The 6.5 Creedmoor is the most recent of several modest 6.5 rounds; the oldest is the 6.555, a joint Norwegian/Swedish design from the early 1890s, which may explain some hunters’ confusion. When compared to their Scandinavian cartridge, which has been doing the same thing for more than 120 years, many 6.5-55 owners frequently wonder why they should purchase a 6.5 Creedmoor. Meanwhile, supporters of the.260 Remington claim their round also fits in a contemporary “short” magazine. Fanboys of both 6.555 and.260 frequently propose
The 6.5 Creedmoor rifle cartridge appears to have confused some male hunters more than any other round developed in the recent past. Target shooters have no trouble with the Creedmoor, and women appear to have no trouble either, presumably because women’s egos aren’t bound up with their guns.
The 6.5 Creedmoor is the most recent of several modest 6.5 rounds; the oldest is the 6.555, a joint Norwegian/Swedish design from the early 1890s, which may explain some hunters’ confusion. When compared to their Scandinavian cartridge, which has been doing the same thing for more than 120 years, many 6.5-55 owners frequently wonder why they should purchase a 6.5 Creedmoor. Meanwhile, supporters of the.260 Remington claim their round also fits in a contemporary “short” magazine. Fanboys of both 6.555 and.260 frequently propose
the ogive finishes up well below the rifling in the chamber throat, but many more recent 6.5mm bullets have pointed ogives that are so long they must be seated so deeply to fit in a typical 2.84-inch “short” magazine.
Although it’s not necessary to seat bullets close to the lands for them to shoot reliably, doing so helps when aiming for the highest degree of accuracy. With the.260, however, some more recent hunting bullets cannot be seated close to the lands. My newest. 260 is a Tikka T3 Superlite with a 1:8-inch rifling twist that was part of a limited run made available in 2015 by Whittaker Guns in Kentucky. The 140-grain Nosler AccuBond was my first choice since I wanted a small rifle that could take down huge animals.
For many target shooters, creating a 6.5mm round that was shorter made more sense. In truth, this had previously happened with the 6.547 Lapua, which was released in 2005, but the brass and ammunition were pricey, and Lapua chose to employ a small primer pocket, which turned off hunters who thought small rifle primers may pose issues in cold weather.
Outside Factory?
Additionally highly accurate is factory-made 6.5 Creedmoor ammo, and Hornady brass is exceptionally reliable in terms of weight and size. All the handloaders I’ve spoken to so far have been attempting to convert their Creedmoors into “light magnums,” despite reports that Hornady cases develop loose primer pockets after a few firings. Some of the Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor ammunition I own was acquired brand new in 2010 when I bought my first 6.5 Creedmoor. I don’t go beyond the recommended handloads, which is presumably why the primer pockets are still small.
The most popular Creedmoor “accuracy load” may be a bullet in the 140-grain weight range that contains about 41.5 grains of H4350. In 22- or 24-inch barrels, this typically achieves 2,650 to 2,700 fps, but a persistent scarcity of H4350 (which a contact at Hodgdon claims) has led to shooters utilizing different powders, some of which were introduced since 2007; this is partly because of the 6.5 Creedmoor’s popularity. IMR4451 has worked very well for me, and preliminary results from Alliant Reloder 16 trials are similarly encouraging. Both IMR4451 and RL-16 are double-based and typically provide 50 to 100 fps more than H4350 with the identical bullets for individuals who simply must have extra muzzle zip.
The relatively moderate recoil for the downrange effects of the 6.5 Creedmoor over more conventional hunting cartridges, however, is one of its major advantages. With standard hunting bullets of the same weight, the.270 Winchester’s 300+ yard velocities with high-BC bullets are superior to the. Creedmoor’s, but the Creedmoor kicks approximately a third less. Because of this, it is beginning to displace the.243 Winchester as the “starter cartridge” for many hunters. It has also replaced the.45 ACP as the preferred round among many recoil-weary veterans.
The 6.5 Creedmoor does, however, have one sneaky little quirk: with a cartridge length of 2.84 inches, it’s still not quite short enough for every high-BC bullet to touch the lands, in part because factory rifles vary slightly, as factory rifles will. Two of the issue kids are the 130- and 140-grain Berger VLD’s, which may be why Berger introduced other 6.5mm bullets with slightly shorter ogives since 2007.
By the way, the 6.5 Creedmoor rifle indicated in the data has the shortest neck of any I’ve measured, albeit there isn’t much variety given my Ruger American has the longest throat. The throat-length in the Fierce and Ruger varies by 0.012 inch, or around the thickness of a standard business card. (The Fierce rifle also has a magazine that is 2.95 inches long, thus loading any high-BC boattail ammunition is not a problem.)
Please take note that the load chart lists groups of five bullets at 100 yards, not the usual three shots. The Creedmoor’s popularity is largely due to its consistency, and despite being made for serious target shooters, it also functions well in other situations.
regardless matter how wealthy the shooter is, well for other applications.
Although there have been 6.5mm cartridges that can propel bullets to the same ballistics for more than a century, the 6.5 Creedmoor is quickly becoming a standard chambering for bolt-action rifles because the entire package is better suited to 21st-century realities than any other medium-sized 6.5mm cartridge.
