6.5/06 as a long range round.

[longrangehunter]

Hey Guys,

So I just got back from the Steel Safari down in Logan NM put on by Competition Dynamics. This was my second year there, great match, very tough match due to the time limits and navigating the desert terrain in the excessive heat for 5-6 hours makes it not for the faint of heart.

I shot with a US Special Forces Sniper Instructor that was a great person to be around and someone I not only respect but call a friend. Of all things he was using a 7-mm Remington Magnum, but what caught my attention was another shooter I shot with last year Wes Rolan. He was using a 6.5/06 this year and was walking away from the rest of us with this new setup, a moly coated 140 Berger Hybrid in Remington brass @ 3150 FPS w/a 28" BBL.

All I can say is this fairly light recoiling round will take game or targets in some incredible wind and do it with enough authority that more people should look at. Brass is always available to size down or up and cheap to buy....... even Lapua makes it in 30-06 which would last a life time in a hunting rifle.

Wes Rolan took 2nd place and another team member, John Griswold took 1st place, both shoot for Butch's Reloading Inc.

 

[Dwh7271]

Nice writeup.
It is a terrific round. I have one with a 26" barrel and it shoots very well. For brass I've found that necking up 25-06 brass works very well.
I like the round so much I have a Mauser being barreled in 6.5-06 AI.
Glad it shot well and sounds like you had fun.

 

[longrangehunter]

Here's a photo of Brian and I at this year's 2015 CD Steel Safari. Great guy and is teaching Long Range Shooting at Colorado Precision Rifle if anyone is interested. Very easy to work with and knows his stuff very well. Great teacher of the sport of LR shooting without feeling stressed out about learning from someone so successful.

 

[6mm Remington]

Sounds like you had a great time. I too think the 6.5-06 would be a sweet-heart! Just about a perfect balance of capacity and ballistics. Hard to go wrong when it's something formed with an 06 behind it!

 

[Guy Miner]

Fellow I knew and shot with some years ago had one big game/target rifle - a 6.5-06. He'd do well with it in matches, and use the same rifle on mule deer.

Worked perfectly for his wants/needs.

Guy

 

[pre6422hornet]

That is very cool! A business contact of mine loves the 6.5/06 and says his son uses it in Wyoming regularly to take pronghorn and such at ridiculous yardages.

This competition intrigues me greatly. Being only 3.5 hours from my house makes me want to register and shoot my hunting rifles just to test me and my equipment for fun.

Cole do you see many guys with regular hunting rigs out there? I would think this would be a great way to "train" for mountain hunting.

 

[longrangehunter]

That is very cool! A business contact of mine loves the 6.5/06 and says his son uses it in Wyoming regularly to take pronghorn and such at ridiculous yardages.

This competition intrigues me greatly. Being only 3.5 hours from my house makes me want to register and shoot my hunting rifles just to test me and my equipment for fun.

Cole do you see many guys with regular hunting rigs out there? I would think this would be a great way to "train" for mountain hunting.

I attempted that in a way using a modified Hart barreled 7mm-08 Wby-Vanguard with a tactical scope mounted on it. To be honest there's no way to compete in these types of Match's using anything that really is a hunting weight thin barreled rifle. The sheer number of shot strings will cause those barrels to heat up way too much, most require a DBM, although I had used a BDL the first go around, and without being able to dial your dope you'd need something along the lines of a Horus reticle to succeed or at a minimum a mil-dot reticle.

There are some geared towards hunting train-ups though, we have a few every month near me in Washington at the Rock Lake Rifle Range. Check in your area for something geared more towards hunting and shooting steel targets over varied terrain vs. a square range, or take a class of some kind that has a low round count.

It's the round count that would hurt you if using a hunting gun, that and the combined total recoil would be way too much in a light weight gun. The least number of rounds per day is in the 45-90 rounds x three days at a tactical match, but the hunting ones are a single day and a slightly lower round count of maybe 30 rounds.

Give it a try and you might want to invest in a full blown tactical rifle, it's a lot of fun and you just might really like it enough. Besides, GA Precision is right in your area and they are one of the best rifle builders in the US. You could swing by there and ask to speak to the owner, George Gardner, he'll show their stuff and why they're so good.

 

[SJB358]

Be a good chance to run that FN SPR you have Pat. Seems tailor made for that, at least the hunter sorta thing.

 

[pre6422hornet]

Ah Yes Scotty thank you for reminding me I have a perfectly good FN SPR sitting in my safe that would be very easy to take to a shoot of this kind. Essentially a model 70 CRF, it would be perfect practice and trigger time!

Now it is the lowly .308 round, but i think I could manage.

 

[SJB358]

Ah Yes Scotty thank you for reminding me I have a perfectly good FN SPR sitting in my safe that would be very easy to take to a shoot of this kind. Essentially a model 70 CRF, it would be perfect practice and trigger time!

Now it is the lowly .308 round, but i think I could manage.

Man, you could probably throw a SWFA Super Sniper 6X up on top and have a pretty formidable rig Pat. You already have a sweet load for it.

 

[BK]

I have a 700 action or two that are destined to be 6.5-06s of some sort.

 

[Elkman]

I have stated before that if I was to build another long range medium game rifle, it would be a 6.5/06. It don't see it in the future but who knows, someone may drop by one of these days and buy three or four of mine, then I would build. That long skinny bullet fascinates me!

 

[Vince]

6.5 is great!
The little 6.5 pill kills all out of proportion to it's dimunative size.

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