To the OP's questions - for me the answer is NO. I love the marketing that Hornady does not only with the Creedmor but other recent releases as well. Are the advantage of the Creedmor real - sure they are and are well documented. Can the AVERAGE consumer take REAL advantage of those - likely not. The 6.5 Creedmor is a great little cartridge but so is the 260. I have hunted with and shot competition with the 260 since it was released and actually a few years before as a "wildcat" cartridge. I have no complaints about the cartridge and it has never left me down (OK a few rams at 500 meters took hits but did not fall). I like them both and if I wasn't so old and set up with thousands of 260 emptys and loaded ammo I could use the 6.5 Creedmor with no problems (and maybe even knock down those sometimes stubborn rams
)......but at this stage of the game I'll just suffer along with my 260 and keep shooting it at game and steel as long as I can
. That all said I like muzzleloaders too
.
