Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What cartridge is a clear step up from the 6.5 Creedmoor

Seems like people are awfully emotional about the 6.5 Creedmoor on here. I'm buying one because I hear it's not unpleasant to shoot and has excellent factory ammunition available, not because I think it's a miracle cartridge.

Seems like there's a lot of overlap between the creedmoor and many other non-magnum cartridges like the 7mm-08 and 270 Win - a "the deer won't know the difference" sort of situation.

At what point, as you move up the scale in terms of caliber and case size, do you start seeing a clear increase in performance on game from the creed? I'm asking because I like to have rifles that do different things and aren't very redundant.

Well if you fallow what F class is doing it would be the 7 SAUM...

Fast twist 6.5-7mm magnums.

338wm imho

6.5 Creed Barnes VorTX 120 ttsx 2900 mv
.30/06 Barnes VorTX 175 LRX 2800 mv

This has been my step up from the 308 family cases for a long while. Has been a few 7&300 WSMs thrown in the mix, but a 7 SAUM always sticks around.

Good question and one I've pondered myself.

50 BMG

375 H&H.

Everything 26 caliber and up is designed for the same game animals. With the right bullets any of the 6.5's and up are suitable for all but about 4-5 animals on the planet. If you want to hunt any of those 4 or 5 then it is time to move up to 375. And both the 6.5X55 and 7X57 have been used successfully to kill every animal on the planet, even those 4-5 they probably are too small to be used on. Remember WD Bell killed over 1100 elephant in his career. The 7X57 was his preferred rifle, but he also used 6.5X55 and nothing bigger than 303. Late in his life he stated that had the 308 been available that it would have probably been his favorite.

I can only speak to my experience. The 338 Fed has a more noticeable impact on elk and deer. The Creed makes them dead, no question there, but there is a visible and audible difference when a 338 bullet hits.

30-06

300 Wby

I had this conversation with a friend and he said 7mm rem mag would be a clear step up in speed and long range terminal ballistics.

Pretty much. Warm 30-06 loads push 180's like warm CM loads push 140's. I'd also venture to say that a 7mm Magnum of any sort is also a fair step up as well, loaded with 160-180gr bullets.

30-06 is sort of the answer I want to hear, because I have a 30-06 already. It seems intuitive that a 30-06 shooting a good 180 grain bullet has to be a better choice on something like elk than the 6.5 shooting something in the 140 range, but I'm willing to believe that what seems intuitive to me is wrong in this case.

Thanks for the answers, everyone, keep them coming! I'm really interested to hear more of your reasons for your choices.

Any

Pretty well describes my attitude. I KNOW the 7 RM is a Clear step UP.


Jerry

+1 on the 7mag Jerry. I've had one around for almost 40 years.

Driving a 140g bullet like the NBT out of 7WB Mag over a 7-08 at like distances results in a noticeable impact signature upgrade on deers

No doubt there are exceptions.

Much harder on the bullet, too--wonder if it is related...:)

In short actions, I think that the "eliminated redundancy" step up from the 6.5CM would be the 338FED.

In long actions, the 30-06 seems like as good a place as any to start.

I don't mind redundancy and have hundreds of rifles that are chambered for dozens of redundant cartridges. l have seldom met a cartridge that I couldn't like somewhere along the spectrum from "yuck" to "wow".

One nice byproduct of the 6.5CM's popularity is that manufacturers are starting to sell factory varmint loads, making it a more useful dual-purpose round for those folks who don't reload. Federal is advertising a varmint load with the 95 grain VMax at a claimed 3,300 fps MV that would be strong coyote medicine if they are accurate in your rifle.

I don't understand the strong feelings for or against some cartridges that some folks seem to have, or why they will spend time arguing the merits of one verses another that is, objectively speaking, functionally redundant. I guess that some people just like to argue for the sake of arguing and some folks seem to feel that their way if the only way, all other ways being inferior.

My advise would be to buy a rifle chambered in 6.5CM, if that is what you're thinking of doing, and shoot it a bit, maybe 40 rounds of 5 different brands and bullet styles of factory ammo. If you like it, keep it. If you don't like it, sell it. You'll spend a little money on the ammo and you may lose some money if you sell the rifle, but experience is seldom free and good experience always has a cost. Everybody is different and two people experiencing the exact same physical event may perceive it differently. If you depend on the experience of others to make your decisions, you may make a decision that is sub-optimal for you.