6.5 Creedmoor Replaces .308 Winchester

[Joshua the Writer]

I heard that SOCOM just switched from .308 Winchester (7.62 NATO) to the 6.5 Creedmoor round to use in their sniper rifles. I saw it in a magazine called Guns & Ammunition. The article is called "Why SOCOM Chose the 6.5 Creedmoor" by a dude name Tom Beckstrand. The article is from the 2019 annual.

I'm pretty sure that the British SR-25 DMR along with the M110 family of semi-auto sniper systems can be converted to the newly-adopted round, since they are based off the AR-15/M16 family of weapons. All they need to do is swap the current 7.62-caliber barrels with 6.5-caliber barrels, and then put in a 6.5 Creedmoor upper and lower receiver.

6.5 Creedmoor fires a lighter projectile that is obviously less in diameter than the .308 Winchester round, but still has a .45-inch-diameter case head and is still a 51mm-long cartridge, and it has about the same amount of powder inside the casing. So, the actual bullet, itself, flies faster, flatter, and farther than the .308 Winchester round due to being much, MUCH lighter than the .308 Winchester, making the Creedmoor round more accurate and allowing it to penetrate armored targets deeper than the Winchester round. The 6.5 Creedmoor also produces less recoil than .308 Winchester.

I think this is a good change of ammo. I don't think that it'll replace the calibers for all weapons chambered in .308 Winchester/7.62 NATO that has been adopted by the U.S. Armed Forces. I think that only sniper rifles and Designated Marksmen Rifles (DMRs) are going to be converted to the new caliber. I highly doubt that it'd be really practical in weapons such as GPMGs (General Purpose Machine Guns) will really benefit from the increased accuracy, since a GPMGs only job is to lay down rapid, suppressing fire and tear through light cover, and also to provide sustained fire support and overwhelm enemy positions. 6.5 Creedmoor is now the best long-range round, and I have to agree. Not even .224 Valkyrie lives up to the standard that 6.5 Creedmoor has set.

Do you think that this round is the right choice for snipers and designated marksmen?

 

[Judge]

Stands to reason if it improves windage and elevation concerns at a greater distance. A bonus to taxpayers given this conversion only involves gun barrels and not magazines.

Though in talking to a handful of soldiers over the years who have gone through some of the nation's best sniper schools, they all seemed to emphasize technique over technology.

'Don't come here unless you are prepared': U.S. Army Sniper School sets high bar for candidates