6.5mm Cartridge Whims

6.5mm Cartridge Whims

- Lee J. Hoots

If the sale of new rifles is any indication, it appears the .260 Remington cartridge, introduced in 1997 as more or less the same cartridge as the .263 Express wildcat dating back to the mid-1950s, may be falling out of favor for general field use. I suspect this is largely due to marketplace impulse – that suggestion having much to do with a new generation of technology-savvy rifle enthusiasts and hunters who research every bit of detail before making a new purchase. The consumer base has changed.

For example, the older hunters I knew in my youth (a couple of them handloaders) cared little about ballistic coefficients (BC) or actual velocity from their rifles; nobody owned a chronograph that I recall seeing. What these fellows haggled over was whether a given load provided reasonable groups at 100 yards. In fact, “reasonable” was subjective, groups were rarely measured, and “good enough” was good enough. The placement of a bullet on the foreleg of a deer was up to the man – or in my case, the boy – who pulled the trigger.

I once watched from a distant ridgetop as my father filled two Montana mule deer tags, shooting a buck and a doe with a Ruger Model 77 .243 Winchester. When the interest of his teenage son resulted in the question of shot distance, Dad’s simple reply was befuddling at the time: “I didn’t think about it much, just put the crosshairs on their shoulders and squeezed the trigger.” Those shots may have been 300 yards or farther, with a cartridge that some hunters believe to this day is not powerful enough for deer.

On all accounts, the .260 Remington lacks little capability for hunting or target use, but a new crop of 6.5mm cartridges has gently nudged the .260 to “backseat” status. As far as that goes, the 6.5 Creedmoor has had the greatest impact.