Primary Arms 6/18/2018
Let the Battle Begin.308 Winchester (.308 Win) is arguably the most popular short-action big game hunting caliber in the world. It’s tough to name a rifle caliber more proven on the hunt, in law enforcement use, or for precision competition. .308 Winchester’s balance of power, accuracy, and affordability have made it one of the most popular choices for use in a huge variety of firearms for over 60 years. Thanks to modern bullet and propellant technology, today’s .308 Win is better than ever.
Times change and technology advances. Competition shooters, always trying to gain an edge, were looking for a way to improve on .308 Win’s best attributes. Enter 6.5 Creedmoor (6.5 CM). This extremely efficient cartridge had to defeat some other worthy contenders to gain its popularity. After long range competitors started flocking to 6.5 CM, hunters took notice as well. Most recently, the US Special Operations Command has turned to the 6.5 CM as a possible replacement for 7.62 NATO Designated Marksman Rifles. In this caliber battle, 6.5 CM is the contender coming out swinging, but can it land a knockout punch to .308 Win? The barrel chambering is the only difference between rifles in either caliber, so which one should you go with? Let the battle begin!
Three-Oh-GreatThe year is 1952, and the Cold War threatens to heat up at any time. Every weapon system must be improved and optimized, from strategic nuclear weapons to the rifle carried by every “GI Joeâ€. As the Korean War rages, our servicemen are using the WWII era .30-06 cartridge in their M1 Garand rifles. Ammunition maker Winchester has been working with the military to produce a fully automatic version of the M1 Garand using a detachable 20-round box magazine. Winchester develops the ammunition for this project, using a more efficient boat-tail bullet and new “ball†type gunpowder allowing a shorter casing length. The new caliber is such a winner that they release it to the civilian market first as .308 Winchester. Military adoption as the 7.62x51 NATO cartridge for all NATO countries follows two years later in 1954, and the full auto M1 Garand project became the iconic M14 rifle, adopted by the US Army in 1959.
There are technical differences between the civilian .308 Win and the military 7.62 NATO, but they are so minor that SAAMI, America’s watchdog for ammunition standards, considers them safely interchangeable regardless of which exact version your rifle is chambered for. The military M80 specification loading uses a 147 grain bullet, but current bullet weights for the civilian .308 Win range from 125 grain bullets all the way up to 200 grain bullets.
Six-Point-Five Fever6.5 Creedmoor was conceived in 2005 when famed long distance record holder Dennis DeMille was challenged by a friend to come up with his requirements for a perfect High Power Rifle Competition caliber. DeMille brought his friend a “wish list†including less recoil than .308 Winchester, relatively good barrel life, and a high efficiency, “flat shooting†bullet to promote maximum accuracy at extended ranges. DeMille’s friend was Dave Emary, the senior ballistician at Hornady Manufacturing, Inc. and one of the few people in the world capable of turning DeMille’s wish list into reality. Although it’s easy to assume 6.5 CM grew out of .308 Win, that isn’t true. Emary necked down the forgettable .30 TC casing to accept a smaller 6.5mm bullet, and named the result after Creedmoor, New York, where legendary long range competitions were held just after the founding of the National Rifle Association in the 1800s.
6.5 CM was officially introduced by Hornady in 2007 as a target shooting caliber suitable for either bolt action or semi-automatic rifles. Long range competition shooters also experimented with several other 6.5mm calibers promising similar performance, including the 6.5x47 Lapua and the excellent .260 Remington. In the years that followed, 6.5 CM first had to prove that it was the best of the new 6.5mm calibers before it could build up enough popularity to challenge .308 Win. Bullets compatible with 6.5 CM measure .264†wide and vary from 120 grains to 155 grains in weight.
Let the battle begin! The Primary Arms Battle E-mail Series takes you through side-by-side comparisons to help you choose which round is best for you. As we compare the two, we have chosen several categories that will assist you with your buying decision.
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