Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Looking into a 6.5 Creedmoor

What say you for a solid performer in 6.5 Creedmoor ?looking for lighter weight hunting rifle , bolt action ,open to most brands dependability and accuracy are essential looking for suggestions,a Shop I know has Savage axis II in stock ,is the money better spent on say a tika or model 110 ,browning etc

Buy a Tikka. Less fuss. You'll be better off and happier in the long run. I'd look at sportsman's and find a good deal on a superlite if I were in your shoes. Mine shoots pretty good, with a little bedding and stainless recoil lug upgrade...:

Just this morning at Sportsman’s Whorehouse I fondled a Tikka super lite in 6.5 CM - lot of gun for $749, but I don’t like injection molded stocks and I just picked up a Christensen Arms Mesa in 6.5 CM, which I just happened to buy at the same Sportsman’s Warehouse.

Tikka or a Weatherby Vanguard. I have both and they are both similarly accurate rifles, I prefer the Weatherby Wilderness for the value.

I've had 4. One was a Howa, the other three were Remington Model 700's. They all were accurate rifles. Personally, I prefer Remingtons, but my next choice would be a Howa or Weatherby Vanguard.

I bought a Remington 700 Mountain Stainless, dropped it in a McMillan Edge, added a VX 3i 2.5-8x36 in Talley Lightweights, a Trigger Tech Primary, and it weighs 6 lb 7 oz. It shoots really well, loves 130 gr Sierra Gamechangers. No way you could ask anymore from pencil thin barrel.

I’m sorry... I’m gonna stop right here and say it:


I absolutely love the bullet name “Gamechanger”


Now carry on:

I’d go Kimber Montana if I were the OP or the mountain ascent if money isn’t an issue and weight is. It’s about $100 per ounce lost between the 2.

If wanting to stay under a grand and you like wood. I’d look at a Winchester featherweight. Always loved the stocks on those. I bought a featherweight compact (shorter LOp stock and 20” barrel) in 22-250 for my daughter a few years back. Gun shoots everything ridiculously well up to and including 55 gr. Which is all I would expect from the slow twist they put in that barrel. You won’t have that twist problem in the creedmoor.

Tikka T3X, Howa 1500, or Ruger American Predator!

I'm thinking of a Mauser M18 from Europtics for $429.

The 6.5 Creedmoor is just a Keto 7mm-08 in skinny jeans. It works fine, pleasant to shoot, kills deer-sized stuff nicely.

I have several different rifles chambered in 6.5 CM, all are accurate enough with factory ammo, although all factory ammo doesn't make the best groups in all of the rifles. If you're shooting factory ammo at medium game, I'd suggest trying a box of 129 grain Hornady American Whitetail, as it has produced the most consistent
accuracy between multiple rifles for me.

Your budget will dictate the amenities, but at the low cost end, under $300, I prefer the Mossberg Patriot to the Savage Axis. The Wal-Marts near me sell the Savage Axis for around $270 and the Mossberg Patriot for around $300.


It is probably harder to find a rifle chambered in 6.5 CM that won't shoot than it is to find one that will shoot. If you're not in a hurry and keep looking around, you're likely to find some deals. As is always the case, how a rifle fits and feels to each individual is probably the most important consideration, since a rifle that doesn't fit the shooter and/or doesn't feel good/right to the shooter is a rifle that the shooter is never going to be happy with. I got a great deal on a Savage Axis in 6.5 CM, $215, but I have never liked how it fits or feels, so it was put somewhere to gather dust.

I have a Vanguard and two Savages. Both are great!

I just purchased a Tikka ss Superlite T3x in 6.5 Creedmoor with a 24” barrel from Sportsman’s Warehouse. It is accurate, functional and just plain fun to shoot. If you can find one, it will not disappoint you. CP.

That's timely, I just received an email tonight from Sportsman's Outdoor Superstore where they are offering the Patriot in 6.5CM for $279: https://www.sportsmansoutdoorsupers...utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=112020

That is the style of Mossberg Patriot that I have. I paid around $350 for it in 2018 and have been pleasantly surprised how well it shot with the 4 different brands and bullet weights/styles of factory ammo that I fired from it. While it hasn't been quite as accurate as the 6.5 CM RAR-Ps that I've shot, I like the ergs of the stock and the design of the magazine better.

I saw that ad and have thought about buying a couple to give as Christmas gifts.

Browning X-Bolt in the configuration of your choice. Mccarbo trigger spring. Done.

Winchester XPR is nice and accurate, with the same barrel and trigger as the M70.

a lot of negative reviews on this gun. who to believe?

For budget can't beat XPR. Higher end I'd go M70 FWT.

Tikka T3x, barrel cut to 18” and threaded for suppressor. Consistently 1/2 MOA rifle with cheap Hornady American Gunner 140gr BTHP. Killed a whitetail buck with it a couple weeks ago.

Buddy’s wife killed a 5x5 bull elk with a 6.5 Messiah this week. 150 yards, 129gr interlock, 1 shot to the boiler room.

Good luck finding ammo. I paid $500 shipped for my Tikka this spring or summer (blued). Now it seems they’re in short supply.

Believe whoever you want to believe.

I have a sample size of 1 and probably 130 rounds fired.

With a $100 Sightron S1H 3-9x40 installed in $6 B-Square SU rings via the Mossberg factory installed bases I have shot 80 rounds through it, a box each of 95 grain Federal VMax, a box of 125 grain Winchester Deer Season XPs, a box of 129 grain Hornady American Whitetail, and a box of 140 grain Remington PCLs. As the barrel warms up it starts to send fliers, 3 shot groups being consistently smaller than 5 shot groups because of the fliers. It isn't a rifle that I'd take on a pdog shoot or on a hunt that I paid for, but for the guy who hunts close to home, shoots 1 or 2 boxes of factory ammo each year, and who has a small amount of discretionary income to put into a rifle, I think that it is a good choice if my rifle is representative of the Mossberg Patriot universe. My rifle is box stock, no bedding, no barrel channel relief, no nothing. I bought this rifle for a friend of my son's to use and he punched a few tags with it in 2018 and 2019. He probably would have punched tags with it this year if he had been invited to hunt with us.

I put a lot of value in how a firearm fits me. In the universe of sub-$300 rifles, the Mossberg Patriot fits me better than the other rifles in that market niche. That said, if I had more money to spend on a rifle, there are rifles that I would buy in lieu of the Mossberg Patriot, but that doesn't keep it from being a capable/functional tool. Put another way, out of the 15 rifles that I have chambered in 6.5 CM, I would rank the Patriot 14th if I was picking a rifle in 6.5 CM to hunt with.