Type Rifle Produced 2005–present | ||
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Variants 6-6.5x47 Lapua and Long Dasher | ||
6.5×47mm Lapua (or 6.5×47mm) is a rifle cartridge that was developed specifically for 300–1000 meter competition by ammunition maker Nammo Lapua and the Swiss rifle manufacturer Grünig & Elmiger AG in 2005.
Contents
Features
The cartridge has many special features including:
History
The 6.5x47mm Lapua has no direct parent case. This is obvious in that there are no similar cartridges of this size or dimension with a small rifle primer. It was designed by Lapua with a great deal of help from Swiss rifle manufacturer, Grünig & Elmiger. The case also borrows from many characteristics of the 6mm PPC and thus has been proving itself to be inherently accurate.
Performance
The 6.5×47mm was designed from the beginning by Lapua to optimize accuracy, barrel life, and case capacity in a 6.5mm cartridge for target and tactical shooting. The 6.5×47mm travels at slightly lower speeds than 6.5mm/.260 cartridges such as the .260 Remington, because of its smaller case volume. Its speed though is hotly debated. In an article by the Precision Rifle Blog It was shown that though the average MV was slightly lower then the 6.5 Creedmoor it was able to exceed it. Some users exceeded the 6.5 mm by as much as 42fps. This is probably due to the fact that though the CM is listed to have the same PSI as the Lapua, it is not able to really reach those pressure levels because of its large primer pocket and lower quality brass.
It has a chamber pressure of 63100 PSI, which is slightly higher than the .260 Remington's maximum rated pressure.
So far, no other manufacturers have made brass for the 6.5x47.
Competitions
Competitively the 6.5x47 has been winning many records, most of them at 600yards. Erik Cortina broke a 300-yard Club Record with 6.5×47 Lapua (RL17). Erik scored 600-49X, the previous record was 599-32X. In the summer of 2016 Mike Gaizauskas shot a ten shot group measuring 2.856 inches, beating out the record previously held by the 6mm Dasher. American Kevin Nevius has set a new NRA National Record for High Power Rifle with a perfect score of 200 with 20 x's at 600 yards – 20 shots (Prone-Any Sight). Kevin was using 6.5 x 47 Lapua, 136 gr. Scenar-L OTM bullets, and VV N150 powder.
Variants
Soon after the introduction of the 6.5x47, shooters were using the case as the basis for a new wildcat, by necking it down to 6mm. This wildcat cartridge is often called a 6-6.5x47 to avoid confusing it with a 6x47 Swiss Match. A similar case but with a large rifle primer. Another version that has been popular is a necked down version with a 40d shoulder. PTG sells reamers for this and it has demonstrated a gain of about 100fps over the standard 6-6.5x47.