Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 260 Rem vs 6.5 Creedmoor

The 6.5 Creedmoor's virtues as a hunting cartridge are exactly what I started in other posts, and have stated many other times in print:

1) It provides superb accuracy with inexpensive factory ammo in inexpensive rifles.

2) The cartridge kicks lightly enough for even hunters who MIGHT be recoil-sensitive to practice sufficiently to shoot accurately in the field, and bullet placement is far more important than any other factor in killing power.

3) It does this with bullets that have sufficiently high ballistic coefficients to catch up to bullets from harder-kicking cartridges in the same caliber-class within 300 yards or so, though of the bullets also work close up, as have from moderate velocity 6.5mm rounds for a long time.

4) It does this without the need to handload, or buy ammo that costs 2-3 times as much, or "build" a custom rifle.

All of these reasons are exactly why the 6.5 Creedmoor has become so popular here in Montana, particularly as a cartridge for kids and wives and girlfriends, where it's largely taken over the former role of the .243 Winchester. But quite a few he-men have also bought one too, after they see how well it works as a general big game round. The same reasons are the 6.5 Creedmoor is popular not just in Montana but many other states, including Europe and Africa.

Many of those guys have not ever become acquainted with the .260 or 6.5x55, or they would have known how well such rounds work for hunting big game. But they didn't try them, because Remington screwed up the .260's introduction from the get-go, and the 6.5x55 has been around so long there are wide variations in not only rifle chamber-throats but factory ammo--when you can find factory ammo that isn't downloaded 300 fps below 6.5 Creedmoor and .260 velocities.

Many Campfire people keep posting that they're NOT buying one, because their (pick one) .257 Roberts, .257 Weatherby, .270 Winchester, 7mm-08 etc. etc. etc. does the same things. Yeah, those cartridges will kill game just as well, but do not have the list of other 6.5 Creedmoort attributes: affordable, accurate and easily available rifles and factory ammo.

Apparently, rifle loonies simply cannot understand those simple concepts, because long ago they decided on a cartridge that was "perfect." Well, sure, especially if you're a handloader, or "custom" rifle nut. But apparently some of those cartridges and rifles do not appeal to a LOT of other hunters and shooters, for the reasons I stated. Otherwise the .257 Roberts, .257 Weatherby, .270 Winchester, 7mm-08 etc. etc. etc., would be selling like the 6.5 Creedmoor has for the past decade.