whatnickname
Member
Without any question the 6.5 Creedmoor is one of the better balanced and best performing cartridges that has ever been invented. That said one cannot help but notice the similarities between the dimensions of the 6.5 Creedmoor round and the venerable 250 - 3000 Savage. In just about every respect the two rounds are almost identical in dimensions and yet the gun rags act like Hornady made such an amazing discovery. The real difference between the two rounds is the operating pressure...45000 PSI for the 250 - 3000 Savage compared to 62000 for the 6.5 Creedmoor. Had we done the same thing with the 250 - 3000 I suspect that the result would have been the same given the fact that we have more advanced powders today.
I dare say we could probably best the performance of the 257 Roberts by upping the pressure here and would likely rival the performance of the 25 -06 in doing so. I have to question why. My guess is the same reason we still see some very conservative data for the 6.5X55 and the 7MM Mauser. I suspect that the reasons behind at least some of this lies in consideration for the liability the publisher would incur should these higher pressure rounds end up being used in rifles made up on century old military actions that are generally considered weaker by today's standards. Clearly these two rounds are capable of much better performance than what is shown in the reloading manuals. Indeed some manuals publish higher pressure loads for the 6.5X55 along with a warning that the data is only to be used in modern rifles but even this data is somewhat conservative. Along these lines, I would bet that the reason someone just didn't up the pressure of the 250 - 3000 Savage round was out of concern for the millions of model 99 savages out there that may not ever be able to withstand operating pressures in the 60000 psi range. At the same time I'm sure a good bit of it is marketing along the lines of the old saw that a shorter action is more "ridged" and therefore more accurate...Really now? I've got some old, wheezy, 98 Mauser actions made up into bench rest rifles that I would be glad to have you put to that test. I think those Mauser boys knew a thing or two about what they were doing. At the end of the day, I'm gonna say that we are once again caught up in a bind created by marketing efforts and justified by "safety" concerns. If I had a vote, I would vote for a more realistic updating of these all time classic rounds (250 - 3000, 6.5X55 and the 7MM Mauser) and I would be glad to execute a release of liability in favor of the publishers for doing so. Just my $.02...
I dare say we could probably best the performance of the 257 Roberts by upping the pressure here and would likely rival the performance of the 25 -06 in doing so. I have to question why. My guess is the same reason we still see some very conservative data for the 6.5X55 and the 7MM Mauser. I suspect that the reasons behind at least some of this lies in consideration for the liability the publisher would incur should these higher pressure rounds end up being used in rifles made up on century old military actions that are generally considered weaker by today's standards. Clearly these two rounds are capable of much better performance than what is shown in the reloading manuals. Indeed some manuals publish higher pressure loads for the 6.5X55 along with a warning that the data is only to be used in modern rifles but even this data is somewhat conservative. Along these lines, I would bet that the reason someone just didn't up the pressure of the 250 - 3000 Savage round was out of concern for the millions of model 99 savages out there that may not ever be able to withstand operating pressures in the 60000 psi range. At the same time I'm sure a good bit of it is marketing along the lines of the old saw that a shorter action is more "ridged" and therefore more accurate...Really now? I've got some old, wheezy, 98 Mauser actions made up into bench rest rifles that I would be glad to have you put to that test. I think those Mauser boys knew a thing or two about what they were doing. At the end of the day, I'm gonna say that we are once again caught up in a bind created by marketing efforts and justified by "safety" concerns. If I had a vote, I would vote for a more realistic updating of these all time classic rounds (250 - 3000, 6.5X55 and the 7MM Mauser) and I would be glad to execute a release of liability in favor of the publishers for doing so. Just my $.02...