets are good to 950 yds for hunting"), I have many reservations...

I agree too that in most cases the ammo shows up, or that in most cases a local spare rifle & ammo can be organized, but since I prefer to use my own rifle and own optics, I prefer calibers I can buy ammo for, although I freely admit that I am already stretching the envelop with .257 and .300 Wby. At least my internet research showed that these two calibers are listed with a few shops in Bula, Jo'Borg, Gabo, but whether it would actually be available is another story....................... No doubt the .270 Win and .300 Win would be a safer bet...............

Edit: OMG another case of similtaneous clicks, or at least one send while the other guy is still typing, this time with Puddle

 

[oldfart009]

The 6.5 PRC is kind of the big brother to the 6.5 Creedmoor. They both shoot the same bullet/s it's just the 6.5 PRC shoots them a couple hundred fps faster. I think the only real downside is you'll need an action with the larger magnum bolt face and barrel life will probably be a bit shorter.

Also for what it's worth and not to be technical but the 6.5 PRC is a cartridge, not a caliber.