Re-barreling a Ruger M77 MKII. What caliber?

Reynolds- make a case for the 6.5 creedmoor being superior to the .260 rem and Ill be open minded about it. I know lots of people swear by it to be the best 6.5/.264 there is but I dont see it. There were already so many other good 6.5 calibers out there before the creedmoor came on the scene. This is entirely my opinion and I may be completely bass ackwards in my thinking but for hunting purposes, which is about 75% of what I do with my rifles, the creedmoor has to take a backseat to the .260, 6.5x55 swede, and .264 wm. The .260 is the only short action of those 3 so thats why it was the one in consideration for the rebarrel. I challenge you, make me a believer of the Creedmore.
 
As far as that goes, make a case for the .260 over the Creedmoore. They are both short action .264's. They are ballistic mirrors. The .260 is a dying cartridge and the 6.5 is going to come on like gang bangers due to the fact it has advertising dollars behind it.
 
Well for me being a non-reloader as of right now, factory ammo selection is a big deal to me. The 6.5 is limited to hornady match or superformance. The a-max bullet in the match ammo wouldnt be great for hunting and the accuracy of the powder in the superformance sucks and can generate some questionably high pressures from what I hear. They could at least make it in their "custom" line but they dont for some reason. If I did reload, yes they are very similar. But .260 rem brass can be made from re-sizing any .308 family brass. Not sure about what will work with the 6.5 and hornady is the only one that sells 6.5 creedmoor brass as far as I know. I dont consider the .260 rem to be dying, at least not around here.

I will agree that the two are very similar ballistically
 
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I will throw in another vote for the 300 Blackout, it will give you 30-30 type balistics with out any bolt work.
 
Hummer70 said:
Another possibility would be one of the 6MM/223 conversions where you could launch upwards of 107 gr. bullet.
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You could actually launch 115-120 grain bullets if you have it twisted right 1:7.5 or 1:7. However it is a bad idea in the .223 case as bullets that long will have to be seated deep possibly past the ogive. Or you'll have to throat the barrel long and run it as a single shot. The .221 Fireball/Whisper case is what you need to use if you want to run long bullets seated to magazine length and maximize your powder capacity.

Whispers®: A wide range of calibers encompass the ‘Whisper®’ series of cartridges. A “Whisper®” cartridge must be capable of sub-sonic extreme accuracy with very heavy bullets for its caliber; i.e. 240 grains in 30, as well as moderate to high velocity while maintaining excellent accuracy with light bullets for the caliber; i.e. 125 at 2300 FPS in 30. The 300 Whisper® was the first of the series, and, contrary to what you may have read about it, the fact of the matter is the cartridge was designed as a multi-purpose cartridge from the beginning. Its design parameters, in addition to the ballistics quoted above, were that it must be capable of being used in the AR-15/M-16 family of rifles, Contenders and bolt action rifles as well as being easily suppressed. I know that because I invented it. It revolutionized the tactical suppressed sub-sonic field in controllability in full auto, power and accuracy. It has been very successful and has gained wide acceptance as a hunting round for mid-size game, such as deer, and has probably taken a wider variety of game than any other handgun cartridge in the same time span. Due to its small case capacity, its recoil is very mild. One Whisper® series from 6 mm, 6.5 mm, 7mm, 300 and 338 is based on the 221 fireball case. Another series is based on the 7 BR case in 338, 375 and 416 caliber to convert 308 case head size actions. Another used the 460 Weatherby case for 50 caliber conversions to 300 Win Mag case head size rifles. Others use rimmed cases, such as the 50-70-750, for use in single shots.
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Steve, I cant tell you the last time I saw a .260 Rem around here. The factory loading of the Creedmoor is its beauty. Savage is building its rifles around Hornaday's ammo. The Savages will drive tacks with the superformance powder.
 
I was only speaking from my experience with Superformance ammo in my dads .270. made it shoot shotgun pattern groups and fouled the barrel something awful. Makes sense what you are saying about the Savage rifles and Hornady ammo though.
 
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