Just 20 years ago, if one American hunter had asked another what 6.5 millimeter cartridge he thought was best for elk, all he'd have gotten was a suspicious stare.

Back then, America was a 30-caliber nation,

with a generous liking for O'Connor's 270,

and a reasonable tolerance for one or two-7-M- cartridges. The only metric that held any sway here in the

land of the brave. And folks it took more than a century for hunters here to

accept the 6.5 millimeter bullet diameter but when it took hold the 6.5mm bullet diameter. But when it took hold, the 6-5 fever swept the country

like a raging wildfire. So these days it's quite common for the topic of best 6-5 millimeter cartridge to come up around the campfire.

Welcome to the backcountry hunting podcast folks, I'm Joseph von Benedict, and today we're going to

unpack the plethora of great 6.5 cartridges

currently on the market. We'll include most everything from the early greats, such as the

6.5 by 55 Swede to the cutting edge 6.5

weather be rp. Now designating just one 6.5 cartridges

as the best is a challenging task.

Candidly, it's well nigh impossible because determining the best is so dependent on your individual needs.

So here's what I'm going to do.

We'll detail each of the viable 6.5 millimeter cartridges, starting with the mildest that's

adequate for deer hunting and ending up with the most powerful, which will be the 6.5 by 300 Weatherby Magnum.

Meanwhile, I'll make a few subjective notes on which are my personal favorites and which I believe have the most staying power on the market, meaning they'll still be around in 50 years.

Then we'll leave it up to you to decide exactly which 6.5

millimeter cartridge is best. Yep this episode is meant to be a status report for a

cartridge monarchy.

And you are the king or queen of your own realm.

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