The Rebirth of 6mm Creedmoor
Dr. John Woods 10.23.17
That’s right, you read it correctly. The 6mm Creedmoor has suddenly shown up on the radar screen as a sort of new-found invention. Of course it isn’t, but in research for the background for this report, I was amazed at the lack of pertinent data and historical intelligence on this unique cartridge.
Perhaps its rebirth is so relatively new that even the internet has yet to catch up. There is some information on the round if you care to search, but mostly what I found was in the form of commentary on forum sites. I have never felt particularly confident in such information, as it is comprised mostly of opinion and highly-biased commentary. Take the value of such information as you wish.
So, technically from a layman’s point of view, the 6mm is roughly comparable to the 243 Winchester in terms of power, ballistics, loads, bullet weights, etc. The 6mm Creedmoor generally utilizes bullet weights in the 105 to 115 grains, but certainly shooters who reload have found other combinations as well.
Reportedly the 6mm Creedmoor produces a longer barrel life than a 243 Winchester, but frankly I have never heard of anybody shooting out a 243 barrel. Now, this could be the case with benchrest target shooters, because after all the 6mm Creedmoor was developed for long-range target shooting. Such competitive shooters could very well consider a barrel’s useful life totally “shot out” long before those of us using rifles for hunting.
By comparison, the 6mm Creedmoor also has lower recoil than its bigger brother the 6.5 Creedmoor. Again this may be of most concern for those shooting long-range courses off a bench. Otherwise, in the hunting field, the difference in recoil is insignificant.
So the 6mm Creedmoor is a round for competitive shooting… but naturally, some will want to apply the cartridge to hunting. Certainly, this 6mm round is suitable for varmints especially at long range, but with such light bullets, I’d hesitate it for deer-sized game.
New this year, Hornady is loading the 6mm Creedmoor with a 108-grain ELD bullet. ELD is for “extremely low drag,” meaning it has a high ballistic coefficient. Also Ruger is chambering their Ruger Precision Rifle and the American Rifle Predator in 6mm Creedmoor this year. Makes one think there has to be something going on here.
