Apr build caliber

[Txsurveyor2014]

APR has built me a 6.5 PRC and a 7mm-08. I just made the call yesterday to start a 6mm creedmoor. I’m a bowhunter that’s really starting to enjoy rifles again!

Are you shooting the hornady factory ammo or custom loads in the 6.5 PRC?

[docmay]

I don’t reload so I’m shooting factory hornady 143 grain eld-x. It shoots lights out in my gun. 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards or better. Have killed 3 animals with it. None took a step although one doe was a head shot. I have shot to 400 yards with no problem. I have a labradar and with 10 shots there was a 15 FPS spread in velocities.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[docmay]

I don’t reload so I’m shooting factory hornady 143 grain eld-x. It shoots lights out in my gun. 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards or better. Have killed 3 animals with it. None took a step although one doe was a head shot. I have shot to 400 yards with no problem. I have a labradar and with 10 shots there was a 15 FPS spread in velocities.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TX03RUBI]

I don’t reload so I’m shooting factory hornady 143 grain eld-x. It shoots lights out in my gun. 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards or better. Have killed 3 animals with it. None took a step although one doe was a head shot. I have shot to 400 yards with no problem. I have a labradar and with 10 shots there was a 15 FPS spread in velocities.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I bet you can get it WELL past 400 if you’d like. Amarillo has a huge LR shooting community, and some really good guys. Catch the next match and it’ll really expedite the learning curve.

[Txarrowhunter]

I certainly used to feel the same way about the CM as many of the folks saying that it does nothing different than what we already have, and also the folks who won’t touch it due to the hype. I have since either “drank the Kool-aid “ or “seen the light” depending on how you want to look at it. I hope it was the latter, but who knows 3-4 years ago, I probably talked more than a few customers out of building them. Wish I wouldn’t have now.

As a long time 260 fan, the CM almost looked like a down-grade to me. It was certainly a “no thanks, we already have this covered” situation in my mind. Well….I was wrong. I don’t shoot factory ammo. I much prefer to build my own, to my specs, tailored to my gun to get the results that I expect out of a precision rifle. I couldn’t even imagine anyone planning out and spending thousands of dollars on a custom precision build and feeding it off the shelf factory ammo. Well….. I was wrong about that too. That way of thinking kept me from taking the CM seriously. I never gave it a fair shake, and I certainly never shot any factory ammo out of one. I just kept on carving up actions to fit extended mag boxes in an effort to make these great “already have this covered” cartridges work like we thought they should(think 260/6.5-284).

Then some events transpired that forced me to shoot a couple CM’s with factory ammo. Wow, didn’t expect that, but found myself breaking out the chrono to see if the factory ammo was really doing as good as it looked like on target. It was. Stupid good for factory. About that same timeframe we start noticing we are getting requests from a couple new types of customers. We get the “I want to start shooting long range, but I don’t have the time or desire to load” group.(If you have any real experience here, you clearly see the challenge). And we also get another set that’s looking for the unicorn. They want a super accurate deer rifle……but they also want to occasionally shoot long range targets with their buddies, so it needs to have good barrel life……and their kids will be shooting it too, so it needs to have mild recoil, but they don’t reload yet…. but think they MIGHT someday. Lol! Yep, unicorn. BUT, somehow the CM manages to check all of those boxes. And THAT is the thing it does, that the other stuff we already have does not do. Sure, the (fill in your favorite s/a cartridge here) has all of the “potential” to do the same with the right box of ammo. But it won’t. Outside of FGGM 308, the consistency and availability of box ammo just isn’t there to support sub MOA groups at 800 yards across the board day in and day out.

Somebody posted the hard number comparison of the CM vs. some other popular rounds around here the other day. Made it real easy to see how it stacks up and why it is so popular right now. Its not about marketing or hype, it simply works as it was designed to work. It is THE solution for certain shooters who don’t have the time, skill, desire or whatever to craft their own ammo or hunt the largest species in North America. It has it’s niche and it excels there. But you still see guys trying to compare it to belted mags.Lol! Do I get tired of hearing about it? Yep!!!! But then I also have heard so many ridiculous performance claims over the years about the 308 from wanna be snipers, the ol’ 3 hunnert mag that shoots laser beam flat to 500 yards and the 270 that defies all laws of physics that it’s actually refreshing to hear BS about something new for a change. You want to talk about hype? Take a look at the rounds that are introduced and marketed on velocity alone.

At the end of the day, the thing does what it says it does, nothing more - nothing less. It has probably helped more new folks get started in long range shooting sports than any of its predecessors, which is good for all of us. It’s certainly not my first choice as a handloader, but it absolutely would be if I wasn’t. We built one last year for a friend’s son to take on his first elk hunt. Nobody was shocked when the bullet didn’t bounce right off it’s hide past 500 yards. Well....the bull probably was

That’s the best explanation I’ve heard on all of tbh on why it’s a good option. I have 2 myself and really like them both. But they are just my pig/paper shooters. I’ve yet to hear an explanation as well thought out and presented as the one above on why it’s not really something that needed to be added to the cartridge selections we have available. Other than the same reasoning of “my buddies might think less of me” explanation. And those last couple sentences really made my wife and I chuckle for several minutes. I have a tikka ctr that she absolutely loves shooting. And she has a hillcountry custom 7mag that has probably seen the field 2x in 4yrs

[Raypo]

Are you shooting the hornady factory ammo or custom loads in the 6.5 PRC?

I did both. 5 sets of 5 in a Berger varying in loads. I shot all of them at 300, and also 5 hornady 143 eldx. The factory load shot just as good as the factory load. I then stretched the hornadys out to 1250, and I hit center steel every time. I’m sold...

[Txsurveyor2014]

I did both. 5 sets of 5 in a Berger varying in loads. I shot all of them at 300, and also 5 hornady 143 eldx. The factory load shot just as good as the factory load. I then stretched the hornadys out to 1250, and I hit center steel every time. I’m sold...

That is very encouraging! Have you tried the 147 eld-m? I have been reading a lot of good reviews about them in hunting situations also.

[bphillips]

I don’t reload so I’m shooting factory hornady 143 grain eld-x. It shoots lights out in my gun. 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards or better. Have killed 3 animals with it. None took a step although one doe was a head shot. I have shot to 400 yards with no problem. I have a labradar and with 10 shots there was a 15 FPS spread in velocities.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That bullet is awesome for hunting. I have custom loads with them in my saum and 515yd is longest kill. It was my sheep who maybe took 2-3 steps and flopped. Almost no cape damage but rocked him inside.

[bphillips]

That is very encouraging! Have you tried the 147 eld-m? I have been reading a lot of good reviews about them in hunting situations also.

I haven't wanted to chance them as the 143eldx is just an excellent performer on game.