I earned my Distinguished with an M1a and I accepted my Distinguished Rifleman's medal on stage at Camp Perry, so I have a great fondness for the 308 Win and the M1a. The 7.62 mm round was designed as a combat round, not a target round. The Army is ultra conservative and hates change, and it turned out the 7.62 round duplicated the 30-06 service round in a shorter package. Which was not bad, in my opinion. The extra weight of a 30 caliber bullet, over a 6.5 round, was considered beneficial. As a combat round, those countries that had anemic 6.5 rounds, (that is the Japanese 6.5 and the Italian 6.5) were making a transition during WW2 to a larger bullet. Don't know why the Swedes stayed with their 6.5, maybe because it had a little more velocity.
The 8mm Mauser had everyone beat in terms of a heavy bullet, a steel buttplate K98 really kicks with a 200 grain bullet. But, never heard any complaints about on target performance.
The 7.62 Nato round is a fine battle round, because of the number of weapons out there firing it, the round will probably outlast anyone reading this. As a military round, I doubt any 6.5 will be replacing it, as whatever long range advantages the 6.5 has, it is not so overwhelming that a critic could say, it was 200% better overall. To convince any military to make an expensive change over, those sort of numbers are needed to move the project against the inertia of the organization.
I think the Sec Def made a mistake dumping the M14, while I only own M1a's, it is a great rifle.
I have fired at distance enough times to become very skeptical about long range shooting for any purpose except fun. I remember being squadded at 1000 yards, with a former Wimbleton cup winner, and discussing how either of us would be just ecstatic if our first sighting shot was inside the 8 ring. This is at a range where both of us had 1000 yard zero's , on that firing point, with the rifles and ammunition we were using in that match. I have been able to shoot a lot more 600 yard practice at CMP Talladega, and you know, 600 yards is a long way. CMP no longer lets lever action shooters blaze away at 600 yards, because the target frames are so expensive to repair. So when I read of 700, 800, 1200 yard shots, sure, people do that. And it is fine if you are shooting on paper, because if you mis place your shot, you are not hurting anything. I don't consider it ethical for hunting. I have sighted my hunting rifles in at 300 yards down at CMP Talladega, maybe if they had a 400 yard target I would have confidence at that range, but even then, the typical rifle takes 3 MOA to go from 200 yards to 300 yards, and that is a nine inch drop. My 6.5 Swedes are somewhat less than the 30 calibers, but it is somewhat less. And I am going to say, 300 yards is a long way with a hunting rifle. Now a heavy weight rifle with a bipod and sand bag rest, 300 yards is not that hard once you are dialed in. Still, if you don't have good 600 yard zero's, good bullets, good bedding, and a good barrel, don't be surprised if you don't stay on the eight foot by eight foot target frame at 600 yards. With rifles that would hold six to eight inches at 300 yards, I have shot groups that only stayed in the black at 600 yards. Still puzzling over that.
Rifle liked Sierra Match Kings at 200 and 300 yards
Seemed to do well with Fed Fusion pulled bullets at 300 yards.
Was the one out me or the bullet? Hard to know
Not a bragging group at 600 yards.
And, on one 6.5 Swede, I ran out of elevation on the scope going from 300 to 600 yards.
The range master at the 600 yard range was hitting golf balls at 600 yards with his 6.5 Creedmoor, but he knew the range, and its winds, to an inch. Then his rifle blew up, and based on what he told me, neither of us has a clue why. I think his load was a 140 SMK (or Berger) with 42 grs H4350. Don't know how you mess that up.
Of course, the further you go out, the better ballistics of the 7mm and 6.5 mm will always provide an advantage, but only if the shooter is capable of hitting something beside planet earth. Shooting is a skill game, not some deterministic thing, where some combination of expensive equipment will make up for lack of shooting skills. And that is what you basically read on the web, just buy expensive equipment and all you have to do is pull the trigger and you will hit something. It also seems that 2 miles is now the old 1000 yards.
Something is true, is that the barrel life of a 6.5 Creedmore is less than a 308 Win. I have talked to several buds, a 6.5 Creedmoor barrel life is around 3500 rounds, which is pretty good. I think the barrel life on the 6.5-284's was around 1200. A good 308 barrel will still be clustering around 4000 to 4500, sometimes 5000 rounds. When a barrel replacement is going to cost around $600.00, that ought to be factored in, especially as everyone is going to be using their 6.5 Creedmore at 700 plus yards. A high mileage barrel will actually shoot pretty good out to 300 yards, but the further you go out, the more it pukes shots.
This is has to be close to the ultimate long range gun:
Just buy one of these and have at it, 700 yards is spitting distance for these guns.
The guys with the five inch cannons are just wannabees
five inchers are secondary armament on a battleship. Just a step above the anti air craft mounts.