Weatherby's New 6.5 has arrived.

[Zeroed in]

Seems like everybody is getting into the 6.5 arena, and Weatherby is no exception, or are they? Weatherby's newest addition to their arsenal is their "improved" 6.5 cartridge and rifle. It's called 6.5/300. It's a 6.5 round in their 300 magnum case, which produces velocities over 3500 fps. Running a 127gr round, sighted in 2.5" high @ 100yds, it maintains the same 2.5" high @ 200yds, and is dead on @ 300yds. There is zero drop from muzzle to 300yds out. It only drops 7" @ 400yds and 18" @ 500yds.
This 6.5/300 magnum is being touted as possibly being Weatherby's best magnum ever. But before you run out and grab one, you should know that for every action, there's a reaction. This being throat erosion from the high temps generated by the powders to propel a piece of lead at high speeds. Oh, and it is "The" Fastest production 6.5 made to date.
David Petzal, a writer for F&S, test shot this rifle, and his findings are listed in the F&S Apr '17 edition. In short, he tested the 6.5/300 mag in 70 degree outside temp., and stated that after 3 shots, the barrel was so hot that you could not hold it.
Now, if they could only make a quick re-design for easy barrel swapping, it'd be the beast of all time.
So there you go, if you think your 6.5 isn't doing it's job, you may want to consider the Weatherby 6.5/300 magnum.

 

[SAWMAN]

Can you say . . . . "SEVERELY OVER BORE". The 7mm-300Wby has been around for some time now and it is a bbl burner. So has the 7STW and . . the same.
Like shooting a full power 357Mag load out of a <15oz snubby,this new chambering falls into the defination of "the laws of deminishing returns".
Honestly . . . I really cannot understand the new found fascination for everything .264" anyway. IMO a .284" bore gun would have been a better choice to get starry eyed over.
Shear speed is good,however it is not the answer to everyones accuracy and kill'ability problems. This is the reason that I have not bought a RPR as of yet. I like the design of the gun but the chamberings offered,plus the bbl lengths,plus the twist rates just don't spin my prop.
And . . . . i'm staying away from anything .264". ---- SAWMAN

 

[wildrider666]

A comment to have a quick change barrel to get away from the heat at 3 rounds or 10 rounds for that matter is not a practical solution. Using the three shot example, it may be acceptable in some hunting situations but not much else. Retained heat accelerates wear with follow on shots. Barrel burning cartridges are well known and people can accept or reject the wear/performance tradeoff when selecting a firearm caliber. I've seen a lot of AKs and ARs with worn out barrels too.

 

[TennJeep1618]

Moved to the rifles section. Please pay attention to where you post.

 

[boatbum101]

Sectional density of a 6.5 140gr bullet is equal to a 200gr 30 caliber bullet . Those long thin bullets penetrate like no tomorrow , not to mention have a pretty good BC . Personally I prefer the old 6.5 X 55 Swedish , like the 7 X 57 it seems to kill more efficently than its paper ballastics would show . Both made their game killing reps with heavy for caliber bullets 156 - 160gr in 6.5 , 175gr in 7mm . Both have been used to kill game much larger than what one would believe . The old 6.5 - 06 was a favorite of the western sheep hunters , it too was noted for being a barrel burner . Some don't like the 284 Win for that same reason .

 

[SAWMAN]

I have read several of the books that the African guides and professional (paid) hunters have written. They talk about the 7mm Mauser being such a good killer for several reasons.
After some of the wars,the guns were free or sold for just a few dollars. Same with the ammo,and it was FMJ which meant massive penetration. And,probably most important of all,the people that carried these guns were very proficient at shooting them,knew their game,and had a huge set of nads.
These guns killed everything from elephant and Rhino, to plains game. --- SAWMAN

 

[Dan1612]

Impressive!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Zeroed in]

Apparently the 6.5/300 Weatherby cartridge has been around for quite awhile. Wayne van Zwoll wrote; The 6.5-300 Weatherby Magnum appeared as a wildcat more than 50 years ago.
Paul Wright of Silver City, New Mexico used it in 1,000-yard competition.
P.O. Ackley wrote of the 6.5/300 Weatherby-Wright Magnum clocking 3,400 ft/sec; and Alex Hoyer of Mifflintown, Pennsylvania famously built rifles for it.
A .264-bore lightning bolt, the 6.5-300 Weatherby looses 127-grain Barnes LRX bullets at 3,537 ft/sec. Passing 500 yards they match the muzzle speed of 156-grain bullets in the 6.5x55! A 6.5-300 Mark V zeroed at 200 yards puts bullets within 2 1/2 vertical inches of center to just over 300. The 127 LRX carries more than 1,000 ft-lbs nearly 900 yards!"

 

[wildrider666]

Thats a lot of impact energy at 1000 yards!

 

[SAWMAN]

If you wouldn't mind an even more overbore chambering . . . step up to the 378Wby Mag sized case.
The 30-378Wby Mag could easily necked down to .264" I would think. Just guessing . . . it could give the 127gr bullets another 200-300fps.
BUT - - -> even if the bbl was melonited or properly treated with molybdenum disulfide,I would think bbl life would be limited. --- SAWMAN

 

[Brandon_SPC]

The majority of "Hunters" will not shoot the barrel out of one of these and if you do have that time and money you have the money to replace the barrel. Also the majority of hunters won't use this cartridge for the real purpose. Unless you are poking out to distance I don't see the need but launching 6.5mm bullets at that speed have been around for a while. 26 Nosler, 6.5-300 win mag, 6.5-300 WSM, 6.5 SAUM etc. Great to see another cartridge hit the market but it problaby won't take off especially after 26Nosler and 6.5 SAUM taking off in the long range game.