Pros & Cons of a .308 Win versus the 6.5 Creedmoor?

[K22]

I'm not a bench rest shooter and know very little if anything about it. However if I wanted the best answer to your question I'd learn what the top wining bench rest shooters are using and go from there.

 

[Puzzaz01]

I think the reason why you hear so little about the Creedmoor winning matches and so many shooting it is because .... I'd say 90% of them are shooting off the shelf rifles and store bought ammo. In reality it's not that bad for just buy and shoot, probably the best choice for a person that has no BR loading experience. Now on another note, I've had the 6br and the dashers and they are fun to shoot with little to no recoil but I keep going back to my 22lb 6.5 Creedmoor, because it's very competitive, more so in windy conditions.

Darrin

 

[walker2713]

I'm not a bench rest shooter and know very little if anything about it. However if I wanted the best answer to your question I'd learn what the top wining bench rest shooters are using and go from there.

I know what's winning mid range and 1000 yard bench rest: 6BR and improved variants such as 6 Dasher, 6BRX, 6BRA mostly, and 6x47, 6XC, 6.5x47.



I'm already shooting a 6BRX custom rifle, and posted looking for the best "factory class" competitive rifle out there.

 

[LVLAaron]

I'd say there's nothing wrong with shooting 6.5CM from a bench w/ quality hand loads. 5 shots in there.

 

[Grimstod]

I'd say there's nothing wrong with shooting 6.5CM from a bench w/ quality hand loads. 5 shots in there.

Yawn, I do that at 200 with a BRX.

 

[JFrank]

Gents
Can I play?
There is one guy that shoots mainly at the Tacoma Sportsman Club, great guy, all that, anyway he shoots a benchrest gun chambered in 308 Palma.
I have personally seen that rifle absolutely blow out the X ring at 600 yards !
Very impressive.. it looked a lot like the above 200 target.
Jim

 

[Lefty Trigger]

Reading a lot of threads here, especially a very current one regarding the preferred twist rate for a proposed .308 purchase, I'd like some feedback on whether the .308 still has a place in the 300 and 600 yard benchrest world?

It's clear to all but the most oblivious that the apotheosis of the 6.5 Creedmoor has relegated its predecessors to the garbage dump, or at least to the back of the gun safe.

Even so, what say you?

George

That was my original thread your referring to on purchasing a .308. I already have a 6.5 Creedmoor and it's a really nice shooting rifle but I still bought a .308 and it's a great shooter as well. I will tell you that the .308 is by far the absolute easiest to reload I have found, it likes every bullet I have tried and every powder as well... in a nutshell, it eats everything! Don't care if the bullets are .010 off or .050 off seems to shoot the same. Brass is cheaper and easier to find than 6.5 Creedmoor. Have not got to shoot the .308 beyond 300yds yet but that may tell me the true difference but I know a few that are ringing steel at 1000+ yards with the .308.

 

[Peebles24]

308 is a very capable cartridge, basically everyone in ftr comp uses it with palma brass and ftr goes out to 1k. The bigger 30 cal bucks the wind a lot better than a 6.5. I shoot a 6.5 creedmoor and it is effective also. Honestly it and the 6.5×47L are very close in cartridge dimensions which means to me if you can do it with one you can do it with the other.

 

[XTR]

Am I missing something here? I always thought the creedmoor & 308 were both the same size (length) cartridge. Neither being able to fit in the AR 15 (AR-10 yes but so does almost any short action cartridge).

You are correct that neither will fit in to an AR-15. Both need a large AR platform to run.

The 6.5 Creedmoor is a shorter case with slightly less capacity than a 308 or a 260Rem. It was designed to cycle in a short action bolt gun with 140 gr bullets. Something you really can't accomplish with a 260Rem.

260Rem left, 6.5Creedmoor right

 

[Laurie]

The 6.5 Creedmoor is a shorter case with slightly less capacity than a 308 or a 260Rem. It was designed to cycle in a short action bolt gun with 140 gr bullets. Something you really can't accomplish with a 260Rem.

In general that's 100% correct. However when I did a lot of QuickLOAD modelling of 260 at 2.860 COAL (most AI magazines accept and work reliably up this value, some up to 2.880") v 6.5 Creedmoor with 140s seated optimally within the same parameter, I found that it was choice of powder rather than ultimate MVs that was restricted by the 260's case length / bullet length / COAL issue. High energy powders should in theory according to QL anyway just be 25-30 fps down on the Creedmoor at equivalent pressures.

That of course is just modelling not real life, and the two often don't coincide as I know from playing with the 260 and getting a lot lower MVs for some powder / bullet combinations than QL predicts.

The 130gn Berger AR-Hybrid is well worth a look too in magazine COAL constrained 260s. It somehow knocks a fair lump off the bullet OAL yet has an impressive G7 'form factor', up with the better 140s and much pointier nose designs. I'll try it in my (long throat 2.95" or thereabouts COALs for single-loading) 260 over the winter at the just off the lands COAL and also seated to 2.800" with well over 100 thou' jump to see if it lives up to its promise. If it does, this would be a significant design for short-action bolt rifles and not just the AR-10 tool that its name suggests.

 

[Bc'z]

Laurie,
Very ironic you posted this.
I just finished loading OCW load test, in .2 increments around last test with h4350/130 ar hybrids in 260 rem.
Using nosler data I also loaded a ladder in .2 increments at stopping point of last OCW test.
I'll shoot the whole Menagerie on Saturday.

In general that's 100% correct. However when I did a lot of QuickLOAD modelling of 260 at 2.860 COAL (most AI magazines accept and work reliably up this value, some up to 2.880") v 6.5 Creedmoor with 140s seated optimally within the same parameter, I found that it was choice of powder rather than ultimate MVs that was restricted by the 260's case length / bullet length / COAL issue. High energy powders should in theory according to QL anyway just be 25-30 fps down on the Creedmoor at equivalent pressures.

That of course is just modelling not real life, and the two often don't coincide as I know from playing with the 260 and getting a lot lower MVs for some powder / bullet combinations than QL predicts.

The 130gn Berger AR-Hybrid is well worth a look too in magazine COAL constrained 260s. It somehow knocks a fair lump off the bullet OAL yet has an impressive G7 'form factor', up with the better 140s and much pointier nose designs. I'll try it in my (long throat 2.95" or thereabouts COALs for single-loading) 260 over the winter at the just off the lands COAL and also seated to 2.800" with well over 100 thou' jump to see if it lives up to its promise. If it does, this would be a significant design for short-action bolt rifles and not just the AR-10 tool that its name suggests.