Vortex's new cartridge

[Evan]

I found this...

6.5 BC – Wildcat Cartridge Designed by … Vortex!

Vortex Nation Podcast team has developed a 6.5mm (.264') caliber long action (3.340' COAL) wildcat cartridge called 6.5 BC. It is designed to be a long-range hunting cartridge for antelope/deer-sized game.

www.thefirearmblog.com

To quote them: "length-wise would fall somewhere between the cartridges like 6.5 Creedmoor and 6.5-300 Weatherby Magnum"

uh-huh, that really helps narrow it down. This has got to be some kind of odd joke with how they keep presenting it like a new product, but providing no information or details. Can't say I'm too impressed.

 

[NZ_Fclass]

Sorry, the 3 musketeers lost me after about 11 minutes. I got the impression that they were looking to get a 375 H&H , necked to 6.5mm, a 31 deg shoulder and a rebated rim. Takes small rifle primers.

It's doomed from the start.

 

[284winner]

Its all according to how accurate you need it to be. Most hunting rifles never see 50rds in a lifetime

For the average hunter and his rifle, your probably spot on.

 

[284winner]

Not to disparage those that like the 6.5 bullet diameter but, 6.5 this and 6.5 that, blah blah blah blah blah. It’s like the 6.5 bullet diameter has been found to have the miracle properties of Unatainium. Much ado about nothing.

I’m waiting for someone to develop a 23 or 29 caliber bullet extolling the virtues of those diameters.

The 6.5 undoubtedly is a phenomenal caliber for many uses. The long heavy high bc offerings are excellent LR target/hunting bullets. The lighter bullets for other uses. Let's face it, most caliber bullets would excel if built long enough and heavy enough for its purpose. Look at the 25 caliber 131 bullet. It out performs the 6.5 130-156 grain bullets trajectory wise way out beyond 1000 yards when shot in identical cases. The 270 would probably do the same if a to long/heavy enough bullet was released. Bottom line is the 6.5 and 7mm bullets and cartridges have caught on so well, there's no demand for many other caliber upgrades. They just keep beating up the 6.5/7mm options.

 

[DumpHollow]

This makes my head hurt. I just recently learned about the Weatherby RPM.

 

[ebb]

The Kardashians come to rifle cartridge deign.

 

[Fuj]

Let's face it, most caliber bullets would excel if built long enough and heavy enough for its purpose. Look at the 25 caliber 131 bullet. It out performs the 6.5 130-156 grain bullets trajectory wise way out beyond 1000 yards when shot in identical cases. The 270 would probably do the same if a to long/heavy enough bullet was released. Bottom line is the 6.5 and 7mm bullets and cartridges have caught on so well, there's no demand for many other caliber upgrades. They just keep beating up the 6.5/7mm options.

How true !! I grew up around the 250-3000 then later in life, the
.270 Winchester. Man; if we had the bullets like are made today
let alone the barrels and twist rate options !! I just started to look
at that new Berger 170 gr .270 EOL. I just need to neck down
that SA284 case of mine and......

 

[284winner]

How true !! I grew up around the 250-3000 then later in life, the
.270 Winchester. Man; if we had the bullets like are made today
let alone the barrels and twist rate options !! I just started to look
at that new Berger 170 gr .270 EOL. I just need to neck down
that SA284 case of mine and......

I think that'd be an easy accomplishment for sure. I'm actually thinking if Berger or Hornady, Sierra, etc came up with a 175-180 .277 bullet, it would rival any 6.5/7mm bullet to the point that more would see it's ability as a great LR hunting cartridge. Again, there's just no demand. A 180 .277 bullet would be close to equivalent to a 195 .284 bullet by comparison.

 

[284winner]

This makes my head hurt. I just recently learned about the Weatherby RPM.

You gotta love the introduction of all the new performance cartridges tho. I mean remember years back when flat base bullets were most of the hunting bullet selections out there. Slowly they trended to LR bullets and today they are as plentiful as any bullet. The Weatherby followers will certainly pick up on the 6.5 RPM for sure. They did exactly what Hornady did in advertising their newest cartridges. False advertising ! They claimed the 6.5 CM outperformed the .260 rem with all bullets. While that may be somewhat true with RL26, they don't publish RL26 as an option. Weatherby does the same thing comparing the RPM to the 6.5-284. Claims that the 6.5-284 w/140s comes in at 2750 vs the RPM at 3000+. This is what sells. Not facts but false advertising. I think you get more fps from a 6.5 CM with 156 EOL Berger's than Weatherby advertises the 6.5-284 with 140s. I'm disappointed in Weatherby's published data as I was Horandys.

 

[Edd]

You gotta love the introduction of all the new performance cartridges tho. I mean remember years back when flat base bullets were most of the hunting bullet selections out there. Slowly they trended to LR bullets and today they are as plentiful as any bullet. The Weatherby followers will certainly pick up on the 6.5 RPM for sure. They did exactly what Hornady did in advertising their newest cartridges. False advertising ! They claimed the 6.5 CM outperformed the .260 rem with all bullets. While that may be somewhat true with RL26, they don't publish RL26 as an option. Weatherby does the same thing comparing the RPM to the 6.5-284. Claims that the 6.5-284 w/140s comes in at 2750 vs the RPM at 3000+. This is what sells. Not facts but false advertising. I think you get more fps from a 6.5 CM with 156 EOL Berger's than Weatherby advertises the 6.5-284 with 140s. I'm disappointed in Weatherby's published data as I was Horandys.

The Weatherby RPM should be faster than a 6.5-284. It is the same case that has been lengthened about 3/8 of an inch. That's about 14 gr more capacity.

 

[McFred]

Wow. 6 pages of comments sucking the fun out of wildcatting. You lot are some negative old curmudgeons. Way to publically represent the sport.

 

[284winner]

The Weatherby RPM should be faster than a 6.5-284. It is the same case that has been lengthened about 3/8 of an inch. That's about 14 gr more capacity.

While I'd guess that's probably true, don't see why Weatherby has the need to underpower the 6.5-284 by advertising it's 2750 fps velocity with a 140. Anybody with any knowledge of 6.5 cartridges knows that is silly. I light load mine at 2950 and have shot it at 3100. They just lose respect with advertisements that simply are not fact. Not even sure you'd want to load a 6.5-284 that slow unless using a 20" barrel with 156 grain bullets.

 

[nakneker]

This is not a good time to release a new 6.5 anything, I think shooters are burned out as soon they hear “six five“. I can’t think of any niche that isn’t filled in that caliber. I own and enjoy a few 6.5s but...... if I see another creedmoor Miracle post I may have to sell the two I have and just enjoy my 6.5x47s. The world needs something fresh. I was disappointed when Winchester didn’t keep the WSM going down to quarter bores, you can always neck any of the good cases down to .25 but I think it would be fun to see a factory offering that jazzed up the .25 caliber, may be a few more bullet makers would emulate the 131 blackjack.... just give us something different. But the reality is if you can’t find something you like with the onslaught of new cartridges over the past dozen years you must one picky son of a gun.

As far as that video goes I turned it off two minutes in, it does Vortex no favors. I don’t think it meant to be serious but it still reflects poorly on them.

 

[fatelvis]

B.C. Stands fo “bitch cat.” I’m not joking. I listen to their podcast regularly, and it is rather entertaining, and something good to listen to while you are driving or reloading. They did not start this project with the intentions of starting a new cartridge commercially. They were talking about wildcatting, and decided to give it a go.

 

[Fuj]

This is not a good time to release a new 6.5 anything, I think shooters are burned out as soon they hear “six five“. I can’t think of any niche that isn’t filled in that caliber. I own and enjoy a few 6.5s but...... if I see another creedmoor Miracle post I may have to sell the two I have and just enjoy my 6.5x47s. The world needs something fresh. I was disappointed when Winchester didn’t keep the WSM going down to quarter bores, you can always neck any of the good cases down to .25 but I think it would be fun to see a factory offering that jazzed up the .25 caliber, may be a few more bullet makers would emulate the 131 blackjack.... just give us something different. But the reality is if you can’t find something you like with the onslaught of new cartridges over the past dozen years you must one picky son of a gun. As far as that video goes I turned it off two minutes in, it does Vortex no favors. I don’t think it meant to be serious but it still reflects poorly on them.

Been a wild catter as a hobby for some time. Most will never be
shot. But if an idea is viable, I'll head to the bench. Not long ago
I adopted the .284 Winchester case to stay within' the realm of
true short action projects. The 7mm never got a lot of justice in
this area. What I came up with is a shooter. I was looking hard at
necking it down to .257 for a true short action, mag fed cartridge.
I may change that up though since I found out about them long
Berger .270 EOL's. I did take a trashed .284 case and made my
version of a BR cartridge. It sits in a drawer as a conversation piece.
May do the .270 first though. But it's still only in my head. Still working
on the SA284 and this cold weather has me slowed up. Will be putting
in an order at Midsouth shortly. If them Berger EOL's are in stock, I'll
pick up 100. I do have a short batch of 131 Aces from the original run.
I used one on the BS (bullsh_t) case !! Dog and pony show so to speak.

 

[Fast14riot]

Last year I started crunching numbers for a 6.8-284 Shehane with the 170EOL and liked what I saw in quick design for capacity and velocities. I may still spin one up at some point in the future. With Lapua now offering straight 284win brass, it'll be even easier to neck down to 277 and avoid the donut.

This 6.5 wildcat seems strange to me, velocities well within the range of several cartridges already available from the 260AI (140s at 3000fps) to the 6.5-284, to the 6.5x55swede and 6.5x55AI, but burning up to 20% more powder.

Marketing wise, if this was presented more clearly as a wildcatting endeavor by these guys, it would have made more sense to all, I think. The fact it was presented almost like a product release (albeit poorly) seems to have been the biggest issue to me.

 

[PRR1957]

The 6.5 undoubtedly is a phenomenal caliber for many uses. The long heavy high bc offerings are excellent LR target/hunting bullets. The lighter bullets for other uses. Let's face it, most caliber bullets would excel if built long enough and heavy enough for its purpose. Look at the 25 caliber 131 bullet. It out performs the 6.5 130-156 grain bullets trajectory wise way out beyond 1000 yards when shot in identical cases. The 270 would probably do the same if a to long/heavy enough bullet was released. Bottom line is the 6.5 and 7mm bullets and cartridges have caught on so well, there's no demand for many other caliber upgrades. They just keep beating up the 6.5/7mm options.

I get all of that about the 6.5 caliber bullet, and as I gleaned that it’s the PRS crowd that has brought it to light, but it’s only because of the interest in long heavy bullets that the various bullet manufactures have been marketing bullets .224, .243, .257, and 6.5 along with so many custom barrel manufactures along with the firearms manufactures offering high twist rate barrels to accommodate these long heavy per caliber bullets. I not nocking that nor any new cartridges, but if one looks back some thirty or so years ago, the .284/7mm caliber was being touted as the new wonder caliber. My take on it is that it is somewhat of a fad. As for me, I’m more interested in the development of new gunpowders and more efficient cartridges designs to take advantage of these new gunpowders.

 

[Trashy]

Wake me up when someone brings out a 224 caliber that's built for 90gr bullets that's also subsonic. I just want something recoilless that is better in the wind than 22lr.

 

[PRR1957]

Wake me up when someone brings out a 224 caliber that's built for 90gr bullets that's also subsonic. I just want something recoilless that is better in the wind than 22lr

22 Hornet or 221 Fireball maybe.

 

[VaniB]

As the average guy who doesn't engage in PRS competition, but does enjoy a good flat-shooting rifle for target or hunting, this is just what I'm looking for.......

.......if I wanted something that is no more accurate then my current 1/2" MOA 6.5CM, but does burn out barrels 4 times faster. lol