Description
The Springfield Waypoint 6.5 PRC Carbon is the Waypoint chambered for the cartridge that does what 6.5 Creedmoor does, further. A 24 inch carbon fiber barrel, a carbon fiber stock and a total weight of 6 pounds 14 ounces, which is remarkable for a magnum length rifle with a barrel this long.
Why 6.5 PRC Rather Than Creedmoor
6.5 PRC uses a larger case than 6.5 Creedmoor and drives the same 140 to 156 grain high ballistic coefficient bullets roughly 250 to 300 feet per second faster. That extra velocity flattens trajectory, shortens flight time and cuts wind drift, and it is the difference between a 600 yard cartridge and an 800 yard one in the hands of someone who can shoot that far.
What you pay for it is recoil, barrel life and ammunition cost, all of which rise noticeably. The Springfield Waypoint 6.5 PRC Carbon is not the cartridge to choose if most of your shooting happens inside 400 yards, because the Creedmoor version does that job for less money and less wear.
The 24 inch barrel on the Springfield Waypoint 6.5 PRC Carbon is part of the equation rather than incidental. PRC cases carry more powder than a Creedmoor and need the extra length to burn it, so a short barrelled 6.5 PRC gives away much of its advantage. Twenty four inches is the right length for the cartridge.
Carbon Fiber In Two Places
The barrel is carbon fiber wrapped rather than solid steel. A thin steel liner does the shooting and a carbon jacket around it supplies the stiffness a heavy steel contour would otherwise provide, which is how the Springfield Waypoint 6.5 PRC Carbon carries 24 inches of barrel and still weighs under seven pounds.
The stock on the Springfield Waypoint 6.5 PRC Carbon is carbon fiber too, in Springfield hybrid profile with M-Lok slots and QD cups moulded in. Carbon is dimensionally stable where wood and injection moulded polymer are not, so the action sits in the same place through a wet week and the rifle holds its zero.
Underneath is the Model 2020 action in custom grade stainless with dual locking lugs, EDM cut raceways and a fluted 4140 tool steel bolt in nitride, on the Remington 700 short action footprint. A TriggerTech adjustable trigger runs 2.5 to 5 pounds using a free floating roller, so it breaks the same cold, wet or gloved. Feeding is from a three round AICS magazine, which is the capacity a PRC case allows in a short action.
Springfield Waypoint 6.5 PRC Carbon Specifications
- Caliber: 6.5 PRC
- Barrel: 24 inch carbon fiber wrapped, 1:8 twist
- Barrel finish: Mil-Spec Green Cerakote H-264
- Muzzle device: SA Radial Brake, Mil-Spec Green Cerakote H-264
- Action: Model 2020 stainless steel, dual locking lugs, EDM cut raceways
- Bolt: Fluted 4140 tool steel with nitride finish
- Trigger: TriggerTech Adjustable, 2.5 to 5 pounds
- Stock: Hybrid profile carbon fiber with M-Lok slots and QD cups
- Magazine: One three round AICS short action
- Optic mount: Picatinny rail, Remington 700 short action pattern, 6-48 screws
- Overall length: 45.5 inches
- Weight: 6 pounds 14 ounces
- Accuracy: 0.75 MOA guarantee
- Model number: BAW92465PRCCFG
- UPC: 706397939151
An SA Radial Brake is fitted at the muzzle in matching Cerakote, and it is doing real work on a rifle this light in this chambering.
Why Buyers Choose The Springfield Waypoint 6.5 PRC Carbon
A sub seven pound rifle with a 24 inch barrel and a three quarter MOA guarantee is an unusual combination, and it exists because carbon fiber is used in both the barrel and the stock rather than in one or the other. Take either away and the Springfield Waypoint 6.5 PRC Carbon would weigh well over eight pounds.
6.5 PRC in a mountain rifle makes sense in a way it does not in a heavy bench gun. The whole point of the cartridge is reach, and reach matters most when you are hunting country too open to close the distance. Carrying that capability at under seven pounds is what this rifle is for.
The AICS magazine pattern is worth having. Magazines are inexpensive and available everywhere, and detachable feeding lets you top off without breaking a shooting position on a stalk.
Now the honest points, and they matter more here than on the Creedmoor versions. A 6.5 PRC in a 6 pound 14 ounce rifle recoils firmly, and while the radial brake takes a great deal out of it, the brake is correspondingly loud for anyone beside you. Barrel life on a PRC is shorter than a Creedmoor, typically well under two thousand rounds of serious shooting. Ammunition costs more and is stocked in fewer places. And three rounds in the magazine is genuinely few if you want follow up shots.
A carbon wrapped barrel also sheds heat differently from steel, so this is not a rifle for long strings. It is built to be cold bore accurate and carried, which is exactly what a hunting rifle should be.
Who Should Buy The Springfield Waypoint 6.5 PRC Carbon
The Springfield Waypoint 6.5 PRC Carbon suits the hunter working genuinely open country who expects shots past 500 yards and walks to them. If your shooting is closer than that, the 6.5 Creedmoor version of this rifle costs less to feed, recoils less and lasts longer. If you need more energy for elk or moose, look at the 300 Win Mag models. And if you shoot from a bench more than a mountain, a heavier steel barrelled rifle will serve you better and cost considerably less.
Learn more about this hunting rifle from the manufacturer, or see more firearms available at MAG5 Firearms.
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