Adamjp,
Your response to my question about "equally effective" cartridges was exactly what I expected.
The anti-Creedmoor rifle loonies who inhabit the Campfire (like you) apparently believe EVERY shooter and hunter on earth handloads, and is willing to spend considerable money on custom rifles or rebarreling, to use other 6.5 cartridges than the Creedmoor.
But why should they, when they can buy off-the-rack rifles and factory ammo that will do the same things? I purchased my present 6.5 Creedmoor for the vast sum of $350, and for another $25 can buy a box of factory ammo that groups 5 shots well under an inch. And my rifle's very first 5-shot group at 100 yards with handloads measured .33 inch, which is not exactly an aberration. The other three factory 6.5 Creedmoors I've owned were also very accurate.
In case you might think I'm prejudiced because of only owning and shooting 6.5 Creedmoors, my safe includes a number of rifles in some of those "equally effective" cartridges, including a Tikka T3 .260 Remington, a Douglas-barreled Ruger in 7mm-08, and a "full custom" 6.5x55 with a minimum-throated match chamber in a Lilja barrel. I had to modify the magazine in the Tikka to seat even common hunting spitzers out to the lands, and while the 6.5x55 and 7-08 shoot very well, neither is as consistently accurate , with a wide variety of factory ammo or handloads, as the least-accurate factory 6.5 Creedmoor I've owned.
Yes, there are reasons beside the "recent" publicity on the 6.5 Creedmoor for its extreme popularity. I put "recent" in quotes because the cartridge was introduced a dozen years ago, and has kept growing in popularity since then. Most new factory centerfire rounds only sell well for 2-3 years before starting to fade. That's because publicity can only do so much, and factoryPR departments can only afford to flog some new cartridge for a short time before the cartridge must stand on its own. (In a way, it's like book publishing. If a new book doesn't continue selling after the initial announcement and publicity, then the company eventually quits printing copies, because there's no sense in printing books that never leave warehouses.)
Cartridges that become profitable within that initial period usually stick around for a while, and those that are selling FAR better after a dozen years tend to become world standards, meaning that just about every company making sporting rifles chambers them, and just about every ammunition company makes ammo. That is exactly what's happened with the 6.5 Creedmoor. Not only do major American companies produce both rifles and ammo, but so do many European companies--and that trend continues to spread.
One of my friends is a South African professional hunter who also owns a big sporting goods store. A few months ago he told me that the majority of new rifles he sells today are 6.5 Creedmoors. The reason? They work, not just for target shooting but the constant commercial meat-hunting that takes place in SA, since game meat can legally be sold in supermarkets and restaurants. Such meat-hunters like the 6.5 Creedmoor because of its accuracy and light recoil, allowing them to precisely place shots to ruin the least amount of valuable meat, along with affordable, accurate factory rifles and ammo. Such "cullers" are among the most practical hunters in the world, and since they're in business to make a profit, are not likely to spend money on the latest "fad."
But according to you, and others like you, the 6.5 Creedmoor's world-wide and growing popularity, a dozen years after its introduction, is totally due to publicity.
