Designed in 2007 by Dave Emary and Dennis DeMille the 6.5 Creedmoor has two things going for it: first, the marketing prowess of Hornady; second, tight chambering- and ammunition-specification tolerances. This is among the group of modern standardized cartridge designs using tolerances appropriate to the Space Age and the proven benchrest throat and leade design, rather than tolerances appropriate to the Horse-and-Buggy Era and a less than ideal throat and leade design. Owing to the ideal chamber design and tight tolerances, factory Creedmoor guns and ammunition can, and often do, deliver impressive accuracy right out of the box. For the same reason, with a bit of load development, handloaders can often find extremely accurate loads quite easily. For the same tight-tolerance reasons, cases tend to last longer. It is very easy to become cynical about the introduction of a new chambering, such as the 6.5 Creedmoor, as nothing more than efforts by gun-makers to increase sales without doing anything to improve the state of the art for target shooters and hunters. Precisely this has been going on for more than 150 years — not every new chambering was redundant but the vast majority were. The Creedmoor offers something better, as do the Precision Rifle Cartridge (PRC) chamberings and a few others. This all began with standardization of the 6.5-284 Norma using tight tolerances and ideal throating and leade design. (As I was deeply involved with the standardization of the 6.5-284, I know something about this.) Unfortunately, Norma does not have the marketing prowess and opportunities Hornady does. The year this round was introduced, I was afforded the opportunity to work with folks at the HS Precision booth at the Industry day associated with the SHOT Show. Held at the range at Henderson, Nevada, this allowed shots out to a bit past 900 yards. I spent a few hours offering encouragement to various folks who were interested in shooting a fine HS-Precision rifle in the then-new chambering. The conditions were excellent and using the Hornady factory load that shot best in that rifle, it was no trick to hit a one-minute-of-angle gong at 900 yards. Many shooters walked away shaking their heads because they had no idea what a premium modern rifle loaded with premium factory ammo could do. Heritage of this case dates to the 1870s with the introduction of the 40-70 Ballard case.