6.5 saum nah!

[Savageman25]

So I have a couple creedmoors and had been kicking the idea around of building a 6.5 saum for hunting. It seems God has come down and built the 6.5 saum 4s by his own hands, by reading all these reviews.
I think I have come to the conclusion that the saum doesn't really give much of an advantage over the creedmoors. Sure another 300fps, I get it. But I feel the creedmoor can handle everything in North America that you would essentially use the saum for, and at a lesser cost. I'm feeling honestly as if you would be compromising on the saum (when you could just step up to a 338 edge, 300 win mag, etc... take a pick from many others) for long range hunting considering cost and availability of brass. Am I crazy for thinking along these lines or am I missing something?
It seems as if I'm in minority here. I've honestly tried to make myself build one but can't. Am I just not seeing an enormous perk of the 6.5 saum that everyone else is seeing?
Sure, if I didn't already have a couple creedmoors and wanted a awesome 6.5 cal I would go to a 6.5 saum but I feel it's not worth it as of now. Of course if you just want another caliber for the heck of it then by all means I have nothing against the saum. I just feel like it's not amazing do all end all hunting cal that people are making it. It was designed for a specific niche that it fills well (in the precision rifle sector), but people Love it for long range hunting it seems, when there are better options.
Im just thinking out loud here. Not trying to persuade any people away from the saum, just trying to conform or allow someone to enlighten my misguided thoughts.

[schnyd112]

I honestly think the 6.5 creed, and by comparison the .260 rem, are as good as you can get when considering all elements of an all purpose rifle. A 6.5 mm bullet can go faster but you start to give up something on one side or the other.

Numerous High bc bullets
Readily available brass
Lots of data
Short, fat, efficient powder column
Plenty of oomph out to 500 yards
Good Barrel life
Low recoil
and they are pretty cheap to shoot.

On the other hand, I lust after the 7saum. With the larger bore and heavier bullets it is not near as overbore. It will give any of the big 7mm's a run for their money which in turn are apples to apples comparisons with the .300's.

Sure brass is $2 a pop (for Norma brass) and it will eat 62ish grains of powder every time you pull the trigger, but I don't think you would ever feel under-gunned unless you are looking at the big Alaska brown bears. 180 g bullets with bc of .675 flirting with 3000 fps? Yes please. I'll take two.

[Robinhood]

I lust after the 7saum.

Anything 7mm for hunting. Every 7mm bullet Berger sells except one beats the BC's of all their 6,5 bullets. The Price? Recoil

[schnyd112]

Recoil is heavier than the 6.5's, but it isn't as heavy as the 7win mags with 80 grains of powder.

I have shot the 7SAUM next to a .280 and they felt very similar in recoil. You know you are shooting a serious killer, but aren't fighting a flinch to shoot groups.

[Savageman25]

Yes I agree the 7saum is a step up. I see more of a benefit in that than the 6.5. It is definitely in the mix for for the next hard hitting hunting cal that I would like to add to the stable.

[Alleycat72]

From what I have seen on the Internet.
6.5x284=1100 rounds.
6.5 wsm=900 rounds.
26 nosler =700 rounds.
6.5 rsum = 4000 rounds.
Must be true.

[Alleycat72]

I got 850-950ish in my 6.5 wsm.

[yobuck]

So I have a couple creedmoors and had been kicking the idea around of building a 6.5 saum for hunting. It seems God has come down and built the 6.5 saum 4s by his own hands, by reading all these reviews.
I think I have come to the conclusion that the saum doesn't really give much of an advantage over the creedmoors. Sure another 300fps, I get it. But I feel the creedmoor can handle everything in North America that you would essentially use the saum for, and at a lesser cost. I'm feeling honestly as if you would be compromising on the saum (when you could just step up to a 338 edge, 300 win mag, etc... take a pick from many others) for long range hunting considering cost and availability of brass. Am I crazy for thinking along these lines or am I missing something?
It seems as if I'm in minority here. I've honestly tried to make myself build one but can't. Am I just not seeing an enormous perk of the 6.5 saum that everyone else is seeing?
Sure, if I didn't already have a couple creedmoors and wanted a awesome 6.5 cal I would go to a 6.5 saum but I feel it's not worth it as of now. Of course if you just want another caliber for the heck of it then by all means I have nothing against the saum. I just feel like it's not amazing do all end all hunting cal that people are making it. It was designed for a specific niche that it fills well (in the precision rifle sector), but people Love it for long range hunting it seems, when there are better options.
Im just thinking out loud here. Not trying to persuade any people away from the saum, just trying to conform or allow someone to enlighten my misguided thoughts.

Well there's l/r hunting and then there's l/r hunting. And by that I'm referring to the distances involved.
If the location you hunt offers distances of less than a thousand yards as a maximum, then cartridge selection
becomes less criticle. In addition, all species of animals aren't the same as to how much lead they can and do walk away with.
If you have the time to pick and choose the club you want that's fine. But if your shots could be long, and you will have just one club,
make sure you have a big driver and not a sputter.

[Hotolds442]

From what I have seen on the Internet.
6.5x284=1100 rounds.
6.5 wsm=900 rounds.
26 nosler =700 rounds.
6.5 rsum = 4000 rounds.
Must be true.

Bonjour!

[psharon97]

When I was building my 260, I walked in to a gun store to buy some factory 260 and was told that the 26 nosler shooting factory ammunition would have far superior barrel life than a 260 remington. But you know everyone who works at gun stores are experts.

[scope eye]

Yes that makes total sense, lets see a 260 with it's 45gr of powder VS a 26 Nosler with it's whopping 90gr of powder, I would have reached over the counter and smacked him for telling stories out of school.

Dean

[FW Conch]

"25", I hear you bud. I have followed the 6.5 SAUM 4s since it's inception, and it is just "sooo" cool. But I have absolutely no use for it. Some people do. They need that little extra fps to stay supersonic at the distance their shooting,whatever. The Creedmore has "cool factor" right now, but since I have a 260 Rem and a 6.5 Grendel, I don't need a "creed" eather. Cost is important to me also, and I don't have enough time to shoot all I got, so I'll just stay where I am.

Thanks....Jim :-)

[Alleycat72]

For the record, I have zero problem with a cartridge that has short barrel life. 900 rounds in a hunting gun can get you 10 years or more of service. If the rsum case is sexy for you, I would just run a 7mm rsum. My f-class gun is a 7mm rsum and it's a hammer. 180 hybrids vs 140s makes a big difference at 1250.

[Savageman25]

"25", I hear you bud. I have followed the 6.5 SAUM 4s since it's inception, and it is just "sooo" cool. But I have absolutely no use for it. Some people do. They need that little extra fps to stay supersonic at the distance their shooting,whatever. The Creedmore has "cool factor" right now, but since I have a 260 Rem and a 6.5 Grendel, I don't need a "creed" eather. Cost is important to me also, and I don't have enough time to shoot all I got, so I'll just stay where I am.

Thanks....Jim :-)

I got into the 6.5 mm game by building an AR in creedmoor (heard this was the better round in the AR). That's the reason for the creed and not a 260. Since I started with creedmoor I bought two more (sold the barrel off one) bolt guns in creed just because I was already set up to load for it. I feel if I didn't start with the gas and only did bolt then I would have gone 260 at the time. I have since built a Grendel as well. Those 6.5mm are just a phenomonal bullet. But I think I'm all set just like you said. The Grendel and creedmoor cover my needs in that bullet size.

[psharon97]

Yes that makes total sense, lets see a 260 with it's 45gr of powder VS a 26 Nosler with it's whopping 90gr of powder, I would have reached over the counter and smacked him for telling stories out of school.

Dean

Normally, when dealing with people full of $hit, I can quickly contain myself and not say anything. On this occasion I couldn't catch my tongue fast enough. I told the salesman, "Dude, you're full of $hi*t. The higher you push the pressure on a rifle, the shorter of round count you're going to have. This is basic physics"

These are the same people that say a 50bmg has a barrel life of 20,000 rounds, or that a 223 has no drop out to 1000 yards. If I want to see the wild internet claims in person, I go to this store. I walked out of the store, went to another, and paid $10 more for better 260.

[yobuck]

For the record, I have zero problem with a cartridge that has short barrel life. 900 rounds in a hunting gun can get you 10 years or more of service. If the rsum case is sexy for you, I would just run a 7mm rsum. My f-class gun is a 7mm rsum and it's a hammer. 180 hybrids vs 140s makes a big difference at 1250.

My longest kill on a whitetail was that distance with a 300 weatherby case necked down to 7mm.
I was using 162 gr hornady bullets with 90 gr of h870 at the time because others we have today
weren't yet available. Velocity was in the area of 3200 from the 30" barrel. The bullets didn't exit
the animal and although he couldn't get up it wasent a pleasant thing to watch. These type experiences
are why most hunters prefer more gun rather than marginal ones. I have a good friend who shot an Elk
in CO with a 7 STW using a 168 Berger at about the same distance. He said the elk was walking around
with steam coming out of the holes before he finally fell over. Now both these animals did in fact die
and on facebook that's all youd be apt to hear.

[Alleycat72]

My a 1250 yard animals are made out AR500 steel.