Haven't bought any "NEW" calibers ever. My experience is with the family of cartridges that have been around for 50 or more years. Some far longer. I am somewhat amazed by the interest in the 6.5 Creedmoor as the 6.5 Swedish Mauser will do about everything it will and more. I have a few m96's in my collection and enjoy their mild recoil and accuracy. Amazing for a rifle that is over 100 years old. Good steel, and proper care have brought me these 3 out of 6 or more that I bought and flipped because they were not what I wanted.
The fact that the 6.5 Creedmoor was a 22-250 case necked up to 6.5 was a surprise. I hadn't read that much about it. But having such fun with the m96's and reading about the accuracy... I couldn't help but order one when the opportunity presented itself.
I am not a Scope snob, but appreciate good optics and although I would have liked to have a Schmidt Bender, or a Zeiss or Leupold, or other top name product I just couldn't in good conscience spend that kind of money. I have too many rifles needing scopes. I have come up with a way to share scopes on Sako rifles from the 222 up to 7mm Mag. It takes some bore sighting at the time of change, and of course some adjustment. But this Predator called for a scope appropriate for the cartridge's capabilities even though I'll not likely fire it beyond 250 yards. The Burris optics are well rated for clarity and I believe I did the right thing... A day at the range is coming up and will be interesting.
The Predator has a 1:8 twist, not sure what bullet weight will be optimum for that out of the cartridge. I'm guessing at 2650 fps for the 140's... your comments would be appreciated.