It seems that with all the interest in short cased magnums, the lil Rem mag might make some sort of comeback. Looking for anybody who shoots one of these, and pro's and con's of the round. I'm interested in shooting 120 gr bullets from a 22" barrel.

Paul, I have a Rem 660 in 6.5 and my two sons have model 700s with the 24 inch bbl. (consecutive SNs) Both have taken whitetails with the Remington Core Locks (120 gr) No complaints. I had about ten boxes of the 120 gr core Locks but they were old and didn't sound right, also didn't burn all the powder. So one of my sons pulled the bullets. The powder was caked up in chunks, must have absorbed moisture. So now we just reload.

Paul: I had one of the rare Ruger 77's in this caliber (I don't even like to think how dumb it was of me to sell it.) I used it on one whitetail and one coyote for one-shot kills. The load was a 120 grain Sierra over a long-lost amount of surplus 4831. Cases were made from some new .264 Winchester with .264 Winchester dies from which I sawed about a half-inch off the bottoms. Seems as if velocities ran in the 3100 fps area from the 22" barrel, but this was many years ago and I don't think I still have any of my chronographing notes. Accuracy was good.

However, other than fitting in a shorter action, I see no advantage to the cartridge over a 6.5-'06. Besides, the '06-based case will give you one or two more rounds in the magazine than the magnum-diameter case.

My dad has one he built years ago on a Model 98 using a Shilen barrel (24")....shoots under an inch with 120s, but is a poor grouper with 140s and up. Personally, I like the 6.5-06 better due to the longer neck and availability of brass.

Lee Martin
www.singleactions.com

Paul,

I have a 1000 yard rifle chambered in 6.5rem Mag. It is very accurate and is every bit as good as the 6.5x284 without all the pressure problems when you get to the 3000-3050fps range. I won the Tenn state longrange championship with the 6.5mag a few years ago. My loads are pushing a 142gr matchking right at 3000fps. The loads are VERY mild. I did velocity tests and I was able to get 3300fps before primer pockets started to loosen up. This was in a 30" barrel.

Corbin Shell