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I think that about summarizes the standard distribution of opinions on 6.5 Creedmoor. Now I just have to figure out if I’m the guy on the left side or the right side LOL

 

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48 COMMENTS

  1. …the main thing I don’t like about 6.5 CM is the price. Guess I should get into reloading.

    • It’s not only cheaper than so many other rifle rounds but most prices are normalizing post scamdemic, regardless. 30ish bucks a box is not offensive.

  2. I tho the 6.6 Creedmore thing ended a couple of years ago. Never understood it myself.

    • Makes more sense west of the Appalachians. On our side 308/30-06 is overkill for long range shooting and often 30-30 is just about as far as we can typically shoot.

      • IMO – 308 Win to the side of the neck is about the most humane death a human can inflict upon a whitetail. They go down with grace, wag their tails and die.

      • Where do I come in. I am in a high breeched anticline that results in high meadows where the eastern buffalo used to summer at about 3,000 feet just about the crest of the Appalachians?

        • LOL wherever you are comfortable shooting out to you geographically fortunate shooter.

        • Being in a middle-breeched decline, I don’t know, but would bet something in the 308 family (243, 260 rem, 6.5 cm, 308, 338) would be close to perfect.

          I have also heard that Yellowstone bison will put you into an unbreeched recline, just for drill.

          As to hard facts, I can only report that horn cores from Pleistocene (B antiquus) and B bison have been found in FL rivers.

          Hope this helps.

        • XZX, I’m still waiting for that .270/.308 hybrid. My theory is that if they actually necked a .308 case to use a .277″ bullet they would finally create the one round to rule them all. Possibly bankrupting themselves in the process, since they make so much money selling inferior rounds.

        • If the question is how to burn out barrels 3x faster than a .308, the answer is 6.5 Creedmore.

          A 6.5CM is a gun I’d use where the performance was really needed and would try to restrict to no more than 200-300 rounds per year maximum.

        • Yup, at least that’s what I’ve been told by manufacturers and sales reps alike. Any sales numbers I can buy or find say the same. The 6.5CM is the modern American cartridge.

        • jw looks like a good time to make sure various 30 cal components are stocked and then reassess the long range selection in a few years. Was between 300 win mag and PRC but see how things shake out before I have time/space to get into it.

        • 300 PRC is everything the 300WM ever wanted to be and more.
          The 300WM is a similar story to the 6.5CM. It’s another cartridge seeking to mimic the performance of an already well established cartridge (300H&H Mag) but built to chamber in a more currently popular firearm. Same with the 375 Ruger, and so many more (if not most) cartridges developed over the last 70+ years.

        • Was leaning towards PRC but I am wondering if 300 will exist in appreciable numbers (rifles not so much ammo) with how they seem to release a new caliber in that idea ever few years. Would be nice to keep some of the tools focused on 30 but only ever see the 6.5 PRC up my way………not that most of this wouldn’t have to be ordered or shopped for on vacation to begin with. Still neat seeing work done in optimizing case/twist/bullet length design for given rifle sizes.

  3. I’m more irked that the one 6.5 I don’t shoot was the one to catch on, albeit a couple of decades or more later.

  4. There is not one “best” cartridge. What is best all depends on what you are shooting at and at what range. I would have second thoughts about hunting elephant or water buffalo with 6.5 Creedmoor at any range, or rabbit at 100 yards.

  6. Don’t overlook the 25-06. it has it’s limitations like other calibers but has been forgotten. How many golf clubs are in a bag ?

    • I have an excellent 25-06 Sendero, black, fluted, scarce as hen’s teeth. I’ll stick with .308 over 6.5 because fortunately I have plenty to feed my Aero .308s and M1A and the boss said no more builds for awhile. The cost going to 6.5 from scratch is too much although if one can afford it they should go for it.

      • the 25-06 has always interested me. with long high BC bullets it would make a great coyote round for open country. even here in the mountains of NC where you can see from one hilltop to the next it would do well i would think. as for the sendero, i have a old sendero or two from when big green built good weapons.

    • I have a .257 Weatherby (25-06 ballistics and accuracy are comparable) and it’s a great round. Properly sighted, you can hold for POA-POI at 100 out to 300. It’s flat and fast – bullet seems to get there instantaneously. Fine for deer and varmint hunting. I think Roy Weatherby used it for a wide variety of hunts (shot placement is still king) and it was very effective. The 25-06 runs right along with it, especially with hand loads. Very soft shooting too. Another great round that you don’t hear about much anymore is the .257 Roberts. I guess I’m just old. I think a mindset has emerged that views rifle rounds as area effect weapons instead of precision fire, or something that kills and field dresses the animal in one shot. Conversely, I’m always open to improvement and the 6.5 Creedmoor is a great performer in competition.

      • The .257 Roberts is indeed an underappreciated cartridge. Outstanding on whitetail deer and antelope.

  8. As a .260 Rem fan I can’t really criticize the 6.5 CR on it’s merits other than it’s slight inferiority to the .260, but then that kind of blows it’s whole raison d’etre now doesn’t it? The whole point was to facilitate the use of longer, sleeker bullets but neither round has the case capacity to make better use of them than shorter lower BC bullets. All you’re left with is a .260 minus ~50fps.

    I’ve said my peace now so I’m having another beer and going to bed.

      • Oh, it cares… if fired from a case of Bud Light it’d be downright embarrassing.

        • Fired THROUGH a case of Bud Light would be better.

          Much like Brandon Herrara’s war on White Claws. Are they really that bad?

        • “Much like Brandon Herrara’s war on White Claws. Are they really that bad?”

          I’ve never had one, but from what I understand, it’s a modern version of a ‘wine cooler’ like the ‘Bartles and James’ swill from decades back that oiled the hinges on the heels of many an underage female.

          (Much to the delight of countless teenage boys, don’t ya know… 😉 )

        • zima.
          simple hiball: ice, booze, juice 1 lime, bubbles, splash cherry liquer.
          simpler hiball: ice, booze, top w/ radler grapefruit beer.

  9. I prefer the 6.5……Swede.

    For anything moderately-sized that I have hunted – pigs and whitetail – I just don’t think it matters. 308, 30-30, 6.5 Creed or Swede, 7×57 – will all do the job.

    I have personally killed more deer with a handgun than a rifle. 100 yards would be a long shot.

    So it’s fine that folks are chasing a newer caliber and having fun. I remember a few years back when 9×23 was the newest, bestest 1911 round. It was fun while it lasted.

    And then there is 30 super carry…………

    • I’ve hunted with 6.5×55, .303, .308, 7.62×39, and 8×57.

      Of them I think the 6.5×55 and 8×57 gave the best results. Only the 7.62×39 felt it was lacking.

    • Specialist,

      Yeah, LOVE my sporterized 6.5 Sweidsh Mauser. That little rifle is a pleasure to shoot, shoots flat and true (still sub-MOA), and has taken deer, wild hogs, and elk. Also works a treat for ‘yotes and prairie dogs. Fun gun to shoot (I’ll go back to shooting mine again, when my younger son, who borrowed it for a deer hunt, FINALLY gives it back to me. After all, he’s only had it a year, now).

  11. Never shot the caliber so I’m not sure.
    Not much use for me here in Ohio though. At least where I’m at.
    Also not a straight wall cartridge that’s allowed for deer hunting here besides a shotgun slug.

  12. If the only thing that matters is getting from A to B then it doesn’t matter if the vehicle cost 10 grand or a hundred. Windows10 will let you surf the web just as easily as WinXP. Being a garbage collector will earn a steady paycheck just like a burger flipper at the local fast food joint.

    Your ride might use two wheels or 3, 4, or 18. But all of them ride on some form of rubber.

    The bell curve is convincing people that there is no best. It’s about matching the equipment to the purpose. HDMI is pointless when the tv won’t do better than 720p and 22lr wont give you the ability to accurately hit a target a mile away.

    • Costs less? Where? I think you meant to say more, not less.
      The fact that .308 costs less than 6.5 Creedmoor is one of its few remaining advantages (that and the fact that it can be used on larger game, anything in North America, including grizzly bears).
      Plus, if you have a .308 rifle, you can also shoot even cheaper 7.62 x 51 ammo (mil-spec FMJ) for practice, plinking, or the same uses the military uses it for (2-legged vermin, LOL).

  14. I am in between the guys in the middle and the guys on the far right.

    It benefits from a chamber that will allow it to take advantage of longer pills and the proper twist rate in the rifling for those pills.

    Other similar rounds are tied up in their design predating the bullets the newer rifles can effectively use. Not much you can do except acquire a custom rifle for those older rounds.

    Most will not do that when they can just buy the 6.5 CM.

  15. There are a number of cartridges that can do the same or similar to the 6.5CM. As some noted the 6.5 Swed and it has been around for over 100 years.
    I remember when the 6.5CM first came out and there were all kinds of comparisons to it and the .260 Remington and the 6.5 Lapua.
    I think it really comes down to marketing. The new, new wonder round of the month.
    Granted it does really shine in those longer distances.
    But as others noted, unless you have regular access to a 1,000yrd or more range, there are plenty of cartridges that can do the job just as well without having to spend the money on new reloading equipment.

  16. Nope. Not buying 1. Already have too damn many calibers and loadings to keep up with and stocked in the ammo cabinets. Don’t want to buy more dies, and assorted reloading tools for another caliber. And more loading data and manuals to find space for on the bookshelf.

  17. when you start shooting out to distances far beyond anything that i attempt, the disparities between (for my porpoises compare .308 and 6.5cm) become truly significant, esp. when windage is a factor.
    if suddenly given ample opportunities for long range, i’d consider something with higher bc’s in a short action.
    my one pal’s (long action) 7mm ultra mag is neat. he likes it due to little expansion; says it goes straight thru and minimizes meat damage.

  18. The rub has been found… the 6.5 does not leave a big enough exit hole in big game and hunters are losing animals because they are not bleeding out. Google it. Lots of hunters. All over the country. It is now a known thing. It is excellent on paper, however, because the paper does not need to bleed out. Back in the high school football days Thursday practices were light, half-pad walk-throughs of what we were going to do on Friday night’s game. One guy, who saw little Friday night playing time, always played like a boss during Thursday practices. Everyone else was going half speed while he was going full speed and getting in position to make the tackle on every play. Of course it was because the guys who would usually pancake him out of the way were walking. We called him The Thursday Night Hero. The 6.5 is The Thursday Night Hero of rounds…great in practice when nothing matters but when the hitting is for real, leave it in the bench and go with the big boy punishers.

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