6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

[RidgeRebel]

Just curious what others thoughts were on the 6.5 creedmoor. I just picked one up in a Savage 10 Predator. Seems like it should be a shooter. I have seen a few reports on the cartridge and some seem to like it but others say there is nothing special about it. From what I have seen it looks like the creedmoor is right on the heels of the 6.5-284 in a smaller and cheaper cartridge. Plus relatively cheap match ammo. Anyway just looking for others opinions.

Thanks
Bob

 

[Tomg]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

I'm in the process of having one built on Rem 700, I think it should be a great little cartridge. I've been having a problem finding brass at the moment. I have some ordered thru Cabelas but its on backorder.

Tom

 

[Mudcat-NC]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

Yes, its not going anywhere....simple, effective and for factory ammo, priced attractively. And easy to reload and lots of good bullets available.

 

[B.Morgan]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

I love the 6.5cm. I know it's here to stay with me...Get on http://creedmoorsports.com/store/home.php and order what you need. The prices for good factory stuff is cheap enough to buy loaded stuff first and then you have your brass. This caliber shoots well and haven't had a gun that doesn't shoot it well.

 

[Mgordon]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

I hope so!!! I really enjoy this round and so do a lot of shooters. It give people a little different options for 6.5 Short Action type calibers.

-Shorter Case Over All Length with similar performance to the .260 Rem.
-Less expensive factory ammo with load data printed on box.
-Good case design and execution.

I prefer it to the 260 for those reasons.

Mark

 

[JRose]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

Love mine. I really don't see why the factory support for it would go away. Seems more and more builders and companies are offering CM chamberings. Hell, George at GAP is even developing a 6mm CM chambering that is showing promise.

 

[Rob01]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

Here to stay. Been shooting my GAP 6.5 Creedmoor for almost 4 years now and love it.

 

[sandwarrior]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

I think it is. Hornady did it right producing ammo and brass in equal quantities so the shooters themselves could decide what they want to shoot. It's pretty much a reshaped .260 for better efficiency and capacity.

Anyhow, .264shooter was using them this past August and shooting accurately to one mile. He was using 123 Lapua's. It would have been interesting to see how any of the other 'off the shelf' offerings Hornady produced, did. Although, I imagine any reloader could duplicate that now that there is a decent range of powders and bullets to choose from.

 

[RidgeRebel]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

Good to hear, I am pretty excited to get shooting it. The Sportsmans Wharehouse here has the brass in stock. I just need to get some dies. What bullet do you guys prefer. I am probably going to start with the 140 grain A-max.

 

[JFComfort]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

Going on 2 years + with the 6.5 Creedmoor and have been very happy with it. Everything from plinking in the desert to practical rifle matches it has been excellents. Great affordable factory match ammo and easy to handload for. Hornady has done most of the work for you and the load is on the box!!

 

[JFComfort]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: elksniper</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Good to hear, I am pretty excited to get shooting it. The Sportsmans Wharehouse here has the brass in stock. I just need to get some dies. What bullet do you guys prefer. I am probably going to start with the 140 grain A-max. </div></div>

I have had great luck with the 140 A-Max, excellent bullet. Right now I'm shooting the 139 Lapua Scenar and it shoot amazing also. The only bullet my rifle didn't really like was the 142 Sierra but I'm sure I could of gotten them to shoot if I mess with it more. The 140 Sierra, 140 VLD, 139 Scenar and 140 A-Max were all gtg!

 

[Anvil]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

I don't see why not. I am extremely impressed with this round. It is my favorite round to shoot. It has minimal recoil, very efficient, and is extremely affordable to reload. I also prefer this round to the 260. Hornady did it right when they developed it.

 

[broke_again]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

I certainly hope so, I just built a rifle in this round. I love it so far. I shot the rifle to a mile with factory ammo!

 

[triceratops3]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

I sure hope so, I have one in the works with a savage action.

 

[dvdt]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

I have a 6.5CM and it's a hammer. Mark (SAC) built it for me.

The only thing I'm not happy with is the brass. My primer pockets loosened up after 2 firings on most of my brass. It was kind of a let down consider the brass can get pretty hard to find at times and isn't exactly cheap. It's still reasonable though.

I've had great luck with it though. I agree with others, it almost makes sense to buy factory ammo, shoot it and reload. I would have done that but the 140 AMAX booolits were hard to find at the time. I bought the 139gr scenars but I think the clear winner in the 6.5mm game right now is the 142SMK.

I wouldn't hesitate to build another one. I went with a .260 in a gas platform but mostly because Win 7mm-08 is dirt cheap and I wanted to play with extra steps of reloading for it.

 

[Little Z28]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

Guys with 6.5CM's and .260's, which is your favorite? I'm about to do a build and cannot for the life of me make this decision....

 

[hank440]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

.260

 

[SONIC SAAMI]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: dvdt</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

The only thing I'm not happy with is the brass. My primer pockets loosened up after 2 firings on most of my brass. It was kind of a let down consider the brass can get pretty hard to find at times and isn't exactly cheap. It's still reasonable though.

</div></div>

Strange , I'm getting 10 loads out of the brass

 

[HillBilly_Sniper]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

Id have to say 260. Only because im in the early steps of building a 260AI.

 

[PSYOPS]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

I only have a creed and I LOVE IT!!

...talk about a "point and shoot" caliber

flat, fast and forgiving

My creed!

 

[FALex]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

a gentleman we shoot with ended up getting rid of his CM due to his primer pockets loosening after (IIRC) 5 loadings. What could cause this? On the other hand, my buddy has a Savage 12 LRP in 6.5 CM that is an absolute hammer! I love that beast.

 

[THUNDERBOLT68]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

That primer pocket was fixed several months back with new brass design...
All the new brass should be good to go...

 

[sav338lapua]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

love mine its the sweetest rifle i own

 

[memilanuk]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: THUNDERBOLT68</div><div class="ubbcode-body">That primer pocket was fixed several months back with new brass design...
All the new brass should be good to go...</div></div>

What exactly did they change? I heard they finally figured out that washing the brass after the annealing step give boogered case mouths, etc. so they were going to skip that step, leaving the brass with its freshly annealed look (like Lapua). What other changes were there that would actually affect the primer pockets?

 

[ANGLICOMarine]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

I have a Surgeon actioned 6.5 CM and it IS a hammer, though I have personally had better luck with Sierra bullets. I get 5+ reloads with no sign of pressure strain on the cases. The reloading instructions are on the boxes of ammo (41.5gr 4350 with 140gr bullet and a federal match primer). I shoot out to 1000 yards regularly and it does very well. I've attached two load development groups of five rounds each for your review.

I shot the below group during load dev with Sierra 142 Match kings with 41.0 gr 4350:

I shot this group with the factory 140 A-Max:

Bottom line I think that they can shoot just about as good as anything and the components are inexpensive and pretty available if you know where to look. I think it will be around for a while...

Good luck!

 

[sandwarrior]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: elksniper</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Good to hear, I am pretty excited to get shooting it. The Sportsmans Wharehouse here has the brass in stock. I just need to get some dies. What bullet do you guys prefer. I am probably going to start with the 140 grain A-max. </div></div>

Believe it or not, 123 lapua's or Sierra 123 SMK's. More velocity equals flatter trajectory. Giving up only 7"-8" drift in a 10 mph wind @ 1k. SMK's are pretty close to the Lapua's as far as I have shot them.

 

[George Mac]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

I am a fan of the 6.5 Creedmoor as well. I get similar results out to 1K with the factory 140's or my Lapua 123 handloads.

5 shot group load test

 

[Sportin Wood]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

It better stick around.... I am building one right now. I have a little brass and some loaded rounds. By the time I shoot all the factory 120 ammo... I will have 200 pieces of once shot brass... then its time to start reloading!!

 

[konabully]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

I will be swapping the barrel on my .308 Rem 700 with a Schneider 1-8" twist 6.5CM hopefully soon.

 

[vman]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

I dont think the 6.5CM is going anywhere.

It will be some time before the battle between 6.5CM/6.5x47/.260 is won. By that time we will all be due for a new barrel anyway

 

[SFree]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

The 6.5 Creed works in bolt gun or gas gun. With the exception of the defacto .223 and .308 I don't know of another factory match grade cartridge that operates in both systems effortlessly.

 

[427Cobra]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Little Z28</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Guys with 6.5CM's and .260's, which is your favorite? I'm about to do a build and cannot for the life of me make this decision.... </div></div>

The 260 has choices when it comes to brass, the CM is limited in choices of brass but is a way more efficient round, 2 years ago I built a 260, today it would be CM, Hornady has stepped up production of brass and loaded ammo, the ability to go to Cabelas and buy loaded CM is a major plus.

 

[gau17]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

Psst. Midway has some brass in-stock.

 

[jwpark]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 427Cobra</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
The 260 has choices when it comes to brass, the CM is limited in choices of brass but is a way more efficient round, 2 years ago I built a 260, today it would be CM, Hornady has stepped up production of brass and loaded ammo, the ability to go to Cabelas and buy loaded CM is a major plus.</div></div>

I think the CM will wane over time to the .260 since they're ballistically similar. But CM only has Hornady making brass and ammo for it. Where as the .260 has Remington, Nosler, Lapua, and the .308 brass family (resized) to load with. It also has several companies making ammo for it offering different bullet choices for it. Besides Remington, companies like Federal, Black Hills, Nosler, Cor-bon, HSM, and SouthWest Ammo offer .260 ammunition.

I might be a bit bias though, since I went with .260 for my build.

 

[VKC]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

I hope the 6.5 Creedmoor is here is stay, as it was the 6.5 caliber that I picked.

Hornandy has reasonably priced match grade ammo, which is a great plus. The brass options are not as great as 260rem or 6.5x284, but hopefully it will improve with time.

The biggest advantage however is better compatibility with semi-auto AR platforms than the other 6.5s.

 

[dvdt]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: DaveD</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: dvdt</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

The only thing I'm not happy with is the brass. My primer pockets loosened up after 2 firings on most of my brass. It was kind of a let down consider the brass can get pretty hard to find at times and isn't exactly cheap. It's still reasonable though.

</div></div>

Strange , I'm getting 10 loads out of the brass </div></div>

To be clear, I LOVE my 6.5CM. I'm very, very happy with it. Mark built a hammer for me.

I have 500rnds of brass I bought about this time last year (Oct/Nov-ish 2010) and it is brass lot # 4100105. Maybe I got some of the 'old' brass that still had the problem with primer pockets. However, I understood that was supposed to be resolved after the first initial run of the brass. I can't confirm that.

 

[JByrd]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

Hornady thinks so,and a few other people too

 

[Tacreloader]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

6.5CM is an awesome round and I have one on the way from Benchmark. Sold the first one, bad choice. 6.5 CM is here to stay!

 

[Jhnmdahl]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

Enough people love the 6.5 Creedmoor that it'll stick around, even if it doesn't kill off the .260 or other 6.5mm rounds.

 

[memilanuk]

Re: 6.5 Creedmoor- Here to stay?

I think if it weren't for Lapua coming out with brass for the .260 Rem, the 6.5 CM would be a whole lot stronger now than it is. There really was no way to anticipate that move, though.