Why choose the 6.5 Creedmoor

NCPackHunter

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I have a 6.5 creedmoor. It has been a fantastic round. But im wondering why so many choose it over a 270, 308, 25-06, 7mm 08 which all have similar or better ballistics?
 
I agree that the craze is a little insane, especially people that overlook the .260 Remington when choosing 6.5 creedmoor since bullet choices are identical.

While I don’t own a 6.5cm personally, I sort of understand it for long range target shooting.

1. Bullet choices. There a a tremendous amount of high BC, long ogive bullets available to the reloader in .264 diameter. For this reason, long range shooting is emphasized more with the .264 vs .308 or .284

2. Low recoil. Compared to the cartridges you’ve mentioned 6.5 cm recoil is relatively low. This also can help with accuracy, depending on the shooter, especially when shooting multiple rounds in one setting.

3. Short action. The case allows for the long sweeping ogive bullets to be seated close to the lands and still have the possibility of fitting in most magazines. This is the only logical reason that I see people choosing 6.5 cm over .260 Remington. The coal of the .260 Remington has the potential to be longer than 6.5cm, which could cause magazine figment issues. Of course custom rifles and different chamber variations (throat length) make this advantage less so.

There’s also marketing involved heavily.....
 
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I agree that the craze is a little insane, especially people that overlook the .260 Remington when choosing 6.5 creedmoor since bullet choices are identical.

While I don’t own a 6.5cm personally, I sort of understand it for long range target shooting.

1. Bullet choices. There a a tremendous amount of high BC, long ogive bullets available to the reloader in .264 diameter. For this reason, long range shooting is emphasized more with the .264 vs .308 or .284

2. Low recoil. Compared to the cartridges you’ve mentioned 6.5 cm recoil is relatively low. This also can help with accuracy, depending on the shooter, especially when shooting multiple rounds in one setting.

3. Short action. The case allows for the long sweeping ogive bullets to be seated close to the lands and still have the possibility of fitting in most magazines. This is the only logical reason that I see people choosing 6.5 cm over .260 Remington. The coal of the .260 Remington has the potential to be longer than 6.5cm, which could cause magazine figment issues. Of course custom rifles and different chamber variations (throat length) make this advantage less so.

There’s also marketing involved heavily.....
I love mine. Mostly for the high bc bullets but was wondering why others may have picked it over other cartridges.
 
It works, and there is tremendous amount of support in terms of reloading, ballistic data and factory match grade ammo. It's the chambering a new long range shooter can pick up off the shelf and reliably be hitting at 1,000+ with minimal effort. Yes, others are just as good ballistically, better even, but 6.5 CM won the market and there's really no reason to look elsewhere.
 
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If the military chooses one of the 6mm's which is it going to be? If they do is it going to replace both the 223 and 308? A double duty round?
 
If the military chooses one of the 6mm's which is it going to be? If they do is it going to replace both the 223 and 308? A double duty round?

It will. The 6.8mm has a COAL of 2.765 and is 30% lighter then 5.56mm with the performance of 6.5cm
 
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- It does a great job for hunting and punching paper.
-Low recoil
- Great BC
- The 30 deg shoulder and longer neck provide longer barrel life.
- The longer neck holds long bullets more gooder
- for reloaded the 30 shoulder produces less case stretch
- the medium action, vs a 30-06/270, shortens the gun ~1” and allows you to keep your eyes on target, keep a cheek weld and cycle the bolt
 
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I have three 6.5 Creedmoors and one 6mm Creedmoor and the 6 is so much more fun to shoot. And far more accurate. I rarely ever shoot the 6.5's anymore.
 
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10 moa flatter trajectory than 308 in some loadings. Very easy to tune/do load work up. Easiest caliber to tune that I ever encountered. PRS shooters like it for flat trajectory and the PRS popularity helped the general popularity but the top PRS guys are shooting 6mm "wildcats" now.
 
It's mostly about the bullet, not the caliber. Sometimes things balance out like in the 6.5 Creed. It's a very accurate but overall a slow round. But I still want a 6.5X55.
 
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I’ve found the 6mm be The good all round, the Tac6 is actually the one I’m leaning for on AR15 side and 7mm-08 on the AR10 side.

I run a 6.8SPC II for all my hunting stuff. It’s not a target round but man I love it.

The Tac6 uses a 6.8 SPC case and 6mm projectiles. Good 600yard rifle, can be taken up to 1k with the right projectile. Can use projectiles for varmints 50 something gr, medium game 80-90 gr, and paper punching 109s I think. So really not much to have to buy extra for reloading for on my end.

the 7mm-08 has always drawn my eye to it. Same with the 7mm-08. Good all around. Brass can be made from surplus brass. Great bullet selection for everything.

me I try to keep my calibers be a wildcat or not, all base on the same parent cases I already have.

so, if a 6.5 is what you want, go for it. But don’t cram down my throat that they are superior to what I enjoy shooting lol.

TL:DR- hype is why the 6.5 creed is popular. Yes a 6.5 has great target capabilities, same with hunting. But a lot of folks are lemming the 6.5 creed because their fudd friend said it would drop a T-Rex from 5 miles away lol
 
So after how many years does the 6.5cm need before it is not "trendy" and "new" by the old folks? 6.5cm has now been around for almost 15 years and is on the shelf at any store that has a decent selection of ammo. To compare a short action caliber to a long action caliber is an exercise in stupidity. 6.5cm is simply the caliber that caught on. Rem. shit the bed with their ballistic twin .260rem. The large selection of factory precision ammo at reasonable prices was the reason I went with it over 6cm, 243win, or what ever is the latest and fastest as the caliber of choice. Not everyone that shoots longer ranges has the time or desire to reload.
 
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Because it’s new and cool and there’s enough factory ammo to make it seem like a reasonable choice. And it works well in a game that’s growing in popularity.

Yup 13 years old is pretty new. LOL I love hearing how "new" the cartridge is. Never hear that about the 6.5x47 which is about 2 years older. LOL

6.5 Creedmoor is a good all around cartridge. That's what it boils down to. You can hunt with it, target shoot, buy good factory ammo for both jobs and the ballistics are good. Are they the best? Nope but very good with good bullet choices. Lots of brass choices now for handloaders also. Also a lot of factory rifle offerings in properly twisted barrels for the heavier bullets. Basically you will have haters for any cartridge but when you look at facts the Creedmoor is a good all around cartridge for most shooters needs.
 
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