Why the 6.5 caliber?

[gvjm]

I'm still waiting to be wowed. I spent a lot of money building an AR-10 in 6.5 CM. And with 2 harvests under my belt I'm not seeing anything special. But I want to, I really want to! But I've hunted with a lot of calibers looking for that perfect deer round and so far have only been impressed with the 25-06. Others have suffered from overkill and under kill. I think my biggest issue is that I hunt in Texas and shots are almost always under 200 yards. I'm starting to believe that at 200 there a better calibers. But I'm not giving up. I need a few more kills to say definitively.

 

[Davew223]

Competition breeds innovation. It took off mostly due to the use of the 6.5 Creed in the PRS Series competitions and like matches which have largely taken over for 3 Gun in popularity. 3 Gun and USPSA gave us huge advancements in low power variable rifle optics, pistol innovations, AR compensators etc. PRS is giving us "reasonable" priced precision rifles like the Ruger RPR, medium to high power dial-able optics, reticle options, all kinds of shooting bags and the 6.5 Creedmore.

"The 6.5 Creedmoor came onto the scene just about a decade later as a result of the work of Dave Emary of Hornady and Dennis DeMille of Creedmoor Sports, who paired to come up with a long-range target cartridge. The 6.5mm bore diameter was an obvious choice, but the .260 Remington case was too long to allow the use of the high B.C. bullets and still maintain the maximum overall length suitable for use in a short-action magazine. To stay within the confines of that magazine limit, Emary reached for the little-known .30 T/C case, itself an attempt at generating true .30-06 Springfield velocities from a short-action cartridge, bettering the .308s velocity." American Hunter article

The round has a great trajectory to a little over 1000 yards that is right there with the .284 A-Max out of a 7 Mag, with mild enough recoil that you can spot your own hits (or misses) on long range targets with a good stock and while using good fundamentals.

For punching holes in paper and ringing steel under a clock it is hard to beat although the 6MM Dasher is gaining momentum. For hunting with 6.5's, I would go to a 260 Rem in a heartbeat. Everything the Creed does, the 260 does better with more recoil.

 

[John Grimm]

Just out of curiosity, what's the standard barrel life of a 6.5 CM? I've seen 308 last a long time. My M24 with the rock creek barrel is well into 5k rounds and only getting better groups.

 

[skinnyjk]

6.5 bullets vs 270,284,308. Why has the 6.5 taken off and if you believe the hype - taken over? I have been sucked into the hype with one 6.5 PRC with a second to follow. Is it just bullet type and availability? The 270 bullets just can't keep up because they don't exist yet? The 284 must be heavy for caliber like the 308 to compete with the 6.5? Why why why is the 6.5 the new "King"?
Just wondering....

There's a sucker born every minute......

 

[John Polk]

The 6.5 mm caliber has been around for over a 100 years and has been successfully used on lighter game in Scandinavia. A special target loading was developed by Hornaday In the 6.5 Creedmore cartridge. There is nothing special about 6.5 mm as opposed to any other cartridge so don't believe the hype.

6.5 bullets vs 270,284,308. Why has the 6.5 taken off and if you believe the hype - taken over? I have been sucked into the hype with one 6.5 PRC with a second to follow. Is it just bullet type and availability? The 270 bullets just can't keep up because they don't exist yet? The 284 must be heavy for caliber like the 308 to compete with the 6.5? Why why why is the 6.5 the new "King"?
Just wondering....

The laws of physics haven't changed and don't be misled by all the hype

6.5 bullets vs 270,284,308. Why has the 6.5 taken off and if you believe the hype - taken over? I have been sucked into the hype with one 6.5 PRC with a second to follow. Is it just bullet type and availability? The 270 bullets just can't keep up because they don't exist yet? The 284 must be heavy for caliber like the 308 to compete with the 6.5? Why why why is the 6.5 the new "King"?
Just wondering....

6.5 bullets vs 270,284,308. Why has the 6.5 taken off and if you believe the hype - taken over? I have been sucked into the hype with one 6.5 PRC with a second to follow. Is it just bullet type and availability? The 270 bullets just can't keep up because they don't exist yet? The 284 must be heavy for caliber like the 308 to compete with the 6.5? Why why why is the 6.5 the new "King"?
Just wondering....

6.5 bullets vs 270,284,308. Why has the 6.5 taken off and if you believe the hype - taken over? I have been sucked into the hype with one 6.5 PRC with a second to follow. Is it just bullet type and availability? The 270 bullets just can't keep up because they don't exist yet? The 284 must be heavy for caliber like the 308 to compete with the 6.5? Why why why is the 6.5 the new "King"?
Just wondering....

 

[DSheetz]

I kind of think that some of the reason that it has taken awhile for us in the U.S. to start using the 6.5 rounds is that we tended to go with what our military used taught by our fathers and grandfathers and that is what they knew about and mostly what was redly available from any store in the U.S. .

 

[Groot]

I do not have a 6.5 of any flavor currently, and was thinking about getting a 6 creed barrel to replace my heavy varmint 308 barrel since I do a decent amount of groundhog and hunting i figure the 6mm would be a good blend of speed and energy for both. But I cant help but think about the growing popularity of the 6.5 creed, I think it is continuing to grow and grow because people can buy a variety of different factory ammo between 20-30 dollars. I even saw a few below 20 dollars the last I checked. And every other brand has to come out with their own twist of 6.5 to capitalize on. Weatherby and Nosler came out with their speed freaks, weatherby and hornady both came out with a more modest "magnum" 6.5, when it comes down to it the argument can be made that the 6.5 does everything the 308 or 708 does. And as stated earlier in this thread, factory rifles are available in almost all rifles low end and high end, that are twisted for the bullets that make 6.5s shine. Which has been said over and over.

 

[Hal The Slayer]

Ok,Ole Timer's: Remember back in the day when your Colt's and Winchester's were 44-40's,ect. I guess I could go back in the old west days and pick out some caliper's that no one would think of replacing.But as time moves on we as a people seem to forget history repeats its self.We invent new bullets,caliper's which improves the old ones ,same as we do with everything else.I think what we are seeing is the evolution in the gun world change as it did in early history.I guess to sum it up is can you remember back in the days of your parents things were simple and honest and shared what they had with their neighbor's in a time of need.This is kinda like the gun world that we so much love today,were seeing changes come,but the knowledge of the old timer's triumph on which is a part of our history will never be changed,because we always reverence the knowledge they give us.I could go on but I think we know what I'm saying.So much for my 2 cents worth !

 

[thwatson2]

Branding and marketing! We can get any caliber to perform well. But which one will shine today, the one that gets marketed the best? I have 6.5 Creedmoor and 6.5-300 weatherby, both shoot straight and both drop animals, but I'll take my 220 swift and 300 win mag any day of the week over them. Just opinion

 

[Buska]

6.5 bullets vs 270,284,308. Why has the 6.5 taken off and if you believe the hype - taken over? I have been sucked into the hype with one 6.5 PRC with a second to follow. Is it just bullet type and availability? The 270 bullets just can't keep up because they don't exist yet? The 284 must be heavy for caliber like the 308 to compete with the 6.5? Why why why is the 6.5 the new "King"?
Just wondering....

It's cool and everything but definitely has been over hyped. There's tons of bullet options as well that helps. More bullets are starting to surface for the less popular calibers like the 270 making it a wash or even a better choice ballistically (depending on the case) if that's what someone wants. The Berger 140-170, Cutting Edge Lazer 150, Nosler ABLR 150 and supposedly they've got a new 165, Hornady 145 ELDX, etc.

Even the 25s are slowly gaining traction in the bullet game with the 131 gr Bullet by Blackjack. G7 is 330 or something like that. Pretty interesting stuff.

Bullets are so good anymore I think caliber is less significant but just a thought

 

[ntsqd]

In '85-'86 my boss at the LGS told me that 6.5 was the most under-appreciated bore size in the US and that it would eventually get the recognition that it deserved. He felt that the .264WM and the 6.5 RM did the bore a disservice. Too much, too soon and in the wrong combos. At that time he had already spent 4 decades in the firearms business starting as a snot-nosed teen behind the counter at his LGS. Mike taught me much more than I realized and was right about a lot of things. It tickles me to see him right about this too.

 

[Greyfox]

Just out of curiosity, what's the standard barrel life of a 6.5 CM? I've seen 308 last a long time. My M24 with the rock creek barrel is well into 5k rounds and only getting better groups.

Most of the shooters in our PRS League start to see .25MOA+ accuracy degradation and flyers around 2200-2500 rounds shooting high volume strings in hot summer weather.

 

[Timnterra]

Initially I thought you were asking about the popularity of the 6.5 cartridges, I believe that is directly attributable to the availability of great high bc bullets. After reading your post again I had to rethink my response. "Why did the gun industry choose the 6.5 to develop and leave others behind?"
I think there is a beautiful balance found at the 6.5mm diameter bore. I remember not too long ago the 7mm bore had a better selection of high bc bullets than the 6.5, however to achieve the same BC those bullets weigh close to 200gr that equates to some serious recoil energy. Had the mfgs gone down to 6mm instead of 6.5 we would be looking at bullets in the 120gr range which some would think too light for big game hunting. Lots of competition shooters have dropped down to 6mm from 6.5 to lessen recoil and component costs only giving up a slight edge in bc, but most of the hunting world would not make that compromise. As others have said, the twist rates of existing platforms dictates ammunition sales and production as a byproduct. Mfgs won't invest in tooling to make bullets that won't sell so the .25 caliber languishes when it could fill the same spot as the 6.5. The 270 is close but has the same high BC recoil problem that the 7mm does. I think in the end it boils down to being the best balance of bullet weight to BC ratio and the 6.5mm bore has enough weight for hunting medium game and light enough recoil to shoot comfortably for extended range sessions.

 

[rugers]

Plain down truth it's a good cartridge been that way for 100 yrs, not really popular until recently, started hunting with the 6.5 x 55 50 some years ago people would say what's that ,got some strange comments. But now with the advent of a bunch of new and excellent bullets it's a pretty much do anything caliber ( with in reason ). Accurate, low recoil,