6.5 creedmore?

[drycreek]

The subject was the 6.5 Creedmoor, which I’ve never owned or shot, but it evolved into a .280 Rem vs. .270 Win discussion…..sort of. . So…. here’s my two cents. My criteria for a new cartridge in a deer rifle is this: will it be better than my Alamo Precision custom in .280 Rem. ? For several years now that answer has been no. It has reliably killed everything I’ve hit with it, from hogs, coyotes, and deer. Before that, it was a Savage 7-08 and I could have happily hunted with it for the rest of my life because it was also a killer. I’ve just always had a soft spot for the .280 Rem since I bought my first one in a Remington Mountain Rifle. I had a Ruger 77 as well as a Ruger No. 1 in .280 Rem. I just wanted at least one custom rifle in my life and it had to be a .280.

 

[Foggy47]

My old shooting buddy now lives in Utah. He sent me a pic of a 3.6" group at 1000 yards with his 6mm Dasher. He tells me they are now shooting at over 2000 yards and hitting steel targets. You gotta pay some dues to learn to shoot at extreme ranges.....but I am sure it is fun when you get it all put together.

 

[cbw]

As to the original question, I just purchased my first centerfire rifle. Went with 6.5 Creedmore it for its versatility, relatively low cost ammo current high availability of ammo. Chose it over a more classic 270 because of its range and found a good deal on a brand new Christiansen Arms model from a fellow hunter on another forum.


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[Wild Thing]

I don't own a 6.5 Creedmoor but both my wife and my son do...and they love them. Both are Browning X-Bolt.

My son got his first. Later on Elaine was downstate visiting her mother and on her return trip home I asked her to stop by Jay's Sporting Goods in Gaylord to check on some reloading supplies I needed. When she got out of the store she called me to let me know that none of the stuff I was looking for was in stock....but that they had a Browning X-Bolt in 6.5 CM so she figured she had better buy it before somebody else did! I don't ask her to stop at sporting goods stores for me anymore Actually, she owns 3 Brownings - 2 A-Bolts (.204 & .270) and the 1 X-Bolt in 6.5 CM and she shoots 1-hole groups with all of them.




At the time, ammo was nearly impossible to find but we were finally able to scrounge up some loading components .... Later on factory ammo also became available.


Elaine shoots the factory Hornady 143 grain ELD-X and my son shoots hand loads. Got lucky and found a good load on the first day - 41.2 grains of H-4350 and the Hornady 143 grains ELD-X.
They have both killed deer with them.

 

[Telemark]

Hornady 143 grains ELD-X.

I love that bullet. Very accurate in my 308, and it kills well. Tends to come apart in the animal, but that be due to the relatively short ranges I'm shooting.

 

[omicron1792]

I went with 6.5 PRC over creedmore. With factory terminal ascent ammo from federal I am confident I could reach out to 700 yards if needed.

Will I ever? Doubtful. But when has hobbies been about facts? Ha

 

[Peeps]

I love that bullet. Very accurate in my 308, and it kills well. Tends to come apart in the animal, but that be due to the relatively short ranges I'm shooting.

This is the factory round that mine likes.

 

[West_Fork]

I went with 6.5 PRC over creedmore. With factory terminal ascent ammo from federal I am confident I could reach out to 700 yards if needed.

Will I ever? Doubtful. But when has hobbies been about facts? Ha

I "bought my wife" a 6.5 PRC and haven't taken it past 100 yards yet. I don't think I have put 50 rounds through it. I chose it for elk with light recoil for the wife, and it can go beyond 1400 yard targets for some ways. I always swore I did not want another caliber to add to the reloading mess, but I also got sick of hearing people talk about the 6.5 as if it is something special. It is not. Some of the "advantages" of the new fangled cartridge are actually disadvantages when it comes to reloading. For example, it looks to me that there is no way to load 140+ plus bullets without pushing them past the neck junction with the current throat dimensions. Not even sure 130s would resolve that.

The only advantage I see to the 6.5 creed or any other .268 caliber is they are generally heavy for caliber loads with an appropriate twist barrel, and most of the bullets in 6.5 are good bullets.

The 6.5 PRC's parent case is a ruger compact mag, which is basically a remington SA mag, and they should have just used the remington as a parent case because of availability. I think ruger's marketing dept was hungry.

Anyhow, as has been said, the new cartridges of today do all the same things the old ones can. It is just marketing.

I choose a cartridge based on the availability of good bullets, and that's why God made the 6mm and .308 calibers.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

I "bought my wife" a 6.5 PRC and haven't taken it past 100 yards yet. I don't think I have put 50 rounds through it. I chose it for elk with light recoil for the wife, and it can go beyond 1400 yard targets for some ways. I always swore I did not want another caliber to add to the reloading mess, but I also got sick of hearing people talk about the 6.5 as if it is something special. It is not. Some of the "advantages" of the new fangled cartridge are actually disadvantages when it comes to reloading. For example, it looks to me that there is no way to load 140+ plus bullets without pushing them past the neck junction with the current throat dimensions. Not even sure 130s would resolve that.

Do you have a custom chamber because that doesn't sound right. PRC SAAMI is 0.188" freebore which is quite a bit for a 6.5. The creedmoor is 0.199" so not much different. 260 rem saami freebore is 0.1185 for reference.

The only advantage I see to the 6.5 creed or any other .268 caliber is they are generally heavy for caliber loads with an appropriate twist barrel, and most of the bullets in 6.5 are good bullets.

The 6.5 PRC's parent case is a ruger compact mag, which is basically a remington SA mag, and they should have just used the remington as a parent case because of availability. I think ruger's marketing dept was hungry.

The GA Precision 6.5 SAUM hype train sucked me in and got me to build my first custom in that cartridge about 8 years ago. George of GA claims the RCM case was the one he would have preferred from the start but brass availability was a problem. Might be truth to marketing with ruger but the RCM case (as well as the 375 Ruger case used as a basis for 7mm and 300 PRC) don't have rebated rims and aren't as fat so they play nicer with a variety of magazines than some of the rebated rim cases.

 

[West_Fork]

Do you have a custom chamber because that doesn't sound right. PRC SAAMI is 0.188" freebore which is quite a bit for a 6.5. The creedmoor is 0.199" so not much different. 260 rem saami freebore is 0.1185 for reference.


The GA Precision 6.5 SAUM hype train sucked me in and got me to build my first custom in that cartridge about 8 years ago. George of GA claims the RCM case was the one he would have preferred from the start but brass availability was a problem. Might be truth to marketing with ruger but the RCM case (as well as the 375 Ruger case used as a basis for 7mm and 300 PRC) don't have rebated rims and aren't as fat so they play nicer with a variety of magazines than some of the rebated rim cases.

Good point, it should be a saami chamber. I did not take any measurements and was just going off feel when working on a seating depth. When i tried getting a couple tho off the lands it appeared to be deep into the case and well past the neck. I should spend more time before jumping to conclusions. This was before i had the ability to turn my own gauges.

Thats pretty interesting about the saum vs rcm. I am always amused at how marketing wins the day and the better cartridge often loses; saum vs wsm, 243 win vs 6mm rem, saum vs rcm and on.
i will have to try some prc in some mags to see how it stacks. I have a ar10 in 30 saum, and it seems five rounds max before it goes nose down. If the rcm/prc stack better maybe i will swing the other way. The ar10 needs a new barrel anyhow. I have lots of saum cases, so thats my bias.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Good point, it should be a saami chamber. I did not take any measurements and was just going off feel when working on a seating depth. When i tried getting a couple tho off the lands it appeared to be deep into the case and well past the neck. I should spend more time before jumping to conclusions. This was before i had the ability to turn my own gauges.

Thats pretty interesting about the saum vs rcm. I am always amused at how marketing wins the day and the better cartridge often loses; saum vs wsm, 243 win vs 6mm rem, saum vs rcm and on.
i will have to try some prc in some mags to see how it stacks. I have a ar10 in 30 saum, and it seems five rounds max before it goes nose down. If the rcm/prc stack better maybe i will swing the other way. The ar10 needs a new barrel anyhow. I have lots of saum cases, so thats my bias.

I've got 6.5 and 7 SAUMs and lots of brass as well so i feel ya.

My 6.5 SAUM barrels have been chambered with about 0.100" freebore to play nice with 140 berger hybrids and JLKs and feed from a wyatts 2.955" box. The saum case and PRC are very close in length so the SAAMI freebore on the PRC actually makes it hard to get close to the lands for some sleeker 6.5s at mag length for some folks.

 

[TenPoint]

Shot my second buck with the 6.5 creedmoor on the opener two weekends ago. Again, it dropped in its tracks. No complaints from me on this caliber.

 

[TreeStander]

We have three 6.5 / .264s in the house. My 264 mag throws a 140gr slug over 3100 fps while my kids 6.5CM are in the 2700 fps range. The 6 5 CM has proven to be effective on whitetail in the northeast. Same bore diameter but two different killing machines. The 6.5 is a very efficient cartridge for its size. There are a lot of choices for ammo and reloading components.

 

[omicron1792]

We have three 6.5 / .264s in the house. My 264 mag throws a 140gr slug over 3100 fps while my kids 6.5CM are in the 2700 fps range. The 6 5 CM has proven to be effective on whitetail in the northeast. Same bore diameter but two different killing machines. The 6.5 is a very efficient cartridge for its size. There are a lot of choices for ammo and reloading components.

Love my 6.5 PRC. Needmor….no way!

 

[bigboreblr]

Got to say, there's a ton of good/fun/walloping etc.... catrdiges out there. I tell folks to get popular ones.

Was leaning towards a 6.5 creedmore when I bought my 308 axis 2 years ago. Ammo n guns were hard to get... Looked 3 or 4 times, no guns no ammo. However, there was always some 308 around. So, bought ammo when I found some, then found a axis combo. I keep more ammo than I'll ever use. Son-in-law will enjoy all the 308 I got in my 50 cal tins.

Alot of guys want to reload, or have reloading stuff and don't do it.

Creedmore isn't going anyway anytime soon. Guessing 270 win will push more into the background because of the creedmore.

 

[West_Fork]

Got to say, there's a ton of good/fun/walloping etc.... catrdiges out there. I tell folks to get popular ones.

Was leaning towards a 6.5 creedmore when I bought my 308 axis 2 years ago. Ammo n guns were hard to get... Looked 3 or 4 times, no guns no ammo. However, there was always some 308 around. So, bought ammo when I found some, then found a axis combo. I keep more ammo than I'll ever use. Son-in-law will enjoy all the 308 I got in my 50 cal tins.

Alot of guys want to reload, or have reloading stuff and don't do it.

Creedmore isn't going anyway anytime soon. Guessing 270 win will push more into the background because of the creedmore.

That has always been my approach too; keep it common. I just rebarreled a R7 in .243W with a $170 blank from Green Mountain and custom reamer. The blank looked like any other premium $400 blank internally, for less than half the cost. I have run nothing but 105gr+, but so far the worst is around a full minute, the best is pushing >0.3 with very little load work and sub-par shooting.
No .243 brass? Oh well, I gots plenty of .308 and a sizing die. If I ever got real desperate, I have tons of 30-06 that could become .308 or .243 or whatever. Keeping within in common parent case has its advantages.
Most new cartridges are nothing but fashion statements.

 

[Angus 1895]

My M70 Ultralight in .270 Win is boringly effective. From Elk with a 150 grain partition to deer with a 130 grain SST, it just works for my hunting. I could to ALL my big game hunting with this rifle if I wasn't so fickle.

How different is your 200 yard zero point of impact between these two bullets?

thanks

 

[Kooch]

How different is your 200 yard zero point of impact between these two bullets?

thanks

I don’t remember. It’s been a few years since I hunted elk with the 150s. I want to say it was about 2”. But I just don’t remember for sure. I did sight in at 200 though.


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[Angus 1895]

I think the 7 mm Remington express is an most awesome cartridge.

the ackley improved version could be more awesome.

I think the 270 win is held back by the barrel twist for long range ballistic.

the more I study the comments on this thread, the less it appears I know.

thanks.

 

[Kooch]

You’re not wrong about the twist of the 270. Given the parameters of my hunting and my inability to shoot long distance it doesn’t matter to me. I’m glad there is more than one cartridge out there. It gives us all something to talk about and debate.


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