Just as has been mentioned...it's a great round and really excels for the folks who don't reload and I recommend it for that application....frequently, unfortunately. But it isn't followed by angels as Gary thinks

LO - you using a soft point bullet might cause the operators to stroke out

6.5 CM is increasing in popularity and taking shelf space away from the .260, but the .260 is very well supported with match bullets, far better than 7-08 - which is hard to understand.

The .260 will produce 30 - 50 fps more than the 6.5 CM with comparable bullets, which is not enough to worry about.

Lost in the shadows, the 6.5x47 Lapua is a very nice cartridge as well. There's not a dime's worth of difference in the three as far as launching bullets in my opinion.

I have a .260, which is a wonderful rifle for deer hunting. If I was starting over, the 6.5 CM would be the pick for the low power 6.5 niche.

For pushing the heavier 6.5 bullets, the 6.5 PRC, 6.5-284, .264 WM, or 6.5-06 produce a meaningful amount more of velocity.

.260 match quality ammo offered and available right now for shipping:

Berger 140 https://www.midwayusa.com/product/101987333?pid=296278

Berger 130 https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1019873277?pid=884876

SMK 142 https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1001906283

Hornady ELD 130 https://www.midwayusa.com/product/101823011?pid=527398

Lapua Scenar 136 https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1019873467?pid=952536

Berger loading the 136 Scenar. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1019873467?pid=952536

Black Hills loading the Hornady ELD 140. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1019439729?pid=786387

Barnes Match Ammo - https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1019439729?pid=786387

And there are 15+ loads with "hunting" bullets.

Well, things have changed then. Several years ago, when I loaded and shot .260, there was zero ammo available with a 140 gr bullet. I'm glad for the .260 owners there is now. I wonder if a guy can go into Academy or Cabela's and pick it off the shelf?

My .260 load was a 140 A-Max at 2800 fps, that's just where it shot. My 6.5 Creedmoor load is a 140 ELD-M at 2780 fps, but I have had it over 2800, but it didn't shoot as well there, and was a little tough on brass.

6.5 X 47L is overlooked, but it is a handloaders cartridge more so than the .260 Rem is. I built my daughter one, and it is sweet!

Of my rifles my 300 Wby is my least favorite. I love that it is a Sako but in my 60s it is painful to shoot. Of course it only takes one round to kill a deer.

Literally every long action caliber out there. It's a deer, not a moose. I'll stick with a 223ai and 75 eld's...stupid accurate, and that bullet is killer.

I have three but I don't own a 6.5 Creedmore.

I read all the comments, and I enjoyed the back and forth snarking. And I realized that I don’t really have a least favorite deer hunting caliber. I could probably do Ok with a 25-35 if I had to. I’d avoid the calibers with killer recoil because of the recoil. The only caliber I won’t hunt with is a 280, but that’s because my cousin used to talk about it endlessly while trashing my 270. And I suppose I don’t want a 6.5 CM, because everyone seems to have one, while I have a 260. I will, however, admit that working up loads for my brothers Bergera 6.5 might have been the easiest work up I ever did. Might have been the caliber or maybe it was the rifle, but little groups were easy to do. So maybe I’d own a 6.5 CM, but wouldn’t tell anyone.

And I don’t want anything belted.

I like Short Action calibers and tend to dislike long action calibers.

I don't even own a long action.

I love them all. Will take any kind of action I can get.

I was in Cabela’s in Lubbock Saturday. I did not see any 6.5 Creed ammo or .260. I was quite surprised at the former. It wasn’t like they were sold out...there was a solid selection from 243 straight to 25-06 and 270.

You must have been looking at the wrong shelf if they didn't have 6.5 CM or at least a place for it on the shelf.

Any caliber that instills so much fear of recoil that the shooter cannot hit a stationary piece of paper at 100 yards. This is doubly true if the safety is on.

As I’ve been in various feed stores and hardware stores lately, I’ve been looking at what ammo they have to sell. Pretty much the standards are 243, 270, and 30-06.

When I was recently in that good gun store in Hico, I was chatting with the young guy working there. In the course of the conversation, he said he’d had quite a few folks come in recently wanting 260’s built. He said it was the most asked for caliber all of a sudden. Seemed odd to me, but not to him.