6.5 Creedmoor. Far from a "Fad".

[Pathfinder101]

I don't have one, but it will be my next rifle (probably this year).  I know 3 guys that own one and have been impressed enough to put one on my "to buy" list.  BTW, all 3 are "bearded magnum guys" that bought it as a backup rifle and love shooting it so much that they are using it a lot more than they thought they would.  For the record, I don't have a beard (military grooming standards) but I'm a 7mm Mag guy myself...

[Karl Blanchard]

People tend to over think what it takes to kill a deer sized animal.  A 6mm will absolutely hot sauce the biggest of mule deer with a 100 grain bullet so of course a 130 or 140 gr bullet flying at marginal speeds is going to do the same.

To answer Josh's question though.  If you remove the factory ammo from the equation theres a whole pile of 6.5 chamberings that will do it better than the creedmoor.  When you add in the requirement of shooting factory ammo however, the creedmoor shines.  I still wouldnt take it over a .270 but its certainly adequate to do most anything youd need it to. 

With that said, if I had to buy a rifle chambered in a 6.5 anything today,  and I could only shoot factory I'd get a 6.5 prc

[Ridgeratt]

This sounds like a few years ago when the "Short Mag" craze showed up it was also the new Silver Bullet. I don't see or hear much on them anymore.

[huntnphool]

This sounds like a few years ago when the "Short Mag" craze showed up it was also the new Silver Bullet. I don't see or hear much on them anymore.

6.5 PRC

[tlbradford]

So all kidding aside for a minute please... being someone who is genuinely interested in a 6.5 creedmoor...what's better in a short action that doesn't recoil like mad, isn't exotic or a wildcat, factory ammo is readily available and if a guy wants to shoot long range, it plain seems to work?

 .260 Remington

  6.5-284 Norma, .308 Win, .243 Win, 300 WSM

I have been looking on and off to get a new smaller caliber rifle (.24-.26ish) specifically for deer hunting for a bit now, and every time I look at the 6.5 Creedmoor I end up ranking it at the bottom of my list. I don’t really see the allure. What am I missing?

Don’t get me wrong, I am sure they kill lots of animals and ping lots of steel, but I guess I don’t see what empty nitch it filled.  I fully understand we have tons of overlap in cartridges, and market forces have shown people want it, but what does it do so great? Looking at all the spec’s I don’t see anything to write home about.

Anyone want to enlighten me?

You can seat the high BC 6.5 bullets to ATI 308 magazine length without the bullet extending down into the powder column. Pretty much only useful to the PRS crowd but they're the most tacticool group these days.

Ok, but the ballistics charts I have looked at seem to show that the creedmores high BC bullet doesn't make up for it's low speed when I compare to a rem 260 for example.

The 6.5 creedmoor and 260 Remington shoot the same bullets. 

And very close to the same speeds.

I'm just gonna stick with my .25-06 and not worry about the 5 points.

if you compare your 2506 to the creedmoor then your only down by 1 so even less to worry about. 

Maybe I'll just make it a 6.5-06 and call it a tie!!

a 6.5-06 is surely not a tie! That, sir, would be direct offspring of the 30-06 so much more better than a non 06 case. You still gots lotsa learning to do clearly....


How many more times can we quote this? 

I would buy that! 

All joking aside.  When I purchased a rifle for my daughter I waited to find a .243 or 7mm-08 due to the felt recoil in readily available factory ammo.  Having never used reduced recoil ammo, or even shopped for it, I didn't look at those options.  In my opinion the anything from .257 to .264 that is not a magnum, all feels the same off the shooting bench, and has harder recoil than the .243 or 7mm-08.

[konradcountry]

I don't get the hate. The 6.5 Creedmoor is an excellent deer cartridge. Factory ammo is readily available and inexpensive. Does it fill a niche that wasn't already there?

I don't get the hatred either. It's one of those calibers like 40 S&W where people have some weird preoccupation with not using it. Like they have to constantly tell us about why they don't use it. 

[Karl Blanchard]

I don't get the hate. The 6.5 Creedmoor is an excellent deer cartridge. Factory ammo is readily available and inexpensive. Does it fill a niche that wasn't already there?

I don't get the hatred either. It's one of those calibers like 40 S&W where people have some weird preoccupation with not using it. Like they have to constantly tell us about why they don't use it.

pot meet kettle kind of thing.  Creedmoor shooters will be the first to tell you they shoot a creedmoor and how great it is

[tlbradford]

So all kidding aside for a minute please... being someone who is genuinely interested in a 6.5 creedmoor...what's better in a short action that doesn't recoil like mad, isn't exotic or a wildcat, factory ammo is readily available and if a guy wants to shoot long range, it plain seems to work?

 .260 Remington

  6.5-284 Norma, .308 Win, .243 Win, 300 WSM

I have been looking on and off to get a new smaller caliber rifle (.24-.26ish) specifically for deer hunting for a bit now, and every time I look at the 6.5 Creedmoor I end up ranking it at the bottom of my list. I don’t really see the allure. What am I missing?

Don’t get me wrong, I am sure they kill lots of animals and ping lots of steel, but I guess I don’t see what empty nitch it filled.  I fully understand we have tons of overlap in cartridges, and market forces have shown people want it, but what does it do so great? Looking at all the spec’s I don’t see anything to write home about.

Anyone want to enlighten me?

You can seat the high BC 6.5 bullets to ATI 308 magazine length without the bullet extending down into the powder column. Pretty much only useful to the PRS crowd but they're the most tacticool group these days.

Ok, but the ballistics charts I have looked at seem to show that the creedmores high BC bullet doesn't make up for it's low speed when I compare to a rem 260 for example.

The 6.5 creedmoor and 260 Remington shoot the same bullets. 

And very close to the same speeds.

I'm just gonna stick with my .25-06 and not worry about the 5 points.

if you compare your 2506 to the creedmoor then your only down by 1 so even less to worry about. 

Maybe I'll just make it a 6.5-06 and call it a tie!!

a 6.5-06 is surely not a tie! That, sir, would be direct offspring of the 30-06 so much more better than a non 06 case. You still gots lotsa learning to do clearly....


How many more times can we quote this? 

I would buy that! 

All joking aside.  When I purchased a rifle for my daughter I waited to find a .243 or 7mm-08 due to the felt recoil in readily available factory ammo.  Having never used reduced recoil ammo, or even shopped for it, I didn't look at those options.  In my opinion the anything from .257 to .264 that is not a magnum, all feels the same off the shooting bench, and has harder recoil than the .243 or 7mm-08.

Looks like it already exist and is basically a .270.  Also an amazing round. 
https://www.chuckhawks.com/6-5mm-06.htm

[grundy53]

I don't get the hate. The 6.5 Creedmoor is an excellent deer cartridge. Factory ammo is readily available and inexpensive. Does it fill a niche that wasn't already there?

I don't get the hatred either. It's one of those calibers like 40 S&W where people have some weird preoccupation with not using it. Like they have to constantly tell us about why they don't use it.

pot meet kettle kind of thing.  Creedmoor shooters will be the first to tell you they shoot a creedmoor and how great it is

Not all of us. Lol. I don't go out of my way to make sure everyone knows I shoot it. I have 3 deer rifles I use regularly. A 25-06, a 257 weatherby mag and my 6.5 Creedmoor. The deer die just the same with all 3. This year I killed my Washington buck with my Creedmoor but killed my Idaho buck with my 257 weatherby. Of course I used a .300 mag for my elk and moose. My point is I don't think it's some magic round that is better than anything else but it is a good round that is more than adequate for deer sized game and has a good variety of factory ammo. So I don't get the hate.

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[Karl Blanchard]

I don't get the hate. The 6.5 Creedmoor is an excellent deer cartridge. Factory ammo is readily available and inexpensive. Does it fill a niche that wasn't already there?

I don't get the hatred either. It's one of those calibers like 40 S&W where people have some weird preoccupation with not using it. Like they have to constantly tell us about why they don't use it.

pot meet kettle kind of thing.  Creedmoor shooters will be the first to tell you they shoot a creedmoor and how great it is

Not all of us. Lol. I don't go out of my way to make sure everyone knows I shoot it. I have 3 deer rifles I use regularly. A 25-06, a 257 weatherby mag and my 6.5 Creedmoor. The deer die just the same with all 3. This year I killed my Washington buck with my Creedmoor but killed my Idaho buck with my 257 weatherby. Of course I used a .300 mag for my elk and moose. My point is I don't think it's some magic round that is better than anything else but it is a good round that is more than adequate for deer sized game and has a good variety of factory ammo. So I don't get the hate.

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I dont hate any gun.  All gun lives matter.  I think people get annoyed because the creed has been turned into some magical unicorn caliber.  I'm sure most have read accounts of it rivaling the 300 WM and such    fact is for most practical mid range hunting, most calibers are pretty close to the same.  Theres a lot of guns launching 140 grainish projectiles between 2600 and 2900.  Its when you start talking higher volume precision shooting that certain ones start to shine

[grundy53]

Agreed! All gun lives matter! Lol

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[KFhunter]

So let me get this right, I don't know any hipsters or guys sporting manbuns, they're pretty rare around here...so correct me if I'm wrong about them...

My notion about hipsters is that they tend to follow the latest trends and never want to be caught doing something that is past trend ya?   
Soo, following that logic wouldn't it be true that the real hipsters are the guys telling you that your whatever is old and un-trendy?


"your 6.5 Creedmoor is so 2017,   ya - I'm over that" say's the hipster

[NWShooter]

Hmmmmmmm. The Hornady 2019 catalogue shows Hornady 22 Creedmoor brass. With the right throat and twist( 7/8 T ) that chambering will rock  the 80gr - 95gr  heavies. Move over 22-250 for that matter, move over 22-250 AI. The CM case length just works. The definition of optimal on a short action.

[b23]

Hmmmmmmm. The Hornady 2019 catalogue shows Hornady 22 Creedmoor brass. With the right throat and twist( 7/8 T ) that chambering will rock  the 80gr - 95gr  heavies. Move over 22-250 for that matter, move over 22-250 AI. The CM case length just works. The definition of optimal on a short action.

The 22 Creed and 22-250AI are essentially ballistic twins, but I'd pick the 22 Creed because I'm lazy and it would require less work.  If I was wanting to sling 80+ grainers from a .22 cal I'm going to want a little more horsepower though.

[Matth]

The 6.5 Cm is also on my list of rounds to buy this year. I am not sure on what platform just yet, as it will be for my 11 year old son. I also own a 26 Nosler, but it has just a bit to much poop for him at this stage of the game. It will be a deer, and elk gun for him until he can join the ranks of the bearded magnum guys, like his father. (no manbun)