How do you choose between 6.5, 6.8, and 7mm?

Which would you choose? Why?

  • 6.5mm

    Votes: 28 37.8%

  • 6.8mm

    Votes: 16 21.6%

  • 7mm

    Votes: 30 40.5%
  • Total voters
    74
  • Poll closed .
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S

srawl

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Joined
Jul 20, 2009
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For those of you with wives (or husbands) who for lack of a better word "allow" you to have as many guns as youd like I am envious.

I am looking for my go to rifle caliber since I will likely only be able have a few rifles, I will be keeping my 223 and 7.62x54r (and 22lr) but I want something in the middle.

I have done hours of research, shot several rifles, and narrowed my search from between 6-7mm to 6.5-7mm... but hey every step counts.

I LOVE the idea of 260 rem but am also very interested in the 6.5 swede, even the 6.5 06 has me interested... the 270 win cannot be argued with and after reading Jack OConnors "The Rifle" understand how near to perfect it is even more. The 7mm08, 280 rem, and 7mm mag are all very capable cartridges as well. I dont think I have heard a single bad thing about any of these from a reloaders standpoint.

To muddy the waters more I reload but wouldnt hate the ability to find ammo in a store. I will mainly be hunting deer and hogs here in Texas but there is a place near by that I would love to visit in the near future that has like 500 acres high fenced with several species of deer, ram, elk, and even african game each to hunt for a price...

Anyway, after literally hours and hours of research I am lost in the numbers of it all.

I am infatuated with the 6.5s and want a 260 but not sure why other than the short action because of the advantage that the swede offers and only shy away from the 6.5 06 because of unavaible store ammo, though brass is easily made.

The venerable 270 win seems to be a logical balance of the 3 right in the middle but I wonder if is it outdated and surpassed by modern advancements in the 6.5 caliber. Would Ol' Jack have still chosen the 270 if the bullets and powders of today existed then?

And really the only reason I include the 7mms is because there are still those with the ever present bigger is better mentality. Im not saying that they are not great but does that extra .02mm make that much of a difference when you add in cost of materials and recoil no matter how slight?

So how do/did you make your choice?

Well if you have made it this far I really do appreciate your time.

Thanks,

Srawl
 
Lol, tell me about it. I just keep asking if they are so great, why arent they more popular?
 
I voted 6.5 because it sounds like that is what you want.

I love the .30-06 and all its children. So for me, I would do the 6.5-06 or .270 or even the .25-06. Since you reload, brass and bullets will be a cake walk to find. And don't worry about the .270 being outdated. It will be around forever just like the '06 and will continue to be a top performer. Bullet design and powder may have changed, but that makes the cartridge more effective, not outdated.
 
I chose 6.8
(which I did myself)


The 6.5 is an awesome cartridge as well


but my longest shot that I would consider making here in Texas is
250 to 300 yards

(I also hunt the Texas piggies)

The 6.8 does a great job of that and at that range, the performance is on par with the 6.5

To really wring out the performance of the 6.5, a barrel of 24 inch is used. I like the compactness
of the 16 inch.

I get what I want with better availability and price of ammo of the 6.8

In 3 years, as more folks try the 6.5G, it may be more commonplace


Choose either, both are good
 
I had a custom 6.5mm rifle built from a Browning for my wife. It was to be used for deer, antelope, and elk. I chose the 6.5mm Swede cartridge over the 7mm-08 for a number of reasons including bullet choices and recoil. But if I were to do it over again, I would go with the 270.

TR
 
I'm a 6.5 fan, somewhat because it's unusual. The BC of many 6.5 bullets is hard to beat and if you reload bullets and brass are readily available. I have 5 different cartridges I regularly shoot in 6.5.

I don't think 6.5 will ever have the popularity of the .270 or 7mm though. I hunt with all three successfully so any choice you make will work well.
 
My opinion -- there's not enough differenece between the calibers listed to worry about, so concentrate on choosing a rifle that has the features you want. Once you know what rifle you want it may only be available in one of the calibers you're interested in.

Last time I looked for a deer rifle I listed the following:

Required:
Short LOP (12.5-13")
A stock that aligns your eye with a scope
A company that stands behind their product
1000 ft-lbs at 300 yards (further than I'll ever shoot)

Wanted:
Two stage trigger
Short overall length
Accuracy gaurantee
Not too heavy
Not too expensive

After trying several rifles that met my requirements/wants I setteled on the Weatherby Vangaurd S2 youth, which is only available in 223/243/7mm-08/308. I chose 308 because I don't reload, and it has the most deer capable ammo options and cheapest plinking ammo of the three calibers that met my requirements.

Just my opinion, but choosing the caliber before the rifle is putting the cart before the horse in most instances.
 
The 7mm bullets are available with some of the best ballistic coefficients.
 
Corn-Picker said:
My opinion -- there's not enough differenece between the calibers listed to worry about, so concentrate on choosing a rifle that has the features you want. Once you know what rifle you want it may only be available in one of the calibers you're interested in.
Click to expand...


I tend to agree with Corn-Picker.

I went over the same questions. I made a short list of cartridges, then made a wish-list for my all-around hunting rifle. When I found it, it happened to be in 7mm-08.

I recently started thinking of shooting some precision tactical matches, so I made a wish list for that rifle, and found what I wanted. It happens to be available in .308 and .260, so I picked .260.
 
I would think researching the ballistics would make the decision easier...

I like 6 & 7mm because of high ballistic coefficients, I have not investigated the other cals.
 
7mm will have the best BC and heaviest bullet choices. It depends on what you want the rifle for, extreme range and accuracy, or targets, or small game, etc.

If I were to go 7mm, I'd do a 7mm-08. .308 brass is easily necked down, easy to come by, and the caliber is very versatile. I already have .308, so it would be a simple addition for me.

If you want 6.5 or 6.8, you could get another upper for your AR. Simplifies paperwork, since you don't have to go through the forms, just buy it off the shelf. I favor 6.5 Grendel over 6.8SPC, but they are both viable choices.
 
I am also curious about why you would switch from 6.5 to 270 T.R.
 
Last edited:
For shooting Texas hogs and deer, the 6.5 Grendel or 6.8 SPC would be good choices for an AR. The 260 Remington and 7mm-08 would be good choices if you were to buy a complete rifle whether it's a bolt action or other. Availability of ammo and ammo components is good and will perform well, given your choice of game.

If you are going to hunt on the "other side of the fence", I would suggest a 30-06. Terminal performance and bullet choices make the -06 the obvious choice for the bigger game found there.

Don't worry about the 270 Winchester being out-dated. It is, by far, the best choice when it comes to that bullet diameter.

The 260 is a good choice for launching 6.5mm bullets. Ammo and case availability is good and it delivers good performance. Rife selection is good too.

The 7mm-08 and the 7mm Remington Magnum are the two best choices in 7mm because of their performance and popularity. Ammo and cases are readily available and many fine rifles are available in both calibers. My favorite 7mm is the 280 Remington. I think it's the best of them for hunting, but it's not very popular and ammo, cases & rifles are hard to find
 
I've had 260 and got rid of. It shot well but just not what I liked. I built a 7-08 and shooting 140 bergers it hits harder and shoots a lot better than the 260 did for me. It's slot more forgiving and was a breeze to work a load for. I also have a 7 rem mag. I shoot the same 140s and 162s out of it. I have a pile of 130gr smk to shoot out of the 7-08 just mever tried them. I also just built a 6mm-06 for whatever reason. I shoot the same 95/105gr bergers out of it that I shoot out of my 243. IMO 6.5 in a short action is just middle ground with better above and below it in performance. Long action is about the same to me. 6.5-06? Why not a 280? 260? Why not a 7-08?
 
In reality, I know for my use that any of the 3 will work just fine. Thats why im wondering why it is (or how) you all finally decided on what caliber/cartridge you did.
 
So how do you make your choice?
Click to expand...
By establishing a purpose for the rifle from the get-go.

There are two types of firearm owners. 1) People who buy guns because they like guns, and 2) People who buy guns for the same reason they buy tools.

People who are limited as to the number of things they buy, whether for budget or other reasons, could fall into either category, but it makes a lot more sense that they fall into the "guns are tools" group.

Once you've worked that out for yourself, figure out what you want to get done. If you're laying new shingles on a roof, you need a hammer and roofing nails. A leafblower isn't going to be useful.

Figure out what needs to get done. Then pick a rifle caliber that will do the job.
 
srawl said:
Thats why im wondering why it is (or how) you all finally decided on what caliber/cartridge you did.
Click to expand...

Here was my thought process:

I wanted a true short action, so that ruled out the 6.5x55, leaving the 260Rem and 7mm-08.

For my hunting rifle, I could've gone with either. The 260Rem tends to have a wee bit more downrange energy, but the 7mm-08 has a wee bit more momentum when bullets of similar sectional density were compared. In the end, I went with the 7mm-08 for a number of reasons: 1) the bigger caliber would make for a bigger wound channel, 2) the slight momentum advantage ought to help penetration to the vitals, 3) there are more rifle options in 7mm-08, and 4) though I reload, availability of factory ammo seemed to favor the 7mm-08.

For my tactical precision rifle (which is still on order, btw), I favored external ballistics over terminal ballistics, so I leaned towards the 260Rem over the 7mm-08. On top of that, tactical precision rifles are chambered in .308 and .260, but I've never seen one in 7mm-08, so the .260Rem got the nod.

As I mentioned earlier, though, these three rounds made my short list, then I went looking for a rifle with the features I wanted, and tried to match the rifle to the cartridge and application.
 
Vote for 6.5. The 270 has always been just too close to .308 for me to bother with (not to mention ammo costs). 6.5 still feels like a "big" rifle, but recoils like a small one.:D
 
Figure out what needs to get done. Then pick a rifle caliber that will do the job.
Click to expand...
Exactly. I am very fortunate to have enjoyed 100% success rate on deer, pronghorn, and elk within an hour of my house for the past 30 years. Most years I shoot two elk, some years I have taken as many as three. Of the rifles you listed, the 7mm Rem Magnum is the best for elk where distances might be on the long side.

When I finally got fed up with recoil, I dropped back to a 7mm-08. The 7mm-08 is perhaps the most under rated rifle in the west. Yesterday morning my brother shot a good sized bull elk at 265 yards and he really didn't have much time to make the shot. He was glad he had his 7mm magnum because it is flat shooting and hits with authority. He hit a large bone going in, blah, blah. Could he have killed the elk all the same with his 7mm-08 launching a 140 grain Accubond? Absolutely. He just turned 60 and when he gets tired of recoil he will drop back to the 7mm-08.

My go to long range hunting rifle is a 6.5-284. However, I really like short actions and I can see myself using my 7mm-08 more and more as I grow older. I also have a 6.5 Creedmoor for long range work on p-dogs through mule deer. The 6.5 Creedmoor is ballistically the same as a .260 Remington. I wouldn't hesitate to use either on an elk at resonable distances.
 
all the calibers you posted are fine. none have a ounce of advatange over each other.well except 7mm magnum. and its a kiker.its a good round if yu like recoil.

the 6.5 in any round is a winner.personally i like the 6.5x55 or as well the 260. they both do a lot without extra powder. and it amzeing what they do do with that long bullet.
 
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