Nomercy448

"One of the newest" isn't discrete, so maybe I'm splitting hairs, but there have been a lot of new cartridges developed in the last 15 years, many of which out perform the 6.5 creed in various aspects, and a handful of which are assuredly more intriguing for one or another particular feature than the 6.5 creed... And of course, this doesn't explicate at all why there's so much attention given to this particular comparison. Considering "new cartridges designed for long range performance" in the context of the 15yrs the 6.5 creed has been around, we have the 6.8 Westerner, 6.5 PRC, 300 PRC, 24, 26, 28, 30, and 33 Noslers, 6 creed, 6 ARC, 277 Fury, 7mm valkyrie, around a dozen Sherman and Sherman Short cartridges... But for some reason, 2007 defines "new" and for some other reason, 308win defines the gold standard, and for yet another reason altogether, bloggers seem to think we're all fascinated by the same comparison between these two...

The sources of my frustration with this particular topic - "6.5 creed vs. 308win" - are twofold:

1) The novelty has thoroughly worn off as these posts have been regurgitated over. and. over. for the past 15years. Various blog sites have all done a poor job at "putting a new twist" or "telling the rest of the story" in this comparison, because there's really nothing so interesting or novel to discuss about it. We've known for over a hundred years that a faster cartridge with a higher ballistic coefficient is easier to manage at long range, offering a higher impact probability. The world first observed a a fast and aerodynamic 6.5x55 Swede Mauser burning down the capabilities of the blunt and sluggish .30-30 Winchester as far back as 1895, so why should we be so surprised and so intrigued when the laws of physics have not changed a century later? Why does every blog under the sun feel compelled to pump out the same story over. and. over. for a decade and a half? Wouldn't the world think it strange if every auto blog under the sun were pumping out a comparison of a 1952 Ford F-150 and a 2007 Dodge Ram every week? Are we all supposed to be surprised when the more modern engine has better gas mileage and higher horsepower - or surprised the ride quality and driveability is improved (the '52 F series lacking power steering especially) in the more modern pickup?

2) This undeserved attention implies the comparison is truly meaningful - a decisive debate determining the "better" of these two should have meaning, right? If we're so fixated on determining which of these two is "better," then shouldn't one or the other be at least somewhat close to "best" for something? But for the competitor, any competitor, there's no discipline - PRS included - in which either of these cartridges offer dominating performance. So much so, that the 308win even has it's own handicapped classes in multiple shooting disciplines... It lags so far behind other successful cartridges in these disciplines that special "bumper bowling" classes are created to allow it to be competitive on its own scale... Palma, Service rifle, Heavy Metal 3 gun, PRS Tac class... In other words, being "better" than the 308win in EVERY shooting sport discipline is exceptionally easy. The 6.5 Creed equally does not capture any dominating performance position in any shooting sport discipline - not even in PRS. So while all of these gun-blogs are pumping over and over the analogous article of 1952 F-150 versus 2007 Dodge Ram, I'm wondering why we care at all, when neither are winning Nascar races, neither are winning funny car drags, neither are leading the market for horsepower or gas mileage or towing capacity... Just two relatively arbitrary pickups in a broad market and a long history of pickups...

Demonstrably, there's no shooting sport discipline for which either of these are the "best choice." But equally, when we remove the specific demands of competitive shooting, the relevance of any singular cartridge as "best" is largely diminished to pedantic irrelevancy. The context of each casual shooter's available range and individual desires and expectations bend the performance definitions for "best" significantly. If a shooter wants low cost options to shoot zero to 600yrds, a 223remington is a more affordable and more readily available option than either. If a person wants to hunt deer at 600-800yrds, there are higher energy options available which are better choices, like 6.5 PRC, 7rem mag, 300 PRC, etc.. If a person simply wants to learn to manage long range trajectories, a 22LR and a 300yrd range is hard to beat. In specific context where either the 6.5 creed or 308win shine brightly, a dozen or more other cartridges shine as brightly or moreso, depending upon what other contextual attributes are included in the calculus. A 7mm-08, 260rem, 243win, 6 creed, Dasher, BR/BRA/BRX, PPC, 6 ARC, 243LBC, 6.5 Grendel, 7x57mauser, 6.5x55 swede, 25-06, 257roberts.... a long, long list of cartridges offering high ballistic coefficients, moderate to high velocities, low recoil and low powder consumption will all suit the demand.

In short, for any form of competition, neither of these cartridges are relevant. For any casual, non-competitor, the differentiation between the two is equally irrelevant among a dozen or more other cartridges which do the same task as well or better - so "better" between the two in either competitive or non-competitive context certainly isn't nearly as important as these inundating and repetitive articles might have us believe.

The comparison can be a great case study in fundamentals of long range shooting - a revisit of the Litz article analyzing the WEZ for each; a sensitivity analysis of various variables for long range shooting - wind reading accuracy, group size, cartridge performance... But the comparison is directional at best, a comparative case study of how fundamentals of ballistics influence real world difficulty, or ease, in trajectory management and influence hit probability at range. But short of the Litz article and the subsequent PRB post thereabout, we really haven't seen THAT instruction being made, which might point many shooters PAST either of these choices..