In the short to medium term, that won't be an issue here, all four being made by Lapua, three out of four by Norma (no 6.5X47L). The handloader is largely unconcerned by this of course as long as good brass is readily available at reasonable prices. 6.5X55 is so popular and heavily used across continental Europe and Scandinavia that European factory sporting ammunition will continue to be produced for decades to come irrespective of what is happening over in the USA. All four do what it says on the tin.įor the deerstalker relying on factory ammo, the choice has to be between 6.5X55 and Creedmoor, 6.5X47L being virtually unobtainable and horrendously expensive, 260 Rem now very poorly supported by the factory (both Remington Arms rifle side and the components / ammunition part of the business) and at risk of being ditched by other US rifle manufacturers in the scramble to jump on the Creedmoor bandwagon. Lapua's soon to arrive 6.5 Creedmoor small primer brass will be a game changer as it will allow the cartridge to be loaded to its full SAAMI potential of 62,000 psi MAP - which Hornady brass simply won't take and which the factory has had to acknowledge by downloading its products.Īll four are capable of superb precision in a well built custom rifle. Maximum allowed pressures work in the opposite direction to case capacities, 6.5X55 SKAN (modern actions and brass) 55,000 psi Creedmoor and 260 Rem at around the 60,000 psi mark but best kept to factory levels of 57,000 psi or so 6.5X47L at over 63,000 psi.

In practice, once a bullet is seated the usable combustion chamber volume is very close to that of the Creedmoor giving a 10 or 11% increase over the 6.5X47L.) (But 260 in a short action / magazine combination often cannot make best use of its capacity compared to the other three because of the need to seat bullets over-deeply. If you take case capacity and the smallest of the quartet (6.5X47 Lapua) as a base 100, they run at: Very occasionally, a slight relieving operation is needed. I have a Savage 12 single-shot PTA action whose 'standard diameter' bolt-head has happily coped with 6.5-284 Norma, 308 Win, 6.5X55, and 7mm-08 over various rebuilds. The 'non-standard' case-head diameter is usually a canard, it being a mere 10 thou' nominal and the vast majority of factory and other bolts accepting 6.5X55 brass happily. The main issue is action length (and if a medium to high capacity detachable box magazine set-up is needed that issue too), the 6.5X55 needing a long version, 6.5X47, Creedmoor and 260 Rem short.

6.5x47 lapua vs 6.5 creedmoor