new barrel/cartridge or buy componets?

[LongRange]

I considered a .243ai, 6 creedmoor and 6x47 lapua but the barrel life on alot of those wildcats diminishes considerably vs a standard 6br or even the 6brx, dasher, ect.... I don't shoot competitions nor do I plan to any time soon.

I was also boner'd out on getting a 6.5, but being the cheap arse I am there is little to no savings over a .308 and again you have half the barrel life of a .308.

another thing I didn't mention was I like my handy short barrels. my .308 is 18.5" and I love it, i've hunted with it, and shoot it long range for fun. the above cartridges suffer greatly starting at 24" and below. I personally want no more than a 20" barrel as I do have suppressor stamps inbound and I don't want a mile long rig with the suppressor attached.

the above cartridges also have 1 thing in common. They love H4350 and I haven't seen h4350 in years out here (sold a .260 barrel because of that 3 years ago) the 6br and it's wildcats love powers like varget and 8208xbr which I keep on hand and can readily replace it when needed.

No doubt the warner flat lines come at a premium, not going to deny that one bit. but I have no intentions on shooting them regularly if I ever go down that path. they would be strictly used past 1400yds and I'm a long ways away from shooting that far. I think you'd be suprised if you run the #'s of my 208 a-max at 2525 vs a 6.5 creedmoor with 140's. i'm giving up nothing to the 6.5's other than recoil which I will admit is pretty fierce. and thats with a 5.5" shorter barrel which with my suppressor will be roughly the same length as a 24" barrel.

That's why i'm having such a hard time with this. I want to try something new but the startup costs of a new setup could = alot of shooting with what I have.

if your not looking for bench rest accuracy a 6.5 will go 3000 rounds pretty easily...im shooting a 6CM right now and have 1240 rounds through it and am going to shoot it until its at about 1moa and will report back when its done.

now as far as powders go in a 6.5mm...ive shot just about every powder made in a 260 rem and just about everyone was very accurate....RL-17,H4831,IMR4350 and RL-19 were all as accurate as H4350 and most of the rest of the powders were accurate enough that i did pretty well with them...i wouldnt worry to much about powder.
as far as barrel life goes...how much do you actually shoot? more than 3000 rounds per year? you have to look at barrels as consumables just like the rest of the components.

and you give up quite a bit more than i think you realize running the 208s in a 308...i didnt spend a bunch of time but did run some quick numbers on JBM and at 1400yds a 208g Amax at 2525 is 57moa...a 140g berger hybrid at 2850 is 43.2moa and a 130g berger hybrid at 3050fps is 40.2moa.

as far as short barrel 6.5s suffering at 24" and less...my second to last 260 barrel was a 24" krieger plain jane 260rem shooting 130g berger hybrids at 3050fps with RL-17 and was stupid accurate...but i guess if money is an issue then your best bet would be to stick with the 308.

wasnt thinking yesterday but heres a 6CM shooting a 115g DTAC at 3020FPS...these numbers are good as ive shot this out to 1320yds...