Have posted this before, which mostly applies to this same tired subject:
The 6.5 Creedmoor did NOT appear 2-3 years ago, and become popular because of "marketing hype." Instead it was introduced in 2007 as a target round. Then some hunters started using it, and discovered it worked very well, in fact better than already established 6.5mm rounds with the same basic ballistics.
This was because Hornady made very accurate factory ammo which didn't cost much, and the first factory hunting rifles were very accurate, and not just with handloads but that factory ammo. This is very different than what Remington did with the .260, with it's 1-9 twist and often mediocre factory ammo--that after a few years you couldn't buy (if you could find it) in anything except the 140 Core-Lokt.
The 6.5 Creedmoor is also VERY different than the 6.5x55, because 6.5x55 chambers and actions have varied so widely since 1892 that nobody can make factory ammo that works anywhere nearly as well as 6.5 Creedmoor ammo in various 6.5x55 rifles. This is a major point that many rifle loonies miss, because they assume EVERYBODY handloads, and probably for a custom rifle, or at least a "tuned" factory rifle.
The 6.5 Creedmoor is VERY accurate in just about any rifle, and there's a wide variety of pretty inexpensive factory ammo available loaded with an incredibly wide variety of both match and hunting bullets. I know all this because of having owned many 6.5 rifles over the years, including several factory and custom .260's and 6.5x55's (as well as other 6.5's), plus actually owning, shooting and hunting with several 6.5 Creedmoors. In fact the very first 100-yard group I fired with my first 6.5 Creedmoor, a factory Ruger, back in 2010, was with Hornady factory ammo. It measured around .6 inch--for 5 shots, not the typical three shots most hunters shoot today.
All of this also why the 6.5 Creedmoor has become one of the standard world-wide cartridges chambered in factory rifles, which means not just in America but Europe and elsewhere. One of my friends is a long-time South African professional hunter who also owns a big sporting goods store. He reports that around 80% of the new rifles he sells these days are 6.5 Creedmoors--because they work, whether with factory ammo or handloads.
Let me conclude by stating that while I really like the 6.5 Creedmoor, I'm a gun writer. My job is to try new stuff to see how it works, in order to explain to readers its pros and cons. That's why I tried the 6.5 Creedmoor, along with various other new cartridges that have appeared over the decades. Often I wait a year or two after the introduction, to see if they're still hanging around. In the instance of the 6.5 Creedmoor I waited three years, until 2010--and it's far more popular now than then. In the interim I've fooled with around ten 6.5 Creedmoor rifles, half of them purchased by me, so know far more about it than those who've never even fired one.
During that period I also didn't sell my custom 6.5x55, acquired another .260 (which I still have), and also did not sell my .257 Roberts or .270. Again, that's because I'm a gun writer whose job is to keep investigating and learning--and bullets, powder and even rifling twists continually appear that make even very old cartridges work a little better.
Since 2010, when I took my first big game with the 6.5 Creedmoor (a pronnghorn) I've used the following cartridges to take a bunch of other big game animals, both in North America and Africa, with cartridges as diverse as the .22-250 Remington, .243 Winchester, .257 Roberts, .25-06 Remington, .257 Weatherby Magnum, 6.5x54 Mannlicher-Schoenauer, 6.5x57R Mauser, 6.5x55 Norwegian/Swedish, 6.5 PRC, .270 Winchester, 7mm Weatherby Magnum, .308 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield, .338 Winchester Magnum, 9.3x62 Mauser and .416 Rigby. (Oh, and a few more with the 6.5 Creedmoor, as well as being next to hunting companions who used the 6.5 Creedmoor.)
Guess what? They all worked. Are they then better than the 6.5 Creedmoor, or just as good? It's not my job to answer that question--though apparently it IS the job of Internet experts who've never fired a Creedmoor. Many of these are also convinced that some ancient round (perhaps even an obscure wildcat) or powder or bullet they started using years ago is all anybody NEEDS. That's a pretty common among rifle loonies, and if it makes them happy, then why not?
But apparently it doesn't make all of them happy, or even most of 'em. Instead it makes them grumpy, apparently because the rest of the world doesn't consider them THE expert on every aspect of hunting rifles, because they've killed animals with their favorite cartridge, powder or bullet.
Guess what? I don't really care what somebody else uses to kill big game. Once again, that's not my job. Instead my job is to relay information I've confirmed at the range or in the field. I am NOT somebody who's believes the a 6.5 Creedmoor is the best general-purpose hunting round, just somebody who has actually used the cartridge enough to understand why it's so popular.
