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People most likely hate and love the 6.5 Creedmoor greater than some other cartridge. The irony is that till the Creedmoor, People by no means actually gave two hoots about 6.5mm cartridges. The well-respected 6.5×55 Swedish Mauser has been round for greater than 125 years, however nobody actually cares. The .264 Winchester Magnum was lauded with greatness when launched within the early ’60s, nevertheless it’s now dwelling, unloved, within the previous people’s house. And the .260 Remington was launched in 1997, however was largely ignored in that void between the .243 and the .308 till of us began claiming the 6.5 Creedmoor was higher.
You may evaluate the 6.5 Creedmoor to all these cartridges however the one comparability that basically issues is when it’s put up towards the .260 Remington. It is because each of those cartridges match completely in what are thought of short-action bolt weapons or AR10s. It’s additionally as a result of each cartridges are utilized by those that discover pleasure hitting targets at nice distances. Arguing this subject on the Web has develop into a favourite previous time of many, however the fact of the matter is that the reply may be very easy and supported by ballistic reality.
There are two methods to check these cartridges and that’s to both put manufacturing facility rifles and manufacturing facility ammunition up towards one another or to look at customized rifles and handloaded ammunition head-to-head. The 6.5 Creedmoor wins the manufacturing facility rifle and ammunition comparability, and the .260 Remington can win the argument when customized weapons and ammunition are thought of. Let me clarify.
Manufacturing facility Rifles and Ammunition
The American manufacture of manufacturing facility weapons and ammunition is regulated by SAAMI (Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufactures’ Institute Inc.). SAAMI publishes the rules that weapons and ammunition should adhere to, in order that if you purchase a rifle from Savage it can work with ammunition from Federal and Hornady. It’s a nice group, and their requirements additionally permit ammunition made in 2020 to work in weapons in-built 1920. Amongst different issues, these requirements dictate the allowable stress that’s created in a rifle’s chamber and the twist charge of rifling in a rifle’s barrel.
For the .260 Remington, SAAMI specifies a most common stress of 60,000 psi. For the 6.5 Creedmoor, SAAMI specifies a most common stress of 62,000 psi. To a big extent, chamber stress dictates velocity however so too does powder capability. The .260 Remington case will maintain about 2 p.c extra powder than a 6.5 Creedmoor case, however because the Creedmoor might be manufacturing facility loaded to a better stress, velocities are close to an identical. (We’re not speaking about printed velocities, we’re speaking about precise velocities from actual rifles.)
For the .260 Remington, SAAMI additionally lists a right-hand rifling twist-rate of 1 flip in 9 inches. For the 6.5 Creedmoor, they checklist a right-hand twist-rate of 1 flip in eight inches. Together with velocity, rifling twist charge dictates the size of the bullet that may be fired and usually, the longer the bullet the upper ballistic coefficient (BC) it can have. Given close to an identical velocities, with its sooner twist charge the Creedmoor has the sting as a result of it could actually launch bullets that defy wind and shoot flatter. In different phrases, when the space to the goal is excessive, the Creedmoor-launched bullet will get there sooner.
There’s additionally a bodily dimension of those cartridge instances that offers an edge to the Creedmoor. Although it can solely include 98 p.c of the powder than might be crammed in a .260 Remington, the Creedmoor case is about 5 p.c shorter. Which means when working with the utmost general size to slot in a short-action rifle’s journal in a .260 Remington, among the extra aerodynamic bullets should be seated in order that the ogive is buried within the neck (or case mouth) of the brass. This isn’t a great factor.
For all of those causes, if you evaluate factory-loaded 6.5 Creedmoor and .260 Remington ammunition, the 6.5 Creedmoor tends to carry out higher at longer distances. For instance, one of many flattest taking pictures .260 Remington hundreds is the 130-grain ELD Match load from Hornady. Although it begins out going 5 p.c sooner than Hornady’s 147-grain ELD Match 6.5 Creedmoor load (2840 fps vs. 2695 fps), the Creedmoor’s bullet arrives at 1000 yards 0.09-second—about 5 p.c—sooner.
Customized Weapons and Ammunition
With customized weapons and handloaded ammunition, issues are totally different. If you happen to have been to construct a .260 Remington rifle with the identical rifling twist-rate (1-in-8) as a 6.5 Creedmoor, then you would successfully shoot any bullet appropriate for a 6.5 Creedmoor in your .260 Remington. And, as a result of the .260 Remington will maintain extra powder, and since you may barely exceed SAAMI pressures with handloaded ammunition, you would shoot that bullet at a sooner velocity.
However what concerning the distinction within the size of the cartridge instances? Wouldn’t that also restrict among the bullets that may very well be fired within the .260 Remington? Sure, however the work-around is to construct the .260 Remington rifle on an motion that may be a single shot or that makes use of {a magazine} that may permit bullets to be seated out farther.
Greatest Searching Masses for the 6.5 Creedmoor and 260 Remington
With these cartridges being so related when it comes to velocity, it might solely make sense that the most effective looking hundreds for each would use the identical bullet. It’s true that you could reap the benefits of the small ballistic benefit the 6.5 Creedmoor has and select a “finest” load for it that can shoot only a tad flatter at lengthy vary than one from a 260, however that distance is so excessive few of us will shoot at an enormous sport animal that far-off, and those that do, most likely shouldn’t. So listed here are two totally different but in addition nice looking hundreds for each cartridges that make the most of the identical bullet.
For deer looking I imagine the 120-grain 6.5mm bullets are a greater choice than the 140 grain bullets. They don’t shoot as flat at silly lengthy vary, however on the distances most deer are shot at it doesn’t matter. At 6.5 Creedmoor and 260 Remington velocities the Nosler Ballistic Tip bullet is deadly on deer. Nosler presents their 120-grain Ballistic Tip for each cartridges, and it’s rated at 2900 fps for the 6.5 Creedmoor and at 2850 fps for the 260 Remington.
If you happen to like the concept of a barely heavier bullet but in addition need a lead-free mono-metal bullet, Lehigh Protection presents their 130-grain Managed Chaos bullet in loaded ammo for each cartridges. The Managed Chaos bullet is a bit totally different than most mono-metal bullets as a result of it’s designed to shed the petals that develop throughout bullet upset. These petals create their very own wound tracks damaging extra tissue and the bullet’s shank penetrates very, very deep to supply all of the penetration you want plus and exit wound. Lehigh Protection hundreds their 130-grain Managed Chaos bullet to 2700 fps within the 6.5 Creedmoor and to 2800 fps within the 260 Remington.
And the Winner Is…
In the actual world, away from ballistic calculators and Web arguments, the efficiency distinction between these two cartridges is so minute that few have the long-range taking pictures potential to inform the distinction. However nothing can take away from the truth that there are extra manufacturing facility rifles, and extra manufacturing facility hundreds, for the 6.5 Creedmoor than the .260 Remington. And guess what? Most American shooters reside with manufacturing facility rifles and manufacturing facility ammunition.
Learn Subsequent: 10 Fashionable Basic Deer Searching Rifles
Like it or hate it, for many of us the 6.5 Creedmoor is a greater long-range goal cartridge than the .260 Remington. Alternatively, when looking bullets are fired at widespread big-game looking distances—inside 300 yards—due to the .260’s increased preliminary velocity, it can have a slight benefit. Your ballistics program may know the distinction, however a deer by no means will.
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THE 1871 CLUB
