Your Experience with the 6.5PRC

[HAWKEYESATX]

I’m thinking about getting a 6.5PRC to use as a light rifle, compared to my .270 Win.

Anyone have experience with using it on big game?
Is it decent to hand load?

Please let me know.

Hawk

 

[erikc838]

I can't be of much help right now, but that is why I got mine.

 

[Guy Miner]

My friend Gavin thinks highly of it, and I believe he killed his bear with one shot. An ELD-X.

I think he's got some handloads listed. I'll try looking them up.

Guy

 

[HAWKEYESATX]

My friend Gavin thinks highly of it, and I believe he killed his bear with one shot. An ELD-X.

I think he's got some handloads listed. I'll try looking them up.

Guy

Thank you very much Guy!
I appreciate it!

Hawk

 

[Guy Miner]

Yes, he used the Hornady 143 ELD-X on a modest sized black bear. It worked just fine.

6.5 PRC Load Development: Bergara Wilderness HMR – Ultimate Reloader

ultimatereloader.com

TESTED: Bergara B-14 Wilderness HMR in 6.5 PRC – Ultimate Reloader

ultimatereloader.com

 

[SJB358]

I like mine quite alot. Wished I could get more brass for it but it’s the nature of the beast right now.

I kinda think if it as a quick twisted 270 Win honestly. Mine has been about the same speed for the same weight bullets my 270’s have been.



Worked fine on this little buck this Fall.

 

[rjm158]

I and my stepsons have used ours on whitetails and have all been very happy with it's performance.

I have loaded for it quite a bit and, so far, haven't encountered any issues.

Just my .02.

Ron

 

[IdahoCTD]

That is a pretty sexy stock on that weird 70 something rifle Scotty.

 

[Cleveland48]

My brother and my friend both have rifles in 6.5 PRC. I have not got to handload for them yet, but they were both very accurate with the Hornady factory loads. One is a Christensen arms, and the other is a howa 1500.

 

[jimbires]

I've read about a problem when these are reloaded more than 3 or 4 times , the brass gets tight to chamber . guys are buying different dies trying to get the brass sized to fit , but it's not a die problem . it seems the chamber is a little small to be able to get the brass sized down enough to fit properly . the fix that has been found is to get the newer updated reamer and open up the chamber . guys are doing this by hand . some guys have this problem , others don't . I'm guessing the sloppy factory chamber we hear about , is actually what you want . there's a big thread on this , I'll look up and post a link to it .

the guys I shoot with had a few of the 6.5 PRC's . there is still a Browning Hells canyon showing up , here and there . they shot them way beyond the limit , but did ok out to 1000 or 1200 yards . I do remember these guys getting rough with the bolts on the rifles . I'm assuming it's the tight chamber thing . I did watch a one shot kill at 800 - 850 yards on a whitetail . it dropped like it was struck by lightening

 

[jimbires]

I found that thread , if you're interested in reading it .

The PRC die "problem"

There are a number of people experiencing sizing issues with the PRC case. When designing a chamber, brass, and resize die there is no one size fits all. We want good hard case brass, but its harder to size. We dont want sloppy chambers either. I have experience with designing reamers with...

www.longrangehunting.com

 

[SJB358]

That is a pretty sexy stock on that weird 70 something rifle Scotty.

You know, I actually got the rifle cause of the wood on it. I didn't really much care what it was chambered in. Luckily, I kinda like it now. I have a 264 Win as well, so I wasn't really blown away with it ballistically, but it does fine.

I found that thread , if you're interested in reading it .

The PRC die "problem"

There are a number of people experiencing sizing issues with the PRC case. When designing a chamber, brass, and resize die there is no one size fits all. We want good hard case brass, but its harder to size. We dont want sloppy chambers either. I have experience with designing reamers with...

www.longrangehunting.com

That's pretty interesting Jim. I think I have Redding standard FL dies and I'd bet I have reloaded those original 20 cases at least 3X after firing them as factory loads. I have a buy in for some ADG brass, but right now, I am not holding my breath. I will keep my eyes open, as I will probably shoot these a bit more before I get new stuff.

 

[jimbires]

pay attention and let us know how your brass works after a few more cycles . I'm thinking this is about like the Larry Willis belted case collet die , some need it others don't .

if you do run into this , at least you know the cure .

 

[SJB358]

I just read a few pages on it. Pretty interesting. I guess a cut off die in order to allow more of the case in the die is the answer.

 

[hunter24605]

phew! glad I got a sloppy Savage High Country chamber..lol ... I'm on the 5th reloading on my original 20 cases and no problems so far, but whose to say things won't go in the toilet on the 6th or 7th. Guess time will tell. Aside from that I really like the cartridge so far, easy to find accurate loads, and so far every critter that's been on the skinny end of it died promptly.

 

[sako2]

You know, I actually got the rifle cause of the wood on it. I didn't really much care what it was chambered in. Luckily, I kinda like it now. I have a 264 Win as well, so I wasn't really blown away with it ballistically, but it does fine.



That's pretty interesting Jim. I think I have Redding standard FL dies and I'd bet I have reloaded those original 20 cases at least 3X after firing them as factory loads. I have a buy in for some ADG brass, but right now, I am not holding my breath. I will keep my eyes open, as I will probably shoot these a bit more before I get new stuff.

Scotty try the adg brass in your gun before firing them. I was getting bolt swipe marks on unfired cases. Also anneal them every couple firings. My necks where splitting after about 4 firings. I have hornady cases with over 15 firings on them.

 

[SJB358]

Scotty try the adg brass in your gun before firing them. I was getting bolt swipe marks on unfired cases. Also anneal them every couple firings. My necks where splitting after about 4 firings. I have hornady cases with over 15 firings on them.

Will do. I’m a compulsive annealer anyhow.

if the ADG doesn’t come thru soon I’m going to have to bite the bullet and spend some money on Lapua from Gunbroke. Wish me luck!

 

[jimbires]

I just read a few pages on it. Pretty interesting. I guess a cut off die in order to allow more of the case in the die is the answer.

what they say is the cut off die doesn't work . if I remember right , what's in that thread , the problem is the case can't be sized enough for the tight chambers . you can't size the case walls, at the solid head , smaller than the solid case head . so you size it down to case head size , but when the brass springs back , it's too big to chamber properly . guys still have the problem after having custom dies made . some guys don't have the problem , maybe from a looser chamber , or lower powder charges . there are enough guys talking about this, that it's a fairly common problem . if you read that thread , Alex has posted some specs . the needed clearance , on the tight chambers , is very little . guys that have ran the updated reamer in their chamber have cured the problem .

I thought it was worth mentioning

 

[jimbires]

I kept up with that thread when it was going on . I did not read back through all 29 pages . I remembered some of it , and kind of skimmed back through some of it . Alex Wheeler is a gun smith . Elkoholic is Rich Sherman the designer of Sherman rifle cartridges . years back Rich also made bullets . I would recommend all you PRC shooters read through the thread . you'll see guys getting their panties twisted , I've got really good at ignoring that crap , but mostly good info . from my quick look ;
pg 9 post 126 , pg 19 post 129 , 131 , pg 28 post 390 , pg 29 post 395 , 403

 

[Thebear_78]

I have two 6.5 PRC. One set up for hunting, Seekins havak, and the other is a custom target rifle. I am a PRC believer! I have found them both to be very easy to reload for, both extremely accurate, and performance is great.

I’m currently using two different sets of dies, a RCBS full length resize set for the havak and a whidden collet neck size die set with a shoulder bump die for the custom rifle. I have had no issues with brass life in either and have been just shooting annealer Hornady brass in both.

The custom rifle is a surgeon WSM action with a 28” bartlien 1-7 barrel in a manners stock with a nightforce ATACR 7-35x56. It shoots 140gr Berger hybrid target extremely well with H1000 @ 3087fps.

The Seekins havak also shoots extremely well. I have been shooting 124gr HH with re26 @ 3210fps. I shot 4 animals with the havak this year. 2 caribou and 2 whitetails. Closest was a caribou at 90 yards, furthest was also a caribou at 280-300 yards. Every animal was shot they the lungs, with one breaking the upper shoulder/neck junction on the longer caribou. All died quickly with only one traveling a short distance. Lungs were completely scrambled in all cases.

I like the PRC so much it will have a permanent place in my gunsafe.