Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 6.5 Creedmoor for Elk & Moose under 300yd - what bullet

When you eventually find the animal with a pencil hole through the chest/shoulders after being shot with a Barnes product, that's called not expanding. It's really not that complicated. The bullets of course are long gone but the bore diameter exit wound tells the story.

The animals were all elk with the exception of one mule deer.

Partition is never the wrong answer unless they aren't accurate enough for the intended range, but I seriously doubt they wouldn't be accurate enough for 300 yard shots.

I thought the LRX was built to expand at slower velocities when shooting long range. Maybe I'm mistaken but in my experience it does exactly that. Even close in at higher velocity, I have yet to see it or any of the TSX, TTSX or LRX not expand. Since I have yet to catch a bullet, since I started loading them in the early 2000's, I base my experience on what the wound channel looks like and not the entrance/exit hole.

Will say my son had a LRX react differently in a deer this year - a 127gr LRX out of his 6.5/300 Wby, MV 3300+ had a petal that stayed in the deer on the offside hide. The rest of the bullet exited. The shot was ranged at 160 yards and broadside shoulder to shoulder. The would channel was still significant with the deer immediately down. I sure don't consider that a bullet failure. Just not seeing all the problems you are describing.

Probably have to go thousands more animals before I see it.

Simply cannot see you having seen many and me having seen none. I"ve guided lots of folks. Seen literally over 1000 dead animals. The one thing that we never saw fail were the ttsx. Even the Tsx I never saw a fail on though I have seen photos of one.

They kill quickly. And I've been happier with them by far than any of the hunters running even partitions.

I suppose there may be a weird thing about elk not opening them up as I have never shot an elk. I'll give you that. But on animals from small pigs up to large moose and bison, and from very close, like less than 10 steps on out to the other side of 500 I've not seen an issue.

If I were going to pick just one bullet to hunt with in my 6.5cm for elk and moose, that is the bullet I'd choose.

You speak in very general terms. Can you say how many elk you have experienced failure to expand? How far did each elk run from where they were shot? What specific bullets were they shot with? What was the shot distance? Was the damage inside the vitals examined to see if there was evidence of expansion. Is it possible the bullet expanded perfectly, but the petals broke off prior to exiting, hence the small exit hole? Etc.

All I am gathering from your posts is that you have seen dead elk shot through the shoulders with two holes in them made by Barnes bullets. That doesn't sound like failure to me.

Thanks, MD!

My daughter is planning to buy a 6.5 Creedmoor to pair with her 7-08. She doesn’t mind that they are similar in capability - her interest in the 6.5 was hedged only on its ability to be used on bigger game and I could reload for it.

Sounding like a 127gr LRX is the way to go with both you & several others supporting it.

Sounds like “replace” is more appropriate than “pair”! Once she shoots the 6.5, the 7-08 will likely just collect dust - especially if Dad can load for the CM, and not the 7-08!!

LB, I have seen the old 160 TSX fail to expand myself from a 7 STW on a rib shot bull at 425. We recovered that bull and bullet (nose was bent a scosh and one petal just started to open) after a follow up and elk wandering around a bit. But haven't seen anything but good stuff from the TTSX's.

Any and all results you've seen would be excellent to hear, just to know which bullets were being used and what you saw. Not an infallible bullet out there, but man, you don't hear much bad about the TTSX's and now the LRX's either.

I'd be in the 127 LRX camp myself for elk, from the 6.5 CM to the 6.5-300 Wby. So far it seems incredibly accurate and has a decent BC onto it.

Llama Bob is the poster child for ODD. Oppositional Defiancy Disorder. Lol

Both cartridges are like peas in a pod. Having both, I opted to use the 7mm08 on elk this year. It did a great job, using the 140gr TTSX. Being that they are so similar, I believe I would have had the same results with the 6.5cm. However, I chose the 7mm instead. The only thing I notice with my CM vs the 7mm is the CM is more accurate and there are a lot of good ammo choices out there for the cm. If you are a handloader, that is a moot point. As you will probably not shoot factory ammo anyway... I bought a box of 127gr LRX to experiment with in my Tikka Superlite Creedmoor. I'm thinking that bullet should do the trick on just about anything I hunt.

I used a 160 grain Sierra SMP out of the 6.5x55 on a bull elk before the internet told me such things couldn’t be done. Went down like someone flipped a switch. Can’t imagine the creedmore not doing the same.

I know everyone’s experiences and interpretations differ.

The few moose that I have shot with 338 Winchester and 375 Ruger using the Barnes TSX have had substantial internal damage.
But, if I only viewed the exit holes in their hides, one might think the dreaded “pencil through”. The hole under the hide has usually been quite larger than the hide exit and as stated substantial internal damage.

Not exactly. The wound channel tells the story, but the exit wound is not a reliable indicator of bullet expansion.

Jordan,

But Llama Bob knows all!

Apparently he's had the opportunity to kill hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of big game animals, enough to test the virtues and faults of every big game bullet.

Unfortunately, he apparently can't figure out how to post photos on the internet as evidence of his vast experience.

That, and the simple fact that he always has been a stupidasss, and always will be.

Yep, he's right up there with bsahunter, Old Toot, Bob Brown, and ElkSlayer in that particular category.

You are a fuc king idiot. I've asked you to post up of shut the fu ck up a time or 2. You add nothing to a good thread.

Post 'em up Elkslayer Jr! I know you know how, since we see those redundant, regurgitated target photos every day.

You can't shoot for chidt, so you don't like my posts. Boo hoo.. You are about as dumb as your buddy SLM. You ever see a picture of that meth addict? Is he your brother?


Are you mad because the rifle I shot this cow with shoots like this:


Why when I ask you to post up results in the moa all day long challenge, you can't produce chidt?

Want to see a pic of one of my last bulls?


You jealous of my rifle? This is how it shoots:


Just a light pre 64 model 70 in a Brown PoundR...


Try posting something of value dumb fu ck.. The thread is about the 6.5 creedmoor. You have one and you can't shoot to save your life.. ha ha..