Cartridge Showdown: 6.5 Creedmoor Versus .308 Winchester

Arguments about firearm cartridges have been raging for centuries, and with the advent of internet forums and social media, the frequency and intensity of these discussions have only increased. At times, people will argue and study the minutiae of a cartridge comparison so vehemently that it seems to become their sole purpose in life. In some comparisons between cartridges, there really are no significant differences in the benefits or performance of one versus the other. However, in other cases, the differences can be significant, depending on your requirements and personal preferences.

When someone asks which is the better cartridge between .308 Winchester and 6.5 Creedmoor, the most helpful response will be another question: Better for what? As with any comparison between competitive options, such as cartridges, firearms, cars, shoes, computers, or any other product, it’s essential to define your intended use, personal preferences, budget, habits, and any current extenuating circumstances. For example, how many .308 Winchester rifles do you currently own? If you have a bunch, and are fully invested in reloading or hand-loading for .308, switching to 6.5 Creed or adding another caliber would merit careful consideration.

On the other hand, if you don’t have many (or any) rifles chambered in either caliber, it would be a different situation, and you could approach your decision purely based on the merits of the cartridge itself, rather than being swayed by your existing rifle collection or reloading setup. Regardless, comparing the historically popular .308 Winchester and the recently popular 6.5 Creedmoor is definitely one of the more hotly debated firearm cartridge topics over the past few years. So let’s go over some of the features, benefits, and caveats of each cartridge and see if we can shed some light as to which might be the better choice for your particular situation: The legacy, veteran, ol’ reliable .308 Fudd, or the upstart, trendy new 6.5 Man-Bun?

Brief history and overview of the .308 Winchester cartridge

The .308 Winchester resulted from the US military’s desire to create a new, lighter, shorter cartridge than the .30-06 Springfield, which had been used in standard US service rifles during WWI and WWII. During the late 1940s, several variants of a shorter .30-caliber round were developed for testing under the T65 nomenclature, based both on the .300 Savage case (with less taper) and shortened versions of the .30-06 case. The later versions of the T65 series cartridges produced performance figures roughly similar to the military M2 (.30-06 Springfield) cartridge, but with less recoil, 10% less cartridge weight, and a more compact design that allowed shorter/lighter rifle actions and correspondingly shorter, more compact magazines.

Seeing the commercial/hunting potential for this new cartridge, in 1952 Winchester brought out the new .308 Winchester cartridge (based on the T65E5 military cartridge that was eventually adopted as the 7.62x51 NATO round in 1954), and chambered it in the company’s classic Model 70. Without the benefit of today’s instant industry news and social-media champions, the .308 took a few years to gain in popularity. However, those who used it immediately recognized its benefits, and the cartridge gained many fans in the hunting and shooting world. With the adoption of the 7.62x51 NATO as the standard military cartridge among many participating nations in the 1950s and ‘60s, the fabled knockdown power and hunting utility of the short-cased .308 family of cartridges gained further credibility and eventually became mainstream. Over the next couple of decades, .308 Winchester earned its place as the most popular short-action, big-game hunting cartridge worldwide, even replacing the long-action .30-06 Springfield in overall popularity.

The .308 Winchester case has also spawned many new wildcat and factory cartridges using it as a starting point, including the .243 Winchester, .260 Remington, the 7mm-08 Remington, the .338 Federal, and the .358 Winchester, to name a few of the more well-known spinoffs. One primary reason for the .308’s popularity is that, compared to established cartridges, it provided similar or identical ballistic performance in a lower-recoiling, shorter, lighter package.

Brief history and overview of the 6.5 Creedmoor cartridge

The 6.5 Creedmoor cartridge, sometimes colloquially referred to as the 6.5 Creed or six-five Creed, was developed in 2007 as a target-shooting cartridge by Hornady. Senior ballistics scientist Dave Emary was friends with Dennis DeMille, vice president of product development at Creedmoor Sports, and the reigning 2005 National Highpower rifle champion. After several years of frustrating experiences competing using the 6mmXC wildcat cartridge in his rifles, at the 2006 Camp Perry matches Dennis gave Dave the following list of attributes he wished for to make the perfect long-range target-shooting cartridge for him and his customers (these are not word-for-word):

• Superior ballistics: It needed to shoot flat, buck the wind, and perform as well as any safe handloads being used in conventional high-power rifle competitions
• Lower recoil: The new cartridge needed to have significantly less recoil than a .308, for shooter comfort and quicker shot recovery during rapid-fire strings
• Short action and magazine: It needed to be at or below standard .308 magazine length
• Good barrel life: Many target-shooting wildcat cartridges burn barrel throats quickly. The new cartridge should not be a barrel burner
• Components should be available from day 1: Loaded ammo and components should be readily available if the cartridge is marketed commercially, and produced in sufficient quantities to meet demand
• Avoid proprietary powders and data: The load recipe should be written on every box

Image: Dave Emary in the Hornday Workshop

Usually, a rifle manufacturer will approach an ammo company and ask them to create a new cartridge, and promise to make several thousand rifles chambered for it. Or, a wildcat (non-factory) cartridge will gain such widespread popularity among target shooters and hunters that firearms manufacturers and/or ammo companies will start supporting it with factory offerings (the .243 Winchester started this way, for example). However, in the case of the 6.5 Creedmoor, neither scenario applied. Dennis started building and shooting his target rifles in the new caliber and saw great success, and so did several of his customers who also competed in highpower. Dave convinced his bosses that the 6.5 Creedmoor could have a faithful and robust following among American hunters as well, as the cartridge exhibited excellent long-range performance and reduced recoil. Hornady agreed to produce factory ammunition.

Initial hunting rifles were custom-barreled jobs used by company staff, friends, and members of the firearms industry media, but the performance of the new cartridge on medium and even large game couldn’t be ignored. Its popularity grew slowly but exponentially over the next few years. Clever marketing and lots of gun-rag ink (and internet bytes) were dedicated to discussion of this new metric-American darling, much of it comparing the 6.5 Creed to the venerable .308 Winchester as a baseline. Eventually, the new cartridge caught on like wildfire.

By 2017, every major American rifle maker was offering one or more models chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor. Hornady reports that the 6.5 Creedmoor is now their second-highest-selling rifle cartridge, with only the .223 Remington being more popular. Multiple ammunition manufacturers now produce match-grade or hunting loads in 6.5 Creedmoor. Hornady has since developed two sister cartridges based on the 6.5’s case: the 6mm Creedmoor and the .22 Creedmoor.

For handloaders, Lapua, Nosler, Peterson, SIG, Federal, and Starline now offer factory 6.5 Creedmoor brass, and several give the option of accepting either large or small rifle primers.

.308 Winchester Versus 6.5 Creedmoor: Ballistics

Velocity and energy: 6.5 Creed vs. .308 Win

The original military loading of the T65E5 cartridge pushed a 147-grain bullet at 2,750 feet per second, which was essentially equal to the 150-grain M2 .30-06 but fell short compared to some of the heavier military .30-06 loadings. However, the power of the .308” bullet was undeniable, and 7.62x51 NATO proved very effective in combat (though comparatively heavy compared to later cartridges such as the 5.56x45 NATO). As noted above, the cartridge has become the most widely used for large-game hunting worldwide. The .308/7.62 is also still the primary sniper and designated marksman chambering for many militaries and police SWAT teams around the world. However, extremely long-range snipers now have better (and much heavier) choices for that task.

Commercial loads and handloading can improve performance up to a point, within the window allowed by the .308’s smaller case capacity when compared to long-action cartridges (like the .30-06 for example). Match-grade 168-grain .308 ammunition from Hornady, Black Hills, and PMC typically produces velocities of around 2,650 fps at the muzzle, with 2,619 ft-lbs of energy. Boutique premium manufacturers like Double Tap and Buffalo Bore sell 150-grain loadings clocked at 2,900+ fps. (All speeds are measured using 24” barrels.)

Of course, if you favor greater velocity, you can use lighter bullets, and the .308 generally does well with projectiles down to around 100 grains. However, larger-diameter, lighter bullets typically don’t perform well either for hunting larger animals or for target shooting. So, for the vast majority of .308 users, 145-grain bullets and heavier is where the cartridge sees the most work, particularly in hunting and target shooting. Handloading using the latest propellants can potentially get you more velocity, but for practical purposes with real-world bullet weights, around 2,750 fps is usually the top end for the .308 Winchester.

By comparison, the Hornady 140-grain ELD Match produces a muzzle velocity of 2,710, resulting in 2,283 ft/lbs of energy. It might seem like the .308 has a significant advantage in terms of muzzle energy, and at under 250 yards, this is true. However, using the 140-grain (6.5) and 168-grain (.308) match loads as a basis, ballistic charts demonstrate that by 300 yards, the 6.5 Creed is retaining more energy than the .308 (1,658 ft/lbs vs. 1,629, respectively), and those gains improve the further out you go. At 800 yards, the 6.5 has 32.8% greater energy than the .308. Impressive!

The .308 Winchester exhibits more bullet drop than the 6.5 Creedmoor

One thing you’ll need to account for when shooting the .308 Winchester compared to the 6.5 Creedmoor is increased bullet drop. For example, the well-regarded Black Hills 168-grain match loading’s bullet has a ballistic coefficient of 0.45. When zeroed at 200 yards, it shows a bullet drop of almost 9 inches at 300 yards and just under 26 inches at 400. At 500 yards, it’s dropping more than 52 inches. This is one reason the .308 is not often selected as a first choice for long-range hunting today and is quickly losing ground in long-range target competitions to the 6mm and 6.5mm-caliber cartridges.

By comparison, the somewhat gold standard for the 6.5 Creedmoor is the 140-grain Hornady ELD match loading, with a bullet calculating at least 0.61 ballistic coefficient (higher ballistic coefficient numbers mean bullets fly better, with less drag). Similarly, zeroed at 200 yards, it drops just 7.8 inches by 300, 22.3” at 400, and 44.4” at 500 yards, amounting to a 15% reduction in drop at that distance. If you’re really reaching out for target shooting, the 6.5 has dropped just 229 inches at 900 yards, compared to the .308’s 294 inches, equating to a 22% decrease in bullet drop.

Advanced, modern .308 bullets with optimized ogives such as the Berger 185 grain Juggernaut OTM (open-tipped match) have the potential to perform much better than legacy .308 designs. Federal even offers a loading of its generally excellent Gold Medal Match that features the new Berger 185 OTM, at a claimed muzzle velocity of 2,600 fps. However, even though this bullet has a greatly improved 0.552 ballistic coefficient, Berger’s data shows that with a 200-yard zero it still results in a greater bullet drop at 400 yards (25 inches vs. 22.3) compared to the 140-grain Hornady ELD above, and requires a 26” barrel as well. And with that heavy bullet at that speed in the .308 platform, recoil will be stout.

6.5 Creedmoor exhibits much less wind drift compared to .308 Winchester

It could be argued that bullet drop is easily managed with proper scope zero and dope information for your particular load. You can either dial your scope’s elevation knob to accommodate for your desired range, or hold over using a scope reticle calibrated for your bullet’s drop. Certainly, a reduced bullet drop is a desirable feature, but this issue might not be a deal-breaker for you.

However, accounting for wind drift, or how far a bullet can be pushed off course left or right by a crosswind, is much more difficult than dialing or holding for bullet drop. This is where the 6.5 Creedmoor really stands out for long-range competitors and hunters. Even when comparing factory 140-grain 6.5 Creed to premium, relatively high-BC 175-grain .308 Win loads, data shows that in a 10-mph 90-degree crosswind, the 6.5 drifts 32.4% less than the .308 by the time you reach 400 yards (7.75 inches versus 11.47 inches). At 600 yards, the 6.5 Creed performs 34% better as far as wind drift (18.18 inches vs. 27.52 inches). By the time you reach 800 yards, the 6.5 has drifted an astonishing 42% less than the .308 (34 inches vs. 58.8 inches).

So, by choosing 6.5 Creedmoor, you can benefit from up to 22% less bullet drop, 42% less wind drift, and 32% greater energy at longer ranges compared to the .308 Winchester.

Other factors to consider when comparing .308 to 6.5 Creed

Factory .308 Win. Rifles are generally less accurate than factory 6.5 Creed rifles

We understand that this is a potentially inflammatory position to take, but there’s data to back it up. Outdoor Life author Michael Dickerson tested 12 factory rifles chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, shooting a minimum of three three-shot, 100-yard groups with a variety of factory ammunition, using a minimum of five different loads. The overall average group size, for all loads tested for all rifles, was just 1.05 inches. The average size of the best groups, for all tested loads, was 0.77 inches. For factory rifles shooting factory ammunition, this is extremely impressive. You may argue that 3-shot groups aren’t statistically useful (though for hunters shooting from a cold bore, they are certainly relevant), so Outdoor Life includes more data points:

Staff writer Tyler Freel also compiled some of his data and found that the 14 rifles chambered in .308 that he’s tested over the past couple of years averaged 5-shot group sizes of 1.924 inches overall. The rifles he’s tested in 6.5 Creedmoor averaged .956-inch 5-shot groups. In fact, the best-shooting .308 he tested (the Stevens 334), which averaged 1.233-inch 5-shot groups, wasn’t as accurate as the least accurate 6.5 Creedmoor (the ultralight Springfield Redline 2020), which averaged 1.11-inch groups.

For typical hunters and casual shooters, this performance discrepancy may not be enough to make any significant difference. But the numbers are certainly worth consideration.

The 6.5 Creedmoor recoils less than the .308 Winchester

We mentioned above that common loadings of .308 produce around 2,600 ft/lbs of muzzle energy, compared to the 2,280ish ft/lbs of the 6.5 Creed. When it comes to felt recoil, it is very subjective and is influenced by many factors in addition to simply muzzle energy and rifle weight. However, generally speaking, most people find the 6.5 Creedmoor to be much easier on the shoulder than the .308 Winchester. Given similar-weight bullets fired from identical-weight rifles, the 6.5 Creed produces 25 percent to 30 percent less recoil than the .308. An 8-pound 6.5 Creedmoor rifle firing a common 140-grain bullet generates about 11.6 ft/lbs of recoil energy, while a .308 rifle of equal weight shooting a common 150-grain bullet generates around 15 ft/lbs. Many shooters find this level of recoil to be unpleasant and it may even generate flinching.

If we look at the recoil numbers produced by today’s super-light mountain rifles shooting popular, heavier bullets, the difference is even more stark: A 7-pound .308 rifle firing 178-grain ammo delivers over 19 foot-pounds of recoil energy, while a 7-pound 6.5 Creedmoor rifle shooting a 143-grain ammo bullet produces a little over 13 foot-pounds.

More than one person has dreaded shooting their .308 rifle during a long bench session. For long-range PRS-style competition where you need to be able to spot your bullet splash through your scope, the 6.5’s lower recoil has a distinct advantage, in addition to its ballistic superiority.

.308 Winchester bullets and factory loadings are much more diverse than 6.5 Creedmoor offerings

We Americans have had a century-plus-long love affair with the .30 caliber (.308”) bullet. As a result, you can easily find a wide array of factory loadings and projectiles of all types for the .308 Winchester. If you handload, you’ll likely find that the .308 offers a much greater variety of available bullet styles, weights, and reloading data than the 6.5 Creed.

Cartridge price and availability are generally similar today

Ten years ago, it was easy to state that the .308 Winchester was by far the more common cartridge on the majority of gun store shelves. However, that is changing. Several industry sources have noted there are now more SKUs on the shelves of most sporting goods stores for 6.5 Creedmoor than any other cartridge, including the .308 Winchester. Naturally, this will vary by region and retailer. But it can’t be argued that the 6.5 Creed has become widely available and is probably the most successful new rifle cartridge over the last 20 years.

As far as price, there was a time when .308 Winchester ammo was relatively inexpensive and plentiful. There’s also the fact that the 7.62x51 NATO cartridge was produced by the hundreds of millions (even billions, by some estimates) by multiple NATO-member nations for decades, so feeding your .308 used to be cheap and easy (at least as far as surplus/plinking ammo was concerned). However, over the past decade, the supply of surplus .308 ammunition has largely dried up, and remaining supplies are often sold at prices close to those of factory hunting ammunition. If we take as an example the offerings of one of our favorite online ammo suppliers, SG Ammo, we find 6.5 Creedmoor ammo currently available from around $0.77 per round to $2.50 per round, with a similar price range for .308 Win/7.62x51 ammo.

So, which is better: .308 Win or 6.5 Creed?

Let’s review the key points for various use cases.

For hunting medium game within 500 yards, both are entirely suitable, but the 6.5 Creedmoor has some advantages

For hunting within 400-500 yards, taking shots on medium-sized game like whitetail deer, mountain goat, bighorn sheep, or similar animals, both cartridges are perfectly suitable. The 6.5 possibly gets the nod for its improved ballistics, flatter trajectory, lower recoil, and potentially greater energy downrange with common bullet weights. However, if you’re already invested in the .308 or you simply like it better, there’s honestly nothing wrong with sticking with what works for you.

For hunting tough, heavy, or dangerous game at closer ranges, .308 is objectively better than 6.5 Creedmoor

If you’re hunting larger or tougher game, particularly something with claws and teeth, .308 might be the better choice. Bullet selection and kinetic energy are generally superior (at shorter distances) in available .308 loadings. Note, however, that many large and even some dangerous animals have been taken with the 6.5 Creed, and performance has generally been good. Truthfully, if we were hunting something that had the potential to kill, stomp, gore, and/or eat us, we’d probably be shooting something larger than .308 Winchester anyway.

For long-range target shooting, the 6.5 Creedmoor is objectively better than the .308 Winchester

Even curmudgeons and traditionalists who hate the hype surrounding the 6.5 Creedmoor are forced to admit that the cartridge simply performs better at extended ranges than the .308. The data is undeniable. So, if you’re starting a long-range target build from the ground up and you have no emotional or financial investment in either cartridge, it would be rather silly in our view to select the .308 over the 6.5 Creed. The demonstrably superior ballistics, much better resistance to crosswinds, farther supersonic flight, and lower recoil of the 6.5 Creedmoor make it the obvious choice between the two, if long-range target shooting is a primary intended use.

The various 6mm cartridges have mostly taken over the Precision Rifle shooting sports recently, but there are still people seeing success using the 6.5 Creed. According to Precision Rifle Blog, in 2024, 20% of top-10 ranked shooters were using a 6.5 Creedmoor, including the shooters that placed 2nd and 3rd overall. By contrast, the highest-ranked .308 shooter in the Open division placed 74th overall.

The bottom line for deer hunters considering .308 vs. 6.5 Creed

For most American deer hunters who know their ethical killshot limitations and shoot within 300-400 yards max, it really doesn’t matter whether you choose a .308 or a 6.5. Both cartridges will perform equally well with commonly available hunting ammo when properly zeroed, and any ballistic differences between the two aren’t large enough to make a significant difference at these ranges. However, the further out you shoot, and the windier the conditions (or if you’re tired of heavy recoil), the more the 6.5 Creedmoor starts to make a lot of sense.

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