Lapua MaxRT in 6.5 Creedmoor: manufacturer trial at 1,000 m / 1,093.6 yrd with 0.7 MOA
Lapua states roughly 0.7 MOA at 1,000 m. The trial took place on the company's own range with its own employees - not an independent test. Which figures are missing for the number to be verifiable.
Ammunition · Manufacturer report
On 1 October 2026 Lapua published its own shooting report on the MaxRT factory cartridge in 6.5 Creedmoor, stating roughly 0.7 MOA (0.204 MRAD) at 1,000 m / 1,093.6 yrd. This is expressly a publication by the manufacturer, carried out on its own range; it is not an independent test and not a trial by this editorial team. We checked the report at source and have named the gaps. In Germany, 1,000 m is at the same time a genuine scoring distance.
The key points
– Source: Lapua release of 01.10.2026, shot by two Lapua employees on the manufacturer's own 1,000 m range.
– Result: roughly 0.7 MOA (0.204 MRAD) in what the manufacturer describes as switching winds; at 1,000 m about 20.4 cm / 8.0 inches (our own conversion).
– Loading: 6.5 Creedmoor factory cartridge, article number 4316071, MaxRange Target OTM GB582 bullet, 9.3 g / 144 grain, V0 812 m/s / 2,664 fps, recommended twist 1 in 8.5 inches (215.9 mm).
– Ballistics: BC 0.670 by G1, 0.335 by G7 (manufacturer's figures).
– MaxRT and MaxRange Target are the same thing: MaxRT is Lapua's abbreviation for the MaxRange Target line.
What MaxRT is – and what is "new" about it
In the release of 01.10.2026 Lapua itself writes the designation out as "Lapua MaxRange Target (MaxRT)". Abbreviation and long form refer to the same line of open-tip match bullets with a high ballistic coefficient, and to the factory cartridges belonging to it. The line is not new. Lapua presented the 6.5 mm GB582 bullet at 9.3 g / 144 grain on 15.01.2025 as a novelty for 2025, available from spring 2025. On 05.08.2025 Lapua reported the first competition win with it: Erich Mietenkorte won the NRA High Power Rifle Silhouette Championships from 25 to 27.07.2025 in Raton, New Mexico. For SHOT Show 2026 Lapua again listed the MaxRange Target bullets on 19.01.2026 – 6.5 mm at 144 grain and .30 at 175 grain – but not the factory cartridges of the line.
"New" therefore plausibly refers to the finished loading. An introduction date for the cartridge is nevertheless not verifiable: Lapua's MaxRT sales sheet, filed under May 2026 with a 2025 copyright notice, already lists both factory cartridges. We reproduce "new" as the manufacturer's choice of word, not as a documented market launch.
Two loadings are documented, and their figures must not be mixed: 6.5 Creedmoor and 6.5 × 55 SE. The trial concerned the 6.5 Creedmoor.
The distance trial: documented and undocumented
Documented are: the location (Lapua's own 1,000 m lane), the shooters, the factory ammunition used, the result of about 0.7 MOA and a qualitative description of the weather. Lapua stresses that the ballistic coefficient alone is not decisive, but also the uniformity of the bullet.
Undocumented is everything that would make the trial verifiable. The release names no rifle, no barrel length and no actual twist – 1-8.5 inches is a product recommendation, not a measured value. Missing are the lot number, the number of shots, the information whether the group was the only one or the best of several, the measured V0 including its spread, and any quantified weather data. Lapua writes that measurements were taken; it does not publish the measured values. A group figure without a shot count cannot be placed: three-shot and ten-shot groups are not statistically comparable.
There is also an inconsistency: the URL of the bullet page says 175 grain, while the page title, data sheet and sales document uniformly show 144 grain. The 175 grain belongs to the .308 bullet GB581 (BC G1 0.581, G7 0.286). We record this as a contradiction without asserting a manufacturer error on that basis.
Technical data
6.5 Creedmoor MaxRT OTM
Article number · 4316071
Bullet · MaxRange Target OTM GB582
Bullet weight · 9.3 g / 144 grain
BC by G1 · 0.670
BC by G7 · 0.335
V0 in the test barrel · 812 m/s / 2,664 fps
Test barrel length · 600 mm / 24 inches
Recommended twist · 1 in 8.5 inches / 215.9 mm
Bullet length · not stated
6.5 × 55 SE MaxRT OTM
Article number · 4316041
Bullet · MaxRange Target OTM GB582
Bullet weight · 9.3 g / 144 grain
BC by G1 · 0.670
BC by G7 · 0.335
V0 in the test barrel · 835 m/s / 2,740 fps
Test barrel length · 740 mm / 29 inches
Recommended twist · 1 in 8.5 inches / 215.9 mm
Bullet length · not stated
Loose bullet: article number 4 PL 6022. Sources: Lapua product pages and the sales document "POS tabloid MaxRT", retrieved 06.11.2026 (sources 3, 4, 5, 7). All values are manufacturer's figures.
Market context: where Lapua stands among the top shooters
The equipment survey by PrecisionRifleBlog on the 2026 IPRF World Championship (Lipan, Texas, 24 to 27.09.2026; published 02.11.2026) puts this in perspective. Among bullets, Berger led with 56 per cent, ahead of Hornady at 23, Lapua at 11 and Sierra at 6 per cent. Among cases, Alpha led with 43 per cent, narrowly ahead of Lapua at 40 per cent. Among cartridges, 6.5 Creedmoor was second at 23 per cent behind 6 mm Dasher at 31 per cent; .308 Winchester is set aside, as it is prescribed only in the Limited Division.
On how to read this: the author states that he surveyed all of the more than 260 participants from 24 countries, but gives no case numbers for individual questions; the values refer to the shooters covered in the respective evaluation. Lapua is a major force in cases, but so far not in bullets at the top of PRS. That is where MaxRT comes in – although PRS is shot predominantly below 1,000 m.
Classification for Germany, Austria and Switzerland
At the BDS LongRange German Championship from 02 to 04.10.2026 at the Airbase Wiechlice in Poland, the standard classes were shot over 300, 600 and 800 m, the Magnum class (LR3) over 600, 800 and 1,000 m / 1,093.6 yrd, with ten scoring shots per distance in each case. 1,000 m is thus a scoring distance – though in the Magnum class designation, in which 6.5 Creedmoor is not an obvious choice. For the standard classes up to 800 m the loading remains directly relevant. The meta description of the same page diverges and names distances up to 1,240 m; the body text is authoritative.
Legally the position is this: anyone wishing to handload in Germany requires a permit under section 27 subsection 1 of the Explosives Act; under subsection 3 sentence 1 number 2 it must be refused if no need is demonstrated. Under subsection 1a it counts at the same time as a permit to acquire and possess the ammunition produced (section 10 subsection 3 of the Weapons Act). For shooters without this permit, a factory cartridge with a high BC is therefore the only route to this bullet combination – the substantive core of the release, regardless of how robust the 0.7 MOA figure is.
According to a release of 24.02.2023, Nammo operates a distribution centre in Schönebeck which has supplied German dealers with Lapua, SK and Berger products since July 2023. A European distribution presence is thus documented – no stock level and no delivery date for this loading follows from it. The loose GB582 bullet is listed in European retail, for instance at a Luxembourg dealer from 58.00 euros per 100 including VAT. We found no listing of the factory cartridge 4316071 in Germany, Austria or Switzerland on 06.11.2026; the 20-round box is listed at a US dealer at 68.99 US dollars – a price anchor, not a DACH price.
What remains open
A manufacturer report cannot, methodologically, deliver what a test would have to deliver. The manufacturer itself chooses the occasion, the range, the ammunition, the shooters and the published excerpt, and does not publish when the result turns out unfavourably. The existence of the report therefore says nothing about the spread of results, and without the missing data named above the figure of 0.7 MOA can neither be recalculated nor reproduced. This is not an accusation of a false statement, but the finding that it remains unconfirmed.
Also open are the market launch date of the factory cartridge, the bullet length of the GB582, which is published nowhere, the origin of the BC values – measurement method and test barrel are not documented – as well as price and availability in the German-speaking region. According to our research of 06.11.2026 there is no independent comparative test against established high-performance bullets of the same weight class. Weitschuss.de has not trialled the cartridge itself.
Sources
1. "The new MaxRT 6,5 Creedmoor delivers at 1 000 meters", Lapua (Nammo Lapua Oy), manufacturer release, published 01.10.2026, retrieved 06.11.2026
https://www.lapua.com/the-new-maxrt-65-creedmoor-delivers-at-1-000-meters/
2. Headlines overview, Lapua (Nammo Lapua Oy), manufacturer archive, retrieved 06.11.2026
https://www.lapua.com/headlines/
3. Product page "6,5 Creedmoor 9,3 g / 144 grains MaxRT OTM Cartridge", Lapua, manufacturer product data, undated, retrieved 06.11.2026
https://www.lapua.com/product/6-5-creedmoor-9-3-g-144-grains-maxrt-otm-cartridge/
4. Product page "6,5 × 55 SE 9,3 g / 144 grains MaxRT OTM Cartridge", Lapua, manufacturer product data, undated, retrieved 06.11.2026
https://www.lapua.com/product/6-5-x-55-se-9-3-g-144-grains-maxrt-otm-cartridge/
5. Product page "Bullets | 6.5mm | 9,3 g / 144 gr MaxRange Target OTM GB582", Lapua, manufacturer product data, undated, retrieved 06.11.2026 (the URL path diverges and says 175 gr)
https://www.lapua.com/product/6-5-mm-175-gr-maxrange-target-bullet-otm-gb582/
6. MaxRT overview page, Lapua, manufacturer product line, retrieved 06.11.2026
https://www.lapua.com/maxrt/
7. "Lapua POS tabloid MaxRT", Lapua (Nammo Lapua Oy), sales and data document (PDF, 2025 copyright notice, filed under 2026/05), retrieved 06.11.2026
https://www.lapua.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Lapua-POS-tabloid-MaxRT-WEB.pdf
8. "New for 2025: Meet Lapua's new MaxRange Target high BC bullet", Lapua, manufacturer release, published 15.01.2025, retrieved 06.11.2026
https://www.lapua.com/new-for-2025-meet-lapuas-new-maxrange-target-high-bc-bullet/
9. "Lapua's New MaxRange Target Bullets Record First Championship Win", Lapua, manufacturer release, published 05.08.2025, retrieved 06.11.2026
https://www.lapua.com/lapuas-new-maxrange-target-bullets-record-first-championship-win/
10. "Lapua to Display New Ammunition and Components at 2026 SHOT Show", Lapua, manufacturer release, published 19.01.2026, retrieved 06.11.2026
https://www.lapua.com/lapua-to-display-new-ammunition-and-components-at-2026-shot-show/
11. "Nammo establishing new distribution center in Germany", Lapua (Nammo), company release, published 24.02.2023, retrieved 06.11.2026
https://www.lapua.com/nammo-establishing-new-distribution-center-in-germany/
12. "What The Pros Use: 2026 IPRF World Championship Edition", Cal Zant, PrecisionRifleBlog, specialist blog with its own participant survey, published 02.11.2026, retrieved 06.11.2026
https://precisionrifleblog.com/2026/11/02/what-the-pros-use-2026-iprf-world-championship-edition/
13. "02.–04. Oktober 2026 Deutsche Meisterschaften LongRange", longrange-centerfire.club, organiser and announcement source (BDS), undated, retrieved 06.11.2026
http://longrange-centerfire.club/02-04-oktober-2026-deutsche-meisterschaften-longrange.html
14. Section 27 of the Explosives Act (SprengG), Federal Ministry of Justice / Federal Office of Justice, official text of the law, retrieved 06.11.2026
https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/sprengg_1976/__27.html
15. Product listing "Lapua .264 – 144gr MaxRT", Hunting Sport SARL (Luxembourg), dealer listing, retrieved 06.11.2026
https://www.hunting-sport.com/Lapua-264-144gr-MaxRT_2
16. Product listing "Lapua Bullet 6.5mm, MaxRange Target OTM, GB582", Grünel (Switzerland), dealer listing, retrieved 06.11.2026
https://www.gruenel.ch/en/product/lapua-bullet-6_5mm_-maxrange-target-otm_-gb582-40_4248
17. Product listing "Lapua 6.5 Creedmoor 144gr MaxRange Target OTM, Box of 20, 4316071", EuroOptic (USA), dealer listing, retrieved 06.11.2026
https://www.eurooptic.com/lapua-65-creedmoor-144gr-maxrange-target-otm-box-of-20-4316071
Editorial status: 06.11.2026. No shooting trials of our own took place.