What makes the 6.5 Creedmoor such a great long range shooter?

Reynolds, I know we have discussed the points of the 6.5 Creedmoor before. For short action I just think the 6.5 Creedmoor is the best. I think the .260, which is a great round, is an example of lazy engineering and case design. It was also horribly marketed by Remington and left to languish. The only current Remington rifle chambered in the .260 is the model 7 and it has a 1-9 twist (The .260 Remington is not a fast enough cartridge, like the .264 Winchester Magnum, to get away with a slow twist rate for 140+ grain bullets). Savage does a better job of chambering rifles in the .260 (1-8 twist) than the cartridge's parent company; think about that for a minute. The 6.5x47 Lapua is also an exceptional round, but was designed for 600 meter competition. Currently no rifle maker chambers this cartridge, but it does have the Lapua brass thing going for it.

The 6.5x284 Norma is probably the best of the 6.5 family (though the same could be said about the 6.5x55 SE if loaded to modern action pressures), but to properly seat long .264 caliber bullets you need a long action. Plus Savage makes rifles chambered in 6.5x284. The original 284, I must admit is pretty cool, a 7mm short action designed to compete with .270. Do you have to long action it though; for modern high BC 7mm bullets? Also Winchester only does seasonal runs on .284 Winchester brass, which means you have to neck up 6.5x284 Norma brass. Does anyone produce rifles chambered in .284 Winchester?
 
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JD0x0 said:
True enough, but one could argue, that the 6.5 is 'better' because it'll generally have less recoil firing a 140grain, than a .30cal firing a 240 grain. And if the 240 grain bullet leaves the muzzle at a lower velocity than a 140grain with an equal BC the 240 grain bullet has a longer flight time, which means it's spending more time being pushed by the wind.
If that 240 grain gets pushed to 2400fps it's got 68.53'' wind drift @ 1000yards. If you took that same bullet, in the same conditions, but hypothetically pushed it 400fps faster, to 2800fps, it only has 55'' of wind drift @ 1000yards.
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Granted, the 240gr would have a longer flight time. But at the same time, the heavier bullet would buck the wind moreso than the 140gr, wouldn't it?
 
Does anyone shoot a .308 Winchester with the 240 grain Sierra Match King? I can see a 300 Winchester Magnum or bigger loaded with them or a 308 Blackout/Whisper for subsonic loads. If so, what velocities are they hurling them at?
 
Geo, my 284 is on a med. length BAT. The way I am with rifles, I might turn it into something else at re-barrel.:D I have been known to do that at times.;) I'm not hung up on short actions. I know they are theoretically supposed to be more accurate, but I have never seen a difference in short and std. considering quality action and quality smithing.
 
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Shane, I really dont see how the .30 will buck the wind better than the .26. B.C. and sectional density seem more important to me than weight.
 
Geo_Erudite asks:
Does anyone shoot a .308 Winchester with the 240 grain Sierra Match King? I can see a 300 Winchester Magnum or bigger loaded with them or a 308 Blackout/Whisper for subsonic loads. If so, what velocities are they hurling them at?
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David Tubb got 2150 fps shooting Sierra 250-gr. HPMK's from his 28" barreled .308 Win. I think a 240 would get away 50 fps faster with equal pressures. 1:8 twists are needed for such loads. These high BC, 30 caliber bullets did great in Palma rifles when no bullet weight was required.
 
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Bart B. said:
David Tubb got 2150 fps shooting Sierra 250-gr. HPMK's from his 28" barreled .308 Win. I think a 240 would get away 50 fps faster with equal pressures. 1:8 twists are needed for such loads. These high BC, t30 caliber bullets did great in Palma rifles when no bullet weight was required.
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Interesting, at 1,000 yards (shooting the Sierra 240s at 2,200 fps in a .308 Winchester) you get about 500 inches (-48.1 MOA) of drop. What range are they shooting at with that load?
 
Geo, that load was shot at 800, 900 and 1000 yards. At a thousand, that 500-inch drop is 50 MOA for competitive shooters who've used the MOA=1" per hundred yards for over a century.

David Tubb told me that load was shooting at least 3/4 MOA at 1000.
 
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