Why all the hate with 6.5 Creedmoor

qcdude said:
I'm not going to write much. This is my favorite caliber and the best shooting rifle I've ever had. I doubt if I will be able to get to the limits of this setup.
One image says more than hundred of words do.


Well, 1st week of June I took a 350LB black bear.

The shot was easy one, just some 80 yds. Same Sako ammo, both lungs, edge of the liver and even touched the surface of heart leaving a hematoma. The exit wound was same 2", generous blood trail, etc. But bears are tough guys, that one made 200 yds into the taiga, which took me about 1 hour to recover him. Here is a vid for those who curious to know more details. Sorry for the narrative in Russian, there are English subtitles though.
Click to expand...

Cool video! Just a quick question about the Sako ammo though… in the video I recall it said Sako Gamehead, not Deerhead? I’ve seen the 140gr gamehead and 156gr deerhead, just wondering which you used?
 
aboynamedsuita said:
Cool video! Just a quick question about the Sako ammo though… in the video I recall it said Sako Gamehead, not Deerhead? I’ve seen the 140gr gamehead and 156gr deerhead, just wondering which you used?
Click to expand...
Thanks for watching.

Yeah, that was the Gamehead.
I have a box of 156gr Deerhead too but did not have time to try it yet. Those round nose bullets have low BC, so I imagine it will take few clicks of the elevation turret on my PST-II. They must be right medicine for moose though.

I've also bought few boxes of Gamehead Pro - those are Sierra bullets with plastic tips and higher BC - supposed to have a bit even flatter trajectory. Did not yet have time to try them too. My Sauer 100 loves Sako ammo.

I like the energy of 6.5CM and recoil is very low -- all you need to place a perfect shot.
 
ArmedGinger said:
Now that it's coming upon moose season I've been debating on throwing the old 308 barrel back onto the rifle instead of using 6.5 Creedmmor for hunting moose. I haven't hunted Large Game with the 6.5 Creedmoor to know how it will do. I have dropped moose with a .308 though.
Click to expand...

There is 156gr Sako Deerhead ammo with round nose.
https://www.sako.fi/cartridges/sako-cartridges/deerhead
They clearly advertise it for moose and wild hog - who is very tough animal.

The 6.5x55 Swedish has lower power than 6.5CM is, yet all the Swedes and Norway use it to shoot moose for almost over a century already with no problems.

Yes, we like when animal drops in its tracks when using high power calibers. But the usual price of it is large hematome and 4..5 LBs of meat to throw away.

I have a Rem 783 in .308, but since I bought Sauer in 6.5CM, the Rem seems to become the gun safe queen )) I was also trying to shoot 160gr bullets out of that my .308 rifle, but the groupings were just horrible, like 6-7" at 100yds. There was a guy nearby shooting his 300WSM like that, then said: "OK. This is good enough for me to take a deer down" - he is absolutely right. Especially in view that 90% of hunters in QC shoot deer and moose from towers near food plot which is always under 100yds shot.
 
SuperCub said:
It's engineered better than the 260 and has better support from the arms and ammo makers. ----> :)
Click to expand...

Which explains why the numbers from the 260 out perform the Creed with light bullets; in every manual that I have ever read. The only thing that was engineered better was their marketing plan. LOL.
 
Buckmastr said:
You can shorten up the case, lose capacity so you can dangle the bullet. Or seat the bullet a bit deeper in a bigger case. 143’s seat fine, shoot fine out of a 8T 260 at 2.8
Click to expand...

Indeed, and 158s and 160s shoot just fine out of both my 6.5 x 55s, with lots of thump.
 
Meroh said:
Indeed, and 158s and 160s shoot just fine out of both my 6.5 x 55s, with lots of thump.
Click to expand...

........ In a short action? How's the selection of new rifles and ammo for the 6.5x55? -------> :)


Quite simply, the 6.5CM is the VERY best new cartridge introduced since the 270 Winchester and 222 Remington.
 
qcdude said:
<Snip>

The 6.5x55 Swedish has lower power than 6.5CM is, yet all the Swedes and Norway use it to shoot moose for almost over a century already with no problems.
Click to expand...

You would be correct if you were speaking of the .260

You have got this backwards; with heavy bullets, the standard 6.5 x 55 Swede has higher velocity, and therefore more power than the CM. Why? Larger case capacity, longer COAL. With a "modern" "SE" or "SKAN" rifle, you can add at least another 150 FPS to the already faster Swede. Bullet weight x velocity = Energy.

You must be reading the Care-bear, rainbow bright reloading manual.
 
SuperCub said:
........ In a short action? How's the selection of new rifles and ammo for the 6.5x55? -------> :)


Quite simply, the 6.5CM is the VERY best new cartridge introduced since the 270 Winchester and 222 Remington.
Click to expand...

I don't "buy" ammo, I can home load better ammo so why would I? I have always reloaded rifle ammo except for my russian surplus Moisin and SKS; s***y surplus if fine for plinking, but that is all that I used them for.

Factory ammo is fine if you only use one box a year and can pattern tight enough to hit the animal well. For me, that is not good enough. If I had a CM, I would not be buying factory ammo either. I have been reloading rifle ammo since the '70s.

When I shot .223 (three different rifles) I was never happy with bought ammo, could always outshoot it with my own loads.
 
Meroh said:
I don't "buy" ammo, I can home load better ammo so why would I? I have always reloaded rifle ammo except for my russian surplus Moisin and SKS; s***y surplus if fine for plinking, but that is all that I used them for.

Factory ammo is fine if you only use one box a year and can pattern tight enough to hit the animal well. For me, that is not good enough. If I had a CM, I would not be buying factory ammo either. I have been reloading rifle ammo since the '70s.

When I shot .223 (three different rifles) I was never happy with bought ammo, could always outshoot it with my own loads.
Click to expand...

You avoided my question ....... "How's the selection of new rifles and ammo for the 6.5x55?" (Please don't get out the flamethrower, just pointing out and in good fun. :) )

I don't buy factory ammo either as I load for a small list of older, somewhat oddball chamberings most of which cannot be easily purchased here in NB. I don't even own a 6.5CM but do have a 6CM which I chose over the 243 because of magazine length constrictions in the latter.
 
SuperCub said:
You avoided my question ....... "How's the selection of new rifles and ammo for the 6.5x55?" (Please don't get out the flamethrower, just pointing out and in good fun. :) )

I don't buy factory ammo either as I load for a small list of older, somewhat oddball chamberings most of which cannot be easily purchased here in NB. I don't even own a 6.5CM but do have a 6CM which I chose over the 243 because of magazine length constrictions in the latter.
Click to expand...

I will admit that I sold a minty 6.5x55 swede a while back, and cannibalized 500 rounds of ammo for the new 6.5 creedmore I picked up.
The 6.5 swede was an amazing shooter... if you have eyes that can see the iron sights and the target out to distance. Putting any kind of optic on a gem like that would have felt like blasphemy, so I sold it to someone on 'nutz who really appreciated what it was, and grabbed the bergara, which took an optic just fine. For me, that made the most sense, and finally I can hit the small gongs at 500 with a fair bit of regularity. Not quite an f-class shooter just yet, but I can at least give them a little competition on a good day.

It was Ken Thiessen at bullseye that put me onto the cartridge, and he was winning quite a few matches with it. If anyone really is curious about this caliber, drop him a line at the store, he's an amazing guy and knows his stuff. That's the kind of guy you should listen to, and not the guys that claim the round can't take down a chipmunk at 20 yards and it's only the...what was it... plastic sticker rifle crowd? Lol yeah okay. He's sponsored by Cadex, not really the plastic sticker type. I moved away and haven't chatted him up for a while, but he knows everything there is to know about 6.5 creedmore...what it can and can't do...and I know he hunts as well. Peace out, and there's plenty of room for alllll the calibers :)
 
remington jim said:
Quite simply, the 6.5CM is the VERY best new cartridge introduced since the 284 Win and 22-250 Remington. :dancingbanana: RJ
Click to expand...

I like the 22-250. It's one of the VERY best varmint cartridges out there. Many of the current crop of manbunners out there will go right past the 22-250 in favour of the 22CM.

The 284 OTOH is yet another so called "short action" cartridge that does not fit well in a short action so that one is a big FAIL! The 280 in a LA is a better choice. :)

I just now measured up 5 different 0.308" run of the mill hunting bullets (Hornady, Nosler, WW) for OAL in a 308 I just got. Each and every one of those bullets measured well over 2.800" OAL to get to the lands. This bugs me and is where the 6.5CM excels.
 
Sounds like you should have bought a Creedmoor not a 308. Given your high praise.

I have probably a dozen 308’s. Mostly factory but a few custom chambers. They weren’t hard to get to shoot.

I’m not going to endorse something I haven’t owned because of the marketing.
 
Last edited:
The creed is a well designed case for seating high BC bullets above the NSJ, within spitting distance of the lands, and fitting a short action mag. It's primary purpose was long range shooting, hunting is secondary.
I fear that hunters simply hate it because they don't understand it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom