I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m a 6.5mm fanboy, so when Nosler announced their new cartridge, I was stoked:

The 26 Nosler® cartridge was designed to take advantage of the inherently accurate and high B.C. 6.5mm (.264) caliber bullets, and is capable of shooting the Nosler® 129 grain, AccuBond® Long Range™ bullet at a blazing 3400 fps out of the muzzle.  Zeroed at 350 yards, the 26 Nosler® has a Point Blank Range of 0-415 yards.  Loaded with the 129gr ABLR, the 26 Nosler® retains as much velocity at 400 yards as the 260 Remington® produces at the muzzle.

The 26 Nosler® case is non-belted, thus headspaced off of the shoulder to further enhance accuracy. The “26” also utilizes a standard (30-06) length action meaning shorter bolt-throw and lighter weight than magnum length actions.

“I really feel the 26 Nosler® has great value amongst the large family of 6.5mm cartridges.  With minimal recoil, tremendous velocity, energy and the ability to point and shoot at the intended target up to a quarter mile away, this is the quintessential deer, antelope and long-range target cartridge available on the market today.” –Bob Nosler, CEO/President Nosler, Inc.

A 415-yard point blank range, with more energy at 400 yards than the 260 Remington does at the muzzle?  It sounds phenomenal, so I made sure to swing by the Nosler booth today at SHOT Show, where I found this lurking on the counter.

This is a one-of-a-kind (for now) NEMO Arms Omen.

NEMO Arms is perhaps best known for their .300 Win Mag AR rifle and carbine (yes, I said .300 Win Mag carbine), but this particular Omen was especially made in 26 Nosler  for the SHOT Show, and I’m told that it won’t be the last.

If it lives up to the rep of the Omen, then you’re looking at a rifle that has a 415-yard point-blank range, power to burn, and recoil not much more substantial than a .223 Remington.

It makes me wish I lived somewhere where I had a true long distance range of 1,000 yards or more. While out here in the Nevada desert wide open spaces are plentiful, they’re a bit harder to find in wooded rolling hills of the North Carolina Piedmont.