Why is everyone in love with the 6.5 creedmoor?

[Teaman1]

So he has no idea what flat shooting is I'll give you that but he now has a gun that recoils less. And it has been proven again and again that a lighter recoiling rifle is easier for most all people to shoot accurately. Which translate to better shots on game and more ethical kills. You should be happy for him that he is now shooting a gun that is easier for him to shoot that is capable to take most all lower 48 game within a reasonable distance. Even though he doesnt understand how he got there.

No arguments that he will have issues killing deer haha
Now he’s changing his thinking and wanting a Burris eliminator to “reach out there”
Face palm

 

[Reburn]

Can't win them all I guess.

 

[wind gypsy]

No arguments that he will have issues killing deer haha
Now he’s changing his thinking and wanting a Burris eliminator to “reach out there”
Face palm

Burris eliminator, because someone needs to compete with leupold CDS in making people think they can shoot at game longer than they’ve ever hit a target.

 

[Teaman1]

Burris eliminator, because someone needs to compete with leupold CDS in making people think they can shoot at game longer than they’ve ever hit a target.

Exactly.
Talked to a guy last year with a gunwerks rifle and rangefinder, nightforce scope with a custom dial. Told me he was good to 1500 yards with his 300 win mag and 210 grain Berger’s, he’d never shot it past 800 yards though

 

[jscheil]

So he has no idea what flat shooting is I'll give you that but he now has a gun that recoils less. And it has been proven again and again that a lighter recoiling rifle is easier for most all people to shoot accurately. Which translate to better shots on game and more ethical kills. You should be happy for him that he is now shooting a gun that is easier for him to shoot that is capable to take most all lower 48 game within a reasonable distance. Even though he doesnt understand how he got there.

I think there are a couple of factors drawing friends of mine to the 6.5 CM.

1) Lighter recoil - more enjoyable on the range and more accuracy in the field (lack of anticipatory flinch)
2) Billed as flat-shooting .308 replacement
3) Still relatively new & shiny, but popular enough that ammo is abundant & message boards are full of reading fodder


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[Teaman1]

If that’s what’s a person is looking for, not a bad choice

 

[NMframed]

OP I don’t understand why you are so bugged in the first place that your friend bought a gun that he wanted to buy with his own money. It doesn’t mean you have to go buy that caliber, he’s not spending your money so why doesn’t even matter to you enough for you to start this thread? If my buddy said he was going to buy a 6.5 CM I’d probably say “cool deal” and not have a second thought about it. I don’t want one because I have other guns that will kill anything I want to shoot at the distance I feel comfortable shooting. Doesn’t mean that I’m bothered that other people like them. I guess I just have more important things to worry about

 

[sndmn11]

Exactly.
Talked to a guy last year with a gunwerks rifle and rangefinder, nightforce scope with a custom dial. Told me he was good to 1500 yards with his 300 win mag and 210 grain Berger’s, he’d never shot it past 800 yards though

I think a big contributor to that mindset is people shooting at steel and not paper. Hit steel = yay even though most don't know where on the steel they hit. Heck most I have seen at the range strictly go off sound and have zero spotting optics set up.

 

[jscheil]

If that’s what’s a person is looking for, not a bad choice

Agree with you on that.


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[Teaman1]

OP I don’t understand why you are so bugged in the first place that your friend bought a gun that he wanted to buy with his own money. It doesn’t mean you have to go buy that caliber, he’s not spending your money so why doesn’t even matter to you enough for you to start this thread? If my buddy said he was going to buy a 6.5 CM I’d probably say “cool deal” and not have a second thought about it. I don’t want one because I have other guns that will kill anything I want to shoot at the distance I feel comfortable shooting. Doesn’t mean that I’m bothered that other people like them. I guess I just have more important things to worry about

Once again, poorly worded original post. I’m not saying the 6.5 creedmoor is inadequate or can’t tank game (previously stated that I told my friend his 6.5 could kill elk just fine). I just don’t see anything special about it other than having lower recoil.
The post is more targeted at why the media portrays it to be so great. This coming from a guy who doesn’t practice past 400 yards so I don’t look at BCs too much anymore. The friend wanted (his words) more knock down power and flatter shooting out to 600 yards absolute max ( he’s never shot that far, but I encourage him to practice) recoil was not a factor in his choice. Just some online articles with drop charts showing a 6.5 overtaking other cartridges around 6-700 yards, totally overlooking the ranges where his bullet will actually make contact in his real world hunting conditions.

 

[gelton]

I'll play. Initially, I was impressed by all the hype of a 6.5 creed, I am not getting any younger and had a bit of interest for a lighter recoiling load but never really looked into the ballistics. But here is a true story that encapsulates what I think the OP was originally trying to say.

I have a neighbor that I am taking on his first elk hunt this year. When discussing the hunt he asked me what my limit was on a long shot. I will be shooting .300 WM and have trained extensively at long-range shooting out to 1200 yards. I said, well if everything was perfect maybe 1,000 yards (knowing that the area I hunt in that an 80-yard shot is way more likely than anything past 750)....how about you?

He replies - oh I was thinking 1,600...on elk...with a 6.5 Creedmoor, with a round that has never been chronographed and with ballistics he has never looked into.

That, my friends, is how powerful the marketing and mystique of the 6.5 Creedmore is.

So this got me to start looking into the ballistics, and I agree, for large-sized game like Elk, they leave much to be desired. I even had to talk to my wife about it to ask her how to break it to him without sounding like an asshole that the maximum effective range on Elk with a 6.5 is 4-600 yards depending on which of the "experts" that you listen to...instead of telling him, I sent him a forum post on the subject and let him figure it out himself.

 

[Cody_W]

There are so many great cartridges nowadays and even more great bullets. Everything is a personal preference dependent upon a specific application. 6.5 isn’t my choice for a lot of things but you can’t argue that this drop chart is an awesome range gun with little recoil.

 

[Overdrive]

I think a big contributor to that mindset is people shooting at steel and not paper. Hit steel = yay even though most don't know where on the steel they hit. Heck most I have seen at the range strictly go off sound and have zero spotting optics set up.

My mindset is I'm shooting 10" diameter steel at variable distances, hitting a that steel is a kill zone shot on what I'm hunting. So when I hear the impact and see the steel swing in my scope I know it's a dead animal. I do some other things too but won't bore you with the details.

 

[pirogue]

It’s very popular among women and frail bodied men, as you hear so many promote the “light recoil”

 

[Donjuan]

I've just wondered why it skyrocketed in popularity when the 260 and 6.5 Swede have been around so long? Not sure what I'm missing

 

[JohnJohnson]

Well there's a couple sides to the appeal for various people. The 6.5CM gets a bad rap for people's obsession with it in regards to long range hunting/shooting they're not capable of doing. Having said that, the 6.5CM WOULD make it easier for them to develop those skills if they ever chose to as opposed to a large magnum. Much like it makes reaching out to those distances more comfortable for PRS shooters where it gained a lot of its initial popularity.

The conventional wisdom in this country's gun culture (which usually sucks) for the past few decades is that in order to get flatter bullet trajectories you had to shoot a 300 Remchesterby shitkicking magnum of one flavor or another. So there is pushback from that old mindset of guys who take some weird masochistic pride in their rifles kicking the shit out of them. Many of them don't actually shoot their magnums much because it's both expensive and, over even a moderate-length shooting session, uncomfortable. Additionally, many of them have flinches that they don't even notice which impairs their ability to shoot accurately.

the tl;dr is that the 6.5CM gets a bad rap from two angles despite it being a valid cartridge choice for hunting in the lower 48. Its low recoil coupled with its relatively flat trajectory and good sectional density make it a great hunting round that doesn't hurt your shoulder or wallet as much to practice with. Some of the pushback to it is legitimate (ill equipped longrange hunters) and some of it comes from an unhealthy mindset of gun culture in the US.

I've just wondered why it skyrocketed in popularity when the 260 and 6.5 Swede have been around so long? Not sure what I'm missing

I can't comment on the Swede but you have Remington to blame for the 260 Rem's relative obscurity compared to the 6.5CM. They didn't support the cartridge nearly well enough so when Hornady came out with the 6.5CM which has almost identical ballistics and way better support/supply, it made it an easy choice.

 

[wind gypsy]

I can't comment on the Swede but you have Remington to blame for the 260 Rem's relative obscurity compared to the 6.5CM. They didn't support the cartridge nearly well enough so when Hornady came out with the 6.5CM which has almost identical ballistics and way better support/supply, it made it an easy choice.

Support is one thing but im pretty sure rem chambered the 260 with 9 twist barrels. Combine that with a case length that doesn’t play nice with long bullets and their magazine lengths and you have a fail. The 6.5 creed is a better designed case for standard short action magazines.

 

[Newtosavage]

I've just wondered why it skyrocketed in popularity when the 260 and 6.5 Swede have been around so long? Not sure what I'm missing

You're missing a very fundamental part of loading long, high-bc modern bullets in short action rifles that are limited to 2.80" magazines. That's what you're missing.

That said, I rebarreled one of my Savages to 6.5 CM for about 6 months, and then went back to my 7mm-08's. I still don't miss the Creedmoor and probably never will.

 

[Donjuan]

You're missing a very fundamental part of loading long, high-bc modern bullets in short action rifles that are limited to 2.80" magazines. That's what you're missing.

That said, I rebarreled one of my Savages to 6.5 CM for about 6 months, and then went back to my 7mm-08's. I still don't miss the Creedmoor and probably never will.

Ah. Thanks

 

[Ingo]

You're missing a very fundamental part of loading long, high-bc modern bullets in short action rifles that are limited to 2.80" magazines. That's what you're missing.

That said, I rebarreled one of my Savages to 6.5 CM for about 6 months, and then went back to my 7mm-08's. I still don't miss the Creedmoor and probably never will.

I had a really nice shooting 7mm-08 that I wish I would have kept. It copper-fouled so bad I wanted to get away from it even though it shot well.

I may go back there in the future. I have a heavy-barreled .260 Rem that I built specifically with Coues deer hunting in mind but it's not the most practical gun (bottom in pic). I would have done better I think to get a 7mm-08 or Creedmoor tube for the short-action.

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