Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters So JB, why does the 6.5 CM get more attention than the 7mm-08?

Less drift for a given recoil level is true of the 6.5 CM, but that’s not the same as saying less drift with less recoil. Cherry picking loads isn’t useful when comparing the potential of various cartridges, since almost any outcome can be produced with the right loads. The 6.5 CM can produce slightly less drift with equal recoil when the 7-08 is loaded down, but the 7-08 can produce less drift with a bit more recoil when ballistic performance is maximized for both.

I've been a 260 Rem fan since it was introduced. For a dozen years I used one for deer, coyotes, and prairie dogs. But if I were starting over.....the 1 in 8 twist, cartridge designed for low drag bullets, and excellent factory ammo for the Creedmoor would win me over. I've rebarreled a .260 (see the part about prairie dogs), and if it ever needs another barrel I'll go Creedmoor.....but that probably won't happen as I now own a dedicated varmint rifle. .260 is reserved for deer and coyotes now.

What he said.

Just to be clear, the differences between the 6.5 CM and 7-08 are pretty minor. I’ve owned and shot multiples of each, and they are both about as much bang as you can get for the recoil/powder buck.

Yep, about the same dang thing. I bought a pair of Howa Alpines in 6.5 and 7mm-08 for my kids. The 6.5 has a slight advantage in recoil with equal weight bullets, but for normal hunting ra ges they are effectively the same thing.

Funny as some here knocked the 6.5 Creedmoor at first. Touted the 7-mm08. Now are 6.5 preachers... LOL

Average guy kills critters every year at under 300. And if elk are involved 7mm-08 is the winner. From what I've seen them eldx is the last elk bullet I'd count on. I've killed elk and deer in the 6.5CM .260rem and 7mm-08 with 140gr Partitions. Pert much same same but the -08 punches a bigger hole if that matters to a guy. That lil 6.5 is amazing as [bleep] tho pound fer pound, recoil fer recoil, powder grains fer powder grains.

I do not understand this… what makes that funny?

fyi, I have two 270s, a.257 Roberts and two 7x57s.

My two youngest sons are into 1000 yard shooting. If I were to get into it, I would consider the 7mm/08, 180gn bullet in a fast twist barrel. If I remember correctly, Big Stick posted some ballistic charts awhile back showing the 7mm/08 overtaking the 300 Win Mag at 100-1200 yds. Seems a good bang for the buck.

Few years ago I went in to Sportmans with Intention to buy 7-08 or 6.5 CM. The deciding factor came in when I looked at ammo selection, quantity and $. This was 3 years ago? before the hoarding.
Easy decision, and I reload.

Yep

I recall early in the days of high power metallic silhouette competition, around the late 70s, the 7-08 was all the rage. Driver was enough power to reliably knock over rams at 500 meters, short action length to save weight and less recoil than the .308. The 7-08 seemed to be more inherently accurate than the 7x57, which had not yet been born again.

Never heard any discussion or comment about factory ammo as nearly all of it sucked back then. Silhouette shooting has less buzz these days, but the 7-08 has remained on its own merits.

I'm betting there are loads of hunters who love the 6.5CM who aren't exactly "long range afficionados". There is a great selection of bullets for any and all intentions, it's a light kicker, it's extremely accurate, wide variety of factory ammo,etc. If one would take the blinders off, there is an awful lot to like about the cartridge.

Not I'll pull a "badass" on you guys.......my buddy's have MLD ground, and I cull whitetail does for them evey year (local mexicans love me). Killed almost 70 in the last 3 years with a wide variety of 6.5mm bullets. Moral to the story is there are a wide variety of reliable bullets that kill the crap out of deer sized game. That doesn't include the 100 or so hogs I "tested" bullets on, and they're much tougher than any whitetail IMO/IME.

46.5grs of H4350 and the 150 Scenar shoots excellent from my Tikka 7mm08. I’ve not killed anything with the Scenar except steel but from 100-800yds I’m definitely the weak link.

Good to see you posting here brother. I can't imagine how crazy life has been for you of late.

Just takes one slot.

Bigger safe?

DF

I tried to like the 7-08 for a few years. Remington 700 Mountain Rifle, tried a lot of different combinations of bullets and powder trying to find "that" load. I could get it to group pretty good at 100 yards, but out past 200 yards was a crap shoot once the barrel started warming up.

I've had 5 rifles chambered in 6.5 CM, two of them Howas and three Remington 700's. Every one of those rifles was accurate out to 500 yards, which was as far as I could shoot, and that was with a heated up barrel and a variety of different bullet and powder combinations.

Now, it's probably unfair to compare one rifle to five, and I'm sure that if I tried more rifles in 7-08 I'd find at least one that shot well. But, my experiences with the 6.5 CM have been so good that I see no need to try another 7-08.

Yep. The small-cased 6.5mm rounds are sweethearts for medium game, much like the 7mm-08 and .257Rob. The animals don’t really care about such slight differences, but for some odd reason, hunters often do.

We're all ears/eyes here - care to elaborate?

SKane,

One of the interesting things about the Campfire is how so many members think a vote's taking place. They want to place their vote ASAP, without providing any reason, apparently thinking the 6.5 Creedmoor will be banned if they "win the election."

"The brudder-in-law has XXXXX - says it's the best"