9. Which long range caliber will reign supreme in 2019?
Am I biased on long range calibers? Yes I am. But I also did a ton of research before I purchased my Ruger 6.5 Creedmoor rifle. What ultimately swayed me and the reason why I believe 6.5 Creedmoor will reign supreme in 2019 is the United States Special Operations Command’s (USSOCOM) adoption of the 6.5 Creedmoor and if its good enough for our military, its good enough for me.
Ballistics
When comparing 6.5 Creedmoor against .308 Winchester ballistics, the winner is clear. 6.5CM is simply a faster bullet with better ballistics than the 308 winchester round. 6.5 Creedmoor loads can reach 1,000 yards with less than 300 inches of drop (depending upon wind), 308 simply can’t do this. When comparing the round for wind effects, 6.5CM was 25% better than 308.
Barrel Life
Now I’m sure some of you reading this will point to barrel life and say that 308 barrels are supposed to last 10,000 rounds whereas prevailing wisdom is that 6.5 barrels will only last you 2,000 rounds. While I believe the 10,000 rounds for the 308 barrel is generous, 2,000 rounds of 6.5CM will cost you between $1,100 – $2,600 depending upon brand, load, etc. If you shot an average of 20 rounds per week you’re looking at two years of shooting before you have to replace a barrel, and if you’re blowing through that much ammo in less than a year, well then something tells me you can afford the new barrel.
Cost per Round
Here again, the 6.5 Creedmoor wins again! Want proof? Click here and compare for yourself. 
The Verdict
I’m not saying math was my best subject in college but lets see here, better ballistics, cheaper to shoot, and we didn’t even mention less felt recoil make the 6.5 Creedmoor round the clear winner and will become the “go to” long range round in 2019. Yes, 6mm and other calibers are nipping at its heels and firearm and ammo manufactures are constantly working on making the next best round but for now lets enjoy the 6.5CM round and let it take its victory lap.
1 thought on “10 Questions for 2019 – Part 2 – Which long range caliber will reign supreme?”
The military used to make wise choices nowadays they make political choices and most for financial reasons manufacturers keep trying to make a better mousetrap the only way to extract funds from your wallet or bank account all of them do pretty much the same thing kill it with your shooting at just like a semi is built to haul specific materials with an engine and gearbox along with gear ratio to do the job and an affordable rate seems true with the weapon a 6.5 Grendel will do the same thing that is 6.5 creedmoor it’s been around for a lot of years and that’s just an opinion if you want a long range caliber with a lot of giddy up a 270 is an awesome round puts a lot of holes and steel plates and really hurts ar500 plates all guns are fun and go bang and it is fun to try new and improved mouse traps and ammunition the military they’re training a new kind of soldier without a whole lot of macho so softer shooting made for better accuracy. And yet we’re still running gas operated semi-autos or full autos if you run enough ammunition in a dire situation quick enough you’ll cook your barrel and burn your hands even with a glove until someone takes an upstate to the platform. I would suggest a recoil system like a gas shock only using coolant liquid nitrogen using it to keep the barrel temperature down as well as the person to recoil. Keeping your barrel cooler will give you better accuracy than a lot of things at distance. Wouldn’t be that difficult to have a barrel with a light coil wrapped around it with liquid nitrogen let’s run to a inner shock system in the buttstock that flows continuously every time around goes off but until some engineer takes an idea and perfection what we have is hot ammunition with hot weapons with a varying point of travel mostly due to the shooter. You ever know anybody that bought a new gun thinking it was going to be better for them to hit the target only to find out wasn’t any better than the prior system and ammunition don’t blame the gun for missing the target miscalculations more than likely on the shooter part and really how many targets are going to be out a mile away that would be nice and at 10 or $20,000 scope that tracks your target for you to acquire that moving Target in a timely fashion. I don’t want to go there I like to figure things out and compensate for my shortcomings just food for thought here. That’s if you’re hunting enjoy everyone response as this is how we all learn and move forward a lot of things have gotten better over the years along with training and safety keep up the good work guys and gals.