As I read through these posts, one common factor is evident. Most of the posters compete in the B-R discipline. Now before you flame me into tears, hear me out. Answer yourself this question. How many years has the 6BR and it’s variants been in existence as opposed to the 6.5x47L? I pose this question to you because we all know that with time and experience, come knowledge. In the short period of time, (relatively speaking) the 6.5x47L has made great strides. I’ll make a bet with anyone willing to do so, that the 6.5x47L will outshoot the 6BR with-in the same time frame of its existence. It will just take time and shooters like Sam Hall to bring this cartridge to it’s full potential. BTW, I don’t shoot BR or F-class.
Just something to think about,
Lloyd
Lloyd,
you may well be right on this. There is that
intangible something issue though that sees one cartridge become 'great' in a shooting field while others that should
theoretically compete somehow never quite get there. The example that comes to mind is the PPC in short range BR of course, and I think it's generally accepted now that it's not just a development or even brass quality issue. The PPC outshoots similar rivals, and we don't know why. At the moment, the 6BR and BRX/Dasher variants look like they may be getting to the same point in 300-600yd BR type competition shooting. That's not to say they won't be pushed out of the top spot by something better, or even matched by a rival, but it looks like it won't happen quickly or soon.
One thing people often forget is that BR can see 5 shots rattled off in under 30 seconds while the wind conditions hold. F-Class or any other form of deliberate marked-target shooting is different because of the enforced gap between shots. This is particularly so on our side of the Atlantic (or north of the 49th Parallel). Unlike your F-Class, Fullbore, Palma, CLRP etc shooting, we British Commonwealth types are squadded two to a target (sometimes up to four in local shoots) and there is therefore a minimum three or so minutes between taking each shot by an individual shooter. Fairly typically, I shot in a club 600yd F-Class comp last Sunday and found myself with two others on 'my' target. Throw in one of them missing with both sighters and the resulting delays while the RO had to be asked for the target to be pulled and checked and people looking for his subsequent fall of shot and it took around 70-75 minutes to get through 2 sighters and 20 score shots. All this on a mountain valley range with a constantly varying wind. So each shot is virtually a new start so far as the wind-call goes.
6.5X47L likely gives a significant benefit even at 600yd over 6BR thanks to the external ballistics improvements in such a scenario. What has to be seen is how it stands up in national level competition against the big sevens since that's the competition in F-Open. Until this year, all national GB F-Class Association rounds were shot over a mixture of 800, 900, 1,000yd matches with the emphasis on the 1,000. The 6.5X47L can't hack it against 180gn 7mm Berger VLDs at 3,200 fps in these conditions (nor could the US F-Class team's 6.5-284 Norma in last summer's F-Class World Championship at Bisley). Club / regional level may turn out different with a bigger mix of ranges (distances) in a season's programme .............. and ...........the killer, the 7mmWSM brigade can't afford to shoot say 15 such matches in a season thanks to the barrel life issue. 15 matches is 300-330 shots, or 50% of barrel life. So they enter one or two matches only for practice, checking sight-settings etc. Unless you do your own gunsmithing, barrel replacement by a top gunsmith with a Bartlein or Krieger tube is an expensive job here - a bit over £700 all in which is $1,000 + in translation, and we just don't know how long it'll take to get that barrel into the country as well, many months now the norm!
So, accurate and ballistically effcient smaller cartridges that give long barrel life have a bright future in European and British Commonwealth shooting, and I think 6.5X47L is going to be a key player in this role. Also, as in the USA, many people want a multi-purpose longarm, and this cartridge is an excellent long-range fox/crow round and ideal for most of our deer species too.
To go back to the very original question in this thread, if I were having a multi-discipline target shooting single-shot rifle built for club / regional competition shooting, I'd stick to 6BR or variants if it were primarily for 600yd or shorter range competitions, but go for 6.5X47L if there were 800-1,000yd matches in the mix. If it were for F-Class at national level, I'd have neither, but stick to .308W in the F/TR division which I shoot now. This is down to the smaller cartridges' (lack of) competitiveness at thisd level and the cost issue of becoming competitive. I can say this hand on heart having campaigned a 6BR in national F-Class in 2007. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot but got nowhere results-wise, being completely outperformed even then by the big boomers. This was despite F-Class being a lot less less competitive three years ago than now. (Of course, it would help if I could read the wind like the top shooters - don't let anybody think I'm some sort of expert long-range shooter who can reasonably blame his results on the tools used!)
Laurie,
York, England
