6.5 Creedmore

[Grizzly Dave]

Steve Hornady and his pals have been busy developing performance ammunition to go with their new production rifles. The 28 Nosler, 30 Nosler and 33 Nosler are head and shoulders above similar caliber rounds and Hornady's Gucci round for the past couple of years has been the 6.5 Creedmore.
A 26 caliber cartridge, it is very similar to the .260 Remington in performance closer to the .280 Rem It is based on the 7.62 NATO / .308 Winchester cartridge and so can be chambered in the short action and is necked from 30 cal to 26 caliber also said to outperform the parent .308 Winchester. 
In a recent article Craig Boddington lamented he has to date not owned nor has he shot any game with the Creedmore despite his wife and daughter both having harvested game with it. That might have been amended by now.
Toward the end of October I retired after 37 years of service to the Government. I received a nice letter of thanks from the Premiere and a bunch of banked overtime that I had to cash in. A wise man would have put it all into RRSPs
I wanted to buy myself a nice retirement memento. After consulting with my friends decided on a 6.5 Creedmore and on the suggestion of my friend Mark McGee ordered a Remington 700 Hunter with the Magpul stock. It took a few days to arrive at my LGS which actually worked to my benefit. My coworkers all chipped in and gave me a gift certificate to the self same LGS and as luck would have it  Cabella's put this model on sale and the shop graciously  matched the sale price... I basically got it for half price.
After getting it home it cried out for a scope which would balance the anticipated performance. I had a Leupould 3X9 and a 2X7 both Vari-X II's as spares. Not good enough. So ... I robbed the Leupould 30 mm Vari-X III 4.5-14 from my Sako A7 in .308 Win and put the 2X7 on it. The A7 balances as a featherweight with the change.
Next off to the range.  
I could not bore sight the 6.5 due to the height of the scope causing it to sight over top of the calumniator so I started the process at 25 yards which is the approximate distance the bullet first crosses the line of sight. After some adjustment and a cleaning of the bore I moved the target to one hundred meters and settled on a 3/4 inch group of five rounds 2 1/2 inches above point of aim and only had 3 rounds left. I checked a target left by a previous shooter at 200 meters which appeared untouched and the two metal gongs of different sizes and the first round smacked the larger gong, second round smacked the smaller gong and the third printed 3/4 inch below point of aim. 
As Ron always said Nuff ...in this case good'nuff.
I like sighting in my rifles, my friend Richard Buck said I am anal about it. I record every shot , every adjustment, weather wind, if I am shooting alone or with a spotter and actually prefer to be alone. I find  I do better work with no distractions.
I took the Sako out another day and sighted it in 1 1/2 inches high at 100 and my little finger nail could cover it
I was not able to get out hunting after sighting in the rifles so like Craig Boddington, I will have to wait to report on any practical application with my 6.5 Creedmore, but I got mine before he got his

[Bill Hay]

“Only accurate rifles are interesting.” That sounds like a winner. Now, what bullets are available in factory ammo? I assume you were shooting factory ammo, not handloads.

Bullet construction is paramount, as you know, when you want results on the terminal end.

[Grizzly Dave]

Bill my first sighting in was with Remington 140 gr. factory
I have picked up some Federal 140 gr Factory
Next time I am in town I will pick up Hornady 140 Gr
I have some dies on order and when I get them I want to play around with Hornay 160 gr. round nose that I had for my Mannlicher-Schoenar.
On the west coast the deer are the Blacktail and majority of shots  are close in the temperate rain forest (Jungle) with the od shot across a clearcut logged area.
I believe the heavier bullet travelling around 2400 fps will drop a deer at or near the point of impact lessening the distance to track the deer. This is an important consideration when hunting in rainy conditions.
I would appreciate your thoughts.

[Bill Hay]

I believe the heavier bullet travelling around 2400 fps will drop a deer at or near the point of impact lessening the distance to track the deer. This is an important consideration when hunting in rainy conditions.
I would appreciate your thoughts.

Well, as you know, everyone has thoughts, like noses, some of them smell worse than others. 

I'm convinced that it isn't just the bullet weight that drops the deer, it's a combination of weight, construction and velocity.  The further you shoot, the better heavier bullets perform, relative to lighter ones.  Velocity drops less, and penetration is more compared to lighter bullets.

But the construction is paramount, I think.  A round-nose solid is used on dangerous game because of its ability to penetrate deeply, and not deviate from it's path easily. For blacktail, it doesn't take much, they're so small.

So, if your 140s are a Nosler Partition, you're gold.....  They perform well at close range and high velocity, they perform well at long range at reduced velocity.  That's what I shot in Africa and they were tremendous.

Cheap bullets or factory ammo is a cheap economy.  The only thing that counts is what happens after the bullet makes contact, so load the very best.

[Grizzly Dave]

Thanks Bill I like Nosler Partitions and have shot more than half of my animals with .30 cal. 180 gr. Partition in my .30-06.
I used Hornady .30 cal 180 gr. SST in Africa and they performed very well, but I have very high regard for Partition bullets.

I will keep everyone informed as the range visits develop

[ddennis2]

Interesting .

I would think that the 140 gr bullet would do well.  Cindy's and by extension JJ's, .243 with 100gr bullets took numerous whitetail off of the hunting property.  Shot placement, as always, was, IMO, the major key.  We rarely had to track any they shot with that caliber/bullet.  Both lusted after my 7mm Mag and after they started hunting with them, more tracking and more missed deer occurred because they became overconfident.  Once I lost my 7mm, I went to a .308, 150gr bullet and took several good deer, generally having them drop in their tracks.

You are intensely more anal than I am with your shooting, so I would think you will do well with the 140gr.

Now, I am going to have to find a 6.5 Creedmoor....dag-nab-it.....

DD

[Grizzly Dave]

Interesting .

I would think that the 140 gr bullet would do well.  Cindy's and by extension JJ's, .243 with 100gr bullets took numerous whitetail off of the hunting property.  Shot placement, as always, was, IMO, the major key.  We rarely had to track any they shot with that caliber/bullet.  Both lusted after my 7mm Mag and after they started hunting with them, more tracking and more missed deer occurred because they became overconfident.  Once I lost my 7mm, I went to a .308, 150gr bullet and took several good deer, generally having them drop in their tracks.

You are intensely more anal than I am with your shooting, so I would think you will do well with the 140gr.

Now, I am going to have to find a 6.5 Creedmoor....dag-nab-it.....

DD

Thanks Dave 
I think the 140 gr will be adequate for Island Black-tails and I am mainly curious about the 160 gr.
For most of my hunting career I have not hunted with less than .30 cal with the exception of the .270 and the 6.5X54 MS
The .308 Win. is and exceptional  cartridge as is the .30-06. If limited to one rifle through some mal-practice of legislation I would likely take a .308. Win. because of its NATO wide spread and world wide availability of ammo and the variety of bullet weight for reloading.

You are the second person recently who commented about my anal shooting practices.
The last time I was at the range the club president was showing a newer member around and I was sighting in a couple of rifles. The newer member commented on my set up and The Pres, said I was a little more anal than most about shooting.
I, like Bill think that only accurate rifles are of interest. They do their bit and any discrepancy in performance is my bad  
I think you will like the 6.5 Creedmore and would appreciate your views after shooting one. 
Christmas is coming, buy yourself a 6.5 Creedmore in a Ruger American or Mossberg Patriot, they don't cost much 

[wmerrin]

You are the second person recently who commented about my anal shooting practices.

Keep in mind that you are conducting these discussions in a forum section where only Moderators and Admins can post, so you are safe in the FAQ section.  Posting in the FAQ section was disallowed for everyone else because it was supposed to be for FAQs, not Discussions.

I can create a new Weapons section in the "Hoodlums Community" section if there is a need for a members-only weapons/hunting board that cannot be viewed by the non-registered public.  In fact, I think I'll go post an open question asking if people would like to see that.  I'll ask who should be allowed to view it - should it be open to newly registered or restricted like "Current Affairs and Discussions" - perhaps with a lower post count for entry?  

Cranky Old Wally