[Pathfinder76]

Here is what John Barsness has to say on the subject. A better mousetrap? It might be.

“You, like many others, refuse to even try to get it.

I've posted something similar to this many times before:

1) The 6.5 Creedmoor was designed from the ground up as cartridge that would fit in standard short-action magazines with ANY bullet. Neither the .260 nor the 6.5x55 does. Whether you (or others) don't think short actions are the deal, MANY other shooters do.

2) The 6.5 Creedmoor case has features that result in finer accuracy, on average better than the .260 or (especially) the 6.5x55. One is a shorter powder column, the other a 30-degree shoulder. Both have been demonstrated, many times, over the past several decades to result in finer accuracy.

These advantages are NOT theoretical. I have now owned three factory 6.5 Creedmoors, all relatively or really inexpensive, played around with another factory rifle, and also a semi-custom rifle. Also have several friends who own factory 6.5 Creedmoors we've range-tested together. The WORST accuracy I've seen from any of them, including factory ammo, is 5-shot (not 3-shot) one-inch groups at 100 yards.

The most accurate of all five I've owned, or tested personally, is a rifle costing around $400 retail. It's very first group at 100 yards, with a handload I'd found shot well in most Creedmoors, measured .33 inch. And that was five shots, not three. In the same rifle, most factory loads group three shots well under 3/4" at 100 yards.

3) I can just about bet which cartridge the local, long-range gunsmith uses. There are indeed recent 6.5 cartridges as good as the 6.5 Creedmoor, but none of them offer such an "affordable" package, whether in excellent, "affordable" brass, a variety of very accurate "affordable" factory loads, and a variety of accurate "affordable" factory rifles.

4) I own an accurate .260 and 6.5x55. In fact they're the most accurate rifles in either chambering I've ever owned, and I've owned several .260's and 6.5x55's.

The .260 is a Tikka T3, but to shoot its best I had to modify the magazine to accept 2.95" handloads, so bullets could be seated out to the lands. This wasn't just for "high-BC" bullets, but some common hunting bullets.

The 6.5x55 is a custom rifle on an FN Mauser commercial action, with a medium-contour Lilja 1-8 twist barrel. It was chambered with a custom match reamer with a shorter throat, by a gunsmith well-known for very accurate hunting rifles--who's built half a dozen other, very accurate rifles for me and my wife. Using Lapua brass and all the standard accuracy handloading techniques, it still isn't as consistently accurate as the $400 6.5 Creedmoor, and has never shot a 5-shot group anywhere near .33 inch.

Then there's the fact that throat lengths in 6.5x55's are "all over the place." Which is exactly what that accuracy gunsmith said before he barreled my rifle. Which is why factory 6.5x55 ammo, whether made in the U.S. or Europe, often doesn't shoot nearly as accurately as factory 6.5 Creedmoor ammo.

I am not selling either my .260 or 6.5x55, and will continue to hunt with both. But if I want or desire the finest accuracy, would use my $400 Creedmoor.

5) While super-accuracy doesn't matter in shooting big game out to, say, 300 or even 400 yards, I have known very few avid hunters who prefer LESS accuracy. And yes, despite the.270 or 7mm-08 (or whatever) being capable of more muzzle velocity with the same bullet weights, there is a noticeable difference in accuracy and wind drift at longer range with the 6.5 Creedmoor, and no noticeable different in "killing power."

After 8 years of testing (and hunting) with 6.5 Creedmoors, I am convinced it's "cartridge design" is superior. Hornady brass has been very consistent, both dimensionally and over the years, and like the wide variety of factory rifles now chambered for the CM is very "affordable." There are real reasons it's become a standard factory chambering, and almost every ammo manufacturer now produces 6.5 Creedmoor ammo--and not just in America but around the world.

Now I am going to copy and paste this into my computer's documents, so I can copy and paste it into all future repetitive Campfire posts questioning the validity of the 6.5 Creedmoor's popularity. It's not worth writing a new post for shooters who apparently aren't willing to attempt to understand the cartridge.”