DaisyCutter
New member
Until recently, my universal hunting rifle was a lightweight 1972 Remington 30-06 ADL, topped with a Leupold M8 4x scope.
I never had eyes for anything else. Last fall, I was hunting and came across an desert mule deer with spike antlers that was harassing a couple does. I could make him out with my binos, but my 4x scope didn't allow me to resolve the antlers, and the deer were playing the "shell game" and moving around. After switching binos-scope-binos-scope-binos-scope, I finally established 100% which deer he was and took a harried shot at 255 yards. Luckily I missed completely. Normally I'm not one to blame my gear, but my 50 year old rifle with a 4x scope wasn't up to the task of hunting AZ desert mule deer in the wide open Harquahala Mtns.
so I asked around a bit. It seemed everyone was raving about the 6.5 Creedmoor, and I'd researched it previously, but the ballistics never impressed me. For my skillset, a 243, 270, or 30-06 seemed preferable, with even the old 243 shooting flatter at ranges I'm capable of shooting. And frankly, I wasn't confident the 6.5 Creedmoor was powerful enough to be my universal hunting rifle.
Then I stumbled across the 6.5 PRC. I never heard of it before. But after about 72 hours of reading up on it, I was the proud new owner of a Tikka T3X Lite Veil alpine. I put a leupold VX3HD 4.5-14X scope on it. It's astonishingly accurate with Norma factory ammo. The best way I can describe shooting it, is like a video game. It's way oversimplified and imacts directly where I'm aiming, whereas I'm accustomed to having a bunch more uncontrollable variables affecting my shot. The modern cartridge geometry, powder, and rifle build quality make for super consistent groups. The scope consistently holds zero, even if I adjust back & forth repeatedly to chance elevation and windage. The projectile always impacts where the crosshairs are resting. It sounds dumb, but I had never known precision like this before. I can consistently hit pop cans - dead center - at 200 yards.
The drawback is ammo. A lot of places advertise they have it, but when you try to add 6.5 PRC ammo to the cart you discover it's on perpetual backorder. I quickly bought reloading dies and bullets, powder was a bit of a hassle to find, and I ultimately settled for probably my 4th blind pick. I then bought 140 rounds ($$$) of Norma match and intend to reuse that brass for the rest of my life. I also got a lone box of Hornady 143 grain ELD-X hunting ammo in case I can't get a handload dialed in during the next 3 weeks.
Other than the ammo sourcing difficulties, I'm completely sold on the 6.5 PRC. It's super precise, the recoil is a tad less than my old 30-06, and it's got sufficient smack-factor that I'd take it on an elk hunt.
I'm of the opinion that the newer breed of fat overbore cartridges, loaded with high BC bullets and modern powder compositions, is a distinct step in cartridge evolution, similar to the evolution from the round ball to the minie ball.
I think the evolutionary step was so pronounced to me because I was previously living in a time capsule, shooting a 50 year old rifle, chambered in a 100 year old cartridge, and using IMR powders invented in the 1930s.
The 6.5 PRC in the Tikka (along with the new scope) completely outclasses my old setup, and essentially doubles my effective hunting range.
I never had eyes for anything else. Last fall, I was hunting and came across an desert mule deer with spike antlers that was harassing a couple does. I could make him out with my binos, but my 4x scope didn't allow me to resolve the antlers, and the deer were playing the "shell game" and moving around. After switching binos-scope-binos-scope-binos-scope, I finally established 100% which deer he was and took a harried shot at 255 yards. Luckily I missed completely. Normally I'm not one to blame my gear, but my 50 year old rifle with a 4x scope wasn't up to the task of hunting AZ desert mule deer in the wide open Harquahala Mtns.
so I asked around a bit. It seemed everyone was raving about the 6.5 Creedmoor, and I'd researched it previously, but the ballistics never impressed me. For my skillset, a 243, 270, or 30-06 seemed preferable, with even the old 243 shooting flatter at ranges I'm capable of shooting. And frankly, I wasn't confident the 6.5 Creedmoor was powerful enough to be my universal hunting rifle.
Then I stumbled across the 6.5 PRC. I never heard of it before. But after about 72 hours of reading up on it, I was the proud new owner of a Tikka T3X Lite Veil alpine. I put a leupold VX3HD 4.5-14X scope on it. It's astonishingly accurate with Norma factory ammo. The best way I can describe shooting it, is like a video game. It's way oversimplified and imacts directly where I'm aiming, whereas I'm accustomed to having a bunch more uncontrollable variables affecting my shot. The modern cartridge geometry, powder, and rifle build quality make for super consistent groups. The scope consistently holds zero, even if I adjust back & forth repeatedly to chance elevation and windage. The projectile always impacts where the crosshairs are resting. It sounds dumb, but I had never known precision like this before. I can consistently hit pop cans - dead center - at 200 yards.
The drawback is ammo. A lot of places advertise they have it, but when you try to add 6.5 PRC ammo to the cart you discover it's on perpetual backorder. I quickly bought reloading dies and bullets, powder was a bit of a hassle to find, and I ultimately settled for probably my 4th blind pick. I then bought 140 rounds ($$$) of Norma match and intend to reuse that brass for the rest of my life. I also got a lone box of Hornady 143 grain ELD-X hunting ammo in case I can't get a handload dialed in during the next 3 weeks.
Other than the ammo sourcing difficulties, I'm completely sold on the 6.5 PRC. It's super precise, the recoil is a tad less than my old 30-06, and it's got sufficient smack-factor that I'd take it on an elk hunt.
I'm of the opinion that the newer breed of fat overbore cartridges, loaded with high BC bullets and modern powder compositions, is a distinct step in cartridge evolution, similar to the evolution from the round ball to the minie ball.
I think the evolutionary step was so pronounced to me because I was previously living in a time capsule, shooting a 50 year old rifle, chambered in a 100 year old cartridge, and using IMR powders invented in the 1930s.
The 6.5 PRC in the Tikka (along with the new scope) completely outclasses my old setup, and essentially doubles my effective hunting range.
