Wow, that will be a nice gun! I remember back around 1998 or so my brother double tapped 2 South AR. Hogs with a 99 in 308.I dunno about the "best" 6.5 CM for deer but I know which 6.5 Creedmoor deer rifle I am building. It's a re-barreled SAVAGE 99 C (magazine) lever gun that will get an octagonal Bartlein barrel and a Weineg custom stock.
Thankfully the 6.5 CM was designed to fit .308 magazines.
Even before this "science project" began that rifle had an amazingly good trigger for a lever gun. That inspired me to do a re-build on 6.5 CM.
Eric B.