Cartridge debates are a time-honored custom. Given half an opportunity, proponents and opponents of a specific cartridge will fortunately deconstruct issues to the sub-atomic degree to show their argument, nevertheless flawed it might be. That’s very true within the long-running debate over the 6.5 Creedmoor vs the .308 Winchester. In the age of social media, this debate typically devolves to at least one aspect calling the opposite Fudds, and the opposite aspect asserting that their opponents put on man buns. Both camps miss the purpose.
There was a time, not lengthy after the 6.5 Creedmoor first appeared on the scene, when some observers predicted it could kill off the .308 Win. That didn’t occur. If you ask ammo makers how common these rounds are immediately, they are going to inform you that each short-action cartridges persistently rank amongst their best-sellers. So let’s get this half out of the best way early: each are wonderful cartridges for big-game looking and lengthy vary capturing. Neither is definitively higher or worse.
But every cartridge has benefits and limitations. So, which is best for you? We’re going to put out the information so you’ll be able to determine for your self. Here’s how the 2 cartridges stack up in a head-to-head comparability in key areas.
History
The 6.5 Creedmoor was developed about 16 years in the past to win capturing matches. Soon sufficient, hunters found the qualities of the 6.5 Creed, and it turned immensely common. That wasn’t merely the results of intelligent advertising, as some declare, and it didn’t occur in a single day. The cartridge took time to realize traction. When the success got here it was as a result of shooters realized that the 6.5 Creed, which employs trendy cartridge design could be very correct, mild-recoiling, and environment friendly.
The .308 Win. was created for a wholly totally different goal. The navy model, the 7.62X51mm NATO, was developed within the early Nineteen Fifties to be used with quite a few navy weapons. Winchester acknowledged the industrial potential of the cartridge and launched it because the .308 Win. two years earlier than NATO adoption of the 7.62X51. The cartridge shortly gained a following, partly as a result of the favored Winchester Model 70 rifle was chambered for it and partly as a result of it delivered potent efficiency with much less recoil than the .30-06 Springfield.
Accuracy
The 6.5 Creedmoor is an inherently correct cartridge. A few years in the past, I regarded on the accuracy information from the final dozen manufacturing unit rifles I examined that have been chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor. All have been examined with a minimal of three three-shot teams, utilizing quite a lot of manufacturing unit ammo, capturing at 100 yards with a minimal of 5 totally different hundreds. The outcomes have been beautiful.
Average group measurement, for all hundreds examined for all rifles, was simply 1.05 inches. Average measurement of the perfect teams, for all examined hundreds, was 0.77 inches. Outdoor Life took a fair deeper dive into the accuracy of 6.5 Creedmoor manufacturing unit ammunition—capturing greater than 200 5-shot teams—with equally spectacular outcomes.
I lately repeated this train, crunching the numbers for the final 12 manufacturing unit rifles I examined that have been chambered in .308 Win. Although the .308 Win. has a well-earned repute for delivering good accuracy, it wasn’t the equal of the 6.5 Creedmoor. Average group measurement for all examined hundreds with all rifles was 1.38 inches, which remains to be fairly good. Average best-group measurement for all examined hundreds was 0.90 inches. Overall outcomes proved that the .308 Win. has greater than sufficient accuracy to get the job finished within the subject.
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This shouldn’t be taken because the end-all, be-all accuracy information on the 6.5 creedmoor vs .308 Win. Simply take into account it to be one shooter’s expertise from the vary. The distinction between the 2 cartridges, in my expertise, is that the 6.5 Creedmoor is extra persistently correct throughout a spread of rifles and hundreds, whereas some rifles chambered in .308 Win. may be extra finicky of their ammo preferences. The vital factor is to seek out ammo that shoots the perfect out of your particular rifle, and likewise makes use of a bullet designed to your software.
Recoil
Generally talking, the 6.5 Creedmoor is less complicated on the shoulder than the .308 Win. With similar-weight bullets launched from same-weight rifles, the 6.5 Creed will produce 25 % to 30 % much less recoil than the .308. An eight-pound 6.5 Creedmoor rifle firing a 140-grain bullet will generate about 11.6 foot-pounds of recoil power, whereas a .308 rifle of equal weight capturing a 150-grain bullet produces about 15 foot-pounds of recoil power, which is a degree some shooters start to seek out uncomfortable.
As you go down in rifle weight and up in bullet weight, recoil turns into extra pronounced. A seven-pound .308 rifle launching a 178-grain bullet imparts greater than 19 foot-pounds of recoil power, however a seven-pound 6.5 Creedmoor rifle capturing a 143-grain bullet produces little greater than 13 foot-pounds.
The 6.5 Creedmoor produces much less calculated recoil, however perceived recoil, which is subjective and may be mitigated by recoil pads and muzzle brakes, is what issues most to the shooter. Neither cartridge will rattle your enamel, and the .308 Win. nonetheless produces much less recoil than cartridges just like the .30/06 Springfield and .270 Win.
Today’s ultra-light mountain rifles may be one other matter, and a few hunters have a troublesome time capturing them precisely because of the higher felt-recoil. If you’re delicate to recoil, the 6.5 Creedmoor will get the nod on this division.
Ballistics
Thanks to its excessive ballistic coefficient bullets, the 6.5 Creedmoor is broadly proclaimed to shoot flatter than the .308 Win., however is that basically the case? It could look like once you have a look at some revealed ballistic comparability charts, however many of those charts evaluate lighter 6.5 Creed bullets to heavier .308 bullets. Let’s have a look at two hundreds utilizing related, common bullet weights for deer-sized sport utilizing manufacturing unit numbers (determine on a bit much less velocity in most looking rifles for real-world figures).
Hornady’s 6.5 Creedmoor 143-gr. ELD-X bullet launches at 2700 fps. Zeroed at 200 yards, the bullet drops 7.9 inches at 300 yards, 22.4 inches at 400 yards and 44.4 inches at 500 yards.
In comparability, Federal’s 150-grain Noser Ballistic Tip .308 Win. load has a muzzle velocity of 2820 fps. Zeroed at 200 yards, the bullet drops 7.8 inches at 300 yards, 22.7 inches at 400 yards and 45.8 inches at 500 yards. Trajectories are just about an identical to 500 yards, and most sport animals are shot effectively below that distance.
With these similar two hundreds, the 6.5 Creedmoor has a modest benefit in retained power. The numbers for the 143-grain ELD-X are 1,658 foot-pounds at 300 yards and 1,308 foot-pounds at 500 yards. The .308 Ballistic Tip is shut at 300 yards with 1,640 foot-pounds of power, nevertheless it begins to drop off past that, with 1,156 foot-pounds at 500 yards. Retained power is nearer with some heavier, high-BC .308 bullets, such because the 168-grain Berger Hybrid Hunter, nevertheless it nonetheless drops greater than the 143-grain 6.5 Creedmoor bullet at distance.
For most hunters, these numbers aren’t that significant. Using the often-cited minimal of 1,000 foot-pounds for deer-sized sport, every bullet will simply kill deer at 500 yards.
Here’s one issue that does matter to hunters: The 6.5 Creedmoor has a transparent benefit over the .308 Win. in bucking the wind. In a full-value 10 mph breeze, bullet drift for a similar 143-grain and 150-grain hundreds, respectively, are 4.84 inches versus 6.71 inches at 300 yards, 8.82 inches versus 12.36 inches at 400 yards, and 14.06 inches versus 20.03 inches at 500 yards. The hole widens the higher the gap.
The .308 Win. has a considerably longer barrel life than the 6.5 Creedmoor, however most hunters won’t ever shoot their 6.5 Creed rifle sufficient to seek out out. The .308 Win. additionally beats the 6.5 Creedmoor in availability of manufacturing unit ammo loaded with heavier bullets. These heavier bullets carry extra power at frequent looking distances. Hornady’s 178-grain ELD-X .308 Win. load, in comparison with its 143-grain sibling, impacts with 236 extra foot-pounds of power at 300 yards, and delivers 1,465 foot-pounds of power at 500 yards.
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Of course, sport animals don’t succumb to calculated foot-pounds of power, and a variety of hunters have killed sport with the 6.5 Creed and the .308 Win.at distances past 500 yards with the help of good rifles, ammunition, optics, rangefinders and ballistic calculators. A extra vital issue than retained power is whether or not your bullet has sufficient velocity to penetrate, increase and ship deadly terminal efficiency. By this measure, there are various different cartridges that outperform each the 6.5 Creedmoor and .308 Win. at lengthy distance.
Terminal Performance
Terminal ballistics, or how a bullet behaves when it hits and transfers power to its goal, is an inexact science. You can shoot two an identical animals with the identical shot placement, with the identical bullet on the similar distance, and so they could react in a different way. One could drop in its tracks, and the opposite could run 100 yards. That can occur with both cartridge.
Some extent typically misplaced in debate is the truth that it’s not the cartridge that does the killing, it’s the bullet. The bullet’s design and impression velocity play massive roles in the way it performs upon impression. All bullets kill by damaging very important organs and shutting down blood movement. This locations a premium on shot placement and bullet choice.
Bullets with excessive sectional density, such because the 6.5 Creedmoor, have higher potential penetration, however that relies on a particular bullet’s design. Sectional density adjustments the second the bullet begins to mushroom, and a bullet that expands immediately and sheds power too quickly could not trigger most injury to very important organs. A bullet that expands too little could pencil via, inflicting inadequate injury to be instantly deadly. One of the arguments in opposition to the 6.5 Creedmoor is that it doesn’t all the time go away an excellent blood path or penetrate deeply sufficient, regardless of its distinctive sectional density, to create an exit wound for simpler blood-trailing.
The downside with this argument is that it may also be utilized to many different cartridges that routinely kill a variety of animals. Results rely on the place you hit the animal, what distance you hit it at and what bullet you’re utilizing. Standard soft-point cup-and-core bullets are much less prone to exit, whereas monolithic and bonded bullets usually tend to exit. Understandably, many hunters want bullets that exit. But I’ve most likely shot (and shortly recovered) simply as many animals with .308 Win. bullets that didn’t exit as I’ve with 6.5 Creedmoor bullets that didn’t exit.
Dead is useless, and it typically issues little if the bullet exits or lodges below the offside disguise. If you’re looking in terrain that makes it fascinating to drop an animal in its tracks, pin it via the shoulders with an all-copper bullet. Few deer journey far with two smashed shoulders and a variety of injury in between.
The fallacy of the two-hole argument was demonstrated final yr after I shot two big black bears in northern Alberta utilizing a Mossberg Patriot rifle and Hornady .308 Win. 150-grain InterLock hundreds. The bullet didn’t exit on the primary bear I shot. He ran a half circle about 60 yards into timber earlier than taking place, however left a blood path anybody might comply with. The bullet did exit from the second bear, which ran 20 yards and dropped, however left just about no blood path. Even with two holes, there are not any ensures.
One issue to contemplate within the 6.5 Creedmoor vs .308 Win. dialogue is the bigger frontal space of a .308 bullet. All issues being equal, a bullet with a bigger diameter will make a bigger entry gap and mushroom to a bigger diameter, theoretically inflicting higher injury to very important organs. For this motive alone, I’ll select the .308 Win. over the 6.5 Creedmoor when looking one thing massive and bushy that may chunk.
That doesn’t imply the 6.5 Creedmoor received’t kill black bears, or that it’s appropriate just for deer-sized sport, as some assert. That’s merely unfaithful, as many hunters show each season. Hunters in Sweden have lengthy used the 6.5X55 Swedish—which has related efficiency to the 6.5 Creedmoor—to take moose, albeit principally at comparatively shut vary. On the flipside, some hunters underestimate the power of the .308 Win. to take bigger sport animals. The reality is, neither of those cartridges are the hammers of dying that can drop the largest sport in its tracks each time. But when paired with the suitable bullets, each cartridges are efficient at taking large sport in any respect affordable looking ranges.
Ammo Availability and Selection
There are few locations on the earth the place you’ll be able to’t discover .308 Win. ammunition. Even in the course of the ammunition scarcity of the previous few years, .308 Win. was simpler to seek out in lots of areas than most different cartridges. This is partly as a result of there was a lot of it on the market earlier than the scarcity hit. In distinction, provides of the 6.5 Creedmoor, which can be now globally common, turned very tight on the peak of the scarcity.
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The .308 additionally has a bonus in ammunition choice. Federal, Hornady and Winchester presently record a complete of 39 totally different 6.5 Creedmoor hundreds in bullet weights starting from 95 grains to 147 grains. That’s a wide array. But these similar producers record a whopping 72 totally different .308 Win. hundreds with bullet weights of 110 grains to 220 grains. On this numerical foundation, the .308 Win. is arguably the extra versatile cartridge, however for many looking functions, you will discover a load in both cartridge with conventional gentle level, bonded and partitioned bullets in addition to monolithic copper bullets and newer premium bullets that maintain collectively and increase reliably close to and much.
While ammo makers have struggled to spice up provide, inflation has pushed costs up, and 6.5 Creedmoor ammo can, in some instances, be costlier than .308 ammo. Federal’s listed costs for some 6.5 Creed hundreds are about $10 increased per field over same-style .308 hundreds. Real-world costs range, nevertheless, and with some hundreds, resembling Hornady’s Precision Hunter ELD-X and Winchester’s Deer Season XP strains, you’ll typically discover little distinction in value between .308 Win. and 6.5 Creedmoor.
Final Thoughts on the 6.5 Creedmoor vs .308 Win.
Only you’ll be able to determine which cartridge is best for you, however let’s set the document straight: the 6.5 Creedmoor and the .308 Win. are each excellent general-purpose looking cartridges that may take most North American sport animals, with correct bullet choice and shot placement, inside affordable vary for every cartridge. If you’re desirous about much less recoil and a extra environment friendly cartridge, the 6.5 Creed is a good alternative. If you need choices to shoot heavier bullets, the .308 Win. makes a variety of sense.
Most importantly, you don’t have to decide on. Pick out totally different rifles for various functions chambered in every. Life is just too quick to hunt or shoot with only one cartridge.