I have watched this news closely. Word came out of Tampa (USSOCOM HQ) that after looking at various 6.5 sized rounds, they have decided to pursue the 6.5 Creedmoor for long term load development.
My last sentence is key. We are not discussing what things look like now. Tampa has looked at CM and decided there is more potential to make fancy loadings that don’t exit yet. Think MK262 ammo out of Crane as a parallel.
Does this mean 6.5 Creedmoor has been adopted by Tampa? In my mind, no. Does this mean the 6.5 just got a big boost as being a legit US military standard TOE caliber? Well…considering what we all commonly call the M4 has existed in one form or another for well over 30 years in the Special Operations community; that is a fair statement. Especially in decade or two macro.
This last sentence is key. Again. On a MACRO level, this bodes well for the 6.5CM weapons and loadings. Where you are getting into the trick bag is…20 years is 20 years. That’s a long time. 30 is even longer. That’s an entire career in the US military and 10 years deep in the private sector after retirement. Do you want to be the first guy who selected something 3 decades ago only to have it change 3 times over with time and experience?
For hobbyist it’s a neat endeavor. For the 8th guy on a police sniper squad, being the “one guy” who has different ammo, while shooting a LE Only certification at Quantico; this has the potential to be a pain in the dick.
Now instead of running around and and assuming fanboy-things that aren’t true; here are my thoughts on the 6.5CM as of right now. As someone who keeps the armory stocked with both reference and work guns, feeding both is always something on my mind. Here goes in no particular order:
- The 6.5CM we see today isn’t really a standard.
- But one is coming.
- It will be interesting to see loadings and bullet weights for 6.5CM coming out of Tampa.
- If you go 6.5 now, you’ll likely get caught behind a favorite loading / twist curve.
- This is the final nail in the coffin for primary military bolt-action rifles.
- Tampa moves fast.
- Big Army moves slow.
- Figure at least 10 years for this diagram to cross.
- This could cross faster if the caliber selection times well with a Big Army weapon upgrade.
- Seeing a published NATO Standard in 6.5 is the whole game.
- Over time, this will give LEO snipers cover to switch to 6.5 should they choose.
- I don’t personally see 6.5 as a machine gun round.
- But Big Army ain’t happy with current reach / weight configuration of infantry systems.
- This saves 6.5CM since many of the PRS cool kids left it for 6mm calibers.
- The average civilian, non-PRS shooter doesn’t believe that.
- Will I see pallets and pallets of cheap 7.62 hit the secondary markets in 10-20 years?
- 7.62 vs 6.5CM will expose a lot of people who say they shoot beyond 600 but don’t.
- As a young man, I saw this happen before: 30-06 vs 308.
- 30’06 did not win that argument.
- Don’t believe me? Walk around Camp Perry and count the 308 M1 Garands.
A year or so ago, I made a post about the 6.5CM vs the 6.5 Swede. For my rifles (Blaser), there is no delineation between long and short action rounds. So the 6.5×55 Swede with it’s myriad of high quality factory loadings has a logical appeal.
With this news, now I am faced with the prospect of being surrounded by 8-10 Creedmoor AR’s and being the one guy running a Swede. As someone who has had to lend boxes of match 308 ammo to shooters who were having issues, 6.5CM is coming. Whether I like it or not.
In the above video, you can see the throw on a Blaser is the same regardless of caliber case length. And the throw is the equivalent of a short-action regardless. So a Swede can make a lot of sense here.
I may open up the armory to a 6.5CM Blaser barrel and hold out of a SCAR-17 in 6.5. Only time will tell. We don’t foresee acquiring a 6.5 AR-10 pattern of rifle until someone standardizes on a model.
Marky
“Shooting Guns & Having Fun”
Areas of focus: Defense and National Security, Modern Light Weapons, Small Arms, Weapons Training.
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