6.5 Creedmore

B

Brutus

New member
I'm interested in this round which has been getting a lot of press as of late.
What are the pro's & con's? What rifling twist is best for the heavier bullets?
Main interest is in long range target shooting out to 300/400 yards.
Will be used for deer hunting but at much shorter ranges.
 
It's a good balanced cartridge with a lot of factory ammo support from Hornady and a little bit from other manufacturers. It's probably the most popular new cartridge right now. Capability-wise, it's good for long range shooting out to 1000+ yards depending on elevation. There are only very small differences between 6.5CM, .260, and 6.5x47. The Hornady 6.5CM match ammo tends to be accurate and has very high ballistic coefficients and is a big reason for the popularity of the cartridge.

Twist for heavy bullets is 1:8" or faster.

It's fine for deer with appropriate hunting bullets - Hornady offer Interlock, GMX, and the new ELD-X in their factory ammo any of which would be fine for deer.
 
One of my shooting friends has the Savage Long Range Precison rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor. I'm a die hard Remington guy, but that Savage that rifle & that caliber is one sweet setup. Power, accuracy with light recoil, what more could you ask for. If I were you I'd give it a hard look.
 
You can't go wrong with the 6.5 Creedmoor. I've been shooting it for about 5 years,and it's one of my favorite cartridges to shoot.
Good brass was an issue for a while,but Hornady has fixed that issue as well as Nosler produces brass now. Lapua is supposed to begin making brass for it next year,and it should also have small primer pockets which is a big plus for long life brass.
I've built two 6.5 Creedmoor rifles,and have another barrel just waiting to be put on an action. I also shoot the 260 Remington,and have a 260 AI barrel to build another.
 
About 4 gents I shoot with on a regular basis at private range we're members, own a 6.5 Creedmore rifle. Ask them their opinion of the Creedmore cartridge and they will give positive comments about it. Yet, to hear any comment negative about it. These guys have quite a variety of rifles/cartridges and are ones whose opinions on various things related to accurate shooting are worth listening to.

Own a 6.5 Creedmore myself. Its a recent build. One of my fellow range members has gotten the tools to do barrel installing, general gunsmithing and his early work has been quite good. Had him install a 1 in 9" twist barrel I'd had on a Stevens 200 that was chambered in 6.5X55. Barrel had shot 120 gr bullets decently as a 6.5x55. Bullets around 140 gr did not perform as well.

Have shot around 100 rounds now with my 1 in 9 twist 6.5 Creedmore. As expected, my Creedmore is no tack driver, but respectable when it comes to accuracy. I need to shoot 120 gr or less bullets in mine.

Use a 1 in 8" twist.
 
Main interest is in long range target shooting out to 300/400 yards.
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The 6.5 Creed is a great round, basically a twin to the .260 Remington. "Of late" is going back quite a few years now.

But honestly- I think you'd be better served with a straightforward .308.
300-400 yards isn't considered "long range" by anyone's standard, and you might not be able to shoot the difference between the two at that short a range.

Not to say there isn't an advantage to the 6.5 bullet- it's just that for your particular application, assuming you don't handload- both your ammo price, and selection, is infinitely greater with the .308. If you were shooting 600 yards and beyond- different animal altogether.

But hey, if you like spending a buck a round for ammo- go for it.
 
The creed is a good round as is the .260 rem and 6.5 Swede which are all very similar in performance and in size. Any of them would be great for 400 yards and much further. Right now the 6.5/.26 is the hot caliber. There are a few more factory rounds available for the .260 Rem. Gun wise it's pretty much a draw as some manufacturers offer one or two in their line ups.

If you are only target shooting targets out to 400 yards a .204 ruger, .223 Rem or, 22-250 Rem would be just fine and a less expensive with factor ammo
 
But honestly- I think you'd be better served with a straightforward .308.
 300-400 yards isn't considered "long range" by anyone's standard, and you might not be able to shoot the difference between the two at that short a range.

Not to say there isn't an advantage to the 6.5 bullet- it's just that for your particular application, assuming you don't handload- both your ammo price, and selection, is infinitely greater with the .308. If you were shooting 600 yards and beyond- different animal altogether.
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I used to think the same thing about my .308 until I recently got a 6.5 and that quickly changed my opinion. Yes the .308 has some more oomph for hunting but if all you're doing is punching paper the 6.5 has a whole lot less recoil and while the ammo selection isn't as big its surprisingly not very expensive either. Quality .308 ammo for accurate target shooting is easily $30 a box and up. The 6.5's ammo runs between $25-30 a box.
 
6.5 Creedmoor Ammo is increasing in variety and availability. Prices are coming in line with premium ammo from other makers. It won't be long before Federal offers it in "Blue Box."
 
6.5 Creedmoor Ammo is increasing in variety and availability. Prices are coming in line with premium ammo from other makers. It won't be long before Federal offers it in "Blue Box."
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I think Hornady beat them to it with their American Whitetail line which sells for only $19.95 a box.
 
Thanks for all the input, no need for a .308 as I've had an 06 for thirty years.
Main interest is the reduced recoil which is beginning to bother me in my old age. I will be reloading for it. One of the frustrating aspects of researching this project is the lack of info provided by rifle manufactures primarily the rifling twist.
By the way 300/400 yards is the max available range around here and I have to drive an hour and a half to get to that place. Such is life in the land of stinkin.:mad:
 
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Press is what makes and breaks cartridges and the 300BO and 6.5CM are two of the more heavily written about calibers. That said, there are a lot of cartridges in the group and the main benefit of the 6.5CM is seen in the .308 pattern ARs.

.243Win, .260Rem, 6.5x55Swede, 7mm-08 (plus about a dozen others less popular) are also calibers that fall in to the same ballpark. I prefer the .243Win and .260Rem largely due to being based off the .308 case.

Like others said, 300-400 yards is really mid-range and there are a lot of options that will satisfy your desires. I would choose the firearm you want first, then pick one of the calibers suitable. If you reload, I'd pick one based on the .308 case. If only factory, then any of them are reasonable. There are actually more loads for the .260Rem than the 6.5CM at this point and the .260Rem is seeing a resurgence of late, as is the .243Win. Based on your last post, I would go with the .243Win.
 
I've had a 260 for about 10 years or so. Bought it for the wife, but she never took to pig hunting. Being a reloader, naturally I had to work up loads, and then started hunting with it. And then I parked my Sako 270 in the safe, where it still sits. Then got another 260 and sold the first one.

The 260 doesn't kick much. Very pleasant to shoot. As for effectiveness, I started with 120 gr Nosler BT's, which worked great on pigs, coyotes, and deer. Then, for more MV, I went to the 100 gr BT's. They worked very well also, though they seem to work a small bit less effectively than the 120 gr bullets. By that I mean that large hogs shot with the smaller bullet ran another 20 yards before dropping.

It doesn't hit as hard as my old 270 did, of that I'm sure, but the deer drop just as dead and just as fast.

So I'm a 260 fan. I'd be just as happy with the 6.5 Creedmore, but the Creed has advantages for long range shooters primarily. If you are a hunter like me, consider the cartridges to be the same.

So, get a Tikka T3 lite stainless with a 20 inch barrel, put a good scope on it. You'll have a light and handy rifle that's superbly accurate - with either caliber - and it won't kick you much.
 
You wont go wrong with the 6.5 CM

It wasn't the press that caused the success of the CM, it was the rifle range.

I have shot the 308 in competition a long time, still do. My primary LR rifle is a Model 70 tgt Rifle built by the AMU in 308. But I'm getting hooked on the 6.5.

I believe the 6.5 CM will do anything the 308 do but do it better. On the range or in the field.

Any thing can shoot 3-400 yards, you really need to step out there to really appreciate the CM round.
 
What Mark CO said.
Once you confirm you handload, it's different parameters.

If your '06 is accurate, have you considered putting a brake on it? (Of course, if you just want another rifle- recoil is a great excuse- but an effective brake makes a HUGE difference in felt recoil).

I shoot a 7-08 with 162 grain VLD's. Recoil is mild anyway, but it is fitted with a brake to reduce muzzle rise (and more recoil reduction) and it allows me to spot my own hits- no need for a spotter.

I also own a .260 Remington which has similar recoil.

There are a lot of good choices since you handload. Remember as well- that stock weight has a significant impact on felt recoil, so don't skimp on stock weight (especially if you're not going to use a brake) since this is important for your objective.
 
I believe the 6.5 CM will do anything the 308 do but do it better. On the range or in the field.
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It certainly seems most of what I have read supports this statement and I don't think anyone would say it about the other 6.5s that can be crammed into a 308 action. I am hoping the 6.5 CM will become the prominent 6.5 caliber cartridge. Not totally drive the others out of the market, but sort of the standard such as 223, 308, and 45-70. Bring some economies of scale to 6.5.
 
The 6.5 CM is a "fad-shell" but this fad has a good reason to exist.
I expect this fad will pass but the shell will stay with us a long time. It has merit for it's intended purpose.

The CM was made to give better neck support and allow longer bullets to be used than the 260 Remington and still fit inside a standard NATO length magazine (M-14, FAL, G3 or AR10 and so on) With the 308 case necked down to 26 (in the 260 rem,) you have an excellent cartridge, but you need to deep-seat a lot of bullets to be the same length as the standard NATO loading of the 7.62 and obviously a longer length can't be loaded into a magazine.
With many bolt actions this is not a problem, but it is an issue the 6.5CM addresses perfectly on bolt guns and any rifle that has the NATO length 308 size mags, like the Ruger Precision, and so on. Even standard bolt guns that have blocks for the 308 length are sometimes blocked to a length shorter than thery should be in the 260 rifles

If you are buying a bolt action and you have a short magazine length the CM will give you the ability to load longer bullets than the 260 will.

However if you are building a 26 cal on a bolt action and you use something that takes the standard 30-06 length shells or the standard 57MM shells like the 7X57, 8X57 and so on, the CM is an answer to a non existent problem.

The 260 Remington does it all just as well and even a bit better if the magazine will allow. In fact if you have a long action, you can go to a 6.5X55, 6.5-06 or even a 264 Win Mag and still load long bullet and load the magazine just fine. Just as the US Army uses the 06 length magazines on their 308 sniper rifles so they can load a better selection of bullets, their design is a bit better than the short action 308 the USMC uses.

The builder of a 26 cal rifle should use a long action if they want to use long bullets.

The 6.5 CM was an answer to the target shooters who were using the AR-10 and other autos, and wanted to use long heavy very-low-drag bullets, but those bullets would not fit in a NATO length magazine.
 
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As I understand it the difference between the 6.5cm and .260 is the shoulder angle of the cartridge 30 degrees as opposed to 20 on the .260.
This is supposed to increase the neck length which allegedly is better for heavy weight bullets. Correct me if this is not true. Who makes a 6.5 with a 1 in 8 twist? Thanks again
 
I don't think anyone would say it about the other 6.5s that can be crammed into a 308 action.
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Then you really need to look at the ballistics and understand that there are several 6.5s that launch the same bullets at equivalent, and in some cases faster, velocities. The .260Rem and 6.5CM have not even a tad of difference downrange. Equivalent gun and shooter, one might be 7.4 mils at 1000 and the other 7.5 mils with the same accuracy potential. Factory guns with the proper twist are a bigger driver than the base cartridge...well that and marketing.

We shot 6 6.5s all against each other earlier this year and there is no difference. In fact the smallest 500 yards group anyone got was with the 6.5x55. The 6.5CM was no better nor worse, from 300 to 1000 than any of the others. No disparagement of the 6.5CM at all, great round. But it has the juice of marketing and promotion behind it, the others do not. Every actual gunwriter I know has been provided a 6.5CM to test. Except for one, none of them have shot a .260Rem, 6.5x47, or 6.5x55. So when they write in their magazines how great the 6.5CM is, they are comparing it to the .308 in most cases.

I have had no issues getting the velocities I want with the bullets I want in the .260 Bolt guns. With the .308 pattern ARs, I fought it and eventually gave up yielding that the 6.5CM is superior in the auto-loaders.
 
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