Your thought is incorrect. ("I tend to think if I took 50 of each, given the same rifling twist, and locked them in a machine rest the graph of the results probably would be nearly identical.")
I have now owned 5 assembly-line produced 6.5 Creedmoors, mostly because the first one shot so well (with factory ammunition) that I had to see if others would. So far none of them have cost over $650 new, and a couple have been less than $400. The LEAST accurate would put 5 shots inside an inch at 100 yards, again with factory ammo.
I also have considerable experience with various other 6.5's, and in fact right now own a custom, Lilja-barreled 6.5x55, chambered with a special "target" reamer. It shoots well, but even with handloads is in the middle of the pack of factory 6.5 Creedmoors I've owned. Also have a Tikka .260, which shoots very well with handloads, but I had to work over the magazine to get even common hunting bullets to seat near the lands--where they shoot best. Have owned a bunch of other 6.5x55's and .260's over the years, including both factory and custom, and while they shot well with handloads, with factory none of them came close to "affordable" 6.5 Creedmoors.
Again, this is major factor in the 6.5 Creedmoor's popularity--which none of the avid handloaders on the Campfire who've never shot a 6.5 Creedmoor will apparently ever begin to comprehend. Which is why threads like this keep reappearing: All you guys get to roll out the same rants, which must be fun, somehow or other.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.” John Steinbeck
