I have been reading a lot over the past year, and recently started listening to the Vortex Nation Podcast, and one of the things that seems to always be cropping up in discussions is the 6.5 Creedmore. Now, I know a lot of you just experienced an involuntary eye twitch, but stay with me. I don't have a dog in that fight, but it does seem to me that the main reason for its success is the fact that the factory guns come with fast twist barrels. The fact that this makes it somehow a standout performer is absolutely mystifying to me, because I don't understand why fast twist barrels aren't more common across the board.
Come with me on a thought experiment that could have played out at in a boring conference room or at the coffee machine:
"Man, the boss says sales are dropping off, time to release a new cartridge."
"Yeah? Well, I suppose. Any ideas?"
"Eh, not really. Let's just see if we can make something better than what's already out there. You know, bullets have gotten better, what can we do with that?"
"Huh. Better bullets... so... if our new small caliber bullets expand the way Marketing says they do, then l guess that means caliber is less important for hunting Bambi than the old days."
"Yeah, that's a good point. So how do you make the most of that?"
"Well, let's see... uh...."
"Hey, what about this? Let's just pick a caliber and as fast a twist as we think we can get away with and see how heavy a bullet it can handle?
"Uh... why?"
"Cause then we can stick a long skinny bullet in there. We already established it doesn't really matter how skinny it is, so as long as the weight's there, who cares?"
"So, what, we just arbitrarily pick a twist?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"OK... well... darn, let's just go for it. How about 1:6?
"OK, sure. And the caliber?"
"Well, I guess it doesn't really matter that much, one of those little zippy ones. How about 6.5mm?
"Oh man, really, 6.5? Those have never sold well here."
"Yeah, but I like Vikings and those places use 6.5s."
"Stupidest reason ever. Whatever, fine, 6.5."
"So how does that turn out?"
"Well... pretty good, actually. With a 1:6 twist you could shoot something crazy heavy like 160gr and it would stay stable down to below the speed of sound."
"Hmm. And I guess it would maintain energy pretty well too."
"Are you kidding? It would be as slippery as a shaved pig covered in mineral oil."
"Wow. That's an image."
"You're welcome."
"You know the bullet guys are never going to build a 160gr 6.5mm. That's just crazy."
"OK, fine, drop it to 140 or 150. It'll still be amazing. You can drop the twist a smidgen too, if we do that."
"So... what case do we put this bullet in?"
"Hell, with that kind of BC, what does it matter? Slap it in a few different ones and have marketing put some different labels on them depending how fast they go."
"No, seriously."
"OK, ok. Let's have fun with this, pick something obscure. How about a failed cartridge just for kicks? 30 T/C?"
"Never heard of it."
"Exactly. We're the ones that came up with it and you still haven't heard of it. It's perfect."
"You're nuts."
"You're just jealous of my brilliant plan."
"OK, Mister Brilliant Plan. Are we going to do this to all of our cartridges, then? I mean, you can make long heavy bullets in every caliber."
"Nah, that's too much trouble. Just have Marketing tell everybody that 6.5mm is special. They'll come up with something good."
I wasn't there when Hornady designed the 6.5CM, but I swear it could've been like that.
So... I guess I have been wondering why we aren't beset by a veritable ocean of wildcats or even refreshed gun lineups which are designed around VLD bullets and super fast-twist barrels. Neck a 30-30 down to 6mm and cut barrels with a 1:5 or 1:6 twist and shove as heavy a bullet as will stabilize in there. BAM, you've picked up 100 yards of effective range with the same or less recoil. Or pick any other cartridge, it doesn't really matter which. Sure, there will be mag length issues with some, but wildcatters deal with that kind of thing all the time, and it doesn't matter a hill of beans in a single-shot.
Is this happening and I just haven't seen it yet?