6.5 PRC bullet selection

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[TristanJH]

Got some direct experience with .264 Hammer Hunters:

• 124's going 3030 out of my Creedmoor (20" 1:8")
• 131's going 3250-ish out of my buddy's PRC (24" 1:7")

Both have performed admirably and taken lots of deer and antelope in their short tenure. Mostly DRT. Anticipate lead-like terminal performance with the hammers LOTS of petal damage after 2-3 inches of penetration. As a result, the remaining bullet shank weighs considerably less than would a Barnes or other mono, and exits holes are less frequent, but certainly not altogether missing.

For a PRC, I'd def recommend the 131's and maybe check out the badlands precision bulldozer 2's.

Planning on trying the 135gn BDII's as I'm spinning on a PRC barrel very soon, and I expect to keep the 131 HH as a steady fall-back option.

 

[MTNHUNTER76]

I've had good luck running the 156 bergers. Have shot several wild pigs of various sizes, mature axis buck, mature aoudad ram, misc wild goats/sheep, axis does. Aprox 20 animals total, haven't lost any. Quite a few were bang flops and the others didn't make it more than 20yds. These shots were anywhere from 100-600yds. Some bullets exited and some were lodged in offside skin. They shoot less than 1/2 moa in my rifle at 2930fps.

I wouldn't hesitate to use this bullet on an elk within 700yds. For longer range on a large animal the 300 norma with 230's gets used.

 

[MTNHUNTER76]

156 berger just whacked this 650lb roan. He made it 40yds after the shot and piled up. Was a quartering too shot at 250yds. Put crosshairs right on shoulder in front of the leg. Didn't recover the bullet. Massive internal trauma.

 

[N.AmericanTrophyHunts]

Your stock CA will have limited COAL with the 156. Trust me, I just went through this last year with mine. I was able to push it at 2850 before I met pressure using all of your usual suspects (Retumbo, H1000, RL-26). That bullet was not meant for the right SAAMI the CA has in it. I’m having amazing results with everything in the 140 class and the 135 classic Hunters. I’ve gotten more than optimal results with 143ELDX.
That said, I’m pushing the 143 at 2950 avg and the 156 at 2850 and at 800 yds only a 80lb energy difference. That heavy billet at a lower velocity performs much like my 143 100fps faster.

 

[I hunt_dm3]

Updating for some of my results with Berger 156’s and my Ridgeline. Loaded it up with some N570 and got good speeds and pretty decent accuracy. Need to fine tune the load a bit. I settled on 62.3 grains at 3050 fps. Accuracy was around .75” to 1” moa and verified out to 500 yards. Shot a cow at 125 with good results from the Berger. Hoping to fine tune the accuracy a bit and shoot it out to 1k.

 

[BPollard]

try a 139 Scenar
They level deer

 

[hicountry1]

130ab, and 139 Scenar out of my 6.5prc.

I mostly use the scenar any more.

Nothing wrong with the ab either.

Scenars just dig.

 

[Trogon]

You guys shooting the 156 Berger, how/where are you finding them? I’ve been looking for a few months now and nada.

 

[Touchdown88]

You guys shooting the 156 Berger, how/where are you finding them? I’ve been looking for a few months now and nada.

Sing up for email notifications from the usual suspects (Midway, Midsouth, Sportsmans, Brownells, etc)

 

[I hunt_dm3]

You guys shooting the 156 Berger, how/where are you finding them? I’ve been looking for a few months now and nada.

I got all my PRC reloading stuff from in stock notifications on the discord app. I was able to get Lapua brass, Retumbo, H1000, N570, match primers, and 10 boxes of 156’s in a few months span last year.

 

[Trogon]

I got all my PRC reloading stuff from in stock notifications on the discord app. I was able to get Lapua brass, Retumbo, H1000, N570, match primers, and 10 boxes of 156’s in a few months span last year.

Sorry to derail thread here, but what is the discord app? I did a search and got some social media thing…

 

[I hunt_dm3]

Sorry to derail thread here, but what is the discord app? I did a search and got some social media thing…

Here is a link. People post links to for in stock reloading products. You can select the products you want to receive notifications for.

Join the Reloading Discord Server!

Check out the Reloading community on Discord - hang out with 21664 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.

discord.gg

 

[MTNHUNTER76]

You guys shooting the 156 Berger, how/where are you finding them? I’ve been looking for a few months now and nada.

They are almost non existent. They show up when the factory does a production run, then all gone again. If you find them buy enough to wear out a barrel. They will be easy to offload if you don't like them for some reason.

 

[Trogon]

They are almost non existent. They show up when the factory does a production run, then all gone again. If you find them buy enough to wear out a barrel. They will be easy to offload if you don't like them for some reason.

Thanks. I contacted Berger and they said 156 is on the current production schedule. Im signed up for all the notifications at nearly all the dealers. So now wait and see. Hopefully the gunbroker-reselling-parasites dont beat me to it.

 

[JGRaider]

For you guys using the 139 Scenar, would you mind sharing your load please? I have Retumbo and RL26 handy, as well as H4350, RL16, 19. Thanks.

 

[John45-70]

I shot my first moose couple of years ago and the lrx went through without any expansion . They were 3200 fps and traveled 80 yards or so. I just received my lapua 155 grain bullets today and am sure that my next moose will be one shot, not three. The first lrx touched the top of the heart and the other two were through the neck. Pencil size exit wounds!

 

[John45-70]

Does anybody have load data for h1000 and retumbo for lapua 155 grain rn in 6.5 prc?

 

[Jordan Smith]

I shot my first moose couple of years ago and the lrx went through without any expansion . They were 3200 fps and traveled 80 yards or so. I just received my lapua 155 grain bullets today and am sure that my next moose will be one shot, not three. The first lrx touched the top of the heart and the other two were through the neck. Pencil size exit wounds!

When they impact at high speed, Barnes can lose their petals and only the shank exits, giving the illusion that the bullet didn't expand. A more reliable indicator is the wound channel. How much internal damage was there?

 

[John45-70]

It did bleed out internally, so there was some damage for sure. Still think this lapua bullet will transfer a lot more energy. Loaded the hornady 160 rn and think it would also work well, but I think the lapua's being 5 grains lighter will be a better choice. Seen the 160 hornady shot in gel with 6.5 cr and it looked very impressive! Just have to do some more testing, the 160 I got pressure around 2800 fps.