CountryByNet.com Forums :: I just ordered a long range varmint control tool

Egon, I could have bought a Barret .416 which has better terminal ballistics than the 50 cal BMG round. Both are overkill for my intended use (long range target shooting and varmint control when needed.

The 6.5 Creedmoor is not the fastest 6.5 but has gentle recoil, uses less powder, is gentle on the brass, and has good barrel life. Hornady is producing factory ammo for it in two weights, one just above 3000 and one just below 3000 FPS.

The only other rifle I have that could be considered a varmint rifle is a 22-250 which is pretty good at 200 yds, so so at 300 and that is about it. It is a high velocity flat shooting son of a gun. When zeroed at 200 yds it is 3/4 inch high at 100 yds and about 4 3/4 inches low at 300 yds.

So, out at 500-800 yds the 6.5 will still be very supersonic and deliver the energy required to make a clean kill on anything you can hit up to deer sized.

As semi-autos go it is pretty accurate, not state of the art bleeding edge high dollar super accurate like super sub MOA but it should shoot within a MOA. One Minute of Angle (MOA) would let you put 5 rounds within a max diameter of 5 inches at 500 yds. That will git 'er done on a coyote, beaver, puma, or whatever.

This is essentially a reformed .308 Winchester case necked to a specific set of specs for throat angle etc to fit a 6.5mm bullet and not exceed the overall length that will feed from a .308 size magazine.

I wasn't sure I understood the "RED TIP" comment for sure. Some of the bullets are essentially hollow points but with a polymer (plastic) insert to give the nose better aerodynamics. None of these rounds are armor piercing, tracer, or any "special" performance as is denoted by various color markings on military ammo like .223, .308, .50BMG and such.

It will be a while before I get to try it out. According to the UPS tracking site it was scanned in at Oklahoma City as of 0811 this AM. It is due to be delivered to a shop with FFL on the 16th but is likely to be early as tomorrow. Until I get rings and a scope on it and get ammunition it is just a lump of metal in the general shape of a rifle. Then I have to sight it in and get a feel for the ballistics. Luckily I have a LASER range finder that is good to 1200 meters or yds plus or minus 1 meter or one yard over 600 and 1/2 a unit out to 600. That will save a lot of ammo and a lot of measuring ranges.

I'll post my results when I have some. Don't expect miracles as my vision is not nearly as good as when I earned my expert marksman medal in the service. Funny how things change in 40 years.

Oh, I can describe the effect of a 22-250 hand load on a California ground squirrel at 200 yds. I was loading 52 grain gilding metal jacketed hollow points and pushing them up to 4000 FPS. The hydrostatic shock of the impact ruptures all the soft tissue essentially instantaneously leaving the squirrel as if it had been in a blender and then spread out over about 100 sq ft. There were only a few small chunks that were identifiable. Mostly things like a small strip of hide with some toes and claws attached or the odd skull fragment.

The first time I hunted ground squirrels, they were eating pearl onions I had helped a buddy plant to sell to a local wholesale grocery. I got in position 200 yds away and took aim and shot. There is enough recoil to take the scope off target so you don't see the actual impact. When the scope settled back on target I saw no squirrel. I thought I must have missed or it fell dead in its hole or whatever. I was extra careful on the second shot but still saw no dead squirrel. I tried a third time with similar results and thought I better go down there and take a look. I did. There was "Osterized" squirrel spread all over the field. I was not missing. I hit all three and they were literally turned to puree and scattered over a fair area. By the time I got near the impact zone I could smell the squirrels and see gazillions of flies in a feeding frenzy. I didn't have to "confirm" any further results at close range.

The 6.5 is a bigger and about 2 1/2 times heavier bullet. For equal weight bullets going 3000 and 4000 FPS respectively there is a 9:16 ratio of kinetic energy with the faster round nearly having double the KE. The 6.5 bullet is abot 2 1/2 times heavier (KE is linear in weight) so you will have a final result of about 2.5 times 9 versus 16. 0r 22.5/16 which is 1.4 so you get 40% more KE (at the muzzle) with the 6.5. The 6.5 holds its energy better as it has higher sectional density and better ballistic coefficient (better aerodynamics) so you will have about 45-50% more energy delivered to the target by the 6.5 than the 22-250.

Whether or not that results in as spectacular results as the 22-250 depends on the terminal ballistic characteristics of the bullet on whatever target. It is likely that a lot of energy would be wasted on a ground squirrel with the 6.5 as it is likely the bullet will go through the target and not dissipate all its energy. Not that is would make much difference to the squirrel as it would still be disintegrated in a tiny fraction of a second. It might matter to me as I need to ensure the bullet doesn't cause collateral damage. I will be looking for bullets that will break up on impact for smaller targets and for safety reasons. The 52 grain hollow points I used in the 22-250 would not ricochet. They would totally break up into fine fragments which were very unaerodynamic and would decelerate quickly due to air friction to non injurious speeds. A cow grazing laterally to the target could not be harmed by a shot impacting the ground or a rock over 10 feet or so away. A round fired point blank into a corrugated cardboard box would put a .22 hole in the front and a thousand or more tiny holes in the back of the box. The bullet would totally break up on impact with the front side. I shot into aluminum soda cans end wise with similar results. A .22 hole in the one end and a thousand tiny holes in the end of the can. It did not blow the back end of the can out, just made a lot of really small holes. I like bullets that can't ricochet. I will be looking into similar bullets for the 6.5 as well.

Pat

"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"

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