What if the 6.5 PRC had preceded the 6.5 Creedmoor?

[Gone Ballistic]

I was thinking about the choices of calibers and what caused me enough excitement to desire purchasing a new rifle in a particular caliber. Then, I got to thinking about what would have happened if I had waited for a couple of years to see what new improvements would have presented themselves.
What brought my attention to this is the 6.5 caliber. The 6.5 Creedmoor became the best kid on the block in the world of rifles. Superbly accurate, low recoil and a long range shooting dream. Millions have been purchased. But it was fairly slow and was not really a long range hunting round. So, in need of speed and longer range kill shots the 6.5 PRC. evolved. But, what if the 6.5 PRC would have come first? Would the Creedmoor have ever made it? If given the choice between the two, would anyone buy it over the PRC? The 6.5x.284 was performing ballisticly equal but, because it was a wildcat in name it didn't catch on like the 6.5 PRC. Yet, all of the new bullet designs are really a wildcat made by reforming a larger caliber case for the most part.
Now, the 6.5 PRC and it's brother, the 300 PRC are becoming the most desirable calibers being purchased.
So, what do you think? If the 6.5 PRC had come first would the 6.5 Creedmoor have made it?

 

[gearguywb]

The 6.5 CM I think would still be around due to the really good inherent accuracy and a goo bit less recoil. Really took the PRS type world by storm and one thing you are looking for is the ability to see your shot impact the target

 

[Axl]

You will never know. The 223 was preceded by the 222 Mag and the 222, all from Remington.

 

[Sako284]

6.5 PRC and 300 PRC the most desired purchases? When either one of them come even close to the sales of the number of 30-30s , 270, or 30-06, then they will have earned that. The PRCs will he knocked off in 5 years. Whatever replaces them will be replaced 5 years after that. That's the world we live in.

 

[Tiny Tim]

Agree with gearguy, the creedmoor made it big in prs and trickled over into the hunting world. In a sport where speed and stupid simple accurate factory ammo is required, its a good match. PRC may be the new kid but only time will tell if it matures. People are so spoiled by the vast array of choices offered and being plagued by the attention spam of a gnat, I wonder if any new cartridge will last 50 years anymore

 

[Danehunter]

My 6.5 CM rifle is a Ruger Precision Rifle (gen. 1) and for competition it is ideal, with just enough range, low wind drift and moderate recoil with long barrel life. Still, some went to the 6 CM for even less recoil.
So, no, the 6.5 PRC would likely not have been adopted for competition due to the recoil and shorter barrel life even if it came out before the 6.5 CM. Remember, the very similar 6.5/284 was already out and not much adopted for competition.

My 6.5 PRC rifle is a Browning X-Bolt Pro mountain rifle. Light at 6 lbs. 3 oz. and thus it does recoil a bit. Great for long ranges I can expect here in Nevada, better than the 6.5 CM for big game at long range. And, after all, that's the point of this site, long range hunting.

UPDATE: Today (5/20/'20) with my 6.5 PRC X-bolt Pro I shot a 4 shot 1/2" group with all holes touching, natch. I use my hunting load, Hornady 143 gr. ELD-X Precision Hunter.

Eric B.

 

[Joefrazell]

The 6.5 cm and the prc are two very different cartridges in my eyes. Not really even in the same ball park. They're both shoot 6.5 bullets but that's about it.

 

[highdrum]

Why are we comparing two cases with 20% capacity difference? The only similarity is the caliber of bullet they hold.

 

[Bigeclipse]

6.5 PRC and 300 PRC the most desired purchases? When either one of them come even close to the sales of the number of 30-30s , 270, or 30-06, then they will have earned that. The PRCs will he knocked off in 5 years. Whatever replaces them will be replaced 5 years after that. That's the world we live in.

Disagree. The one thing the 6.5prc has over previous other new kid on the block calibers is Hornady support and marketing. They won't let it fail and it's simple as that. Look at all the factory ammo coming out. Look at all the current factory rifle options. Even the WSMs never got this far if you ask me and PRC is still growing. Just my two cents.

 

[coop2564]

The world will never know. The CM is perfectly fine hunting round for the vast majority of people. Few will ever shoot at a animal over 400yds. As long range shooters we are a small minority of the gun buyers, And guys that shoot over 700yds are even smaller. I hope the 6.5 PRC holds on and I think it will, but never to what the Creedmore sales spike did...to late in game for the need that was there.

 

[gbett308]

Why are we comparing two cases with 20% capacity difference? The only similarity is the caliber of bullet they hold.

Because the 6.5 creedmoor has a cult following of long range shooters even though long range hunters should already know that the energy of the cartridge diminishes past 700 yards (830 ft lbs at around 800). The average joe hunts at less than 300 yards so most any centerfire will work with a well placed shot. Maybe we should compare the 6.5 prc to the 264 win mag?

 

[CMP70306]

Why are we comparing two cases with 20% capacity difference? The only similarity is the caliber of bullet they hold.

Because both were cartridges released by Hornady and have garnered a great deal of attention over the past few years. Additionally it does appear that the 6.5 PRC was created to be the next step up to fill the gap between the Creedmoor(2700) and the 26 Nosler(3200). It's faster than the Creedmoor by a discernible margin yet doesn't have the shortcomings of being as big as the Nosler, basically it is the happy medium many people were looking for.

One could make a fair argument for the .264 Win Mag but until they start releasing factory rifles with faster twists it will unfortunately be regulated to the realm of handloaders and custom gun builders. I know I personally chose the PRC over the .264 because my dad and brother would most likely be buying factory rifles and I wanted to use the same load across them so we can share ammo.

So with a number of people now picking up the PRC (myself included) for hunting due to the speed advantage over the Creedmoor it is a reasonable question to debate if the PRC coming first would have impacted the popularity of the Creedmoor.

 

[highdrum]

Socrates and 6.5mm rifle philosophy 101, cool.......why dissect the timeline of emergence? Just be thankful you have options. 6.5 prc belongs in a long/mid action. As does any Magnum 6.5. Those heavy bullets are long. You're handicapping yourself if you don't.

 

[highdrum]

Because the 6.5 creedmoor has a cult following of long range shooters even though long range hunters should already know that the energy of the cartridge diminishes past 700 yards (830 ft lbs at around 800). The average joe hunts at less than 300 yards so most any centerfire will work with a well placed shot. Maybe we should compare the 6.5 prc to the 264 win mag?

Let's compare 308 to 300 win! They've actually had a lifetime of field use to analytically pull data from!