6.5×47 Lapua Shines in Tactical and Three-Gun Comps
Zak Smith and other 6.5×47 shooters are starting to turn heads in tactical competition. The compact new round is proving itself capable of finishing at the top of the podium. Zak Smith has been working with our 6.5×47 Lapua project rifle. This features an Accuracy Int’l action and chassis, and a Satern 25.3″ barrel. The gun has performed well with 139, 130, and 123 grain bullets. In recent matches, Zak has been shooting 123gr Lapua Scenar bullets at 2930 fps with RL15 powder and CCI BR4s. Accuracy is well under half-moa, and Zack said “the gun has performed flawlessly with this load.”
Zak Smith took top honors at the CMG Camp Guernsey Invitational Multi-Gun Match shooting his 6.5×47 Lapua (with 123gr Scenars) in the rifle segment of the 3-gun match. This was a rifle, carbine, and pistol event with rifle targets out to 700 and carbine targets out to about 330 yards. Thirty-eight shooters competed through seven stages over two days. With his 6.5×47, Zak completely dominated the rifle field on one of the hardest sniper stages, beating the next closest shooter by 35%. Zak reports: “On the other hard sniper stage, Henning Walgren and I were within 2% (he was ahead), but the rest were at least 10% down. My overall margin was 56 match points ahead of 2nd place over the 7 stages.”
LINK TO: Full Story on the Multi-Gun Match
Zak reports: “I shot the 6.5×47 at the regular monthly Sporting Rifle Match on August 5th in Raton, NM, on August 5th. After the main match, two 6.5×47 Lapua shooters, John Sternberg (photo below) and myself, were tied for second. John edged me in the shootoff, so I ended up 3rd overall. FYI, John was using the 130 Cauterucio bullets, driving them about 2970 fps with Reloader 15.” This shows that one can definitely achieve 260 Rem class ballistics with the smaller 6.5×47 cartridge. The winner of the match was running a 260 Rem, and just edged Zack and the other 6.5×47 shooter by three points on the end of the main match.
