It was designed from the beginning by Lapua to optimize accuracy, barrel life, and case capacity in a 6.5 mm cartridge for target and tactical shooting. As such it couples a sensible case volume (3.11 ml) to bore area (34.59 mm2/0.3459 cm2) ratio with ample space for loading relatively long slender projectiles that can provide good aerodynamic efficiency and external ballistic performance for the projectile diameter. The 6.5×47mm Lapua offers slightly lower muzzle velocities than 6.5 mm/.260 cartridges such as the .260 Remington and 6.5 Creedmoor, because of its smaller case volume. In an article by the Precision Rifle Blog a survey of the top 100 shooters in the precision rifle series (PRS) showed that the 6.5 Creedmoor was on average faster than the 6.5×47mm Lapua. Although the 6.5×47mm Lapua is said to have superior brass quality compared to the 6.5 Creedmoor. The 6.5×47mm Lapua was the most popular cartridge during the PRS competition in 2015 beating out competing cartridges by more than two thirds.