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

7 saum is for sure a step up

..............Well in terms of only 6.5 mm rounds, then I would consider the following to be a quite a step up from the Creed in the 6.5mm field. The 6.5/284 Norma, 6.5 PRC, 264 Win Mag, 26 Nosler and followed lastly by the most powerful commercially offered 6.5 mm cartridge, the 6.5/300 Weatherby.

From the .277 caliber, the 270 WSM and 270 Wby. Both quite a step from the Creedy.....Ok. Some may also include the good "ol 270 Win.

From the 7mms; the 7mm Rem Mag, 7mm Wby, 28 Nosler, 7mm RUM.....And same applies with these as well. Quite a step up from the Creed.

I think you’d have to go to a magnum cartridge to gain much of any of the “standard” rounds. Including the 6.5

If I only had 4 center-fire rifles and I lived in SD, one would be a heavy barreled colony varmint rifle and the other 3 would be the same make, model, and configuration. A couple of years ago I put together a 3-rifle set of stainless Ruger Hawkeyes in 223, 6.5CM, and 338FED that I bedded in McM Hunter style stocks that are non-redundant steps in terms of "power" and hunting niches.

Glad to hear that my 30-06 hasn’t been rendered obsolete.

You are ahead of the game compared to a lot of folks.

Velocity and bullet construction, including mass (which with velocity at impact determines a bullet’s maximum destructive potential), are important. So is a bullet’s expansion characteristics, which are determined by construction and characteristics of target encountered.

When hunting elk, I prefer my .338WM to my .258 Roberts an probably any 6.5CM load available. Diameter is part of the reason because the .338 expands wider. At the end of the day, though, what matters is how much energy is transferred to the target, the time frame in which that transfer occurs and where that transfer occurs. The goal is to accelerate flesh and bone past its limits of elasticity. There is no magic calculator for determining what you want to know.

I'm with AC on this- the 6.5 Creed seemed really blahs. I appreciate the soft recoil but AM not particularly recoil shy till you get into 30 ft/lbs of recoil. A 7-08 seems like a better mousetrap, factory offerings aside. I've been looking at the 6.5 PRC and 6.5 SAUM before that. I could like 3000 ft/sec with a 140ish bewlit. But that seems to be plain jain 270 Win territory.

I've been pondered a new build and have run way too many ballistic numbers. I like lowish recoil, high BC bewlits with integrity, and lightweight rifles. The looney in me is screaming to rebarrel one of my LA Kimbers to plain ol' 280 Rem with a 22 or 23" tube and be done with it. The Mod 84 Lilja contour is very nice.

On what sized game?

From my experience with everything from 223 up to 300 mag on whitetails if hit in the same spot with either a 55 grain or 180 grain results are the same, a dead deer pretty fuggin fast.

Never shot any critters larger or tougher than deer though.

Agree. If I'm stepping up from the creedmoor. I am doing so in both bore diameter and case capacity. Thus if I need more than the little 6.5 CM I reach for the 300 WSM.

338 Fed in short action
( can't believe they are not more popular) 225gr bullet ... good for anything...
san's dangerous game ( Cape Buffalo and such )

270 Win in a long action ..
amazing cartridge ..merits go forever

My experience, with deer size game...I really see a difference when stepping up in speed.

I've had great results from .243, 6.5s, 270s and .308s. Mostly with heavy for caliber bullets. All have killed very well, mostly went down in sight or where they stood with good placement. No clear difference between any of them.

Fast .22 cals and 7mm mags with light bullets had a noticeably bigger effect.

some corrections;

.256 Frazer Mannlicher carbine was (in Bells own words) his preferred rifle. If not for the misfires and troublesome necks
on the Austrian [Steyr] rounds he would have continued to use such, rather than swap out for his Mauser .275 bore
with ultra reliable DWM ammunition.

For elephant- He used rifles from .450cal down, .350 Rigby, 318WR, .303, .275, .256

He stated his Lee .303 was an excellent elephant rifle.

He stated his Lee .303 was his most reliable rifle in harsh conditions.

He stated that .318/250 grain was his most reliable performer on elephant.
on average it maintained a straighter penetration track than .275 bore.

.256 solids were prone to bending, while .275 solids were not.

Although the .318WR projectile performed great on elephant, the actual ammunition was of less than desirable quality,
causing him pressure spike problems, blowbacks, misfires, and extraction problems. Hence why he writes that he uses
his SxS .318 shooting cormorants simply to burn up his large stash of .318 ammunition.

IF .256 and .318 ammunition quality had not become an issue, the Mauser .275 would have been just another in the mix
of well suitable rifles Bell used, without any extra special history. ..but having stuck to using .275 bore for a number of years
[after dropping the .256], and thus purchasing some 1/2 dozen Rigby mauser .275 bore rifles over those years, history was
forged by circumstance. [ie;] had .275 bore DWM ammunition proved in some way unreliable like those other rounds,
there would not be a standout Bell /Rigby 7x57 story to tell, we instead would be talking about his Lee .303 with its reliable
military ammunition and all the elephants he dropped with it.

Assuming you are talking about BG hunting then a “clear step up” is .... a 375 H&H. Combined with a 6.5CM and a thick checkbook you could get a lot done.

What game and what is an increase in performance? You can move DOWN in caliber and case and get the same or better "performance" on "game" depending on variables. The cm is no better at killing deer sized critters than is a .260, 6.5x55, 7-08, Grendel, and many, many others. Possibly even a .270 Winchester or .223 AI. I can tell you for a fact that on a given day I saw a 7x57 with 140gr out perform a .340 Weatherby with whatever low weight Ballistic Tip Weatherby used to load. A pie plate entry with the .340 and the <100lb doe ran across a green field. 7x57 with Accubond on a 140ish lb buck that took a step and fell downhill about 12 feet. Which cartridge was "up the scale"? And I can give you similar stories about .270 Weatherby Mag vs 7-08, .260, .243...............

The 6.5 cm was not introduced to make up for the lack of killing power of any cartridge. Again, for deer sized game and probably up and down that "scale" some, there's plenty of chamberings that are no better or worse than their stable mates; the 6.5 cm being one. But I am hearing factories are starting to secretly load duplex powder loads with 1 to 2 grains of pixie dust between main charge and the primer for both the 6 and 6.5 cm. That's the real magic, not the headstamp.

.416 Rigby

I’d agree, even though I don’t have either. 300 WSM / 300 WM.

Old skool 243 & 30-06 here...with a 270 for giggles.

I am of the opinion 30-06 to 338 caliber being a clear step up.

I have a couple of Creedmoors, and really enjoy them. Am I emotionally attached to them? Heck no. But I enjoy all of my rifles from 222 to 416.

I will admit to having an attachment to the 270 Win and 338-06, and disdain for the 243 Win and 7mm Rem Mag.

A .284” 180 ELD at ~3000 fps is a clear step up.

I use my 6.5 CM mainly for it's accuracy when deer hunting at ranges up to 350 yards. That is for the lighter deer species like the average red deer, sika deer and fallow. Case in point, a couple of weeks back I had to take a difficult 200 plus yard shot on a sika stag which are about the size of a WT buck. I could only see his lower neck up and his hind quarter on one side. I knew that the Creed would place the 143 ELD-X where I aimed and so it was. Instant kill, through the base of the neck.

I use my .308 with 180gr Norma Oryx for close in (under 50 yards) on large heavy bodied red stags during the roar (rut). They can sometimes come running in at you and you haven't got time for fancy bullet placement. My hunting buddy prefers his .338/06 AI for large stags.

I'm surprised too..... KINDA.

Even tho I haven't had one, I've checked it out pretty well. I like it very much on paper.

IMO it's much better than a 358 Win, which I've had several.
I'm really not much of a 308 case fan BUT I think the 338 F is first Class.

Now this is MY opinion and it's worth what you paid for it.
It seems to me that the 338 F came on the scene LATE - 2006 and IMO the 'hunting' public was/is not on top of
the ballistic scene. -- The 6.5 C has the competition background PLUS marketing HYPE so....

The 'hunting public' already had/have lots of options in the S A 08 case so.... another one ?

In my personal experience KNOWING lots of deer club members ( 3 large membership leases ) not many are interested in the "creed", I have met ONLY 1 hunter who knew what a 6.5X55 was *** he's dead now ***, not too many even use the 308 *shock* I have known VERY FEW deer hunters carrying a 308, most of those want 'velocity' (including me).

I think MOST would HAVE to admit the 338 F doesn't have a great trajectory so.....

Remember I LIKE the 338 F, these are my opinions.

Jerry