Dutch,
Light recoil is indeed one of the reasons for the success of the 6.5 Creedmoor. I mentioned this in yet another 6.5 Creedmoor thread elsewhere on the Campfire a month or two ago, pointing out that here in Montana it has started to replace the .243 as the "woman's rifle" that almost every guy buys for his girlfriend, wife or daughter. This is partly because the Creedmoor is perceived, rightly or wrongly, as more elk-suitable than the .243, due to heavier bullets, and here are a LOT more elk here than there were even 15-20 years ago. It's also partly because the buzz on the 6.5 Creedmoor has even reached many "average" hunters, who become inttrigued enough to buy one for their GF/wife/daughter so they can also try it out. When they do, they discover not only how well it shoots with factory ammo, but then they hear or see how it works in the field, and start to realize the 7mm Remington or .300 Ultra Magnum they've been using isn't really needed for most big game hunting. (I mention the .300 UM specifically because earlier this year I helped a younger friend sight-in the Creedmoor he'd bought for his wife. He was amazed at the accuracy and lack of recoil recoil, especially after being pounded by his .300 UM for a couple of years now.)
So how did the Creedmoor get all this credit, when the .260 (and similar 6.5's) were essentially cult items for decades? Well, maybe Hornady just did a good job oN publicity, and the accurate, affordable factory Creedmoor rifles and ammo sure didn't hurt. But I suspect some of the buzz carried over from the growing target-shooting sector. Ground-buzz for new cartridges didn't work that way until recently, which is why so many older shooters grumble that their 6.5x55 or .260 or whatever does the same things as the Creedmoor. Well, yes and no. If you're talking about handloads, yeah, especially in custom or semi-custom rifles. But factory 6.5x55 and .260 rifles have never been as affordable or accurate as 6.5 Creedmoor rifles. I know this through owning a bunch of both over the years, including customs built when I wasn't satisfied with factory rifle accuracy in either the 6.5x55 or .260. And just try to buy decent factory ammo in either 6.5x55 or .260. It's there, somewhere, but not in nearly as many stores, in nearly as many varieties as 6.5 Creedmoor. But the very first 6.5 Creedmoor I bought, a Ruger Hawkeye, put 5 rounds (not 3) of factory ammo into 5/8" for its very first group at 100 yards, right out of the box. My present Ruger American shoots even better, also out of the box, and cost a lot less.
Then there's the simple reality that hunting bullets have changed enough over the past 15 years that many can't fit in a short magazine and be seated to the lands. This isn't just target-type bullets, but some more mainstream ones. I mentioned in an earlier post on this thread that even Nosler AccuBonds couldn't be seated to the lands in my Tikka T3 .260, and still have rounds fit in the magazine. That Tikka has the standard SAAMI throat length, and the magazines are the standard SAAMI 2.84" long, but a popular hunting bullet like the Accubond couldn't be seated out to the lands (where it shoots best) and still fit in the standard short magazine.
The basic fact is the 6.5 Creedmoor is a 6.5x55 or .260 designed for the reality of today's factory rifles. Apparently that offends some rifle loonies, who apparently have their ego all wound up in their cartridge choices. Is the 6.5 Creedmoor the BEST? I don't know, because it's hard to say what's BEST, but it certainly works both mechanically and in the marketplace.
Personally, I like a bunch of 6.5 cartridges (as well as a bunch of other cartridges). Right now, aside from two 6.5 Creedmoors I have rifles chambered for the 6.5x54mm Mannlicher-Schoenauer, 6.5x57R Mauser, 6.5x55 (a custom FN Mauser),.260 Remington and 26 Nosler, and in the past have played around with several other .260's and 6.5x55's, as well as a 6.5-06 and two .264 Winchester Magnums, and have probably forgotten some other 6.5's. The only one of my present batch I might sell is my Weatherby Vanguard 6.5 Creedmoor, not because there's anything wrong with it, but because like many Campfire members it could fund something other rifle-loony infatuation.
But to deny that the 6.5 Creedmoor isn't becoming a standard cartridge (for good reasons) and to insist that the .260 or 6.5x55 or whatever SHOULD be the 6.5 of choice is to deny sporting-rifle reality. It's like the loonies who still insist that if the .280 Remington had been introduced before the .270 Winchester, the .270 never would have appeared. Whether that's true or not is irrelevant, because it DIDN'T HAPPEN.
