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Old 08-15-2022, 07:48 PM
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Nomercy448
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
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“Out perform” is a subjectivism. Don’t sweat it. “Faster” certainly isn’t the singular measure of “out perform.” Certainly, there are 6.5mm cartridges with bigger cases which will push a bullet faster, and there are smaller cases which won’t keep up. There are longer cases which hold bullets too far forward to fit into a short action - unless loaded with relatively light for caliber bullets… and there are older cases designed for such lighter bullets that their standard twist rates are unbecoming and unproductive for long range shooting with heavier bullets.

The 6.5 Creed is a sweet spot that simply wasn’t truly occupied by any other cartridge, but which had been replicated for generations by custom gun builders which stuck fast twist barrels in front of long action 260’s and 7-08 AI’s, 284’s and 6.5-284’s, intermediate Mausers in 6.5 Swede and 7x57… we chased the right combination of long bullet aerodynamics with limited recoil for a long time. And in the modern gun market, 1) most shooters are not hunters, and 2) many hunters enjoy long range shooting, so a 1300yard target rifle + 600 yard deer rifle rolled into one is pretty intriguing, so the timing was right. Especially coming off of the boom of the AR-15 which had many gun buyers realizing the limited potential of the 223/5.56 for long range shooting - and the same limited potential of the AR-15 platform - such the market was stoked to receive an inexpensive, ubiquitous, highly capable but highly shootable long range cartridge, made on the shelf, instead of custom ordered.

My hope, personally, is that the 6.5 creed’s success will drive more of the wonder 6’s to become standardized such the next generation of shooters can have even more options for mid-range hunting and long range shooting.
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