ImBillT
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2018
- Messages
- 3,896
Because I wasn’t making the claim that it’s actually equal to the 26 Nosler under all circumstances, just that it’s close, in spite of being considerably smaller. It has a 30” barrel, and the bullets are coated. A 6.5PPC wouldn’t get there with just about any barrel length. A 26 Nosler would beat it by more if both had 30” barrels than if both had 26” barrels, and there would probably be little to no difference with 20” barrels.
The first post I made here stated that IN MY OPINION the 6.5 PRC has almost the perfect case capacity for the .264” bore. Not that it has the capacity at which no more velocity can possibly be obtained. Case capacity vs velocity curves get pretty flat as case capacity increases. The point at which that occurs increases if you increase barrel length or bullet weight. With hunting length barrels(20”-26”) you get NEAR maximum velocity from 130gr-140gr bullets by the time case capacity gets into the range of 62-68gr H20. With heavier bullets and/or longer barrels, the larger cases stand out a little more. With 156gr bullets, my rig will no longer match a 26” 6.5-06AI.
Again, my post said my opinion, because that’s about where I see the performance gains of increasing case capacity, to no longer be worth the cost TO ME. A 6.5 PRC will likely last 1000ish rounds before accuracy really starts to drop off. A 26 Nosler is going to be closer to 500-600. My rig should last closer to 1500 rounds. For someone who will simply buy factory ammo, sight-in with 5-20 shots, and never use it again except for hunting, 500 shots could be a lifetime. For someone who wants to handload, get it in perfect tune, check drops at various ranges, check sight-in after each hunt etc. it might require 300-400 shots to get through the initial tuning and practice run, then they might go through 25-50 shots per year. For someone who wants to look at the velocity on the box, and plug the numbers into a calculator, a 26 Nosler might look a lot better than other 6.5’s. For someone who hand loads, shoots over a chrono, and checks drops, a 6.5 PRC might be so close to equal that it’s hard to tell the difference. You can have 100fps difference between two barrels of the same length and chambered for the same cartridge. Where you draw the line for when the trade-offs aren’t worth the velocity is a personal choice. Some people would say that the 6.5CM is plenty.
