The spectrum of why someone would choose a creedmoor is very wide. Some are shooting a $500 factory rifle with cheap factory ammo that is performing better than the old standbys for deer sized game and that makes them very happy. Reminds me of the comments on the 308 win for years! On the farther end of the spectrum there is the full bore custom guy with a true custom rifle and the best reloading setup. It seems now with lapua brass in the mix, all ends of the spectrum can be pretty happy with a cartridge that is relatively low in recoil and fits a wide range of needs. Nothing magic but that's my take on it.
My example is I had a full custom built by pierce on a pierce action, proof barrel combo and using berger bullets and lapua brass it was the easiest load development I have ever had. 50 total rounds to go from nothing to tragectory validation. I hate to agree but it was VERY easy. I have loaded for 30-06, 25-06, 280ai, 7LRM, 243 win and now the 6.5 creedmoor. The creedmoor was by far the easiest.
My larger caliber hunting rifle build was not complete yet so I had to use my 6.5 creedmoor for all my hunting this fall. 2 coyotes, 2 antelope does, 1 whitetail doe, 1 elk all under 300 yards, an antelope buck at 530 yards and a very big bodied 5x5 Mule deer buck at 450. All were 1 shot kills other than the large Mule deer buck and the only reason for a second shot was he was close to a private land fence and I didn't want to take the chance of him going over the fence.
Everything was taken with the same load. Lapua 6.5 creedmoor brass, 43.1 gr of H4350, CCI BR4 primers and 140 gr berger Elite Hunter bullets. The only ones that even moved after being shot were a doe antelope shot behind the shoulder at 170 yards that ran surprisingly 80 yards and the buck Mule deer shot from 450 yard moved only 15 yard before I shot him again. That buck would have likely tipped over if I waited 3 more seconds!
I will preface my next comment with "I was as surprised as everyone else " when the load development and results were this easy. There is no cartridge that can do "everything for everybody" but I would say for the vast majority of North American hunters (especially because most don't hunt elk or larger animals) it's hard to argue that the 6.5 creedmoor is an excellent cartridge for their application!
