223 vs 6.5 Creedmoor

Are you weighing whether to get a rifle chambered for 223 Rem or 6.5 Creedmoor? Lucky for you, settling the 223 vs 6.5 Creedmoor debate is easy.

Why Choose 223?

Do you want a rifle for home defense, target shooting at close-to-medium range, and maybe a little varmint hunting? Then you’ll find that the 223 is supremely popular for very good reasons.

When to Choose 6.5 Creedmoor

Are you more interested in long-range target shooting, deer hunting – or both? Then the 6.5 CM, which was specifically designed for long-distance shooting and not combat, offers a whole lot more than the 223.

If you’d like a little better understanding of how these two rifle cartridges compare in terms of their size, ballistic performance, stopping power and recoil, then please read on. We love blabbing about all of those things!

223 vs 6.5 Creedmoor Cartridge Dimensions

The 6.5 Creedmoor is the much larger cartridge. Its case has about 82% more room for propellant, and while its bullet isn’t a whole lot wider in diameter it is substantially heavier. 223 commonly has a 55 grain bullet, although it can weigh anywhere between 40 and 77 grains. The 6.5 CM bullet usually weighs 120, 140 or 143 grains, and can achieve roughly the same muzzle velocity as the 223’s heavier bullets.

The 6.5 Creedmoor cartridge (left) next to a round of 223 Remington ammo (right).

Essentially, the 6.5 CM bullet has about twice as much mass and approximately the same (or a slightly lower) muzzle velocity as the 223 bullet. Because of this we can predict two important things about its performance: It’s going to remain far more accurate downrange as the heavier bullet retains more momentum, and it’s going to transfer significantly more energy on impact. (Energy being the simple product of mass and velocity.)

Ballistic Performance

Master ballisticians please forgive us – it is hard to give a real apples-to-apples comparison of two very different cartridges’ ballistic performance. We tried to compare rounds with the same bullets to one another, even if the 223 most often has a 55 grain bullet. But since the 6.5 CM is a long-range target shooting cartridge, it does make sense to compare 223 loads with relatively heavy bullets. These are favorable for long-range shooting as they retain more momentum downrange, which conveys better resistance to wind drift and promotes a flatter trajectory.

Trajectory/Bullet Drop of 223 vs 6.5 Creedmoor

Still, it’s easy to appreciate how much better the 6.5 CM’s long-range performance really is. The 6.5 CM’s ballistic coefficient (a measure of its ability to overcome air resistance in flight, where a higher number is better) beats the 223’s ballistic coefficient in all examples. Although the two rounds’ muzzle velocities are roughly the same, the 6.5 CM shoots a lot flatter regardless. This is a great demonstration of the benefit of a significantly heavier bullet’s superior downrange momentum.

Accuracy

The 223’s accuracy is just fine within its effective range. The U.S. Army says the 5.56×45 (which is so similar that 5.56 rifles can also fire 223) has an effective range of 547 yards (where “effective range” is defined as the distance at which the bullet can strike and neutralize a human-sized target). Hitting a target at 500 yards is fairly difficult for the novice shooter to pull off, but seasoned varmint hunters often whack rodents at ranges up to 600 yards (bearing in mind that it takes far less energy to kill a woodchuck than it does to incapacitate a man).

Muzzle Velocity

In contrast, a 6.5 CM bullet ought to stay supersonic up until ranges around 1,150 fps. (A bullet destabilizes when its velocity becomes subsonic, which trashes its accuracy beyond that point.) None of the 223 rounds can maintain a supersonic velocity beyond 1,000 yards, which fairly well sums up the 6.5 CM’s greater long-range accuracy in a nutshell.

Stopping Power / Energy

What we call “stopping power” encompasses several variables. How deeply a bullet can penetrate determines whether it can reach the target’s vital organs; how wide it’s able to expand will influence the diameter of the wound cavity it ultimately produces. Even the bullet’s diameter counts, because a wider bullet is able to inflict a wider wound channel even without accounting for terminal expansion.

But how much energy a bullet is actually capable of inflicting upon its target is paramount to illustrating two cartridges’ relative stopping power. As we alluded to earlier, the 6.5 CM absolutely trounces the 223 in the energy delivery department.

Self-Defense Viability

The 223 is without question superior for self-defense applications. Although less powerful, the 223’s accuracy over the ranges at which you’re likely to encounter a threat, lower recoil (which we’ll get to next), and ample energy for neutralizing a human-sized target will all give you a marked advantage over the more potent yet harder kicking 6.5 CM.

But if you were selecting a deer hunting cartridge, the 6.5 CM is without question preferrable. Although designed specifically for target shooting, the 6.5 CM’s stellar long-range accuracy coupled with its commanding downrange energy both make it phenomenal for deer.

The numbers speak for themselves. Ideally, you would hit a deer with at least 1,000 ft lbs of energy to kill it humanely. (To be very sure, proper aim can make weaker energy on impact more than deadly enough to kill a whitetail with minimum pain and suffering.) The three 223 rounds compared above retain at least 1,000 ft lbs of energy until an average of 124 yards. The 6.5 CM rounds? 790 yards. Its whole different magnitude of stopping power is why the 6.5 CM makes the far better medium-size game load.

Recoil

You would ideally experience as little recoil as possible. A rifle that kicks hard becomes uncomfortable to continue firing after a while. Stronger recoil also flips the muzzle farther upward, which increases the amount of time required to aim and fire your next shot.

We cannot say for certain how much recoil you will actually perceive while firing the 223 or 6.5 CM. Felt recoil is subjective. But we can objectively measure recoil energy by taking four factors into account: muzzle velocity, bullet weight, powder weight and firearm weight. To compare the six cartridges detailed above, let us assume (A) all 223 rounds have 25 grains of powder and are fired from a 6.5 pound Ruger 556; and (B) all 6.5 CM rounds have 40 grains of powder and are fired from a 12.6 pound Savage Arms 110 Elite Precision.

Recoil Results

Unsurprising results. The 223’s muzzle velocity isn’t necessarily different from the 6.5 CM, but even the 223’s heaviest bullets weigh about half as much as the 6.5 CM’s. This means the 223’s recoil energy is only about 60% as great as that of the 6.5 CM.

We must also point out that the 223’s test rifle in this situation weighs a lot less than the 6.5 CM’s. If it also weighed 12.6 pounds, its recoil energy would be in the ballpark of 2.75 ft lbs.

Take the 223’s lower recoil energy for what it’s worth. This is a cartridge that is designed for combat. In war the ability to direct accurate, rapid fire is useful for reasons that don’t demand explanation. The 6.5 CM, which was designed for long-distance target shooting, doesn’t really call for rapid fire – you want to take your time lining up those precision shots. Less kick is always more comfortable, though.

Price & Availability

223 ammunition and rifles chambered for it are both significantly cheaper and easier to find. This is America’s favorite centerfire rifle cartridge we’re talking about here. Manufacturers save money by mass producing 223, which is also a much smaller cartridge than the 6.5 CM and accordingly demands less raw materials. Finding 223 AR-platform parts is almost as easy as locating your own belly button.

6.5 Creedmoor ammo is hardly a niche cartridge. You will easily find ammo and rifles chambered for it as well. You’re just going to have fewer options, which is to be expected when you compare anything to America’s beloved 223. (But at least you’ll still be able to take full advantage of the AR-platform when you opt for 6.5 CM!)

Takeaway

The 223 is a lightweight combat rifle cartridge. While capable of hunting varmints and even medium-size game under the right conditions, it was conceived and developed as a method for neutralizing human-sized targets. As such it is far better suited for personal protection than the 6.5 CM. Though, 223’s popularity for recreational target shooting is no fluke. Negligible recoil, serviceable accuracy at the ranges most enthusiasts are interested in covering, and affordability all earned the 223 its status as the king.

The 6.5 CM’s much superior long-range accuracy and downrange energy both make it the better choice for hunting deer and other medium-sized game (not to mention varmints and coyote, which it will obliterate). So, if you’re looking to join the 1,000 yard club or otherwise put your sniping skills to good use, a little hands-on time with the 6.5 CM is all you’ll need to appreciate how a round that has only been on the market since 2007 has gained so much popularity among firearm enthusiasts