6.5 Remington Magnum - Likes/Dislikes?

famous wolf

Anyone out there with experience with this chambering? If so, please share your thoughts and experiences. All thoughts much appreciated!


Please don't post and recommend the 260, 6.5x55, 6.5/284, etc. etc. That is not what I am looking for. Thanks!

hadjii

Hey Famous Wolf, I have a 673 Remington in 6.5 Remington. I like it, alot. There's one thing I don't like about it though. well, not the caliber, just the gun. The 673 is based on a short action, which means I can only go to 2.800" OAL on my reloads, which means I have to seat the bullet deeper than I'd like for some bullets, mostly the 140 grainers and above. I'm reloading 125 grain Nosler Partitions to about 3100 fps, and I'll tel ya one thing, it makes these big Iowa whitetail does real dead real quick. I mean WOW, like real dead. I've pillar bedded the stock and glass bedded the action, as well as floated the barrel and tweeked the trigger, and it will shoot very well. Consistently shoots 140 grainers and everything below that under an inch. The recoil is not obnoxious as some might say, or maybe it just doesn't bother me. If you don't reload, plan on spending about $35.00 a box for ammo, and if you go somewhere to hunt, take enough with you that you don't have to worry about running out because it isn't readily available at the local Wally World. I don't consider that to be an issue either, but some may dwell on that. Some may find that the cartridge is finicky to reload, and that may or may not be true, but I've had alot of enjoyment trying different loads to find the keeper loads, but all in all, I don't think it's any more difficult than anything else. Some may say that the brass is short lived because of greater case expansion, and that may be true if you load heavy and hot loads, but I never load anything hot, I always load at about mid range of the load books recommendation and once in a while lower than mid-range. My theory is to save the barrel as much as I can. That is just my theory. If you're thinking of one, don't be afraid of the bad publicity that you're more than likely to hear, all in all it's a fine cartridge I can vouch for the lethality of the cartridge on whitetails.

famous wolf

hadjii:
Thanks for your post that is very helpful. A couple of questions:
(1) Have you considered a longer barrel - say 24 or 26"?
(2) What kind of velocity are you getting on the 140s?
(3) Any recipes you want to share?

Thanks!

hadjii

I have thought about a longer barrel, yes, but I guess the reason I don't is first, it would cost me approximately $800 for Gordy's Gun Shop to finish and fit a new barrel, 2nd, I would want it to be on a long action so I could seat the longer bullets out, which would also leave more room for powder and increased velocity, and third, I do alot more woods hunting than wide open hunting, and a longer barrel would be more of a hinderance than help. As for velocity with the 140's, I'm loading to approximately 2850 fps. I'm sure I could do a little better with the 22" barrel that I have, but like I said, I just don't load hot loads, and that is just my personal preference. As for pet loads, for 100 grain Nosler BT's, I load 41.0 gr. of IMR 4320 and a regular large rifle primer. For 120's, 54.0 gr. of IMR 4350 and a WLR Mag primer, and for Nosler Partition 140 gr., I load 53.0 gr. of H4831SC using a WLR standard primer, and this really was accurate out of my rifle, averaging .75" at 100 yards. I'm sure there are many more combinations equal to or better than what I've listed, but I have only so much time and money to invest into the endless combinations available. I've got a 3rd deployment to Iraq coming up, and I'm thinking I am going to have a rifle rebarreled in a Rem 700 long action and I think I will enjoy the cartridge even more than I do now. Best of luck in whatever you decide.

TWalker

I own a Remington 660 Magnum in 6.5 caliber. I like it a lot. It is similar to a 270 Winchester in performance.

Ambrose

My 673 does not shoot as good as the one hadji has. I chronograph all my loads so the following info might be of interest to you:

120 Nos bal tip, 54/IMR4350, CCI250--2978fps
120 Rem PSP, factory load --2899fps
129 Horn spire, 57/RL22, Rem 9 1/2M--2938fps (best load, marked "mild" in my notes)
140 Speer spt, 55/IMR4831, Win WLRM--2880fps

I do have a tendency to "push the envelope" with my handloads, so I don't think this rifle will do much better than this. Probably, as you asked, a longer barrel and a long action would improve the potential of this cartridge but, if I were going to use a long action, I'd choose a long cartridge. As it is, it's in the .270 performance arena and that's a good place to be! It was, I believe, designed to be a short action .270.

hadjii

Ambrose, I would bet your chronographed velocities are more accurate than what I said about loading my 125 noslers to 3100 fps. I don't have a chronograph, so I just go by what the nosler reloading manual says, but as I remember, they were using a 24" barrel, so your estimates would make more sense. I've got to get me a chronograph at some point. I also tried some Berger VLD bullets. I loaded the 130 grainers ahead of 47.0 grains of IMR 4320, and they also shot consistently under 1 MOA, but I loaded them to a length of 3.100", and shot them as a single shot because of the length. It was too much of a hassle to load any to take hunting, but it was interesting to see what they would do. I think the Bergers classify as "really cool looking bullets". I think that's part of the reason I want a 6.5 Remington in a long action.

JSJ Gunshop

I have a Rem 700 in 6.5 Rem mag with 24" barrel. Minimal recoil. Worked up a load with 57.5 H4831 and Barnes 130 TSX at 3011fps and .705" group at 100yds. Rifle is as it came from factory--I have not bedded the action or anything. Tried IMR7828 with Nosler 120 Bal Tip and got 2900+ fps but best group was 1.25". Tried Reloader 19 but speeds were in the 2700 area and not that accurate. The short action is a hindrance when trying longer bullets. I wouldn't hesitate with the chambering but would definitely go with a 24" barrel and a standard length magnum action so you can seat longer bullets.