Somebody give me the skinny on 6.5 Creedmoor

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12Bravo20 said:
I have a Savage Model 12 and an AR in 308 but have been considering swapping barrels on both to something with less recoils due to shoulder injuries along with arthritis. I have looked at .243, 6mm Creedmoor, and 6.5 Creedmoor.

All three calibers will do what I want and there isn't a lot of differences between the three when talking about targets 500 yards or less. So another factor I have been taking into consideration is barrel life since I do more target shooting than I do hunting. While the .243 and 6mm CM have less recoil than 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 CM has the edge when it comes to barrel life.

Another factor that I take into consideration is ammo availability, here again the 6.5 CM wins.

Though I still haven't decided which caliber to go with yet. And until I decide, I'll keep shooting my AR in 6mm ARC.
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I can tell you from experience, if you reload, the 6.5cm is more forgiving than the .243. Because of the neck size and shoulder angle, an improperly lubed .243 will collapse in the sizing die whereas I've never had it happen on a 6.5cm
 
conan32120 said:
i don't believe this is true, 30 thompson center gets credit as the parent case
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That is correct. However, the cartridge that spawned the 6.5 Creed was the 6.5-08 (later standardized as the .260 Rem), a wildcat favored by some long range and across the course competitors. It was favored because of reduced recoil when compared to .308 and better BC projectiles than either the .308 or .223. Dennis Demille, a former Marine Corps rifle team member and multiple national high power rifle champion, was talking to someone from Hornady and gave his opinion on what the ideal high power/long range cartridge would be. That guy took his ideas back to the lab and developed the 6.5 Creedmoor. One of Dennis' suggestions was the ability to chamber long, high BC 6.5 projectiles into short action magazines which meant a case shorter than the 6.5-08. Hornady chose the 30 TC as the starting point.
 
12Bravo20 said:
I have a Savage Model 12 and an AR in 308 but have been considering swapping barrels on both to something with less recoils due to shoulder injuries along with arthritis. I have looked at .243, 6mm Creedmoor, and 6.5 Creedmoor.

All three calibers will do what I want and there isn't a lot of differences between the three when talking about targets 500 yards or less. So another factor I have been taking into consideration is barrel life since I do more target shooting than I do hunting. While the .243 and 6mm CM have less recoil than 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 CM has the edge when it comes to barrel life.

Another factor that I take into consideration is ammo availability, here again the 6.5 CM wins.

Though I still haven't decided which caliber to go with yet. And until I decide, I'll keep shooting my AR in 6mm ARC.
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I starred with a 243 AR and wanted a bolt too got a 6mm Creed because of a smoking deal on a gen 2 Ruger Precision. The 6 Creed is so much easier to load for I switched the 24" bull 243 to a 20" H bar in 6mm Creed. Like you they spend much more time on the range and I still have a 308 AR and big levers if I needed.
I gave thought to barrel life and figured it was mostly offset by the difference in projectile cost.
 
mavracer said:
I starred with a 243 AR and wanted a bolt too got a 6mm Creed because of a smoking deal on a gen 2 Ruger Precision. The 6 Creed is so much easier to load for I switched the 24" bull 243 to a 20" H bar in 6mm Creed. Like you they spend much more time on the range and I still have a 308 AR and big levers if I needed.
I gave thought to barrel life and figured it was mostly offset by the difference in projectile cost.
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I'll probably keep the Savage as a 308. I have narrowed down my choices for the AR to 6CM or 6.5CM. 6.5 has better ammo availability and better barrel life. But on the other hand, I can use the same bullets for both 6 ARC and 6 CM when reloading.

Outside of 308 or 303, I have also used 270 and 6.8 SPC for hunting in the past.
 
Charlie98 said:
Yea, you kind of did.

Again, you miss the point. The 6.5CM isn't popular because of a new powder... quite the opposite, there is a new powder aimed directly at the 6.5CM shooters because the cartridge is so popular. They could have called it 100 other names, but stuck that 6.5 in there, instead.
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No, I didn't and you misunderstood my initial point. I said I never hear or see the kind of hype and marketing that people are bitching about. Only the bitching. Every bit of complaining and "hating" I see, including in this very thread and every other I've ever seen, is from people who clearly don't understand the cartridge's intended purpose.

There's CFE223 and CFEBLK too, so what???
 
I finally gave in and bought a 6.5CM for myself for Christmas this past year and I've been well pleased with the cartridge.The rifle is a Bergara HMR and it's well matched to the CM.It'll not see a factory loaded round as long as I have it.When I started load development for it,I was quite amazed because it didn't matter what I loaded for it the rifle shot well.The 130 grain Hornady ELD-M was the second bullet I tried in it and it threw 5 of them in a .4 MOA cluster at 100 yards and has repeated that performance just about every time I shoot it.Hornady got it right where Remington messed it up with the 260.All 308 based cartridges are too long for some short action rifles,namely the M700 and the many clones of it.The magazine will accommodate a round that's 2.800 in length.That means longish bullets have to extend into the case farther,which takes away powder capacity.Or,as in the 260,you have to use a shorter,lower BC bullet.The Creedmoor has a shorter case that will allow the use of longer,higher BC bullets.They also used a fairly steep shoulder angle and minimal body taper to help make up for powder capacity that's lost by using a shorter case.The 6.5 bore is probably the best balance of bullet weight,ballistic coefficient and recoil there is.A 7MM has to go to 160+ grain bullets,the 30 caliber would have to go to somewhere around 190+grains,and at decent velocities,recoil can get pretty stout.The CM can turn close to 2700 with 140 grain bullets with great ballistics and that translates to some great performance.I laughed the round off for years,mainly due to my love for the 308,which still does some things better,but that's all been debated before.I even built a long range target/hunting rifle in 280 Ackley and rode the CM guys hard about what it could do compared to the smaller round.It'll plain smoke the CM at long range,but it takes more powder and certainly recoils more.OP,go with the 6.5,it's not just a hyped up marketing ploy.It's a damn fine cartridge that can do a lot of things well.No,it's not flat shooting like a 7MM STW,it doesn't hit as hard as a 338 Lapua and it won't penetrate a block wall like a 50 BMG.But it will serve you very well for long range target shooting,and it'll kill a deer as far as most ethical hunters will want to shoot at one.I proved that point 3 days after I got mine.A nice fat doe at 300 yards was as simple as dialing up 1 MIL and making a good shot.Only 3 days.No long,drawn out search for a decent load,just a good rifle in a capable cartridge.I still love my 308's,and 280 Ackley Improved,but I sure can't find much bad to say about my first 6.5 Creedmoor.
 
Most of the hype I've heard and seen is from newbies and posers wanting to be the cool kids , and also magazine writers trying to fluff thier content. That's exactly why I resisted it for years. Yes 6.5 cm is flatter shooting than a 300wm...for a few hundred yards, then the 300 leaves it in the dirt.
I could go on , but the point has already been made: put the haters and fan bois aside and it is what it is. Not the greatest cartridge on earth, and not to be slighted either.
 
Hugger-4641 said:
Most of the hype I've heard and seen is from newbies and posers wanting to be the cool kids , and also magazine writers trying to fluff thier content. That's exactly why I resisted it for years.
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I'm still (partially) there. Not intentionally resisting but I most certainly don't want to be mistaken for the numerous insufferable twits who manurebomb every other thread with references to 6.5CM, but as the topic of this one actually IS 6.5CM, I decided to participate from a rational point of view.

Another factor is that personally I rarely shoot extended distances, the nearest 600m/660yd(+) range is more than an hour away. When I do I like to shoot rifles I hunt with to maintain as much relevance as possible, I don't really mind somewhat harsher recoil and whenever I don't hunt deer or grouse, it's moose and brown bear, making hot(-ish) 180gr .308 loads pretty much a baseline. But that's just me - everyone has their own preferences and uses.

Now that new legislation has reduced the legal minimum bullet weight for moose to 154gr with conventional bullets and 116gr when using non-toxic ammo, 6.5CM is actually legal and some people have already jumped on that, there's no reason I might well get one next.

But there's no way in heck I'll mention it on discussion forums should that happen. I don't flaunt my Pet Shop Boys vinyl album collection online either nor claim it's better than my Johnny Cash vinyl album collection; nobody will probably give a flying flunk except other Pet Shop Boys vinyl album collectors, and only for perpetuating their existing beliefs. I enjoy them both for what they are. Nothing more, nothing less.
 
speedingpickle said:
Thanks largely to the 6.5CM we've got tons of new(ish) 6mm cartridges to play with...6.5RPM, 6PPC
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I shot benchrest with 6mm PPC in mid-late 80's and it wasn't exactly new even back then. How can we thank a several decades more recent cartridge for that? Would you be so kind and elaborate, please? We've heard the 6.5CM being this, that and everything, but a time machine too? :)
 
LoonWulf said:
Which looks an awful lot like a 300savage......
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Which is a .308 with a shorter neck IIRC.

When I had my .300 I was having a hard time finding brass. A guy that was a big time reloader suggested using .308, shortening the neck. I was highly skeptical until I compared them side by side. Nearly identical

His claim was that Winchester “borrowed” the case dimensions to make the .308. I have no idea and really don’t care enough to research it. As the song from the 70’s goes “It don’t matter to me....”
 
hq said:
I shot benchrest with 6mm PPC in mid-late 80's and it wasn't exactly new even back then. How can we thank a several decades more recent cartridge for that? Would you be so kind and elaborate, please? We've heard the 6.5CM being this, that and everything, but a time machine too? :)
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Every time I see someone say “they need to make a ________”, I think to myself that person should get a “Cartridges of the World Handbook”. Once one looks through it, you’ll pretty much discover that there truly is nothing new under the sun.
 
redneck2 said:
Which is a .308 with a shorter neck IIRC.

When I had my .300 I was having a hard time finding brass. A guy that was a big time reloader suggested using .308, shortening the neck. I was highly skeptical until I compared them side by side. Nearly identical

His claim was that Winchester “borrowed” the case dimensions to make the .308. I have no idea and really don’t care enough to research it. As the song from the 70’s goes “It don’t matter to me....”
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Going from memory here, and it's been a long time since I was interested in the .300 savage......but .....
Shorter neck, shorter case body by a tad with less taper, and sharper shoulder angle.
Designed to drive a 150sp to 2700 matching the 06 service specs of the day.

Released 30 years before the 7.62 nato, that Winchester brought out commercially as the .308 a couple of years later. I think I remember the .308/7.62 was tweaked from the 300 savage as opposed to being a direct 06 descendent.
 
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Walkalong said:
I don’t understand the haters, or the it’s the best ever crowd. It’s another good choice among several.
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Exactly. I had never had a need for a good rifle above the .17/.22 range. When I used to deer hunt, it was in slug only areas. Finally decided to jump in a year ago and buy a nice paper puncher. I'd paid attention enough to know how accurate and well liked the 6.5CM was, so I went that way. And I'm very happy with my choice. I don't look down my nose at any other calibers though. It's all good, whatever gets the job done.

I really don't understand all the haters. Maybe it's just a reflection of how divisive we've become.
 
redneck2 said:
Once one looks through it, you’ll pretty much discover that there truly is nothing new under the sun.
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True, but they still need new sales to keep going. Just because I own rifles that overlap in every direction. Does not mean I don't need the new one.

Course, I don't own 6.5cm nor plan on it. However, I have learned a long time ago to never say never.
 
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