I also found it interesting that some Campfire members still have to comment on any 6.5 Creedmoor article by stating their 6.5x55 or .260 will do the "same things," even do 'em better. I have owned several 6.5x55s and .260s, and have one of each now, a custom 6.5x55 on an FN Mauser commercial action rebarreled with a Lilja by Charlie Sisk, and a Tikka T3 .260 with a 1-8 twist, part of a special run ordered by Whittaker Guns. They both shoot very well, in fact about as well as the average 6.5 Creedmoor factory rifle--though I had to lengthen the magazine on the Tikka to match typical Creedmoor accuracy. And neither the 6.5x55 or .260 will do so with factory ammo--IF you can find any.
John
JB.... the last sentence was the kicker that got me to buy a 6.5 Cr. (for my wife, of course, ahem... cough-cough) in 2019. Having messed around at the benches, both reload and range, I had found some good loads for my 6.5x55, as you have done as well. But for our Africa trip that year my wife needed a rifle that we could get factory ammo for instead of relying on my sporadic reloading bench output. So the Howa 6.5 Creedmoor Mountain Rifle became hers.
Since then, I acquired a Ruger Precision Rifle in the same chambering. This happened at the insistence of a good friend who runs a range in Wisco and teaches precision riflery, and who had ten of the RPR's on hand for his classes. He told me I really needed to buy one of his "old" RPR's, as he was getting in some new ones. I demurred, telling him I had more than enough rifles already, including a custom job that could reach out and touch a critter waaaay far out there.
We were at his range at the time. My friend invited me to "just shoot it once", and since he was supplying the rifle, ammo, and targets, who was I to refuse? So I settled behind the rifle and aimed at the 1000 yard gong, a 36" steel plate, squeezed the trigger, and was shortly rewarded with a sharp ringing tone. This was in the spring last year, mind you, and I had not fired a rifle for any purpose for several months at that time, so I naturally concluded it was just a fluke, and I told him so.
"Shoot again, and see," he replied. So I did, knowing it couldn't happen again. Except it did. And so did the 3rd shot. I missed the fourth shot, and hit again on the 5th.
I turned to my friend and said, "Shut up and take my money."
I took the rifle with me to Wyoming this past September on my my trophy pronghorn hunt (I burned all 13 of my hard-earned Preference Points to get drawn in an area where the bucks are big and the outfitter has a high success rate), and it served me well, allowing me to collect a 87-1/8 (green score) buck at 536 yards.
As a longstanding confirmed 6.5 Creedmoor hater, this is a problem.
