Created by competition snipers George Gardner, owner of the GA Precision rifle company, and John B. Snow of Outdoor Life magazine, the 6mm Creedmoor was developed as a long range match cartridge for magazine rifles. It is currently (2017) the most popular caliber in the Precision Rifle Series (sniper rifle) competition.

The 6mm Creedmoor was formed by simply necking-down Hornady's 6.5mm Creedmoor case (itself based on the Hornady designed .30 T/C) to accept 6mm (.243") bullets. "But," you say, "we already have a number of 6mm cartridges offering very similar or superior ballistics!" Indeed, we do. Every 6mm cartridge performance niche has long been filled, but that does not dissuade wildcatters from re-inventing the wheel.

A muzzle velocity (MV) of 2960 fps with a 108 grain ELD match bullet puts the new 6mm Creedmoor well ahead of all the small 6mm match cartridges (6mm BR Rem., 6mm PPC, 6x47mm, etc.) and in the same general category as the 6mm Lapua, .243 Winchester and 6mm Remington. Loaded to the same maximum average pressure (MAP), its performance is inferior to the 6mm-284, 6mm-06, 6x62mm Freres and .240 Weatherby Magnum.

Its performance is also nearly identical to the .243 WSSM. However, this hardly matters since the .243 WSSM (and the entire WSSM family), introduced as the latest and greatest in 2003, is already as dead as King Tut.

The 6mm Creedmoor would undoubtedly have remained just another obscure wildcat cartridge had it not been for the long range shooting and "tactical" (sniping) fad. Suddenly, long range match cartridges are in and names like Creedmoor, Palma and Lapua attract attention and generate consumer interest (also dollars).

Take, for example, the 6.5mm Creedmoor, parent of the 6mm Creedmoor and a cartridge offering virtually identical ballistics to the 120+ year old 6.5x55mm SE and 1997 vintage .260 Remington. (Both, incidentally, have been successful match cartridges.) It does nothing new, offers no unique ballistic advantage, yet it is now offered in several factory produced, short action hunting rifles that could have been offered in .260 for the last 20 years, but were not.

This is obviously not a matter of ballistics, but marketing. "If you can't sell the product, wrap it in baloney and sell the baloney," is an ancient marketing philosophy that obviously remains applicable today.

The truth is there are no centerfire cartridge niches left worth filling and have not been for a long time. Almost all "new" centerfire cartridges introduced since the 1980s, with a couple of exceptions (the .17 Hornet and .204 Ruger come to mind) simply duplicate the ballistics of existing cartridges, whether they are named WSM, WSSM, SAUM, T/C, RCM, Creedmoor, Lapua, Palma, Grendel, etc. Just old wine in new bottles, but I digress. (Get it? "Bottles" = bottleneck cases.)

Thus, for 2017, Hornady has adopted the 6mm Creedmoor and is offering factory loaded ammunition in the caliber. Ruger is offering the cartridge in their Ruger Precision and American Predator bolt action rifles. Lapua has announced they will offer 6mm Creedmoor brass. Savage intends to chamber for the cartridge. The 6mm Creedmoor has apparently arrived.

The 6mm Creedmoor is a short action cartridge. Its case holds 50 grains of water, compared to 54 grains of water for the .243 Winchester and 47 grains for the 6mm Lapua. The rim diameter is the usual .473". The case head diameter is .470" and the body diameter behind the shoulder is .462", so there is very little body taper to ease extraction. The rather sharp shoulder angle is 30 degrees and the maximum case length is 1.920".

The cartridge overall length (COL) should be about 2.8". (COL may vary, as match cartridges are normally hand-loaded for specific rifles.) For sure, the case uses large rifle primers and standard .243" diameter bullets.

The 6mm Creedmoor case is shorter than the .243 Winchester and 6mm Remington. Long for caliber bullets can therefore be seated somewhat farther out and still work through short action (.308 length) magazines and there is a bit more latitude to accommodate different length barrel throats. This sort of minutiae may matter to competitive long range shooters loading their own ammunition for custom match rifles, but it obviously does not apply to factory loaded ammunition or hunting rifles.

What does matter to any sane shooter is minimizing recoil. Anyone, whether on the firing line or in the field, can shoot better with a rifle that kicks less and smaller caliber cartridges can shoot lighter bullets with the same sectional density, ballistic coefficient and trajectory as heavier bullets in larger calibers that kick harder. This is why there has been a trend from the .30 caliber to 6.5mm and now to 6mm match cartridges.

It is also why the .243 Winchester has been so popular for so long with young, novice, female and recoil sensitive shooters and hunters. Many years ago, when best selling novelist, sailor and occasional outdoor writer Donald Hamilton was informed by his doctor that he must avoid heavy recoil, he set his favorite .308 hunting rifle aside and bought a .243. When my ophthalmologist and my doctor recently told me the same thing (due to partial retina separation in one eye and rotator cuff damage in my right shoulder), I switched a couple of my favorite .270 rifles to Hornady Custom Lite (low recoil) ammunition and started shooting my .243 more.

Like the .243 Winchester, the 6mm Creedmoor is a low recoil cartridge. I calculate that, in an 8.0 pound rifle, the Hornady factory load should generate about 9.44 ft. lbs. of recoil energy and a recoil velocity of 8.72 fps. You can see why match shooters would like shooting it.

Here are the Hornady velocity and energy figures for the 6mm Creedmoor with a 108 grain ELD Match bullet (SD .261, BC .536) from a 24" test barrel (velocity fps / energy ft. lbs.):

• 2960 fps/2101 ft. lbs. at muzzle, 2786 fps/1861 ft. lbs. at 100 yds, 2618 fps/1643 ft. lbs. at 200 yds, 2456 fps/1446 ft. lbs. at 300 yds, 2299 fps/1267 ft. lbs. at 400 yds, 2148 fps/1106 ft. lbs. at 500 yds.

Here are the Hornady trajectory figures for that load:

• -1.5" at muzzle, +1.5" at 100 yds, 0 at 200 yds, -6.6" at 300 yds, -18.9" at 400 yds, -37.8" at 500 yds.

The 2017 MSRP for a 20 round box of Hornady 6mm Creedmoor ELD Match ammunition is $38.60. Hornady catalogs nine different factory loads in .243 Winchester, but none of them happen to use the 108 grain ELD bullet. However, the prices for premium ammunition appear to be similar for the two cartridges.

Of course, since the .243 Win. is a very popular, well established cartridge, Hornady offers it in not one, but several of their ammunition lines. Hornady American Whitetail factory hunting loads using a 100 grain Spire Point bullet, for example, are available for about $10 less per box than 6mm Creedmoor or .243 match fodder. Practically every retailer who sells ammunition stocks .243 Winchester, from small country stores to big box super stores. However, you are unlikely to find a box of 6mm Creedmoor cartridges in such places.

Hornady online reloading data for their 108 grain ELD bullet lists several suitable powders. I understand that H4350, Varget and Reloader 22 are popular choices. For example, the minimum load listed with H4350 is 35.4 grains, which is good for a MV of 2700 fps. The maximum load is 40.7 grains and the MV is 3000 fps.

Loads using RL-22 start at 37.2 grains for a MV of 2700 fps and go up to a maximum of 43.8 grains for a MV of 3050 fps. These Hornady reloads presumably use Hornady brass and possibly Federal 210M primers, but this information is not stated on the Hornady website. The test barrel length is also not given, although it is probably 24". Therefore, one should approach maximum loads with all due caution.

It seems very unlikely that the 6mm Creedmoor will ever challenge the popularity of the .243 Winchester with mainstream shooters. However, it is popular with a certain segment of tactical target shooters and may well remain the flavor of choice for Precision Rifle Series competition, at least until the next "new and improved" cartridge comes along.