I've hunted fifty years. I had good luck with a 7mag back in the mid-eighties and pretty much stuck with it, save a .257 or .300 Roy for extraordinary work. I've never shot nor owned a 6.5 of any flavor so I don't have a dog in the fight, but I do have a close personal friend who owns a hunting lodge. This time last year, he told me they had yet to find a deer on his property that had been shot with a 6.5. This certainly isn't a very scientific statement but I remember it made me stop and take notice when he said it.

"I'd rather go down the river with seven studs than with a hundred shitheads." -Col Charlie Beckwith