Is the 6.5 creedmoor the new 30/30?

[Rosebud]

This whole thing really started for me in 2018. The long range thing I mean.. along with getting back into hunting, and shooting to 1200yds and building rifles and reloading and everything. Sure I've been shooting guns since I was 9 or 10 and I got my first 30-30 when I was 16 or 17. I killed a few deer back then, but I was never as serious about it as I am now. That all changed for me when I came back from Korea in March of 2018. I bought an AR and traded my brother in law a muzzleloader for a Walmart Savage Axis in 308. I purchased a shillen barrel in 6.5creedmoor and watch lots of YouTube videos on how to set the headspace and bed it into the boydes stock. Fort Stewart had a long range shoot every month and I didn't miss a single one once I got my gun set up. It actually took me a while year 2018-2019 to build the gun and then another year to fully get into reloading. Sure I've been around guns my whole life. But the 6.5 creedmoor for me was the gateway drug to long range shooting. I do believe it is like the 30-30 in that it turned a whole new page in shooting sports. The 30-30 took us from black powder, straight wall cartridges into the era of smokeless super sonic bottle neck cartridges. Then the 30-06 came along as the first cartridge where the Army gave a dang about real ballistics. Up until the Creedmoor came out you could have everything that the Creedmoor offers today but you had to go to a custom smith and get a custom barrel and such to get it (I realize I started with a custom barrel too). Not everyone wants to to that or has the money especially when you are a new shooter. Lots of people trash talk the 6.5creedmoor but many of them don't own one. No one points out that EVERY cartridge has areas that it does LESS GOOD than others by nature of physics. I will never sit here and say that my 6.5 is everything my 7mag Tikka is because it's not! Nor am I saying that deer hit at 300 yards by the Creedmoor are DEADER than those hit by a 308 or 7-08 at 300 yards. The 6.5 creedmoor was made for one purpose and that it arguably does very well: compete with the 308 hitting TARGETS at 1000 yards. No matter how you slice, dice, fry, grill, smoke it the factory 6.5creedmoor gives the NEW SHOOTER obsessed with Cris Kyle a better hit ratio at 1000y that the factory 308. Incedendally, this also seems to make it the younger bigger brother to the good ol deer slayer the 243. What the 243 does to a white tail the 6.5 can also do and even at a longer range with it's high BC bullets that don't slow down as fast. Take note, this is an incedendal excellency since the creed was never designed for hunting. But it did land right in the middle of allot of great cartridges for hunting (308,243,260,7-08)and land in the hands of lots of new shooters at the same time.

Most people who trash talk the 6.5creedmoor:

1. Have owned 308/30-06 for 20,30,40 years and don't see the need to get hyped about something new.
2. Have the money to build a custom long range rifle in some caliber that is ACTUALLY better. This is the same group of people who will tell a new guy to buy a 300rum, 7sherman, 7saum, 7stw, the list goes on. (There is obviously no comparison between these and the creed except nobody makes rifles in these to sell at Bass Pro).
3. Are obsessed with calibers that also gut/quarter the elk moose in one shot (300wm through 338LM) and the average guy can't shoot a box of 20 without needing to go to the shoulder doctor afterwards. (This group of people never shoot that much anyway so they don't understand why you would want a gun that you can sit there and shoot 100++ rounds at a 1000y target with no brake and no shoulder bruise and actually LEARN about long range shooting before going out and buying/building a custom rifle.
4. Last group, this group already has a 260 rem, 6.5-284, 6.5x47, 6.5sweed and doesn't care about new shooters coming into the sport and not being able to buy those rifles off the shelf.

If you HATE the 6.5Creedmoor and have made it this far reading this LONG POST think carefully and reply with what person you are (the number (s))

The 30-30 (which is very deer to my heart) put smokeless powder in the hands of the average man at the marlin/Winchester price....


The 6.5 creedmoor but modern, high BC bullets, 1000 yard capability and an awesome deer rifle into the hands of the average man at the Savage/Ruger/Tikka/Bergara price!

Well said!

 

[Rosebud]

And let's not ever get started on what the 22LR has done...... that body count is terrifying on a number of levels.

I know old guys down in the Hill Country that are the reason we have hunting laws now..... "If God didn't want you to shoot deer at night, he wouldn't have made their eyes shine!" Turns out a 22LR between the peepers hits pretty hard.

Friend of mine has a saying, if you can't kill a deer in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, etc. You should have your car, truck keys taken away from you.

 

[QuietTexan]

Friend of mine has a saying, if you can't kill a deer in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, etc. You should have your car, truck keys taken away from you.

But with my truck keys is how I get most of my kills

 

[Rosebud]

But with my truck keys is how I get most of my kills

Turn off the engine, vibration is shaking the cross hairs!

 

[Rosebud]

But with my truck keys is how I get most of my kills

When hunting Colorado in the 70, 80, 90s. We found so many skeletons and nice antlers on skulls within sight of mountain dirt roads. That is when my friend decided anyone out west just needed a vehicle to hunt out of. How many got shot and no one would try to retrieve it if it ran off out of sight? Also found a bunch of young bucks skulls when Colorado went to antler restrictions.

 

[Nipper]

The 30/30 probably has taken more game from deer to moose than all others combined. I hate to think how many big bears have fallen to it. Or how many didn't LOL!

I definitely think, You hit the nail right on the head!!

 

[jjmp]

Not at all.

 

[tknuts103]

I used to have a 25-06 that I loved for deer but it seems like no stores stock the shelves with it. I switched to a 6.5 creedmoor and now I walk into any store near me and have minimum 10-15 different kinds to choose from. Deer sure don't notice the difference between a 25-06 and 6.5 creedmoor but I do.... 6.5 creedmoor is easily the most stocked cartridge. At least where I live.

 

[CBH Australia]

I used to have a 25-06 that I loved for deer but it seems like no stores stock the shelves with it. I switched to a 6.5 creedmoor and now I walk into any store near me and have minimum 10-15 different kinds to choose from. Deer sure don't notice the difference between a 25-06 and 6.5 creedmoor but I do.... 6.5 creedmoor is easily the most stocked cartridge. At least where I live.

Well, for all I've read about the .25-06 it's held in high regard. Has been well hunted for years, still a highly regarded hunting round.
I accept that the 6.5 has more availability, both in ammo and rifles. But is it as good as the .25-06 for hunting? Really

Can anyone else elaborate on this? I would have thought the .308 might score better in a few categories

 

[tknuts103]

I think the 6.5 creedmoor is just as good as the 25-06 for a deer cartridge but I also think they are so close that no one or no deer would be able to tell a difference. I would take the 6.5 creedmoor just for bullet weight alone, I would much rather be shooting the 143 grain bullets over the 95 or 117s. The 25-06s main downfall is that it suffers from low bc bullets. While I have never lost a deer to the 25-06, the wind sure pushes that little bullet around so if hunting a windy day, which happens all the time, I give the nod to the 6.5 creedmoor. I know some people don't like the 6.5 creedmoor but I think it is mainly because some hunters try to push it way past its limits. Can't go wrong either way but for a nonrealoader like myself, it's a no brainer

 

[Buttermilk]

Maybe we need a 30 Creedmoor????

It already exists as the 30 T/C (parent case for the 6.5 Creedmoor).

 

[CMP70306]

Honestly the .30-30 is nothing special and is entirely a product of the times and the rifles it was chambered in. Being the first fast smokeless cartridge chambered in the much beloved Winchester 94 and then the Marlin 336 was the reason for its popularity which persists to this day.

In a bolt, pump, semi or single shot it can easily be surpassed by pretty much any other 30 cal with no downsides and only our interest in old lever rifles keeps it relevant.

The Creedmoor is also a product of the times, it's high BC bullets and long range accuracy are irrelevant without accurate factory rifles and repeatable long range scopes that allow everyday people to take advantage of its strengths. It's a good medium capacity cartridge but isn't near flat enough for the average hunter with a duplex reticle to hold out to 400 yards like some of the flatter high velocity cartridges that were popular up until recently with the advent of better scopes.

At this point millions of rifles have been sold chambered for the 6.5 Creedmoor which alone means that the chambering will persist for quite a while. It's a good when used within its operational envelope, it's a solid deer cartridge for most hunters and a great target cartridge.

My preference is short barrels and suppressors so I'm running an 18" 6.5 PRC which gives me 26" Creed performance and so far it's killed every deer, bear and crow I've shot with it.

 

[Wyo37]

I love all the old curmudgeons that hate the 6.5 creedmoor.

The 6mm creedmoor is better, but nothing wrong with the 6.5 creedmoor, or the 6.5x47 lapua, or a lot of other cartridges.

At least it doesn't have "Weatherby" in its name...