I absolutely believe that the bullet chosen should be determined by the cartridge used. My 6.5x55 does a great job with 129gr bullet's but my 25-06 drives them a bit to fast. Ends up with more damage to the animal and could ruin a bunch of meat you'd rather eat! I don't use monolithic bullet's so don't know a lot about weight with them. But as I understand it, a lot of them retain 100% bullet weight or close to it. Seems to me there would be a lot less destruction with a 130gr mono bullet. But a 130gr cup and core driven at 264 Wim Mag velocity might just get torn up and destroy a lot more than you might want. In my 6.5x06 I use 140gr cup and core bullet's and the few deer I've shot with it, it worked fine. My 6.5x55 works alright with a 129gr bullet but I think a 140gr would be better even there. If I had an 8" twist in my 6.5x06, I'd step up a bit in bullet weight. As a younger man I liked velocity but growing older I started seeing where velocity is really not your friend when choosing bullet's. Heavier bullets won't be driven nearly as fast as lighter bullet's and will hold together better and ruin less meat! I think a really good deer cartridge would be something like a 6.5x52 with a 160gr bullet! That said I'm still looking for a load that will work for me in my 260 with 129gr bullet's. Just can't find components! Well powder!
