utm fk

february 2020 G&A 69
THE
6.5 PRC
MAGNUM
BARNES BULLETS TAKES THE 6.5 PRC
INTO ELK-CAPABLE TERRITORY.
BY JOSEPH VON BENEDIKT
A SINGLE CALF CALL brought elk pouring off the ridge above.
Several were bulls, but the forest was thick making it difficult to
identify the best one. I could only see pieces of elk between tree
trunks and branches.
It was the heat of the rut, and a collision of herd bulls and
lonely satellite bulls fired off a ruckus. It was music to an elkaddict’s
soul. Bugles rasped the morning air, some so close and
deep they reverberated in my chest. A heavy antlered 5x5 paused
right in front of me, a front leg lifted in suspense. A younger
bull plunged his muzzle into a pool of water nearby and drank.
Still, there were bulls I hadn’t seen, and I figured
at least one would be a 6x6. I hunkered behind
my new Ruger Precision Hunter, reflecting wryly
that its superb long-range accuracy potential was
wasted on the current situation. Hopefully, the
elk wouldn’t smell me before I could pick out the
biggest bull.
At least, I figured, I had the right load in the
chamber. In this thick timber, my shot would be
Made to match standards
and loaded with
the accurate, tough and
deep-penetrating 127-
grain LRX bullet, Barnes’s
new 6.5 PRC load is
outstanding for all game.
For hunters, this new 6.5
PRC cartridge is truly
adequate for elk.
close and likely at an angle rather than the ideal broadside presentation.
Barnes’ 127-grain LRX bullet in the prototype VOR-TX
LR cartridge I was using on this hunt should have the toughness
to drive the necessary depth and destroy vitals.
A gnarly bugle growled from a thicket to my right. Through
a narrow gap in the trees, I picked out the heavy shoulder of a
mature bull. Sure enough, he was quartering to me. A whaletail-looking
fork of antler floated high above. That’s all I could
see, but it was enough to gamble on. I glued the crosshairs to the
point of the massive shoulder and squeezed the trigger.
The Cartridge Introduced just a few years ago,
the 6.5 Precision Rifle Cartridge (PRC) is the
trendiest round in the 6.5mm hunting realm. In
engineering terms, it’s arguably the best 6.5mm
hunting cartridge ever designed. It sports a reasonably
short, fat case that provides a plethora of
accuracy-benefitting characteristics.
What are they? The short, broad column of