Why all the 6.5 Creedmoor Hate?

[Flewis]

I'm working up some .264 Safari Dave Valhalla Magnum wildcats.

That 140g 6.5 mm bullet is going be breaking Mach 6 at the muzzle. The monolithic solids will, literally, be an "unstoppable force".

Tell the rifle companies to stop production for 2023 models, until I work out all of the kinks.




(Please take this as the B.S. that it is)

Dave is that on the 50 bmg case or 20 mm case.

 

[Safari Dave]

I was going to start with a .378 Weatherby Magnum case, but it looks like that may have already been tried.



I've decided not to be incremental and just go ahead and use this 25mm as the parent casing.

I need someone with a PhD in Metallurgy to contact me ASAP, so we can start working on a barrel.

 

[Flewis]

I was going to start with a .378 Weatherby Magnum case, but it looks like that may have already been tried.



I've decided not to be incremental and just go ahead and use this 25mm as the parent casing.

View attachment 505037


I need someone with a PhD in Metallurgy to contact me ASAP, so we can start working on a barrel.

Just shoot it, we can troubleshoot later. What could go wrong????

 

[colorado]

Looks like a medium bore ...

 

[Safari Dave]

It's needs to be made in an ultralight mountain rifle to achieve it's ultimate usefulness as a high altitude goat/sheep cartridge in a rifle that weight about 5.5 pounds. Only the most unexperienced, foolish hunters would use a muzzle break, or they or their guide/tracker/scout would never be able to hear again.

 

[Flewis]

It's needs to be made in an ultralight mountain rifle to achieve it's ultimate usefulness as a high altitude goat/sheep cartridge in a rifle that weight about 5.5 pounds. Only the most unexperienced, foolish hunters would use a muzzle break, or they or their guide/tracker/scout would never be able to hear again.

16 or 18 inch barrel?

 

[MS 9x56]

Looks like a medium bore ...

Still won’t be as good as a 35 Whelen

 

[Safari Dave]

16 or 18 inch barrel?

I'm afraid that all the powder won't burn in a 16 inch barrel, so we might need to step it up to an 18 inch.

I'll experiment with powders, so a 16 inch may not be out of the question..

 

[Safari Dave]

…and I was pretty sure that I knew the general vicinity of where a 300-pound black bear was chewing on a deer carcass this evening, so damn-the-torpedoes!

 

[ActionBob]

My wife made me haul furniture all day and I ran out of time to hunt.


Gotta blow off stream somewhere!!!

I've had days like that

And then I've had days i take my wife hunting.... And sometimes with a 6.5 Creedmoor

BTW, she shot that thing from 338 yards a few minutes before last legal shooting light.

 

[Flewis]

…and I was pretty sure that I knew the general vicinity of where a 300-pound black bear was chewing on a deer carcass this evening, so damn-the-torpedoes!

Good luck, you’re going to need it!

 

[WAB]

I've had days like that

And then I've had days i take my wife hunting.... And sometimes with a 6.5 Creedmoor
View attachment 505048

BTW, she shot that thing from 338 yards a few minutes before last legal shooting light.

Great deer and great shot Gina!

 

[bowjijohn]

My long range rig has a trigger tech trigger on an Impact Precision NBK action. The barrel was spun on by TS Customs, one of the best. The trigger tech trigger is pure magic!

mine too

same rig but with a Sasson 26” precision barrel

Below is mine - NOT a hunting rig though

pic failed to upload

 

[Woodcarver]

I DO have trouble keeping the crosshairs in a 6" bullring at 300 yards with a 10x scope off my standing Bog bipod sticks especially with much crosswind? It's not too bad at 200, but at either distance, the scope is moving ever so slightly. I usually can keep 3 of 5 shots in the ring at 200, but not at 300. Shooting off a Harris bipod in a prone position for prairie dogs is one thing, but not practical for big game hunting unless your hunting in the desert. In Africa, I shot off my PHs tripod sticks. Better, but the scope still moves slightly and my longest shot was about 300 yards. Again, how do the 500-1000 yard shooters keep their rounds on target in a HUNTING scenario off sticks even with a 15x scope like you have? It seems with increased magnification it takes even less scope movement for the crosshairs to be out of the bullring and/or off the vitals of a big game animal?

Using Gunstix with the "3rd" leg they now offer, they are like shooting off a bench. Quad sticks like these, even without the extra leg, are day and night steadier than traditional tripods and bipods. I have used the Gunstix to sight in a new scope, they are that steady. No problem with a wobbly crosshair, even at 14x whackin' prairie dogs standing (me), (and the prairie dog).

 

[Woodcarver]

Apparently, George Gibbs failed miserably in marketing his version of the 6.5. He also had faulty measuring tools as well. He called his the 256 Gibbs Magnum. Try finding any of this in your local gun shop. (BTW, if you do find it, please let me know!)

 

[ChrisG]

I've had days like that

And then I've had days i take my wife hunting.... And sometimes with a 6.5 Creedmoor
View attachment 505048

BTW, she shot that thing from 338 yards a few minutes before last legal shooting light.

If she shot it with a Creedmoor, it can't be dead. This is some elaborate ruse! You trained that deer to lay down in front of your camera for pictures!

As per the original OP, Yes the hate is caused by overblown melodrama that follows the Creedmoor.

That...and the Art History major in the Banana Republic "distressed" jeans, at the range shooting his 14lb, muzzle braked, Bergara with no modicum of gun safety/firearms/real-world knowledge. He bluntly states that his rifle could bring down "any game in North America", but admits upon further questioning, that he has never been hunting a day in his life (it's too uncomfortable). He goes on to say that "if he did", that trusty rifle, with him at the wheel, and a ghillie suit over his Patagonia sweater, would "hammer" anything within 1,200 yards.

The above is a make-believe scenario... but it is assembled using very real data points.

That, and highly experienced, expert hunters, who can and DO bring down large animals with a 6.5 (insert cartridge here), telling brand new hunters that it is the end-all-be-all of rifles. Or going on and recommending a 6.5CM for a first-time Elk hunter from the Pennsylvania woods, headed to the wide-open mountains of Wyoming. Wouldn't wisdom indicate that they should start with something that has a bit more margin of error? new hunters, buck fever, and precise shot placement do not go hand-in-hand.

There are a lot of other reasons, but I digress. We don't hate it. We really don't like the tremendous display of ignorance that it, more-often-than-not, engenders.

 

[Flewis]

If she shot it with a Creedmoor, it can't be dead. This is some elaborate ruse! You trained that deer to lay down in front of your camera for pictures!

As per the original OP, Yes the hate is caused by overblown melodrama that follows the Creedmoor.

That...and the Art History major in the Banana Republic "distressed" jeans, at the range shooting his 14lb, muzzle braked, Bergara with no modicum of gun safety/firearms/real-world knowledge. He bluntly states that his rifle could bring down "any game in North America", but admits upon further questioning, that he has never been hunting a day in his life (it's too uncomfortable). He goes on to say that "if he did", that trusty rifle, with him at the wheel, and a ghillie suit over his Patagonia sweater, would "hammer" anything within 1,200 yards.

The above is a make-believe scenario... but it is assembled using very real data points.

That, and highly experienced, expert hunters, who can and DO bring down large animals with a 6.5 (insert cartridge here), telling brand new hunters that it is the end-all-be-all of rifles. Or going on and recommending a 6.5CM for a first-time Elk hunter from the Pennsylvania woods, headed to the wide-open mountains of Wyoming. Wouldn't wisdom indicate that they should start with something that has a bit more margin of error? new hunters, buck fever, and precise shot placement do not go hand-in-hand.

There are a lot of other reasons, but I digress. We don't hate it. We really don't like the tremendous display of ignorance that it, more-often-than-not, engenders.

Very well put!

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Apparently, George Gibbs failed miserably in marketing his version of the 6.5. He also had faulty measuring tools as well. He called his the 256 Gibbs Magnum. Try finding any of this in your local gun shop. (BTW, if you do find it, please let me know!)

Karamojo Bell used one as his meat and skin rifle. He said that until Winchester came out with the 270 it was the greatest long range hunting cartridge.

 

[gajie270]

companies come out with new cartridges not because they perform better. more often than not they are nearly identical(65Creed 260 rem, 270wsm 6.8 western, 300 win mag, 300 PRC, etc), But because they want to make more money by selling more ammo and rifles.

 

[Tom Leoni]

Hate for the 6.5 Creedmoor has to do with the hype--same reason why some hate Starbucks and craft beers. As a brand manager I must doff my hat to Hornady and their marketing department for creating and sustaining such a dedicated following. A successful cartridge is a matter of a reasoned choice on the users' part. A really successful cartridge becomes a veritable cult; the 6.5 CM is definitely one.

There is no objective reason to hate it. It's a perfectly serviceable cartridge, although without the fast twist of the rifles chambered for it, it wouldn't be much different from other 6.5s. The genius of Hornady engineering and marketing consisted in marrying it to long-for-caliber bullets and rifles that could stabilize them--and then convincing the shooting public that everyone needed such a combination.

How many consumers actually use the 6.5 CM for long range shooting is a matter of conjecture. I would wager it would be a minority--also because most ranges do not accommodate rifle-shooting beyond 300 yards. But marketing is about selling a product's potential, so even shooters who punch paper plates at 100 yards love the thought that their 6.5 CM could, if needed, nail a deer at 1,000. This may be another reason why some hate the cartridge: noobs waxing orgasmic over it while only exploiting 1% of its potential.

I don't have nor need a 6.5 CM in my personal hunting battery. But I have certainly chambered it in the models I manage. And as long as it attracts new shooters, long live the 6.5 Creedmoor.