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

Interesting post on an interesting bullet.... I'm looking for something other than the Hornady 160 round nose for some shorter range hunting that needs penetration from hard angles. Thanks for bringing this one to my attention!

I have more than one 6.5 man-bun. Love the caliber. But it isn't on my list to use for shooting through a bull elk's shoulder.

I can't wait for today's lesson.

🤣

Based on?

Things I have learned from Llama Bob in the past few weeks:

All Barnes bullets typically fail to expand
Nosler Accubonds and Partions are tier 2 bullets
The 30-06 is an inferior hunting cartridge
The 6.5x55 is slightly less inferior than the 30-06
NULA rifles are a terrible design
Mule Deer is generally an idiot
Simulation and load to velocity is a better way of load development than using manuals

I can't wait for today's lesson.

🤣

A truism in life is when everyone - and I DO mean everyone - thinks you're a fool, it might be time for some self-assessment...

And I’d wonder how doing an examination of an elk shot in October shows much of anything after rotting for a solid month in the mountains that’s really identifiable let alone being able to stand close enough to one really dig and lift on them.

Right on Brad. Textbook example of Dunning-Kruger.

I always baffled by why would anyone intentionally shoot an elk (or deer) through the shoulders. Completely wastes the meat of the front end. Is all we are worried about anymore the antlers?

Anyway back to the OP, IF I ever draw another elk tag I plan on using my 6.5 CM with Hornady 140gr SST's. They zip right though deer, don't see why they would not work just fine on an elk.

Nope, but I get to see what happens in the biggest (and arguably most accessible) elk herd in the world. And I get to see all the animals that weren't recovered at the end of November lying around on the ground. Some are too eaten to learn anything from. Some are not. There are three basic patterns in those animals:

1) Blowups that didn't reach enough vitals from Bergers, Scenars, SMKs, and the like leaving the heart and far lung intact (or very close). Usually this is the result of a rib impact. Sometimes you see this pattern with for example a core lokt or SGK on the shoulder too, but less. Most of those seem to get recovered, probably because elk with broken shoulders don't go as far.
2) Pencil throughs
3) Shots not in the chest, but this is rarer than you'd think - maybe 10-15% of failures to recover.

So the first thing to learn is that those who harp on shot placement are dead wrong. The vast majority of failures to recover follow a shot in the chest.

Now, with pencil throughs often times you don't know what happened - it could be some idiot ignoring hunting regs and using FMJ or small bore solids. But often times it's known what outfitter/client a given elk is associated with,and the outfitters are supposed to weed out the FMJ. In those cases it's..... Barnes.

Maybe Barnes has fixed the problem with the LRX, but given that this is their 4th attempt I stopped trusting them a LONG time ago.

Right on Brad. Textbook example of Dunning-Kruger.

Depends on how cold it was in October, and if the magpies or coyotes ate the bullet…..😊

I have done “bullet necropsies” on two, dead, unrecovered elk when they were a a day or so old ( on average I find a unrecovered elk once a year up at our high country place). Both occasions the bullets were armpit shots, both times the bullet didn’t make it past the first lung. A one lung elk can run a fair ways.

I’ve seen this bullet performance while guiding, with friends, and myself a long time ago. Which is why I continue to preach stout, premium type bullets.

At least on the elk myself and the other folks I hunt with I’d bet that we usually pin at least one front leg on about every elk we take. The meat loss from everything from Partitions, Accubonds, heavy ELDs, Bitterroots, Sciroccos, TTSX, etc has been pretty small.

On deer I’d agree that hammering front legs is bad overall but on the mountain it’s nice to hike over and find them where they were hit or at least in close proximity.

Nope, it's facts and that's what has the clowns all upset, because they can't opine against facts. Animals were shot. Barnes and target bullets failed. Those are the facts.

At least on the elk myself and the other folks I hunt with I’d bet that we usually pin at least one front leg on about every elk we take. The meat loss from everything from Partitions, Accubonds, heavy ELDs, Bitterroots, Sciroccos, TTSX, etc has been pretty small.

On deer I’d agree that hammering front legs is bad overall but on the mountain it’s nice to hike over and find them where they were hit or at least in close proximity.