7mm-08 or 6.5 Creedmoor

[Rated21R]

I had to resist the temptation to pick up a Ruger Precision Rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor last night at the LGS...

[cbx]

I know the OP is still new and does not reload......yet. I have not talked about it much, but the creedmoor is one of the best reloading/learning experiences you can have.
Shooting a gun that runs lapua brass is a piece of cake. Other than skimming the necks and a normal trim there is nothing to do for case prep. Hence your not going to learn like you would using hornady brass, which is inconsistent. With a good skill set you can make them shoot just as well a lapua case, but it takes work. This makes us refine our skills, which are proven by SD/ES numbers getting lower.

A 6.5 creed running lapua 243/308 or 308 palma is the cats ass.

cbx, congrats on shooting the 260. Now you know why they are referred to as laser beams. The 47's are even better.

Really? Damn....... I was just simply in awe. I've shot a bunch of 308 out of shorter barrels over the years.

But 260 out of a 26" that was just pure sex in a rifle stock. Made me want to go throw my 16" 308 in the trash.

So tell tell me this. How much different is the 6.5 creed? Everything I can find said about 50 fps? The RPR 6.5 intrigues me because is no gunsmith needed. The 260 gun I shot took 6 months to get done.

I almost have enough saved for my 6.5 gun. The question I'm struggling with is do I go for the 6.5 grendel autoloader first? Or the 6.5 RPR?

[yellowfin]

They say the difference between the 260 and the 6.5 CM is that the 6.5 is a little shorter case so you can load longer bullets further out in the case and still fit in standard 308AR/Rem 700 short action mags. Same advantages over .308 still apply with both. From what I gather, the ability to have more OAL flexibility really comes into play with optimizing with the distance to the lands of the barrel, and if doing so requires loading longer it's nice to not have that make your mags feed only one at a time.

You could do a 6.5 Creedmoor or even a .260 in some kind of AR, maybe a LaRue, LMT, JP, or some other. That's where the debate could be versus the 6.5 in a bolt gun.

6.5 Grendel is nice but that's a whole different conversation--quite a bit less zip to it, kind of a "I wish I had a .308 in a .223, so here's what I can do" in the AR15 platform. It does well for what it is but a 6.5 Creedmore it is decidedly not--400-600 yards you're quite good, but past that you'll be wishing you had more. Quite honestly the Grendel would have been better off having been made a 6mm rather than 6.5 (higher BC and more speed in same case size) and it would have a lot more to show for itself. There are 6mm iterations of it, .243 LBC and 6mm AR and 6mm AR Turbo, plus the 6mm Hagar and .240 Tomahawk which are the 6.8 SPC necked down to 6mm. Those do more to put themselves in the running with the 6.5/6mm family of the .308 size action--still not all the way there, but closer, and with better barrel life given that they're burning way less powder.

[wilson1911]

Yellowfin made a very good comparison to the 260. That is why they say the creed is a 260 done right. Loading longer is an advantage when using mags. The truth for all these guns in 6x47, 6.5x47, 260, 6.5 creed and even the little 6.5 grendel which is a hoot to shoot....is accuracy combined with pleasant recoil. They all out perform the 308 by a wide margin for groups, with the grendel being a hopped up 556 with good accuracy to 500 yards.

So tell tell me this. How much different is the 6.5 creed? Everything I can find said about 50 fps? The RPR 6.5 intrigues me because is no gunsmith needed. The 260 gun I shot took 6 months to get done.

50 fps does not make that much of a difference. If you want speed build a 6x47 and run the high node at ~3180/w 105's. All of these guns are laser beams....while having small advantages/disadvantages between them. For someone just getting into long range, a first bolt gun, or needs to learn reloading.....I suggest the 6.5 creedmoor since it has a longer barrel life. My new 6x47 has 500 rounds thru the barrel in 45 days. I will be looking to rebarrel at 1700 rounds. A 6.5 can go to about 3k rounds.

If you reload, the 260 may be what you want since Lapua makes brass for it, if you do not reload yet it does not hold any advantage over the 6.5x47 or the 6.5 creed. The 6.5x47 Lapua is the hotrod of the 6.5's. They can quite easily push a 140 or 130 at ~ 2900 fps. The case with its small primer are made to run at high pressures and still have good brass life.

The creed I had would run lapua 308 brass at 2880 on the high node and 2810 on the mid node. If I shot well I could make 1 hole at 100 and about an inch at 500, with 950 being about 6-8 inches on a good day. Hornady brass ran at 2775 with a slightly larger group at 950. The difference is in the brass. Most guys have shot crap brass before they moved over to lapua. This is why you will see guys running their finger over that blue box in the gun store. Its like sex in a box.....best brass in the business.

So for the guy looking at a first gun, I have to say they are all good. Barrel life and affordable ammo go to the creed. It does no matter whether you reload or not yet.......that can come in time. Whether it's a savage, RPR, or a custom gun...you can make them all shoot 3 shots that you can cover with a dime shooting hand loads. They should all shoot about 1/2 or better with box ammo.

With the RpR you can spin a new barrel on yourself, but barrels are higher. LRI currently makes very good ones. A 26" will offer more speed than the stock barrel and be more accurate. The RpR is the best bang for the buck going currently for new guys. Even when we take new guys out with their new build to dope their gun out to 950 before shooting the steel have the biggest smiles on their faces. I often laugh when they only bring one box of ammo. Going long is quite fun.

A grendel will be fun for the first few mags, but it will leave you wanting more after a while. Shooting out to 1400 yards is always fun. Some days I can almost clean the range we are on, and then there are those days where I can't hit that dam 517 yard gong on the hill, but hit everything past it.. WTF !!!!! Gotta love the wind.

Don't sell yourself short on choosing a caliber. You may meet someone 6 months after getting your gun that will offer to let you shoot on his land. A grendel will not make it out far enough, and a 308 will be lobbing bullets. This really sucks when you cannot see your vapor trail or miss for a correction. The guy next to you with his 6.5 will be ringing steel, while you get frustrated at all your misses.

cbx, get the 6.5 RpR and don't look back. It shoots the same as the 260. Do not forget you can rebarrel to a different caliber also. If this is your first foray into long range....your going to wear out the barrel just learning how to shoot well.

[taliv]

They say ...

yep

[cbx]

Thanks for the info guys. Much appreciated.

[Rated21R]

Picked up a Tikka T3x CTR 6.5 Creedmoor from a member selling his "impulse buy" couldn't turn it down. Can't wait for it to get here so I can start breaking it in.