.308Win V. 6.5 Creedmore

[FEENIX]

This sounds like all to common of an issue with the 700's. I went through the same thing. Bought a 243 varmint hoping to develop it into an F Class rifle two years ago. It shot 2.5 MOA with factory ammo out of the box. The question that went through my head was, what kind of varmints do they expect you to hunt with this? Wild horses at a limit of 200 yards?

Over a period of 6 months I changed the stock, bedded it, replace the trigger with a Timney, lapped the barrel, reworked the crown and tried every combination of powder, bullet, charge and primer I could using Forester competition dies to reload with. Got it to shoot a little under 1 MOA with some loads. Not good enough for F Class. Sent a nasty email to Remington and they wanted to see the rifle. I sent it to them. Then sent it back with a note saying they lapped the barrel and a test target shot at 100 yards. The group in the test target was 1.5 MOA... Sent that piece of garbage down the road and I'll never buy another Remington rifle. Now I buy Savage and every rifle I've bought will shoot 1/2 MOA or better out of the box. 1/4 MOA in the case of my LRP 6.5 Creedmoor.

WOW! That's too bad, looks like they missed an opportunity for a repeat customer. A happy customer is repeat customer.

 

[MudRunner2005]

This was my exact plan I complety agree with you. There is no way the rifle is going back to Remington. I will find a high quality blank and have my local smith true and blueprint this rifle. I have heard all kinds of hype about the 6.5 Creedmore so my main question was would it be worth going with over the .308 for a 600yd deer rifle in a 17" ish barrel?

Personally, I don't care for the 6.5 Creedmoor. Nothing wrong with the caliber, I would just rather have a .260 Rem or a .260 Rem Ackley Improved. Everyone has their preferences. You can use .308 brass for reloading (necked-down to 6.5mm, of course) if you are in a pinch, and I have tons of extra .308 brass sitting around. Also, you can buy Lapua .260 Rem brass (which is what I would do). I use Lapua brass for my .308, and that brass is awesome.

Personally, I wouldn't go under 20" from lug-to-crown, unless it was for a special purpose. If you were always going to be shooting it with a suppressor hanging off the end, and no more than 500-600 yards, then I would go 16.5". But if you want it for shooting longer ranges, say 750-850 yards, I wouldn't go less than 20". And if you were wanting to get on out to 1,000, 24-26" barrel would be ideal.

These are just simply my opinions, as well. I am no expert.

 

[RonS]

This is the first and only Remington rifle I have ever bought lesson learned. Should have stuck with Savage. I have 3 center fire Savage heavy barrels that do 3/4 MOA on a bad day. I will give Remington one thing their action is sooo much smoother and just all around better to the touch.

IMO, nothing wrong with the Remington action. There are plenty of custom actions out there based on it. The problem is in execution of the design. I'd thought about dumping the $1000 into it with truing of the action and an aftermarket barrel but then I started seeing reports of other problems with them. Things like scope rail holes drilled out of alignment and tolerance issues in the receiver itself. Decided it wasn't worth the risk of dropping that much coin only to end up with something that still didn't shoot like it should. There wasn't much original left on the rifle when I sent it packing as it was.

 

[Outlaw6.0]

I have to ask... Why the 17" barrel requirement? I'm thinking suppressed... althought assumption is uber-bad juju

I have to agree with Mud, I personally think that's too short for a creed' but I could be wrong. I promise it will shoot BUT, you will be sacrificing velocity for portability.



t

 

[warboar21]

While it's not apples to apples I have an AR-10 with a 16.5" barrel. With factory 168gr SMK Federal match ammo it will produce an average velocity of 2530fps. I'm sure in a bolt gun you would see a gain of 50-100fps.
I'm not sure how a 6.5 Creedmore will perform being handicapped with a 17" barrel. I can't imagine that it would be good.
With my 6.5x55 FS 20.5" barrel I lose 100fps to my 22" barrel shooting the exact same load.

I think I would stick with the .308Win and go with a new barrel like has been suggested.

 

[Shorty308]

I have to ask... Why the 17" barrel requirement? I'm thinking suppressed... althought assumption is uber-bad juju

I have to agree with Mud, I personally think that's too short for a creed' but I could be wrong. I promise it will shoot BUT, you will be sacrificing velocity for portability.



t

The rifle will be suppressed 100% of the time.

 

[WildRose]

The rifle will be suppressed 100% of the time.

You're going to have a hard time getting either caliber to shoot well out of a barrel that short, the combination of low velocity and barrel length will make stabilization of the bullet problematic

You'd be better off trying the 6.5x47L or 6.8SPC if you are intent on the short barrel and I"d even want at least an 18" barrel for them for shooting over 300yds.

 

[Outlaw6.0]

You're going to have a hard time getting either caliber to shoot well out of a barrel that short, the combination of low velocity and barrel length will make stabilization of the bullet problematic.

You'd be better off trying the 6.5x47L or 6.8SPC if you are intent on the short barrel and I"d even want at least an 18" barrel for them for shooting over 300yds.

Well said my friend. The x47 would be a great choice. With the lower capacity you should be able to burn more of the propellent in a shorter barrel. I hadn't thought of the SPC but I think it's an excellent choice as well for the OP's needs.


t

 

[MudRunner2005]

6.5 Grendel would also make an excellent option, even though nobody builds a factory bolt-gun in that caliber.

 

[Browninglover1]

6.5 Grendel would also make an excellent option, even though nobody builds a factory bolt-gun in that caliber.

I'm glad someone else agrees with me In a 16" platform the Grendel is going to be real tough to beat!

 

[warboar21]

I have a 16" AR in 6.5 grendel. I think if I were to do it again I wouldn't go shorter than 18" I spoke to bill Alexander 2 years ago when he stopped by my friends booth. He said the 18" makes a better hunting length if not going full rifle length. He designed the cartridge in a 24" barrel so that is where most of his data was from.