6.5mm Creedmoor | ||||||||||||
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Type | Rifle | |||||||||||
Place of origin | United States | |||||||||||
Production history | ||||||||||||
Designed | 2007 | |||||||||||
Manufacturer | Hornady | |||||||||||
Produced | 2008–present | |||||||||||
Specifications | ||||||||||||
Parent case | .30 Thompson Center | |||||||||||
Case type | Rimless, bottleneck | |||||||||||
Bullet diameter | .2644 in (6.72 mm) | |||||||||||
Land diameter | .2559 in (6.50 mm) | |||||||||||
Neck diameter | .2950 in (7.49 mm) | |||||||||||
Shoulder diameter | .4620 in (11.73 mm) | |||||||||||
Base diameter | .4703 in (11.95 mm) | |||||||||||
Rim diameter | .4730 in (12.01 mm) | |||||||||||
Rim thickness | .054 in (1.4 mm) | |||||||||||
Case length | 1.920 in (48.8 mm) | |||||||||||
Overall length | 2.825 in (71.8 mm) | |||||||||||
Case capacity | 52.5 gr H2O (3.40 cm3) | |||||||||||
Rifling twist | 1 in 8 in (203 mm) | |||||||||||
Primer type | Large rifle, Small rifle (Alpha Munitions, Lapua, Peterson and Starline brass) | |||||||||||
Maximum pressure (C.I.P.) | 63,091 psi (435.00 MPa) | |||||||||||
Maximum pressure (SAAMI) | 62,000 psi (430 MPa) | |||||||||||
Ballistic performance | ||||||||||||
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Test barrel length: 28 inch Source(s): Hornady, [1] SAAMI, [2] [3] C.I.P. [4] [5] |
The 6.5mm Creedmoor designated as 6.5 Creedmoor by SAAMI, and as 6,5 Creedmoor by the C.I.P. [4] is a centerfire rifle cartridge introduced by Hornady in 2007. [6] It was developed by Hornady senior ballistics scientist Dave Emary in partnership with Dennis DeMille, the vice-president of product development at Creedmoor Sports, hence the name. The cartridge is a necked-down modification of the .30 Thompson Center. [7] [8]
The 6.5mm Creedmoor was designed specifically for long-range target shooting, [6] although it has been used successfully in medium game hunting. [7] Bullet-for-bullet, the 6.5mm Creedmoor achieves a slower muzzle velocity than longer cartridges such as the 6.5-284 Norma or magnum cartridges such as the 6.5mm Remington Magnum. However, with an overall length of 2.825 inches (71.8 mm), it can be chambered in short-action rifles, as can the 6.5×47mm Lapua.
In general, 6.5 mm (.264 in) bullets are known for their high sectional density [7] and ballistic coefficients, and often have been used successfully in rifle competitions. The 6.5mm Creedmoor was designed for target shooting at longer ranges, and as such, couples a sensible ratio of case volume (3.40 ml) to bore area (34.66 mm2/0.3466 cm2) with ample space for loading long slender projectiles providing good aerodynamic efficiency and external ballistic performance for the projectile diameter. [4] For some loads, the 6.5mm Creedmoor is capable of duplicating the muzzle velocity [2] or trajectory [9] of the .300 Winchester Magnum while generating significantly-lower recoil, based on lighter projectile weight.
The 6.5mm Creedmoor has a 3.40 mL (52.5 gr H2O) cartridge case capacity.
6.5mm Creedmoor maximum C.I.P. cartridge dimensions. All sizes in millimeters (mm). [4]
Americans define the shoulder angle at alpha/2 = 30 degrees. The common rifling twist rate for this cartridge is 203 mm (1 in 8 in), 6 grooves, Ø lands = 6.50 mm (0.256 in), Ø grooves = 6.71 mm (0.264 in), land width = 2.29 mm (0.090 in), and the primer type is large rifle or small rifle depending on the cartridge case manufacturer. [4]
According to the official C.I.P. (Commission Internationale Permanente pour l'Epreuve des Armes à Feu Portatives) rulings, 6.5mm Creedmoor can handle up to 435.00 MPa (63,091 psi) Pmax piezo pressure. In C.I.P.-regulated countries, every rifle cartridge combo has to be proofed at 125% of this maximum C.I.P. pressure to certify for sale to consumers. In CIP-regulated areas, 6.5mm Creedmoor chambered arms are proof-tested at 543.80 MPa (78,872 psi) PE piezo pressure. [4]
The SAAMI Maximum Average Pressure (MAP) for this cartridge is 62,000 psi (427.47 MPa) piezo pressure [10]
The 6.5mm Creedmoor is known for its exceptional accuracy and long-range performance. According to Gunners' Review, this ammunition is often regarded as a secret weapon for precision shooters due to its impressive ballistic properties. [11]
The 6.5mm Creedmoor is a medium-power cartridge comparable to the .260 Remington [12] and 6.5×47mm Lapua. [13] Its energy at 300 yards using 129-grain Hornady SST bullets is listed by an independent reviewer as 1,641 foot-pounds force (2,225 J). [14] For the 140-grain bullet at 2,700 feet per second (823 m/s) initial velocity, another reviewer reports an MPBR [15] for a six-inch-high target of 265 yards (242 m), and reports a manufacturer-claim of "almost 1,600 ft⋅lbf (2,169 J)" of retained energy at 300 yards (274 m) using a 24 inches (610 mm) barrel. [16] SAAMI test data confirms 6.5 mm Creedmoor, 15 feet (4.6 m) from muzzle, velocity of 2,940 ft/s (896 m/s) for the 129-grain bullet and 2,690 ft/s (820 m/s) for the 140-grain bullet (which compares to .300 Winchester Magnum data of 2,930 ft/s (893 m/s) for a 200-grain bullet and 2,665 ft/s (812 m/s) for a 210-grain bullet). [2]
The 6.5mm Creedmoor caliber with 140-grain ammunition from both Hornady and Desert Tech and shot with a Desert Tech MDRX rifle (20 inch barrel), achieved groups averaging half to sub MOA (0.5-1 MOA). [17]
The cartridge stays supersonic and maintains its accuracy to past 1,200 yd (1,097 m), [18] while the .308 Winchester with 168-grain match bullets has a supersonic range of about 975 yd (892 m). [19]
A semiautomatic sniper rifle with a 20-inch barrel chambered in 6.5mm Creedmoor is capable of engaging military targets from point blank range to 1,200 meters. [20]
Handloading costs for the 6.5mm Creedmoor are roughly equivalent to other 6.5mm cartridges, such as the 6.5×47mm Lapua, due to the availability of Lapua small primer brass for both cartridges. [21] [22] As of January 2020 Lapua is also manufacturing 6.5 Creedmoor brass with large rifle primers. [23] Norma makes brass for the cartridge, and Norma brass is available through several major-retailers at approximately the same cost as Lapua brass. Lapua brass for 6.5×47 lasts for about 12-to-20 reloads. [24] Starline sells brass cases with either large or small primer pockets, with small pocket brass costing slightly more. [25]
After the 6.5mm Creedmoor was introduced, it was advertised as a 60,000 psi capable case. [6] However, after it was placed into production, Hornady listed it as 62,000 psi, then registered it with SAAMI as such. For this reason, many hand loaders have poor experiences reloading for it. Blown primers on the first shot at 62,000 psi are not uncommon. Early shooting articles listed the ammo as loaded to 58,000 psi, [5] but later citings list it as 57,000 psi. [26] Hornady reduced the loads in its factory ammo because of complaints it was often blowing primers. [27]
Lapua delivered 6.5mm Creedmoor brass at Shot show 2017, [28] and production quantities became available via major retailers in second quarter 2017. The Lapua version has a small primer pocket. [21] [29] Thus, load data for small-primer brass are not interchangeable with those for large-primer brass. A smaller diameter decapping rod is required to size and decap. As of January 2020, Lapua also manufactures its brass with large rifle primers, addressing concerns that some small rifle primers may not efficiently ignite the powder charge in cold weather, causing hang fires or misfires. Large rifle primer Lapua brass also allows the use of a standard-size decapping rod. [23]
The 6mm Creedmoor is a necked-down version of the 6.5mm Creedmoor using 6 mm (.243 inch) bullets, lighter than 6.5 mm bullets with similarly reduced recoil. [30] John Snow at Outdoor Life built a 6mm Creedmoor rifle in 2009 for a magazine article of the wildcat cartridge that appeared in 2010, but the first documented conception of the 6mm Creedmoor was by Lee Gardner, a Snipershide forum user in May 2009. [31] As of May 2018, Savage Arms offers three bolt-action rifles and one semiautomatic rifle chambered in 6mm Creedmoor. [32] As of May 2018, Hornady offers 87-gr Varmint Express, 103-gr Precision Hunter and 108-gr Match ammunition in 6mm Creedmoor. [33] Performance-wise, the 6mm Creedmoor is nearly identical to .243 Winchester, with slightly less powder room but often loaded to slightly higher pressures. [34] However, since the cartridge was designed from the outset to better handle longer bullets, and rifles are accordingly built with faster twist rates, the 6mm Creedmoor will usually give better performance with heavier bullets than the .243.
The .22 Creedmoor is another even further necked-down version of the 6.5mm Creedmoor using .22 (.224 inch) bullets, lighter than 6 mm bullets with even softer recoil. [35]
In October 2017, U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) tested the performance of 7.62×51mm NATO (M118LR long-range 7.62×51mm NATO load), .260 Remington, and 6.5mm Creedmoor cartridges out of SR-25, M110A1, and Mk 20 Sniper Support Rifle (SSR) rifles. SOCOM determined 6.5 Creedmoor performed the best, doubling hit-probability at 1,000 m (1,094 yd), increasing effective range by nearly half, reducing wind drift by a third, with less recoil than 7.62×51mm NATO rounds. Tests showed the .260 Remington and 6.5mm Creedmoor cartridges were similarly accurate and reliable, and the external ballistic behavior was also very similar. The prevailing attitude is there was more room with the 6.5mm Creedmoor to develop projectiles and loads. [36] [37]
As the two cartridges (7.62×51mm NATO and 6.5mm Creedmoor) have similar dimensions, the same magazines can be used, and a rifle can be converted with just a barrel change. This led to its adoption and fielding by special operations snipers to replace the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge in their semi-automatic sniper rifles, planned in early 2019. In response to SOCOM's adoption, Department of Homeland Security also decided to adopt the round. [38] [39] U.S. Special Operations Command will convert their 7.62×51mm NATO M110 Semi-automatic Sniper rifle (SASS) and Mk 20 Sniper Support Rifle (SSR) rifles to 6.5 Creedmoor in 2019, a process that requires just a new barrel. [40] [ better source needed ] In 2018, USSOCOM announced they would roll-out 6.5 mm Creedmoor in a long-range precision (sniper) rifle and use it in a carbine (assault rifle) and a machine-gun. [41]
At the National Defense Industry Association's annual Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC), beginning May 20, 2019, FN unveiled a prototype of its Mk 48 Mod 2 machine gun chambered in 6.5 mm Creedmoor to fill a USSOCOM requirement. American special operations forces are in the process of acquiring a lightweight belt-fed machine gun offering a better range than existing weapons. [42] 6.5 Creedmoor has since received the designation of XM1200. [43]
In November 2019, the U.S. Navy ordered 6.5 mm Creedmoor conversion kits to upgrade the M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System to the M110K1 variant. [44]
In April 2020 the United States Department of Defense decided to replace the Mk13 .300 Winchester Magnum sniper rifle with a 20-inch (508 mm) barrel, semi-automatic AR-10 platform chambered in 6.5 mm Creedmoor and ammunition for engagements from 0 to 1,200 yards (0 to 1,097 m). [45]
In August 2023, Geissele Automatics announced its design had been selected for USSOCOM's Mid-Range Gas Gun Sniper (MRGG-S) program. The objective statement called for a rifle chambered in 6.5 mm Creedmoor with accuracy of 0.5-1.0 MOA at 100 yd (91 m) and weighing less than 10.5 lb (4.8 kg). The SOCOM designation for the weapon is the Mk1 Mod0. [46]
The British Royal Marines adopted the L129A2 designated marksman rifle chambered in 6.5 mm Creedmoor with an 18 in (457 mm) barrel, a new Leupold scope, a HuxWrx suppressor, an Envision Technology ballistic calculator, and a Pixels-on-Target thermal sight in 2023. [47] [48] [49]
This is a table of selected pistol/submachine gun and rifle/machine gun cartridges by common name. Data values are the highest found for the cartridge, and might not occur in the same load.
The .338 Lapua Magnum is a Finnish rimless, bottlenecked, centerfire rifle cartridge. It was developed during the 1980s as a high-powered, long-range cartridge for military snipers. Due to its use in the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War, the cartridge has become widely available.
The .223 Remington is a rimless, bottlenecked, centerfire intermediate cartridge. It was developed in 1957 by Remington Arms and Fairchild Industries for the U.S. Continental Army Command of the United States Army as part of a project to create a small-caliber, high-velocity firearm. The .223 Remington is considered one of the most popular common-use cartridges and is used by a wide range of semi-automatic and manual-action rifles.
The .308 Winchester is a smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge widely used for hunting, target shooting, police, military, and personal protection applications globally. It is similar, but not identical, to the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge.
6.5×55mm Swedish, also known simply as 6.5×55mm, 6.5x55 SE, 6.5x55 Swede, or in its native military as 6.5 mm patron m/94, meaning "6.5 mm cartridge model 94", referring to 1894, is a first-generation smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge. The cartridge has most users in the Scandinavian countries, where it is known as the 6,5×55 or just "the 6,5".
The .243 Winchester (6×52mm) is a popular sporting rifle cartridge. Developed as a versatile short action cartridge to hunt both medium game and small game alike, it "took whitetail hunting by storm" when introduced in 1955, and remains one of the most popular whitetail deer cartridges. It is also commonly used for harvesting blacktail deer, pronghorns and mule deer with heavier rounds, and is equally suited to varmint hunting with lighter rounds. The .243 is based on a necked down .308 Winchester, introduced only three years earlier. Expanding monolithic copper bullets of approximately 80 to 85 grains or traditional lead rounds of 90 to 105 grains with controlled expansion designs are best suited for hunting medium game, while lighter rounds are intended for varmints.
The 6mm PPC, or 6x38 PPC as it is more often called, is a centerfire rifle cartridge used almost exclusively for benchrest shooting. It is one of the most accurate cartridges available at distances of up to 300 meters. This cartridge's accuracy is produced by a combination of its stout posture, being only 31 mm (1.22 in) long, and aggressive shoulder angle of 30 degrees. Its primary use has been benchrest shooting matches since the 1980s.
Hornady Manufacturing Company is an American manufacturer of ammunition cartridges, components and handloading equipments, based in Grand Island, Nebraska.
The 6.5mm Grendel is an intermediate cartridge jointly designed by British-American armorer Bill Alexander, competitive shooter Arne Brennan and Lapua ballistician Janne Pohjoispää, as a low-recoil, high-precision rifle cartridge specifically for the AR-15 platform at medium/long range. It is an improved variation of the 6.5mm PPC.
The .338 Winchester Magnum is a .338 in (8.6 mm) caliber, belted, rimless, bottlenecked cartridge introduced in 1958 by Winchester Repeating Arms. It is based on the blown-out, shortened .375 H&H Magnum. The .338 in (8.6 mm) is the caliber at which medium-bore cartridges are considered to begin. The .338 Winchester Magnum is the first choice among professional brown bear guides in Alaska to back up clients where a powerful stopping caliber is required on charging bears. It is also the most popular medium-bore cartridge in North America and has the most widely available choice in rifles among medium bore rifles. The action length is the same as a .30-06, and most major rifle manufacturers in the United States chamber rifles for the cartridge including the semi-automatic Browning BAR Mk II Safari, making it a very powerful combination against charging dangerous game. The cartridge was intended for larger North American big-game species and has found use as for the hunting of thin-skinned African plains-game species.
The 7mm Remington Magnum rifle cartridge was introduced as a commercially available round in 1962, along with the new Remington Model 700 bolt-action rifle. It is a member of the belted magnum family that is directly derived from the venerable .375 H&H Magnum. The original purpose of the belted magnum concept taken from the .300 H&H Magnum and .375 H&H Magnum, was to provide precise headspace control, since the sloping shoulders, while easing cartridge extraction, were unsuitable for this purpose. Improved cartridge extraction reliability is desirable while hunting dangerous game, in particular when a fast follow-up shot is required. The 7mm Remington Magnum is based on the commercial .264 Winchester Magnum, .338 Winchester Magnum, and .458 Winchester Magnum, which were based on the same belted .300 H&H Magnum and .375 H&H Magnum cases, trimmed to nearly the same length as the .270 Weatherby Magnum.
The 6.5×47mm Lapua is a smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge that was developed specifically for 300–1,000 m (328–1,094 yd) competition shooting by ammunition maker Nammo Lapua and the Swiss rifle manufacturer Grünig & Elmiger AG in 2005. Other common names for this cartridge include 6.5×47mm.
The .260 Remington cartridge was introduced by Remington in 1997. Many wildcat cartridges based on the .308 Winchester case had existed for years before Remington standardized this round.
The .300 Lapua Magnum (7.62×70mm) is a rimless, bottlenecked, centerfire cartridge developed for long-range rifles. The parent case of the .300 Lapua Magnum is the .338 Lapua Magnum necked down to a smaller caliber. The .338 cartridge case was selected to withstand high chamber pressures. Combining these high pressures with smaller, lighter bullets than its parent case, .300 Lapua Magnum loadings have high muzzle velocities.
The .375 Ruger (9.5×65.5mm) is a rimless, standard-length rifle cartridge designed for hunting large, dangerous game. It is designed to provide an increase in performance over the .375 H&H cartridge within the context of a standard-length rifle action. The cartridge was designed in partnership by Hornady and Ruger. In 2007, it was released commercially and chambered in the Ruger Hawkeye African and the Ruger Hawkeye Alaskan rifles.
The .284 Winchester (7.21x55mmRB) is a rebated rim rifle cartridge introduced by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1963.
The .338 Norma Magnum is a cartridge first introduced in 2008 and came into production in 2009, designed by Norma of Sweden.
The 6mm Advanced Rifle Cartridge (6×38mm), or 6mm ARC for short, is a 6 mm (.243) caliber intermediate rifle cartridge introduced by Hornady in 2020, as a low-recoil, high-accuracy long-range cartridge, designed for use in the M16 platform at request of a specialized group within the U.S. DoD for its multipurpose combat rifle program.