Not liking the 6.5 CM because it caught on like wildfire is the equivalent of not liking a band after they become mainstream. It's the epitome of being a hipster which ironically is what 6.5 haters claim 6.5 owners are.

Sometimes I think the Brit’s and the Russians had it right.

They have a medium game cartridge, a big game cartridge and then a bear/dangerous game cartridge. That’s it.

They don’t have endless arguments about cartridges, bullet designs or minute accuracy.

I just wasted 20 min of my life on a article that listed half a dozen cartridges that are within a few hundred foot pounds of each other energy wise ( which is really what matters when dealing with a hunting round).

I’m not a fan of the 6.5 creed but it is an effective round on game and steel/paper. But I don’t think it’s the second comming like some people think.

A 6.5 certainly fills the niche of a medium game cartridge though and fills it well, as does all the others listed.

What does Remington load for THEIR cartridge?

There you will have your answer as to what Hornady does.

My only “problem” with the 6.5 creed (not like I give a flying $h!t one way or the other) is how everyone acts like it’s some great new offering that has never been discovered before. Sure, the round might save a grain or two of powder here or there, but there were no great breakthroughs when developing it.

1. High BC bullets are available for it (loaded at a factory).
2. Barrels with enough twist to stabilize said bullets are standard (also installed at the factory).
3. Hornady latched onto the current fad of long range shooting, and promoted the hell out of their “new” cartridge.

Is it a good cartridge? Yes. Has it’s success been due to marketing? Also yes.

You prove exactly my point.

A whole lot of great cartridges out there. The creedmoor is "better" than most because it is strongly supported by the industry. That's called marketing, for the undeducated

DStroud- yeah, the Shehane. That is the one. I think it started out as .284 Winchester, not sure how they changed it.



For a blue collar schlub like me, don't handload, etc I think the creedmoor might be the ticket. But I just dont have time for that, I have a 7 mag in the safe I bought in February that I still haven't shot one time. All i do is work.

I am lucky to find time enough to stir the pot on THf and shoot my pellet rifle in the yard to be real honest. Maybe when i retire, ill come to a thf match if there is still such a thing!

No, it is called ammo support. Marketing is talk.

Building ammo that is available ON THE MARKET is putting your money where your mouth is.

Had Remington done the same with the .260, it would have been just as successful.

But, in the end, the 6.5 Creedmoor has superior case geometry. The sweet spot on powder charge is larger. And the 6.5 Creedmoor can drive the same 140 gr bullet, with a full grain of powder less than the .260 Rem.

So we have learned that Remington sucks at supporting their cartridges, while hornady learns from other’s mistakes and produces what the market wants?

Put a period on your sentence, not a question mark.

So in other words it is nothing new and all the hype is due to marketing

Pretty Clear there. Why would Hornady have offerings to make the Remington cartridge perform equal to their cartridge?

Remington had every opportunity to build quality ammo for the .260. Instead they introduced it with a 1:9.5 twist offering 120g bullets. When they realized their error they ceased supporting the cartridge and offer a small selection of crappy ammo for it. Had they not dropped the ball would we have the Creedmoor at all? I for one am glad we do.

The Swede started this way back over 120 years ago and has been used as a competition round for over a 100 years. If it would fit in a short action it would be embraced more today. If your going long 6.5 then there are plenty of faster ones to chose from, so it sits for people like me to enjoy.

I can’t keep up here while also pretending to work. I try to post and am several post behind. Lol

It's called a marketing "strategy" and is more than just talk.

Amen to that. I gotta get some rest.

Well, except for the 480 ruger, 300 ruger compact mag (and maybe a couple of other RCMs), 308 and 338 marlin express, 30 T/C and there may be some others i am forgetting. But I am pretty sure all of those cartridges were hornady/gun company team ups. So hornady has had some duds too.

Remington has the 44 rem mag, 7 rem mag, 223 rem, 25-06, 416 mag, 7-08, 280, that have been from somewhat to wildly successful.

The creedmoor was just the right cartridge at the right time, an out of the box ready to go LR cartridge just when the LR craze hit. Hornady marketed and supported it well, and the round was really starting to spool up the same time that the LR rifle shooting craze came into full swing.15 years ago I heard basically nothing about LR shooting, 10 years it was getting to be all i heard about. Hornady was on the leading edge with the 6.5, kinda like remington was with the 44 mag. But really the reason hornady supported it well is because people bought it, and people bought it because of the timing of the LR rifle craze.

Look at all the cartridges that all the big ammo companies have brought out that have flopped, Hornady included. Most were supported early on but when no one bought them the companies dropped them. Seems like timing has everything to do with a cartridges success and timing it just right doesn't happen very often. What is the next youngest cartridge before the 6.5 CM that has had a large amount of success, maybe a 7 rem mag or possibly the 300WSM ( is it really that successful)? I am not sure on that one. But when you look at how many cartridges were developed in the last 30-40 years and see how few are still around in any real amount, it is a wonder that ammo companies even try. Love it or not, the 6.5 CM seems to be a once in a score or so cartridge

I’ll start by saying I don’t judge anyone based on the cartridge they shoot, and don’t care to debate why one would choose one over the other. There’s a pile of cartridges out there to cover any discipline or hunt someone could encounter. There’s a lot of over lap with performance, and that’s okay. Choices are great. Now, on to the Creedmoor. This cartridge has certainly built a name for itself. Some say it’s all marketing, others say it’s based on performance. Both parties are correct. A cartridge has to have a company that promotes it, and stands behind it. Otherwise, we end up with a cartridge that fizzles out and components and ammo become impossible to find. I can name a pile of rounds that have failed due to poor support, or firearms and ammunition that crippled the cartridge from the start. Hornady did their homework on the Creedmoor. They looked and listened to the demands of shooters, and filled a niche. They designed the round around heavy for caliber, high BC bullets that would fit and function in a standard short action that anyone could buy off the shelf. The cartridge was designed in 2007 to offer a competitive long range target round that didn’t have to be hand loaded to achieve superior results. If you did handload, Hornady was nice enough to print the load data directly on the box in the early days. As far as hand loading goes, I’ve never found a cartridge easier to work up. You give me any rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor, a 130 to 147 gr bullet and H4350, and I can almost guarantee it will shoot within a window of 1 grain from where I start testing to where I finish. If you don’t handload, that’s fine too. The factory offerings I’ve shot did extremely well, as it was designed. The manufacturers have followed suit, and produced a multitude of factory and custom rifles to fit any budget, and they all seem to shoot incredibly well regardless of price point. There’s just something about the geometry of that case that works, and the same can be said about the wildcats that have followed the 6.5 and are quickly becoming mainstream. Love it or hate it, it’s here to stay, and it performs admirably well.

Hornady has definitely had some flops as you listed. The 223, 44, and 7mag are definitely ones Remington hit out of the ballpark. The 25-06 has and will remain a moderately used deer cartridge. The 7-08 was introduced with little or no support and its popularity now is with reloaders. Most people in deer camps have never heard of it. The 280 Remington has been around for 60 plus years and all people know of it are they used to come in those dreadful Remington semi automatics that jam all the time. The 416??

Now the 7-08 and 280 are great cartridges but I think in the grand scheme of things they have a very small following, mostly by people who will have a barrel spun on in that caliber and then reload for it. I think we are blinded by talking to like minded people on here. Most people do not recognize these calibers.

On a side note I prefer like minded people and find the rest ignorant and intolerable in conversation. They regurgitate whatever they read in the latest magazine then stand on it as fact. They do this without any experience outside of the internet or magazines.

NO RJH1 that was not directed at you. I’m actually suggesting that you’re one of the like minded and simply do not see John Q Public for what it is.

USA (Averaged 2015 sales rank)

.223 Remington
.308 Winchester
.30-06 Springfield
.30-30 Winchester
.270 Winchester
.243 Winchester
7mm Remington Magnum
.300 Winchester Magnum
7.62x39mm Soviet
.22-250 Remington


I know this list is from a few years ago and the 6.5 may very well be on a top ten sales list today, but I wanted to post the list just to show how rare a cartridge taking off is. I don't think any cartridge on that list is under 40 years old maybe closer to 50 (i didn't check that, just going from memory), and there have been a LOT of rounds developed since these. But what there wasn't was a LR shooting phenomenon like there is now

I think that’s still a pretty solid list with the Creedmoor now falling somewhere in the second half of it.

It's not the cartridge, it's the select few owners/shooters that trash talk everything that isn't a 6.5C.

Bingo. I remember when people were trying to compare it to 300 win mags.

The thinking behind cartridge development has changed. The 270, 25-06 and others were made before everyone had a range finder. Lite fast bullets made sense. The velocity made up for range estimate error when shooting within 300-400 yards. Now everyone has a range finder so heavy high bc bullets are used to fight the wind. So cartridge development moved that way.

I think you have the right of it. It's all about the rangefinders - they've created a (gasp!) paradigm shift.

The 6.5 Creedmoor is here to stay

In 20-30 years it’s gonna be one of the ones that old men have

.243, .270, 30-06 are the ones our dads and grandpas have in the safe

The upcoming old men will have 6.5 Creedmoor in their safes, it’s gona make the cut

Agreed. It carries all the appearance of how the liberals think these days. An attitude of "if you don't join us then you must hate us" is obvious in the title of article noted in the OP.

Yessir. Walking on eggshells.

Thing is I do think there is a chance it will stick. People that never shot in their lifes sometimes used to run out and grab a 300 win mag for their first gun with a scope at a bargain price and hock it when they learn about recoil. I think now they might grab a 6.5 creedmoor instead. Why would someone like that even know about it? Marketing!

There are probably a bazillion remington 770's out there in 300 win mag that are like new in box because a. Cheap and b. Powerful.

But put yourself in their shoes- say you got a creedmoor instead. Now you have a capable weapon that doesn't beat you to death, so you hang on to it. But you bought it because it's supposed to have legs although you'll likely never know for sure.

The creedmoor is a good target cartridge that will work for hunting. What about guys that are occasionally hunt and might have a snowballs chance in hell of doing some long range target shooting? Probably any other centerfire weapon would be as good a choice as the creedmoor.