Struggling to see the point of 6.5's

[49ereric]

New fads-cartridges always attract shooters but new cartridges are not really needed despite all the hype. it started long ago with the belted magnums and I doubt it will ever end cuz just it is human nature to explore.
I have 2 belted magnums I never use
8mm/.338 wildcat on a 42 k98 and a 6.5 Remington mag on a type 44 Arisaka bought em used from a older friend 20 years ago.
I just use a .308 or 06 come deer season.

 

[rickjames80]

I think the better question might be - what are you looking for?

This is an excellent point. You're missing (basically) nothing if you already have a 7mm-08. Especially if we're talking hunting (4-500yd) range. If I was looking for a short action rifle that would shoot high BC bullets at moderate velocity for hunting and target shooting. The 6.5 is excellent for that. It does it with less powder and recoil than say a 270 win. The 243, 260, 308, 7mm-08 and so on are also great choices. Lots of overlap here. If you're not a 6.5 guy that's fine, but it's hard to ignore how well they work.

 

[grfox92]

I've been saying this for years. And I'll get flamed for saying it but I don't care. The 6.5CM is trendy. It's new. It's slightly better performing then long standing calibers.

I have a .308, what would I gain by going to a 6.5CM? At 500 yards .308 in 150 grain drops 47.1" a 143 grain 6.5 CM drops 44.4. Would you really change where you were aiming on that 500 yard shot?

The CM carries its energy further yes. But the motto on Rokslide as of late is "Bullets over headstamps." So according to that motto that also doesn't really matter if your using the right bullets.

I've thought about buying a 6.5cm in the Ruger American Predator. Everyone claims sub MOA for only $450. But I saw that it offered in 7mm-08 and honestly that would be my choice. If I went with the CM I would neeed to grow a Man Bun and start drinking Craft Beer and that's just not my style.



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[Go West Old Man]

……… barrel rechambered to 6.5 PRC. When I look up the load data for that cartridge, I'm not impressed by it either. Nor am I all that impressed with the 6.5-284 that is supposed to be such a great "long range" cartridge (although I guess the PRC is supposed to replace it?). So what gives?

Oh man, @Newtosavage has thrown down the gauntlet to the masses.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Why do you care what other people are doing with 6.5s? If you’re a dedicated and proficient 7mm reloaded and killer, stick with that.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

I've been saying this for years. And I'll get flamed for saying it but I don't care. The 6.5CM is trendy. It's new. It's slightly better performing then long standing calibers.

I have a .308, what would I gain by going to a 6.5CM? At 500 yards .308 in 150 grain drops 47.1" a 143 grain 6.5 CM drops 44.4. Would you really change where you were aiming on that 500 yard shot?

The CM carries its energy further yes. But the motto on Rokslide as of late is "Bullets over headstamps." So according to that motto that also doesn't really matter if your using the right bullets.

I've thought about buying a 6.5cm in the Ruger American Predator. Everyone claims sub MOA for only $450. But I saw that it offered in 7mm-08 and honestly that would be my choice. If I went with the CM I would neeed to grow a Man Bun and start drinking Craft Beer and that's just not my style.



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I’ve been shooting .260 Rem (identical to 6.5 CM) since 1998. I can assure you that the benefits the chambering offers has nothing to do with it being “trendy”.

Has the popularity of 6.5 CM and YouTube videos helped create some un-due hype? Sure. Does that change its abilities as a cartridge? Heck no.

 

[ETtikka]

Approached by DeMille, David Emary, chief ballistician for Hornady Mfg. Co. and close friend to DeMille, had a simple solution to the 6mm XC dilemma: Hornady would commercially manufacture the load—or a similar one. But first, Emary wanted to get it right the first time, so he suggested that DeMille make a wish list for the perfect cartridge. DeMille’s list included: magazine length and low recoil (for rapid fire); bullets with high ballistic coefficients; nothing proprietary; flat-shooting and inherently accurate; not a barrel burner; recipe printed on the box (for handloaders); two bullet weights for both across-the-course and long range; comparable in price to the .308 Win. and readily available components. “In short, the idea was to produce one cartridge for anything out to 1000 yards,” added DeMille.

 

[WeiserBucks]

Nor am I all that impressed with the 6.5-284 that is supposed to be such a great "long range" cartridge.

Have you had the chance to use a 6.5x284 at 1000 yards vs anything else you mentioned?

 

[Fatcamp]

Easy to load. Easy to shoot.

Lack of recoil is awesome to me. Not that I can't shoot a heavier recoiling gun, I just don't want to.

I have one rifle and cartridge I load for and shoot at big game. Not interested in bouncing around as to me it's a tool for hunting, not a hobby.

 

[Ringtail]

The only thing that intrigues me about the 6.5 creedmoor is loading it with Reloader 26 and seeing if I can get it to perform the way I’ve been reading some of these other people are getting it too. I’m not advocating hunting with the 147 eldm which there are several who do but if one could push that to 2800 to 2850 it would easily outperform the 7-08 and the 308 due to those crazy bc numbers that bullet has. Those velocities are pushing 6.5 prc numbers. But other than that I don’t really have the use for that cartridge along with my others. I’ve just heard that stuff is fairy dust for a creedmoor. It may not produce good accuracy though.

 

[Deywalker]

Low recoil, higher BCs so less wind drift and more retained velocity, all with readily available high quality factory ammo and rifle offerings. I can't really see any advantage that 7mm-08 has over the 6.5 creedmoor.

 

[mt100gr.]

The only thing that intrigues me about the 6.5 creedmoor is loading it with Reloader 26 and seeing if I can get it to perform the way I’ve been reading some of these other people are getting it too. I’m not advocating hunting with the 147 eldm which there are several who do but if one could push that to 2800 to 2850 it would easily outperform the 7-08 and the 308 due to those crazy bc numbers that bullet has. Those velocities are pushing 6.5 prc numbers. But other than that I don’t really have the use for that cartridge along with my others. I’ve just heard that stuff is fairy dust for a creedmoor. It may not produce good accuracy though.

I'll absolutely advocate for hunting with the 147 ELD "match" bullet out of a creedmoor over RL26!! And the creedmoor pushes a 156gr Berger at competitive velocities with RL26, too! Even from shorter barreled rifles.

 

[MaraviaDave]

From my perspective a 6.5 CM is an anemic hunting cartridge, that is best suited for deer sized game, or smaller, inside 500 yards. Where it shines is using it as a high round count training rifle. Ideally set up using the same stock, trigger and scope as your hunting rifle. Use the trainer to learn shooting in the wind and to refine positional shooting techniques.

 

[Ringtail]

I'll absolutely advocate for hunting with the 147 ELD "match" bullet out of a creedmoor over RL26!! And the creedmoor pushes a 156gr Berger at competitive velocities with RL26, too! Even from shorter barreled rifles.

My father has a Savage ultralight in 6.5 creed and as soon as I can get my hands on some Reloader 26 I am going to start some testing. Do you have any pointers or things to look out for when loading this? Not a lot of data out there.

 

[PredatorSlayer]

Maybe I'll chalk it up to the weird things that happen hunting but the shot that made me sell the rifle was slightly quartering away. Took out both lungs, top of heart, and broke the right front leg just above the joint.
I found 2 tiny drops of blood after I found the deer.
I'm not saying the 6.5 can't drop animals... I'm sure there are lots of hunters w stories like yours.

I treat calibers like I treat guns that aren't accurate. Meaning, if I have a rifle that can't make a decent group or I have a caliber that doesn't perform.. I sell it. There are way too many good rifles and calibers out there to make a non-issue an issue.

Wait…you took a less than ideal shot, it busted a leg, took out both lungs and the heart and you ended up with a dead animal? And you are claiming it didn’t perform?

What the hell is wrong with people? You win the internet for stupid comment of the day good sir!!

 

[thinhorn_AK]

It’s a good low recoiling hunting round for use within 500yds. It’s nothing special and has a lot of crossover between other short action hunting rounds. Ammo availability is good and there are a lot of good bullets available for handloaders. It dosent burn much powder either, I get well over 2700fps out of mine with 37g of varget.

For deer, sheep, goat and caribou it seems like an excellent choice but I’d not pick it for a moose hunt.

When it came out I remember magazine adds pegging it as a 1000yd hunting cartridge which it isn’t. I think lots of people latched on to that and that gives people a bad impression of it. I guess I’d say that since I own a 6.5cm, I see no need for a 7/08.

 

[100 others]

The Creedmoor isn't supposed to knock your socks off with stats. It's an effective dose for deer sized game at medium distances, that is all. The 308/7-08 already filled that niche but I like the 6.5's better BC's for wind. Most 130's should be going about 200fps faster than what you're seeing out of that LRX. Punch in 6-8k feet in the ballistic calculator for deer hunting and it makes a little more sense. Anyone expecting massive knockdown power will be disappointed, but its always been that way for the 308/7-08 too.

 

[KenLee]

Low recoil, higher BCs so less wind drift and more retained velocity, all with readily available high quality factory ammo and rifle offerings. I can't really see any advantage that 7mm-08 has over the 6.5 creedmoor.

Have you ever done much hunting with a 7mm-08?
They seem to perform on game above the specifications of the round.
Hard to appreciate if you haven't sent enough of them to see for yourself (or mostly in my case, sat with kids sending the rounds).
I have a couple accurate 7 mag rifles that haven't been out of the safe since we started using 7mm-08s just over 10 years ago.

 

[Formidilosus]

Have you ever done much hunting with a 7mm-08?
They seem to perform on game above the specifications of the round.
Hard to appreciate if you haven't sent enough of them to see for yourself (or mostly in my case, sat with kids sending the rounds).
I have a couple accurate 7 mag rifles that haven't been out of the safe since we started using 7mm-08s just over 10 years ago.

Well, I don’t know if you consider it much- but the most I’ve done was 35 deer in a week with a 7mm-08…. It does nothing “above the specifications of the round”.
Bullets matter. Good bullets make every cartridge look good. There is zero, as in as close to no observable difference as you can get between any of the mid rounds in killing when seen with like bullets in large numbers of animals. I’ve killed triple digits of game animals with .224, .243, 6.5, and .308 mid size cartridges; and high double digits with 7mm’s. With good bullets no one can watch the video and say what animal was shot with what round by the reaction, nor can anyone walk up and look at a hundred dead animals and the wounds created and say which did which.

Most petiole make conclusions based on insufficient data, with insufficient information, based on small sample sizes, and little to no understand of what they are looking at, with massive amounts of bias.

The amount of people that have killed anough to find the most destructive bullet (read: best killing) projectiles in 6.5 versus 7mm, let alone in .224/.243/etc, and used all of the bullets and calibers to kill large numbers of animals is hopelessly, laughably small. That is why people believe there is some observable difference between any of them.


What 6.5cm gives the market over the 7mm-08 is factory, world class ammo and rifles chambered correctly for that round, with equal hits in the field with measurably less recoil- that is felt and seen with spotting one’s own impacts. At the same recoil level, the 6.5 offers measurably higher hit rates than 7mm’s.

 

[Sled]

For whatever reason, I've found the new 6.5 cartridges to be more precise with a variety of projectiles that others. When compared to the 260rem it feels like apples to oranges when it should be identical. I can't tell you why but if you sample 100 production rifles off the shelf, 10 of each fancy headstamp, the newer 6.5's would hold their own in multiple shot groups with factory ammo.