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

People have gone against mainstream since there's been a mainstream. I get the notion they think being different makes them special. In many instances, I believe it most certainly does...

Bugger,

Fair enough--but I still wish I had $5 bill for every time somebody of our generation has told me (or posted somewhere on the Internet) that there's no reason for the 6.5 Creedmoor, because the 6.5x55 has been doing the "same things" for well over a century.

By the way, I would also often like a little more magazine length for "short actions." This is partly because so many newer bullets have longer sleeker front ends, especially plastic-tips. But some short-action rifles are now coming with slightly longer magazines. Melvin Forbes put 3-inch magazines in his Model 20 Ultra Light Arms rifles when he introduced them in 1985, and the magazine on Eileen's M20 .257 Roberts allows me to seat 100-grain Barnes TTSXs "correctly," meaning where they're most accurate. Despite the tendency of TTSX's to shoot better when seated somewhat deeper, the cartridge OAL is too long for the average 2.85 inch short-action magazine.

Three rounds of Factory 140 A-Max ammo.

You should’ve zoomed out. You can’t see the other two shots in that frame!

I have used a 7x57 since 1981 so have no interest in the CM. Because I loaded for and used and saw used several 6.5x55's in the 80's and 90's, I definitely would take a serious look at the CM if I lost everything in a fire and had to rebuild. The 6.5mm is a very old and well proven caliber regardless of the casing. The CM case is the more practical today and the rifles are built around the potential of the cartridge as a whole in today's market, so it really wouldn't be very bright to slander a 6.5 Creedmoor considering most people hunt animals way under 1000 pounds.

[/quote] Doesn't the Fieldcraft have a 3" magazine? It seems like that should be the next best thing; "ordinary" factory rifles with magazines > SAAMI specs. Bullets are getting longer, not shorter.

Doesn't the Fieldcraft have a 3" magazine? It seems like that should be the next best thing; "ordinary" factory rifles with magazines > SAAMI specs. Bullets are getting longer, not shorter.

I love the concept of the 6.5 Creedmoor. But I'm still busy acquiring the rifles I lusted after in the 1970s. Second (or third) childhood sort of thing.

I've had every practical use for a rifle covered since the early 1980s at least. But I'm aware that the CM cartridge is a better idea, and likely the best avenue to an all purpose rifle out there.
If whim and opportunity coincide...

I’m not a gun writer. But the 7mm-08 didn’t have a full scale marketing campaign behind it’s introduction.

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.

Hate to bring it up, but since probably 95% of big game are taken at distances less than 300 yards, a guy should just pick the one he likes, with the right bullets, and get on with it. It takes most all of the discussions about wind drift, BC's, etc out of the equation.