6.5PRC vs 280AI

BarCO

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4 bullets. One 6.5 140 grain Berger vld started at 3000fps. One 6.5 140 grain Berger vld started at 2800fps. One 7mm 160 grain accubond started at 3250fps. One 7mm 168 grain Berger long range accubond started 2900fps. All of these were pulled from elk and all elk died with zero drama. Tell me which is which.
View attachment 522271
That is great. Thanks for sharing.
 
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I moving towards getting out of reloading. Thinking of selling the 280ai and going 6.5PRC because I have not seen 280ai ammo for sale in well over a year, other than Partitions.
 

BarCO

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I moving towards getting out of reloading. Thinking of selling the 280ai and going 6.5PRC because I have not seen 280ai ammo for sale in well over a year, other than Partitions.
Stores seem to have a bunch 6.5 prc most of the time.
 
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4 bullets. One 6.5 140 grain Berger vld started at 3000fps. One 6.5 140 grain Berger vld started at 2800fps. One 7mm 160 grain accubond started at 3250fps. One 7mm 168 grain Berger long range accubond started 2900fps. All of these were pulled from elk and all elk died with zero drama. Tell me which is which.
View attachment 522271
Nice post.

168 gr Berger long range Accubond? That must be the bee's knee's! Lol, I'm sure that's just doubling up on typing on your part.

Great performance! What were the ranges (or approx velocity if you have worked that out) at impact across the 4 bullets?

My take away is the bonded bullets and more frangible bullets did the same job for you and any dickering between the two is a moot point.
 
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brockel

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Nice post.

168 gr Berger long range Accubond? That must be the bee's knee's! Lol, I'm sure that's just doubling up on typing on your part.

Great performance! What were the ranges (or approx velocity if you have worked that out) at impact across the 4 bullets?

My take away is the bonded bullets and more frangible bullets did the same job for you and any dickering between the two is a moot point?
A new prototype coming out😂. Better go edit that before someone jumps me on it


I wish I could remember distances on them but I don’t. All were under 350
 
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Thanks for the info on the range. Not $.02 of difference in the performance at regular hunting ranges and the shot angles you took.

I can tell you which bullet is which. Top left and bottom right are the Accubonds, bottom left and top right are the Bergers.
 

JGRaider

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Bottom left looks like some of my accubonds. What were the impact distances of each, and did you weigh them?
 
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I'm looking at the jackets. Bonded bullets shouldn't have jacket showing on the expanded bullet pictures.
 

sneaky

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This guy can't be serious. He says, "the 6.5 creedmore was never designed to be a hunting cartridge, it was designed as a precision target cartridge".

If headstamp doesn't matter as much as putting the bullet in the correct spot than wouldn't a cartridge designed "for precision" make sense?

Ryan, what was the muzzle velocity?
Technically the 6.5CM was designed as a target cartridge. Hunters then took it over. That's a factual statement from him, at least that one is. He's just like most gun writers on most of his takes, opinions.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

sneaky

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My buddies have 6.5 PRCs. I have the 280AI. Two elk down with the 6.5s. Dead, but quite a bit of meat damage. I have killed 3 elk with my 280AI with 140gr accubonds 3150fps, I have 3 other loads so far just for reference.....
180gr Berger 2830fps
168 LRAB 2900fps 4831sc
168gr LRAB 2985-3035 RL-26 (still in development)
One of the later loads will be used next time it's carried for elk. Need to see how the heavier bullets compare. I do believe I will get more meat damage with the 168s or 180s just by bullet design.
145LRX out of the 280AI kills elk pretty dead as well. Not first choice if wanting to shoot long range over 500, but anything inside of that is in trouble

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No experience with elk and rifles.
But I've gotten two seasons in shooting deer and lopers with my 6.5 PRC and it's definitely my favorite round for prairie hunting. Super easy to shoot and anchors animals fast with good hits even out it to 700 yards.
 

Bellmoa

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If you want good factory options for ammo I would go with the 6.5 PRC. There are a ton of options now that are becoming more available. If you are reloading powder and brass will be a little challenging to find for both cartridges. This will continue to get better for the PRC because of Hornady’s marketing push for that and the other two new PRC’s.
 
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