Craig Boddington's 6.5 Creedmoor Love/Hate Relationship

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Some folks call it “Needmore” or “Crudmore.” Others imbue it with magical powers, able to stop pachyderms and small armored cars beyond the horizon. Or, as Col. Charles Askins described one of the fast new magnums back in the Sixties: “It shoots dead flat to 400 yards. Then it raises up just a little.”

Huge success begs for stones to be thrown. The runaway success of the 6.5 Creedmoor cannot be argued. Introduced in 2007, the Creedmoor is just reaching voting age, but in its short 18-year life it has become one of our most popular cartridges. And most controversial.

Hornady didn’t expect such success. We were at our annual OSG editorial Round Table when Steve Hornady and engineer Dave Emary introduced the Creedmoor. “Now, we don’t expect much out of this cartridge.” It was designed as a long-range target cartridge, to take advantage of the 6.5mm’s aerodynamics, to get high BC bullets ‘way out there and remain supersonic. As far as 1400 yards, from a short, efficient case, with minimal recoil and maximum barrel life.

That original prediction held for a while. The Creedmoor rolled along, quietly winning matches. About 2013 something unprecedented happened: It took off like a rocket. Last ten years it hasn’t slowed down. Chambered by everyone, loaded by everyone. Almost everyone has one. Those who don’t want one.

Cartridge Merit

Fine by me. It’s a great cartridge. Usually accurate, mild in recoil, and widespread availability is a wonderful virtue. Let’s make sure you know what you’re getting and haven’t believed all the horse-pucky out there. I haven’t seen a woefully inaccurate 6.5 Creedmoor. On the other hand, several I’ve tested have produced pedestrian accuracy. Case design is efficient and factory loads are well-developed. Consistent ammo matters, but case design is a small contributor to accuracy.

Surprisingly, the most accurate Creedmoor I’ve spent quality range time with was a Rise AR10. That rifle averaged .957-inch for 15 five-shot groups, five each with three different factory loads from 120 to 143 grains. Half-MOA groups in the mix. Regardless of action, a Creedmoor with a good barrel can better this, but don’t expect miracles from production rifles. If you get a miracle, count your blessings. Full admission: I don’t own a 6.5 Creedmoor right now. Because I haven’t yet seen the awesome accuracy that shouts, “Better keep this one!”

I have reloading dies and recipes, and I keep ammo on hand because, with its popularity, test guns so chambered are inevitable. Learning they were going out of production, I just ordered a Browning 1885 Low-Wall single-shot in 6.5 Creedmoor. Maybe this will be the keeper I’ve been looking for. If not, I’m sure it will be accurate enough for my purposes.

Which does not include long-range competition. Sure, I like to ring steel at long range. The Creedmoor is fun because it gets out there without beating you up. Daughter Caroline was just getting started shooting when she walked a Creedmoor out to 1000 yards with no difficulty. Ringing steel and punching paper aren’t the same as punching tags. I’m mostly a hunter, and where I get irked at the Creedmoor are the magical powers its fans have bestowed upon it.

Caveat and Nuance

To put a point on this: The 6.5 Creedmoor is neither fast nor flat-shooting and it is not especially powerful. It is a great cartridge for deer-sized game at moderate range. Which, today, I’ll define as a quarter-mile or so. Producing more than a ton of muzzle energy, it is elk-capable. Keep your shots close.

Although it has the great advantage of high-BC 6.5mm bullets like Hornady’s 143-grain ELD-X, G1 BC of 0.625, its muzzle velocity of 2700 fps is not fast. Just before COVID I was hunting with Armando Klein in central Mexico, using his Blaser with 6.5 Creedmoor barrel. Smallish deer, plenty of power. My buck was in shadowed trees, I ranged and dialed for 300 yards. My first shot was low in the chest. Instinctively, I raised the hold and anchored the buck.

We found where it had stood, and I ranged back. 325 yards, not 300. At that distance, the Creedmoor is dropping fast. I needed a couple more clicks elevation. On targets, distance is usually perfect, in the field, not always. The rangefinder probably caught a tree branch.

Because it was designed for competition and specified for short-actions, that 143-grain ELD-X is about the longest bullet one can cram into a short bolt-action. Its ballistics aren’t new, being duplicative of the old 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser from 1894. Keep in mind that the several 1890s military 6.5mms all used 156 or 160-grain round-nose bullets. Swedish moose hunters still use them and keep shots short. Whether for competition or hunting, Creedmoor shooters (including me) use aerodynamic bullets in the 140s. Not the same kettle of fish as those heavy bullets.

Similarities and Experiences

The 6.5 Creedmoor is also ballistically similar to 1997’s .260 Remington, a bit faster because of greater case capacity. I went through a major phase with the .260. Gave up on it because the rifles I tried just couldn’t produce the accuracy the cartridge was touted for. Others had better luck, but for whatever reason, the .260 languished while the Creedmoor is a superstar.

My hunting experience with the Creedmoor has been on hogs and deer, both species varying in size. On small-bodied deer, it’s a thumper. In May I hunted roebuck in Hungary, using my guide’s rifle, another Blaser in 6.5 Creedmoor. Roebucks are small and the Creedmoor is a major hammer. My partner and I shot six bucks with six shots.

On big deer, I’ve not been impressed. Multiple hunters per year bring Creedmoors to Kansas. I’ve seen them flatten bucks, and yet we’ve done tough tracking with good hits. On large deer, it seems there’s little margin for error.

I don’t know about you, but editors love charts as much as I hate to make them. Thought about this one hard. No point including 6.5x55 and .260 Rem. That’s splitting hairs. I’m not a .25-caliber guy, but quarter-bore fans are devout. The little .257 Roberts punches above its weight class, so I started there. Then the Creedmoor, then 6.5 PRC. There is also no magic in the 6.5 PRC; the 6.5-.284 Norma and the old .264 Win Mag are essentially the same. With more recoil, they produce higher velocity and more energy. The Creedmoor cannot compete.

Other Older Contemporaries

Then: 7mm-08 Remington and .270 Winchester. The 7mm-08 has more case capacity than the Creedmoor. Both my daughters hunt with 7mm-08, and elder daughter Brittany has several Weatherby Vanguard Camillas as camp rifles for her She Hunts camps. In my experience, the 7mm-08 and its elder twin, the 7x57, consistently punch above their weight class. I’m equally certain, with higher velocity and/or slightly more bullet weight—and with .020 (twenty thousandths) more frontal area—the 7mm-08 hits much harder than the Creedmoor.

Then the .270 Winchester. Just the other day, a friend said, “So, the Creedmoor is slightly more powerful than the .270, right?” Dead wrong. With greater case capacity, the .270 is significantly faster and delivers more energy.

In my little chart, based on a similarly aerodynamic bullet in each cartridge, the .257 Roberts starts fastest and holds up surprisingly well. However, below 6.5mm, BCs drop off. The 6.5mm (.264) is the BC king, enabling aerodynamic bullets in the 140-grain class to hold up well. Physics cannot be denied; it is not in the same class as faster 6.5mms, which utilize the same bullets…and deliver more energy.

This tiny sampling in my little chart is a microcosm of how cows eat cabbage. To 500 yards, with bullets of similar shape, trajectory of the .257 Roberts, 6.5 Creedmoor, and 7mm-08 are much the same. To 500 yards, the PRC shoots flattest (by fractions) and carries the most energy. The old .270 doesn’t look so bad, about 15 percent more energy at 500 yards than the Creedmoor.

Limitations

Now, if we carried this chart to the 750 yards that some folks are shooting (at game) these days, the inherent aerodynamics of the 6.5mm bullet win the race. Except the .257 Roberts, all these cartridges carry well over 1000 ft-lbs to 500 yards. On deer-sized game, I think that’s a sensible limit for all of them. On elk, not so far. A bull elk is 2.5 times the size of a big buck deer. Just not enough bullet weight for my taste.

I wouldn’t hunt bull elk with any .25, although folks do. With a Creedmoor, within 300 yards; with a faster 6.5, .270, or the 7mm-08, maybe my “quarter-mile limit” …if you know what you’re doing. Ringing steel is one thing. Shooting game at extreme range is another. Folks are doing it. Some who should and some who should not. Either way, the Creedmoor and its closest kin shouldn’t play in that arena. That is where fast-twist .277s, 7mms, and .30-calibers come into play. Not necessarily faster, but with much heavier bullets.

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