Why do you like the 6.5 so much?
Why do you like the 6.5 so much?
"You are Citadel Men, you have no pension for failure, you wear the Ring, you never let a friend down, you will be good fathers, husbands, and leaders in the armed forces and industry, you are strong in heart, body, and mind. You protect such things as Honor and Fidelity. Your virtues matter not only in wealth, but in the richness of family, you are the last of the knights."
- late President Ronald Reagan
I think it's about the perfect deer bullet in 143gr eldx.
It's a great combination of precision and killing power with little recoil- what more could you ask for.
It isn't magic. But it does seem to be easy to get to shoot well and, as mentioned, does a good job with low recoil. It's a good accuracy competition caliber and a good deer/hog or similar gun.
That having been said, although I have one and have used it a lot the last few years, I wouldn't sell another good deer rifle to get one.
"Only accurate rifles are interesting " - Col. Townsend Whelen
Don't know the story but you lost a large buck because of a newbie caliber that is untested on grown SC bucks. 185 lbs etc. Please tell me I am wrong.
I don't have a dog in this fight so take this as you will.... I watched a deer tracker somewhere on the internet the other day say that he has tracked more deer shot with a 6.5 in the last couple years than everything else combined. True? Heck I don't know.
I have been a 6.5 shooter since before it was cool. I shot a 260 Rem growing up just because that’s the caliber they had the gun I liked in. It performed flawlessly with the old Core Loct bullets. As I grew older I still liked the 6.5/26 and began to need to shoot long range hunting out west. So I started researching and testing. And as others have stated the recoil was very mild, especially for the ballistics you get out to 7-800 yards. Personally I like the 6.5 PRC better, but I still shoot my creedmoor a lot. You can take a good 26/6.5 and a good 7mm/28 and kill anything in North America and most of Africa at very long ranges. But for typical SC deer hunting there is no benefit to these calibers. I just use them because that’s what I use out west.
The magic of the Creedmoor was timing. Match grade factory ammo and accurate factory rifles with the proper twist barrels hit the market about the same time that the interest in long range shooting started to grow. A perfect storm of available affordable ammo rifles and optics showed up at the right time. I had a .260 several years before the Creedmoor was a thing. Factory rifles and ammo failed to take advantage of what the cartridge was capable of. High BC bullets weren’t common and an 8 twist barrel was a custom job. Fast forward 10 years and I can walk into Bass Pro or Sportsman’s and walk out with a rifle and ammo that used to be available only on the custom market. As far as actual ballistics, the Creedmoor pushes a 140 ish grain bullet about 2700-2750 FPS. So do lots of other cartridges with similar case capacity and projectile weights.
True. My primary rifle for years was a 6.5x55mm Swedish Mauser. Another pleasant round.
All this having been said - my next rifle may be another 7mm Rem Mag ONLY because I plan on getting with a friend for some western trips in the future. I want something suitable for elk and lightweight.
"Only accurate rifles are interesting " - Col. Townsend Whelen
Yesterday’s deer Tripp, that’s why. It’s a killer.
Bought my son one, then got an AR10 in one, then got the shorty Begara. It’s like everything else, it’ll do the job if you put the bullet in the right place. Doesn’t do anything the 7mm08, .308 or .243’s I own do. Accurate and fun to shoot.
Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal? I wouldn't go so far as to call a dog filthy but they're definitely dirty. But, a dog's got personality. Personality goes a long way.
You might take out a dozen before they drag you from your home and skull fuck you to death. Marsh Chicken 6/21/2013
I like the caliber because I am a pu$$y. I prefer shooting rifles with minimal recoil that also perform well on game. I have a Ruger No. 1 in 30-06. It's sexy as hell. It is also not fun to shoot.
Carolina Counsel
I’ve shot one for several years and there’s nothing special about it as far as killing deer at your average hunting ranges goes. But it’s the most accurate rifle I own and has killed anything I’ve ever shot at with it.
100% this....
Out to 300 or so yds, the 25-06 has superior ballistics to the 6.5...More velocity and energy. 260, 264WMag, and similar cartridges just came out at the wrong time and chambered into existing rifle platforms without maximizing their potential.
Similarly, take the 6.5 PRC....arguably a better round, ballistically, than the 6.5 Creed, but not as readily available, nor marketed to the masses.
Last edited by FishSticker; 10-28-2021 at 09:03 AM.
Physics is physics all the time, everywhere.
Note for the purist: unless things are sub atomic...
Ephesians 2 : 8-9
Charles Barkley: Nobody doesn't like meat.
Plenty capable round, low recoil, and very readily available (pre covid). It was much easier to walk into any store and buy a box of 6.5 creedmor compared to a 7-08, 25-06, 260, etc.
It may be a trendy round but perfectly capable as well. In regards to the tracker guy looking for deer shot with the 6.5 more than anything, that’s similar to the fact there are more former 3 star football players than 5 star players in the NFL….because there’s a heck of a lot more 3 stars than 5 stars every year.
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