Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters JB's Creed article

My wife got a Creedmoor 4 or 5 years ago. The same guys I work with that thought her 250 Savage is great for deer love to expound on the 6.5 Creed being inadequate for any big game.

Absolutely. With different brands and bullet weights, I counted 14 different offerings for 6.5 Creed at my local big box store yesterday. I can't tell you the last time I saw a box of Swede or 260 for sale.


As an aside, the only other cartridges with as many offerings as the 6.5 Creed are 308 and 223. They had half a dozen flavors of 30-06, and a couple for 300 Win. Mag. They had a couple kinds of 270 (and it's the first 270 they've had in a year) and one kind each of 7-08 and 7 Rem Mag. They had no 243 and have only had a few boxes in stock all year (I'd like to know why). 257 Roberts and 25-06 are nonexistent.

I handload and am very glad I do these days, but if you don't handload the 6.5 Creed is easily one of the best options going.

I believe you. A salesman at a gun store last week confided to me that a lot of people are now finding out that the 6.5 Creedmoor doesn't have enough power for deer. I thought about asking if he'd ever been hunting and/or mentioning that I find a 223 adequate and a 243 more than adequate for deer but decided the comment might sail right over his head.

Sounds like skinning shed wisdom, for sure.

DF

If I'd wondered aloud about how had Scandinavians been getting it done just fine on much bigger "deer" with the same ballistics it would have flown right over his head.

[/quote] My wife got a Creedmoor 4 or 5 years ago. The same guys I work with that thought her 250 Savage is great for deer love to expound on the 6.5 Creed being inadequate for any big game.[/quote]

That's because "everybody knows" that inches are a lot bigger than millimeters....

I don't hear much about how crappy a deer cartridge the Creed is, I hear many more stories saying it replaces all other cartridges and is the best thing since LED flashlights.

Come on folks. Think how many big game animals the 6.5x55, 6.5x57 have killed. The CM is just another version.

Not so certain.
Using my inferior Swede as an example, I have found it to not reach
enough velocity for certain bullets to kill well.

Different bullets, it now does very well.
Pretty certain there are some factory Creed loads that might be the same.
Different shot placement, bigger deer, luck....YMMV.

That's because "everybody knows" that inches are a lot bigger than millimeters....[/quote]


Same reason when I bring the 9.3x62mm to the "Big Bore Shoot" I tell 'em "it's a .366 Bock". A .366 is thumbs up, however, a 9.3 anything is suspiciously small...

Curious about the bullets that worked/didn’t work for you. All I’ve shot deer with in my 6.5x55 has been 130 grain NAB’s and , now, I’m using 130 SGK HPBT. I’m not pushing them hard, running just on 2700 fps, but those two are working okay for me. The Sierra I’ve just started using, but it seems to work.

There a link to this article?

Buying a new rifle and ammo for the 6.5x55 is the biggest challenge here in this neck of the woods.

OTOH .... Lots of 6.5CM rifles and some very good ammo as well to be had.

https://www.sportsmans.com

In the magazine rack.

So you're gonna retire the ol .308 Win and get on track with the modern world.

Nice.

Not sure how you got that out of my post? I've owned a 6.5 CM going back over four years. It won't be replacing my 308's.

Matching bullet construction with velocity for optimal performance is an art form.

For example, one would think a mono wouldn’t have a velocity ceiling. Well maybe, maybe not.

My .240 Wby shooting the 80 TTSX at 3,600 fps didn’t work so well on a WT doe. Huge blast effect on chest wall, underperformance inside the chest.

That gun shines with the 100 NPT and that’s the load I’m sticking with. Seems to be an optimal balance, speed vs bullet design, accuracy and terminal performance.

Experience trumps theory.

DF

Not 6.5, but in my 7-08, my fav bullet is the 140 Sierra HPBT. It’s the most accurate, has great terminal performance at 2,700 or so.

I like it even better than the 120 NBT, my prev fav. Both are killers, the Sierra a bit more expansive and with good exits.

DF

Just pokin a bit of fun.

No problem John

Hope you're well...