6.5mm Creedmore Which one would you buy?

[cdoc42]

Kimber - Browning X-Bolt- Ruger - Remington 700.........any others?

Which one would you recommend?

[Dranrab]

If you spelled Creedmoor correctly you would have turned up more search results.

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/715627860

That's what I did. $450 after FFL fees and the rebate. It's a sub MOA rifle. These days it's hard to go wrong with Tikka if you are willing to buy a gun built overseas.

[444]

I bought the Savage

Not saying it is the best, I haven't shot any of the others. But my Savage is a very good shooter for a factory gun.

[MarkCO]

It really depends on what you want to do with it. Punching paper and steel at 1K...I prefer a longer barrel and a heavier rig. Chasing goats and sheep at 10 to 12,000 feet, better be under 6 pounds for the rifle. Budget, what glass on top, etc. might also help you get better feedback.

[Wyosmith]

In a 6.5 caliber I would buy a 6.5 Swede or a 260 Remington on any bolt action that didn't have a NATO length detachable magazine. The Swede and the 260 are both more versatile and do everything the Creedmoor does and a bit more. What the Creedmore does better then the other 2 is fit into NATO length mags with long heavy bullet. If the mag is long enough for heavy bullets as are all Swedes and many 260s there is no reason for me to want a CM. I load my own, so ammo availability is not a factor to me.

So from the list you have above I would only choose the Ruger. In fact, the Ruger would be my 1st choice from that list anyway in the Precision Rifle.

If I were to look at the M77 actions I'd be more interested in a 260.

[tobnpr]

It really depends on what you want to do with it.

^^ This.
At one end of the spectrum, is a heavy, bull barrel target rifle.
At the other end, is a lightweight contour barrel/hunting rifle.

Most hunters don't want to tote a 15 lb rifle.

A lightweight sporter contour can be very accurate, but unsuitable for long strings that are part of target shooting.

Likely somewhere in the middle is what would be best suited.

[eastbank]

I bought a rem sps 700 in .260 with a 1/8 twist and 24" barrel for 500.00 and it shoots 4" three shot groups at 300 yards with 140 gr A-max bullets(BC-550) at close to 2700 fps with a 12x leupold scope. eastbank.

[jmr40]

If you handload a 260 CAN do anything a 6.5 Creedmoor does, especially with 130 gr and lighter bullets. It is actually about 30-50 fps faster than the Creedmoor. If someone already owns a 260, doesn't want to shoot the heavier bullets, and likes it there is very little incentive to buy the 6.5 Creedmoor. But if someone wants to get into the 6.5 game there is no reason to pick anything other than the Creedmoor. It will kill off the 260 in a decade; ammo and brass is already much easier to find. The biggest advantage 260 has is the ability to make brass from 308 brass.

And don't think I'm knocking 260. It is a great round that inspired the 6.5 Creedmoor. But the long range target shooters found they had to tweak both the loads and rifles in order to make the 260 do what they needed.

The 6.5 offers off the shelf ammo and rifles set up to do what the long range target shooters were doing with the 260. It is readily available now at Walmarts in multiple loadings. You can get standard hunting loads for about $18/box and premium target loads with Berger bullets are about $28 and premium bonded hunting loads at around $25. Hornady's excellent 143 and 147 ELD factory loads are in most larger stores and online under $30.

I paid $389 OTD including tax for my Ruger Predator. With Hornady factory loads or my handloads shooting 143 gr ELD-X bullets it boringly shoots 1/2 MOA. It has a medium weight barrel, but mine still comes in at 7 3/4 lbs scoped. It is heavy enough for target shooting, but not too heavy to hunt with.

[oldscot3]

Howa or Ruger.

[Mr. Hill]

A Remington 700 or a Ruger American.

[MZ5]

Ruger M77 or Ruger No.1. An American is good on a lower budget.

[603Country]

Tikka, then Ruger.

[cdoc42]

Thanks to all the suggestions. I ended up with a Browning X-Bolt, 26" barrel with a muzzle brake. I will try it out over the next day or two and report back here.

[Tad_T]

I bought this one. A Bergara B-14 HMR.



I just picked it up Friday off of layaway and I’m really liking it so far.

[Mobuck]

If I bought a 6.5 Creedmoor, it would be for the long range accuracy aspect. As such, I certainly wouldn't buy a price point rifle.

[mete]

I've been enjoying my 6.5x55 for over 45 years .Welcome to the club all you "johnny come latelies ".

Anyone out there have a Barrett hunting rifle ?? In Creedmore or other cartridge ?

[MarkCO]

The Bergara B-14 HMR is what my son decided on. It is a LOT of gun for the money.

[Tad_T]

I've had a 6.5x55 since 1986.

I bought the Bergara because my 15 year old daughter is interested in shooting on the Long Range Team for Junior Shooter's Magazine. She's already on their 3Gun Team and is their Cowgirl Correspondent.

The Bergara B-14 HMR seemed like the most affordable, quality, starter rifle to get into that game and learn about it. It comes in .308 and 6.5 Creedmoor. I chose the 6.5.

[cdoc42]

I asked because I was frustrated trying to get a group smaller than 1.5" with a Kimber 84. I tried 6 different bullets in 120, 130 and 140gr with H414, HybridV100, IMR 4350 and H4350. Seated at 0.015" and 0.020".

This was in the face of getting a 5-shot group 0.8" with my 25-06, 4 shots of which measured 0.18" (so it wasn't all just me).

So I traded the Kimber and got a Browning X-Bolt with a 26" barrel.

Four of the Kimber loads were all with 40gr of IMR and H 4350 powder and 140gr Sierra, Hornady SP, Speer and Hornady SST bullets. They averaged, together, 1.977" with the smallest group being 0.986".

The exact same loads (different seating depths due to chamber difference) with the Browning X-Bolt averaged 0.78" with the smallest being 0.296" and the largest 1.11"

Looks like a good trade to me. Thanks to all for your opinions. Sorry I misspelled Creedmoor.

[Old Stony]

I'm not one to look for a "cheapie", and in fact balked at a new Ruger American when a friend with an FFL offered me one at a ridiculously low price. We went shooting one day and to cut a long story short, I took his home with me. No bedding, no stock replacements, nothing done to enhance accuracy...it just shot nice tiny groups with everything we tried putting through it.
I haul it around with me in my truck almost every day and it gets beat up pretty bad sometimes. Just before deer season started I took it to my range to verify it was still zeroed and fired 5 shots. It virtually shot out the center of the bullseye on the target, so I just packed it up and went home.
While not the prettiest rifle in my racks by a long shot, it does exactly what it is supposed to do. If you are looking for a 6.5 Creedmore, you could do a lot worse...and for a lot more money.

[mete]

There have been many spellings for Creedmore . First came the place name then Remington used it and IIRC patented the name .So others copying had to spell it differently !
Kimber is capable of making fine rifles but not always doing that ! My 223 was not accurate so I did a few simple things .The first cut the groups in HALF.
Stop using the term "Swede" .The 6.5x55 was the military cartridge for both Norway and Sweden. Still being chambered for the cartridge are many custom and factory rifles in that cartridge !
As Finn Aagaard said 'the 6.5x55is the perfect deer cartridge '!

[jackstrawIII]

Browning X Bolt is what I'd buy. I've owned all the guns on your list, btw.

[Unclenick]

Interesting about spellings of Creedmoor differing. I'd not noticed that. For the Cartridge, the spelling shown by SAAMI is Creedmoor, same as the old National Rifle Range on Long Island, New York.




The main drawback to the X-bolt may occur if you shoot it a lot. My assumption is, like the A-bolt before it, that it has its barrel installed with industrial grade permanent thread locker and you cannot readily change it yourself. Browning wants you to send it to them for a new barrel when it needs one. I prefer to rebarrel and chamber my own rifles, using the blank of my own choosing.

[cdoc42]

I shot the new X-Bolt today with 4 different bullets at two seating depths, all with the same powder load (H4350 40.0gr)and primers (CCI 200). There is DEFINITELY a difference from the Kimber 84 Hunter. I don't know how to take a picture and get it on this site so I'll just describe the results. All are 3 shots at 100 yards on a standard rifle rest. I know there are recommendations that 3 shots are insufficient to judge a load but I think these results will speak for themselves:

Hormady 140 Spire, 0.015" from the leade= 0.361" 0.020" = 0.198"

Sierra 140 BTSP 0.015" = 0.861" (*) 0.020"=0.3298"

Hornady 140gr SST 0.015" = 1.111" 0.020"= 1.111"

Berger 140gr "Hunting" bullet 0.015" =0.736" 0.020"= 0.6735"

(*) I suspect the third shot was a flyer caused by me as the first two shots were touching

[Unclenick]

IIRC, the stats work out for randomly varying 3-shot groups that 19 out of 20 such groups will be no smaller than 0.4 times the average 3-shot group size and no larger than 2.5 times their average size. One in 20 will, on average, be outside those limits on one side or the other. So your flier is still within the random distribution range.

For reasons of the randomness, if you put more shots in each group, the groups get bigger, but vary less from one another in diameter and you see less dramatic (as a multiple of the average group diameter) fliers, as well.

But overall, you've had several groups that appear to be neutral to monotonic in showing the larger jump makes for a smaller group. Now you want to try even bigger jumps to see if it tightens up. Berger suggests even bigger steps (0.030" for target work), though you could dial it in smaller if you want to.

The late Dan Hackett, a benchrest competitor reported loading 220 Swift at 0.020" off the lands for a Remington 40X. He could never get 5-shot groups smaller than 3/8" of an inch, and it averaged more like 1/2". Then one day he switched to a 0.015" longer bullet, but accidentally turned his micrometer the wrong way, going in 0.015" instead of out 0.015", so they were 0.050" off the lands instead of 0.020". He had 20 rounds loaded before he noticed the error. But rather than pull them, he decided to shoot them in practice. To his amazement, the 5-shot groups he shot with them were two 1/4" groups and two true bugholes in the 1's.

You can't know until you try.