6.5 vs 6 creedmoor whats am i gaining?

[bulldog5477]

So i have a question for someone smarter than i am when it comes to rifle ballistics/prs. I recently ordered a 6mm barrel blank and was planning on either doing a 6 dasher or 6 creed with it, its going to be a prs rig based off of a rem 700. Anyways the question i have is, what am i gaining going to a 6mm... i ran the ballistics of a few 6mm bullet choices with relatively average speeds and compared them to my 6.5 creedmoor data of my current rig and i'm just not seeing the advantages of them? for the 110smk my ballistics basically line up with my creed (drop and drift are identical) running the 140 rdf's but with about a thousand less rounds of barrel life. I just cant seem to find the big advantage of the 6mm round? hoping someone can give me a little incite into what makes the 6mm a more effective competition round than the 6.5mm. Thanks in advance for the help guys!

 

[whiskeysierra762]

The 6CM should be several hundred FPS faster than the 6.5CM and with the 110 at close to the same BC as the 140's they should not have the same drop and drift.
The 6CM with a 110 should be more of a ballistic match to the 6.5 SAUM with a 140.
What speeds are you using in your ballistic calculator when running the comparisons?

 

[lash]

What whiskeysierra762 said. You have to compare apples to apples if you expect a solid answer. A 6.5 creed running hot should be around 2900 and a 6 creed running normal will make 3050-3100 easily. If you are comparing projectiles, you need to compare the good high BC 105-107-110s to the high BC 140s.

 

[morganlamprecht]

the main thing is less recoil...will have less drop and maybe slightly less drift depending on bullet selections, but its not really enough to matter in the big picture unless youre one of those people who obsess over numbers on paper

 

[Carl_Ross]

With similarly aggressive bullets the wind drift of equal capacity 6mm's and 6.5mm's is almost identical. The 6 will have a slight edge in drop, but it rarely mattes much.

Depending on the bullet line you're shooting, there can be some money saved on projectiles with a 6mm to help balance out the barrel life reduction. I went from ~ $40/box Berger 6.5's to ~ $31/box Sierra 110's.

To me the biggest 6mm improvement is the reduction in recoil. The biggest loss is the reduction in splash on missed shots. After switching my primary caliber to 6mm this year I've no current plans to switch back. Switching to and sticking with 6's is the trend I see both in the competitive guys locally and the larger trend nationally. Not a hard and fast rule but definitely a trend. Realistically the difference in drift between the lowest and highest capacity 6mm and 6.5mm chamberings commonly used in competition is maybe 20%, assuming top of the food chain jacketed bullets. 20% isn't nothing, but you have to call wind either way and I personally find a 6 Dasher a lot easier to shoot well from compromised positions than a 6.5 Saum.

 

[FUNCTIONAL]

My 6 creed running 3110 with 110smks was trued with .330 G7. My drop to 1k is 6 mils with a drift of 1.4 mil @10mph

just some real world tested data for you to compare. If you are doing just factory hornady 6 creed than no there is no advantage over 6.5.... the factory load runs too slow to get the advantages of the 6mm bullets

 

[mdmp5]

the main thing is less recoil...will have less drop and maybe slightly less drift depending on bullet selections, but its not really enough to matter in the big picture unless youre one of those people who obsess over numbers on paper

This guy is spot on. The 6 does shoot flatter and all, but the recoil is virtually non existent with a brake. If you aren’t shooting competition, I wouldn’t bother with a 6. Especially if you are paying full price for a chambering job, because you are gonna shoot that thing out pretty quick

 

[Robo]

I also think you'll be going thru barrels a bit more often with the 6mm at those speeds vs. most "average" 6.5mm velocities