Do you think an AR10-style platform is better than other 7.62 bullet launchers?

[Failure2Stop]

And given the relatively trivial ballistic penalty going from 20" to 16" with .308 at these ranges, it's a wonder that short-barreled 6.5 CM rifles have not already become more popular, as anything said here would apply equally if not more so to 6.5 CM.

While I definitely am a fan of 14.5" 6.5 Creedmoor, the average 6.5 Creed buyer is looking for long range precision advantage, thus the market trend for 22"-24" barrels in that regard.
With the average government strategy of performance increase as justification for acquisition, even 18" 6.5 or .260 tend to fall short of requirement.

[maximus83]

Jack, do you see that situation continuing indefinitely? That .308 will continue to rule in short-barreled AR10's basically due to its historical widespread adoption, despite the reduced recoil and improved ballistics of the 6.5?

[SFree]

My apologies, got ahead of myself as I was thinking of the 1956 Pan Am Games and the infamous “Mexican Match” where the 173’s were changed to 168 Match Kings and 300 meter positional shooting... Lake City LC 82 was first, I believe, followed by the M852 as a production round from Lake City, but Mr Leuba, you are correct as theses changes for the military were made well after the original cartridge was developed. Again, my apologies.

Have to stop thinking out loud...

[Failure2Stop]

Jack, do you see that situation continuing indefinitely? That .308 will continue to rule in short-barreled AR10's basically due to its historical widespread adoption, despite the reduced recoil and improved ballistics of the 6.5?

This really is the 10 million dollar question.