I’m in the process of building a 16” 6.5 Creedmoor on an Aero M5 set. Faxon midlength barrel. I’ll be using a Sentry 7 adjustable gas block and a aac SDN6. Plans also include a mid magnification optic in the 3-15 range.

Who has a 16” Creedmoor and how does it run?
Do you run suppressed?
How far have you shot it?

I have access to a 600 yard range and plan to hunt white tail to 200 yards and hogs to 300 yards.

I’ve read a lot of people say a 16” can’t be done right but a sub $200 barrel isn’t hard to replace if I have too many issues. I can always go longer or swap to 308.

Basically any info would be helpful as far as your experiences and what I should watch out for.

Bump and tag for info.

Just ordered a Leupold Mark 5 3.6-18x44 Tremor 3.

Now just need a scope mount, BCG, and gas block and I’ll be able to test it out for myself.

I used a JP caputrued spring system with my 18” barreled AR10 6.5 Creedmoor.  I was having cycling issues with a H2 buffer and spring in a carbine buffer extension.  The heavier spring and buffer assembly now has my rifle ejecting to the 3-4 o’clock.  Good luck with your build.

Just put together an M5E1 with a 16” Faxon barrel and LanTac BCG.

Test fired six different types of ammo, four were 120s since this is intended to be a lightweight hog rifle that can still go the distance.

With 120 eld-m it shoots one hole groups. About the same with the Hornady 120 Hog Hammer load. It’s acting slightly under gassed.

With 140s accuracy drops to over an inch and it fails to eject, confirming the gas issue. Need to play with weights a bit. Gas port is factory standard for Faxon, what ever that is.

Ultimately it will be suppressed 90% of the time, which will resolve the gas situation. I don’t like adjustable blocks.

The 120 ELD-M was running 2850 over my chrono also.

Not bad at all and better than I was expecting. When the barrel breaks in I should get a 50-75 FPS boost. Handloaded might give another 100 or so.

I need to try some different ammo maybe. I still haven’t made it back to the range

Any updates? What load did you settle on?

Sounds like a fun rifle.

Haven’t taken it back to the range. Been shooting indoors with my 556 SBR. Need to get back to the outdoor range and test it with the new buffer spring.

I only fired the Hornady black 140 gr. About 40 ish rounds maybe if I recall correctly.

I started my range trip with no can, gas block 1 clock open with mag single loaded. Continued firing one round single loaded and opening gas block until reliable lock back. I think I made it to 6 or 7 clicks on my SLR Sentry gas block. Then I loaded 5 rounds in the mag and the issue started. Any more than 1 round with or without the suppressor would cause a Failure to eject over a new rounds completely crushing the new round.

I am using the aero 308 carbine receiver extension and buffer kit. I have since purchased a sprinco orange buffer spring and while installing it noticed wear marks where the Bolt carrier was damaging the lower at the receiver extension threads.

I have since recoated the damaged area so I can tell if the new buffer stops the damage. I am going to try different ammo next range trip also. Maybe I should buy a heavier buffer as well to test out.

Thanks for the help. I’ll give the quarter a try. What is a better long term solution if that works?

A little update.

Added the Sprinco orange buffer spring and extractor upgrade. Function tested today with 4 different factory loads. With and without suppressor and everything went GREAT. No issues at all. I’m very pleased and glad it was an easy fix.

I almost went down this path.  But finally decided 6.5 Grendel makes more sense if I want lighter weight and compact.  Just my 2 cents, and i'm still a big 6.5 CM fan, so curious about the updates on your project.

I have a 16” Grendel as well and I will say it is a much lighter weight package. I had bought these M5 receivers years ago and couldn’t bring myself to get rid of them so I had to build them out.

Now that it’s running great I plan to try some different factory loads to see what it likes best.

Interesting side note on 16” 6.5 creed gas guns.
Knights will be fielding the SR25 in 6.5 with a 14.5” and 16” barrels. Their clients have decided is an effective 1200yard do it all package.
Shot the 16” to 1200 at PRE. One impact after another.
Very cool

I'm curious what ammo.  Depending on load,  my 20" was going subsonic close to 1200 yards

They were using Berger 140 hybrid