The 6.5 Creedmoor cartridge is recognized as one of the most excellent rifle cartridges for both deer hunting and long-range shooting.
However, many people still stick with the Remington 7mm 08 cartridges while hunting for both deer and black bears.
But when you pit the 6.5 Creedmoor vs. the 7mm 08 Remington, which competition shooting cartridge is better for deer hunting and factory loads?
I remember wanting to give deer-hunting a try, but didn’t know which cartridge to choose.
If you’re in the same position, you’ve come to the right place!
Contents
History of the Rounds: Overviews
While assessing different cartridges and their sub-MOA capabilities, you’ll need to know a few general things.
Here are a couple of details that you should remember about cartridges when comparing the 6.5 Creedmoor vs. Remington’s 7mm 08.
7mm-08 Remington
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Sometime in 1958, a certain 7mm/308 Winchester wildcat round was developed.
As the name suggests, people made it simply by necking down your standard .308 Winchester cartridge to hold a .284 bullet (7mm bullets).
It would spend the next 20 years in the wildcat category of cartridges until Remington adopted the round and then released it to the public under the name: “7mm 08”.
Among .308-based hunting cartridges in use, including the .260 Remington cartridge, the 7mm 08 comes second in popularity.
The .243 Winchester is the one that remains in the TOP spot for cartridges.
But with proper 7mm bullets, a Remington 7mm 08 can tackle small to medium-sized game during long-range hunting trips.
6.5 Creedmoor
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Introduced to the market by Hornady in 2007, the 6.5 Creedmoor cartridges are a development of .30 Thompson Center which were also based on .308 Winchester cartridges.
At first, Hornady wanted to make a round that had the length of a .308 Winchester cartridge, but the strength of .30-06 Springfield.
The result was .30 Thompson Center, and I’d say it fit the bill! The only catch was that consumer acceptance was low, so the round was sidelined.
Fortunately, Hornady recycled the design, necked down the round, and then put the 6.5 Creedmoor cartridge into existence.
These 6.5 Creedmoor bullets have become widely used ever since.
Overall Dimension of the Rounds
7mm-08 Remington
- Parent Case: .308 Winchester
- Case Type: Rimless, bottleneck
- Bullet: 7.2 mm
- Neck: 8.0 mm
- Base: 11.9 mm
6.5 Creedmoor
- Parent Case: .30 Thompson Center
- Case Type: Rimless, bottleneck
- Bullet: 6.72 mm
- Neck: 7.49 mm
- Base: 11.95 mm
As both rounds are related to .308 Winchester in one way or another, it’s no surprise that the 7mm-08 Remington and 6.5 Creedmoor have similar profiles.
The only exception being the higher sectional density of the 6.5 Creedmoor.
Thanks to its humble body, the Remington fits in short action firearms which I appreciate whenever I use lightweight and compact rifles.
Short action firearms like the Hornady Creedmoor cartridge let it run smoothly in AR magazines while packing long, lean-grain bullets.
While I like that, I need to say that because of the short action design, the 7mm-08 Remington offers higher velocities.
Meanwhile, the 6.5 Creedmoor is better in both penetration power and bullet sectional density because the Creedmoor is a 6.5mm bullet.
Optimal Accuracy of the Rounds
7mm-08 Remington
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