Six And A Half Small Game Shooters On The Shelves?

[Good Cheer]

Kind of looking around for another cast boolit small game shooter and plinker.
And ho ho ho, Henry has their "Long Ranger" chambered for 6.5 Creedmore.
Is the 6.5 Creedmoor worth loading for a half way between 25-20 and 32-20?

[Drm50]

Half way between 25/20 & 32/20? That's not practical with 6.5 Creedmore. A 6.5mm is lager dia than 25/20 and smaller than 32/20. That has nothing to do with the loading.

[beltfed]

,
NOThe 6.5 Creedmore is a much larger powder capacity sharp bottleneck case designed for high velocity target and hunting loads, even tho the bore is between
25 and 32. I would stay with 25-20 or 32-20 for a plinking/small game gun.
But, that being said, I suppose a person could develop light CB loads in the 6.5 Creedmoor as a smallgame/plinking understudy
for otherwise deer/large varmint hunting with it.
beltfed/arnie

[rking22]

Your looking for a 256 Winmag

[Guesser]

A 30 Carbine kinda splits the difference

[RoyEllis]

6.5 grendel in a bolt gun is great at this....at least my Ruger Am Predator sure does well at it.

[dverna]

I am not a fan of bottleneck cases for plinking as to me plinking means putting a far amount of bullets downrange.

Our plinking CF's are three .38/.357 lever actions and I can load .38's quickly and easily on a progressive using carbide dies. No carbide dies for the calibers you are shooting and brass is more expensive. .38 brass is not only affordable but lasts a long time.

Your current calibers are good for small game so getting something "in between" does not make a lot of sense. But I must be missing something.

[shrapnel]

There have been some polite answers and I'm not as polite as I am "to the point".

That said, why on earth would you buy a 6.5 Creedmoor for anything, let alone a plinker between a 25-20 and a 32-20? The Creedmoor has been oversold and over estimated in it's value to the American shooter.

Plinking is something done with pleasant cartridges, and the best I would recommend would be the 38-40. It can be had in any number of rifles and revolvers. I have a bunch of both and there isn't any small game in Montana safe from this cartridge...

[Drm50]

Yes, their isn't anything practical between 25/20 and 32/20. Getting bigger than 32/20 doesn't make much sense either. If you wanted something a little flatter shooting you might look at Hornet or Bee or the 30 carbine as someone has already said. I shoot a lot of squirrel & varmits with 25/20 & 32/20 in rifles. Also use handgun a lot especially on squirrel. I don't have a good 32/20 but have 32 & 38 S&Ws. I use 22 or 32 on small game. The K38 is tack driver with Wadcutters but is overkill unless you are good enough to make head shots. Sitting rabbits it would be ok.

[MT Gianni]

The biggest problem I see with downloading the Creedmoor to a 1100 fps level is case volume. I believe you would be much better served with a case that you could fill to a higher percentage of it's volume. Internet shows the 6.5 holding 52.1 gr of water, 30-30 37 gr. That or the 7-30 Waters would be as large as I would go. The 300 BO or a similar sized case in a bolt would be far more practical in bullet meplate, diameter and uniforming ignition.

[arlon]

Beauty of cast bullets and reloading is that you can make just about anything act like anything else less than your original. Lot of Subsonic Creedmoor info out there.

[Good Cheer]

Arlon, experience says you're right.
Looks like that Henry .26 lever gun should work for squirrel and rabbits just as well as deer.
That's why I asked about loading it down, in hopes of someone who perhaps had.

[Texas by God]

Not much different than .250 Savage cast except the fast twist might not help.

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[gundownunder]

I think you'll find the 6.5 Creedmore half way between the 6.5x55 and 260 Remington in power, or between the 243 and 7-08 in size.
I cannot think of a single reason why you would need something in between the 25-20 and 32-20.
I have to agree with Shrapnel. The Creedmore is just another example of good marketing. It does absolutely nothing that a dozen other cartridges haven't done for up to 100 years before it.

[Good Cheer]

Not much different than .250 Savage cast except the fast twist might not help.

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Yeah, could always rebarrel one of the 99's to a .25 or .26.
The responses to the question sound like nobody has the knowledge yet about cast for the Creedmore. Reckon cast will take awhile, maybe after the nation ceases to glorify snipers and the 6.5 in the corner receives the tinkering it deserves.
Meanwhile the 25-20

and the 7-08 (a rebarreled 788 Remington put together by a law enforcement sniper rifle mechanic) shoot in an inch at a hundred. The obstinate 25-35 still won't believe it's a bench gun but maybe someday. And I do have a 6.5 blank to work with so maybe a 99 conversion would be the cats meow. No hurry and much to think about.

[richhodg66]

I did try for quite a while to get a sporterized 6.5 Swede to shoot cast, gave up in frustration and one of those rare trading offs I had and still have ZERO regrets about.

I do still have several 6.5 molds though. Was in the PX on post recently and they were running a sale on those Ruger Americans in 6.5 CM, dang things are cheap, especially when you consider no sales tax there. I have a few scopes that would slap right on it and work well, I have been mulling over getting one just to see if the 6.5 bore can be a good cast shooter, doubt I'll ever touch a Swede again.

We did get my oldest son his first deer rifle about 15 years ago, Remington Model 7 youth rifle in .260 Remington. That's a neat little cartridge, never really got it to shoot as well as I think it should, but it's a good deer rifle for around here.

As far as loading down for small game, I don't there's any "big" cartridge out there that does it as well as the good old .30-30. YMMV.

[dverna]

I agree 100% with Shrapnel wrt the 6.5 CM...pure BS marketing at work. many months ago, my buddy wanted one and he already had a .270...***!!! Fortunately I talked him out of it,

But I disagree on the .38/40. If you intend to go past the .32 cal, the .38/.357 makes a lot more sense. Cheap brass, can be reloaded with carbide dies, and many more rifles and pistols available. I have 7 guns in .38/.357

Still not understanding the OP's need to have something between his current selection (.25/20-.32/20) for small game...but wants play into many of our choices.