6.5 Creedmoor, By the Numbers
6.5 Creedmoor was designed by Hornady in 2007 for one thing: to push long, high-BC 6.5 mm bullets accurately from a short action with less recoil and less wind drift than a .308. It is built on the .308-family case, shortened and necked down, with a 30-degree shoulder and a long neck that let 140 to 147 gr match bullets seat without intruding on powder space, and it fits the same bolt face, magazines, and DPMS-pattern AR-10 as a .308. Within a decade it had displaced .308 as the default precision cartridge in PRS and across the bolt-action market, and it did the same on the large-frame AR.
The 140 gr ELD Match leaves Hornady’s 24″ test barrel at 2,710 fps and is still doing 2,023 fps with 1,273 ft-lb at 500 yards, flatter and with less drift than the 168 gr .308 at every distance. A 1:8 twist fully stabilizes the long 140, 144, and 147 gr bullets that keep the cartridge supersonic past 1,200 yards. Twenty-four inches is the length the cartridge was designed around, where 140 gr loads reach their advertised velocity; every inch shorter costs roughly 20 to 30 fps.
Hornady factory data — 6.5 Creedmoor 140 gr ELD Match, 24″ test barrel
| Range | Velocity | Energy | Drop (200 yd zero) |
| Muzzle | 2,710 fps | 2,283 ft-lb | — |
| 100 yd | 2,564 | 2,043 | +1.9″ |
| 200 yd | 2,422 | 1,823 | 0 |
| 300 yd | 2,285 | 1,622 | −7.8″ |
| 400 yd | 2,152 | 1,439 | −22.3″ |
| 500 yd | 2,023 | 1,273 | −44.4″ |
Source: Hornady published ballistics from a 24″ test barrel, the same length as the MATCH-X 24″ Target.
What You Need to Build It
DPMS / LR-308-pattern upper and barrel nut, a standard .308 bolt carrier group, and SR-25 / DPMS-pattern magazines; only the barrel changes from a .308. .750″ gas block and a rifle-length gas tube. Headspaced with a 6.5 Creedmoor go/no-go gauge.
What Every MATCH-X Barrel Shares
416-R stainless bar stock, drilled, reamed to 32 Ra, honed to 8 Ra before the rifling button goes through, 5R button rifled, stress relieved at 1150°F, contoured, chambered, then lapped back to a uniform 16 Ra from throat to crown. Bore and groove air-gauged at three points, honed finish read on a profilometer, borescoped, chamber verified on a CMM, magnetic-particle inspected, nickel-Teflon extension torqued to 150 ft-lb, pinned, and headspaced. Exterior left as bare stainless blasted with S110 media. Made in Greater Cincinnati, Ohio, backed by the Faxon Lifetime Guarantee. See the whole MATCH-X line and the process video ›
MATCH-X 6.5 Creedmoor FAQs
What upper, bolt, and magazines does this barrel need?
A DPMS / LR-308-pattern AR-10 upper and barrel nut, a standard .308 bolt carrier group, and SR-25 / DPMS-pattern magazines. 6.5 Creedmoor shares the .308 case head, so only the barrel is different.
Why 24 inches?
Velocity and consistency. 6.5 Creedmoor was designed around a 24″ barrel, where 140 gr loads reach their advertised velocity, and the rifle-length gas system gives the softest impulse an AR-10 can have.
What are the two rings behind the muzzle threads?
Faxon's caliber mark for 6.5 Creedmoor on the AR-10, since the barrel is otherwise identical to a .308 on a bench. Two rings means Creedmoor; no rings means .308.
Do I need an adjustable gas block?
Faxon recommends one. Most 6.5 Creedmoor AR-10s end up suppressed, factory loads vary, and large-frame ARs are gas-sensitive. The Faxon .750″ adjustable block meters the port to your load and can.
