Once I got it dialed in, I fired 10 five-shot groups. It's hard to do any accuracy comparisons with only one load, but I felt 10 groups would give me a true picture of the gun's accuracy and the velocity of the new cartridge. As often happens when I test a rifle, my groups got progressively smaller as I fired the gun. Perhaps it's a case of new barrels needing a bit of a break in, or maybe it's me getting better acquainted with the rifle. In either case, the Panther shot better as the day progressed.

My first group measured a very respectable 0.936 inch. That's far from match-winning accuracy, but it was an encouraging start. As I got the feel for the trigger, my groups shrank. By the end, I'd whittled my average down to 0.578 inch, and I'd shot an impressive best group of 0.368 inch. Had I been testing a bolt-action rifle, I would have been pretty impressed. But when you take into account the fact that the Panther is a factory semiautomatic gun, the results border on miraculous.

Clearly, my test rifle was put together about as well as an AR can be. But surely some of the credit must go to the ammunition. I delved into the chronograph data to get some insight into the quality and consistency of the test loads.

The first thing I noticed was the average velocity of 2,841 fps. Now that's well short of Hornady's claimed velocity of 3,020 fps, but that's to be expected given the velocity-robbing semiautomatic platform and 24-inch barrel, which is 4 inches less than the barrel used to achieve those claimed velocities. I didn't get a chance to test the 140-grain load, but I am sure the difference would be the same, as the claimed velocity figures were obtained with a 28-inch test barrel.

The second thing I noticed--and it's the key to the incredible accuracy I achieved with the test rifle--is how consistent the chronograph readings were. After recording a 50-round string, the highest reading was 2,852 fps, and the lowest was 2,820 fps. The standard deviation was 12.32 fps, and the extreme spread was 32.58 fps. That incredible consistency speaks volumes about Hornady's quality control and goes a long way towards helping any rifle shoot up to its potential.

With my accuracy testing out of the way, I fired my remaining 145 rounds of ammunition at various targets scattered along the range backstop. Thanks to the NightForce's 22X magnification, finding pieces of clay pigeons, golf balls, and rocks was a breeze. Hitting them with the super-accurate DPMS was a snap, too. Shooting as fast as I could acquire targets and squeeze the trigger, the remaining 145 rounds went through the gun without a hiccup.

I went into this project searching for an accurate, semiautomatic rifle that was equally at home on the range and in the field. I envisioned a single, accurate rifle that I could use to drop deer in the back 40 and smack LaRue steel targets way out yonder. Although I didn't think it was possible, I also wanted it to be affordable. I didn't truly expect to find such a rig, but with its flawless reliability, incredible accuracy, and reasonable MSRP of $1,159, DPMS' new Panther 6.5 Creedmoor far exceeded all of my requirements.

Handloading the 6.5 Creedmoor will, most likely, be a difficult proposition until such time that the latest generation of powders is released to consumers. Like the Hornady-developed .30 T/C, the new cartridge uses proprietary powders that handloaders would be hard-pressed to duplicate. But for budding match or tactical shooters who don't handload, the 6.5 Creedmoor is darn tough to beat.