Cal. 6.5 X 68

Terrier

What is the story with this Cal.?

I know that cal up to .308 have been made legal, is this bigger?

civdef

6.5mm has a smaller calibre than .308 (7.62mm).

Anyway, it's not calibres up to .308 that are legal now, the restrictions based on calibre have been removed.

Sparks

6.5mmBR is the de facto standard for ISSF 300m shooting these days (at high level at least) and that's what the Army team shoots out in the midlands from before the calibre restriction's lifting. It's about a .256 calibre, so it was legal even with the restriction.

Terrier

Cheers Lads...

oldzed

6.5 x 68 is an odd ball catridge that has not been used much since the 70s , it came from the remington 6.5 rem mag . it develops high energy but is of no particular advantage over the 6.5 x 55 and cases are expensive and I dont think anyone makes commercial loads for it anymore. if you want more power in a 6.5 look at the 6.5 /284 but be prepared to do a lot of work loading for it as the only commercial ammo i know of for it is a norma hunting load , the 6.5 284 is a great catridge and stunningly accurate but barrel life is short , 1000-1500 rds . you could also look at a 6.5 x 55 ackley improved which will give you about 18% more case capacity than a standard 6.5 x 55 but these are custom rounds and you will be fireforming every case . another option is the .260 remington which uses a 243/308 case and a 6.5 head , this round is very popular in metallic sil shooting but 7mm 08 is now becoming more popular . fyi the imperial dimension for a 6.5 is .264..

civdef

I remember there used to be a few boxes of RWS 6.5x68 in the ammo store in Griffin & Hawe a couple of years ago, it's probably still there. Certainly there was no demand on it

oldzed

Ps . the army competition team shoots 6br at midlands not 6.5br . I have never come across a 6.5 br . the 6 br is a widely used catridge but 6.5 br I have never come across although it may exist as a wildcat . 6br rounds are readily available from lapua and norma and are very accurate and a light recoiling round. the army shoots lapua ammo in 6br as do the army sniper guys in the accuracy international aw's.

Sparks

Gah. Yes, oldzed is correct, I'm mixing up the 6.5x284 and the 6mmBR. Well, I never said I was an authority on everything!
There's some rather good info over on www.long-range.com as well (though oldzed's is a pretty good summary) although they're more into the Palma style shooting (iron sights at 800, 900 and 1000 yards range and limited to the 7.62 NATO/.308 Winchester rounds only).
One of these days, when I get rich and can afford it, I'm going to have to give this kind of thing a try