re: 6.5 Creed Is Not a Super Cartridge

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Has a new cartridge ever taken off so quickly as the 6.5?

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Possibly the .243? The way the story goes, way back when, hunters started to realize that you didn't have to shoot a 30 caliber bullet to kill deer. The .244 Rem was a fairly popular smaller caliber round at the time. But the .244 didn't have a tight enough twist to stabilize the heavier Spitzer bullets that they wanted to shoot for deer size animals. In fact, the gun got a very bad rep for being inaccurate once people started trying the heavier bullets in the production rifle. Winchester seized the opportunity to grab that market and came out with the .243 Win. The production rifle had a tighter twist and would accurately shoot the heavier bullets. From what I've read it became very popular, very quickly.

Remington knew they would never resurrect the .244 due to the bad rep. So they discontinued the .244 Rem and came out with the 6mm Rem. Same cartridge, tighter twist.