Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 6.5 Creed ammo for deer?

My cousin asked me what ammo I would recommend for deer hunting in the southeastern states. His friend wasn't happy with the performance of his ammo for some reason. Stating 200 yrd runs and shoulder shots. I know that doesn't sound right.

However, since I don't use factory ammo, only my handholds, I suggested his friend try the Hornady 143 ELDX or 129 Interlocks.

Other than match ammo, a well placed shoulder shot with the right hunting ammo should produce excellent results on any whitetail deer in my opinion.

What do you guys say?

Either of those loads should work fine on deer.

I've shot several whitetails with 125, 129, and 140 grain factory hunting loads from Hornady, Remington, and Winchester. All were behind the shoulder shots aimed at making scrabbled lungs and none of them went very far, maybe 100' max.

Sounds like it could be a shot placement problem to me. Hard to say without seeing the entrance and exit holes. My nephew shot one with a Berger 130 vld 6.5 Creedmoor that went about 120yds. The bullet did not hit the deer exactly where he thought it did. I have shot several with 130 and 140 grain Hornady eld-m's. Everyone of them has dropped dead in there tracks with a high shoulder shot.




^^^This is also good info^^^ If you put any of these bullets through both lungs = dead deer, there not going far.

140gr eldm

A friend has used the 140 eldm on deer and a bunch of hogs. If a bullet could perform better than the 140 eldm I’d be surprised.

143 Hornady ELD-X, 140 Nosler BT.

Your cousin should learn to shoot first. Because deer don’t run 200 yards with shoulder shots.

But I would recommend federal fusion or federal blue box.

At factory ammo Creedmoor speeds I would think the 135 Berger Classic (different bullet than the VLD) would be a great option for dropping deer fast.

Fusions would be high on my list as well tzone.

I’ve used the Barnes 120 grain TTSX in my .260 Rem. Put it through the shoulders and it will drop deer where they stand from personal experience.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1020722464?pid=344535

The 6.5 cm is one caliber you can find a chit ton of ammo for.

Even the Walmarks has several flavors..

Joe’s Guns, Sewing Machine and Vacuum Outlet has a pile of 6.5cm….

I like the barnes vor-tx lr 127 ttsx.

Like the hornady eldm also. I like the eldm over the eldx, even though its “target”.

I’ve used them in so many different calibers with success it’s hard to argue.

Pretty much any hunting round out of the 6.5 will do the job just fine with good shot placement.

The Hornady American Whitetail stuff with the interlock bullets shots well out of both my 6.5's.

My 1st deer season coming up using the 6.5 CM, but I have two friends that have been using the factory HDY 143 gr ELD-X, for 10 yrs (+/-), with great success. They seldom have to track a wounded deer!!
I personally love the Nosler BT's and have loaded, over the years, these bullets in .300 WM, 30-06, .308 & .243 and the deer just simply can't stand them!! Needless to say, I have some loaded for my 6.5 CM and I'm standing by for the season to open here in NW Fla on Nov, 23rd. So, as Sako 76 previously stated, the ELD-X, or the Nos BT's - If those two don't do it, then back to squirrels with a 10 ga......

This

Since I don't shoot deer at very long ranges, the 125 grain Winchester Deer Season XP, 129 grain Winchester Power Point, or 129 grain Hornady American Whitetail would work just fine. The 129 grain Hornady American Whitetail is the factory ammo that has made the best groups in a new, straight out of the box, rifle that I've ever shot and that was in a limited run Weatherby V2 that they made for Cabela's before they started cataloging the 6.5 CM as a standard offering.

Goalie is right. The 6.5CM is much like the 7-08 and 308 in that nearly any medium-weight hunting bullet is going to perform nicely on deer-sized game. Fusions, Interlocks, Accubonds, TTSXs, ELDXs, and plain-jane softpoint spitzers should all be fine.

143 eldx ...

I like the 143 ELDX, I've tried the 129 Hornadys in two rifles but best I could do was about 1.25" when I was getting .250" with Berger hybrids.

I used a 129 grain (I think) Accubond LR on the one deer I killed with a 6.5 Creed and it went right down. Just about any expanding bullet should do the job with a well-placed shot.

Haven't used either on WT's, but have read accounts of ELDM vs. ELDX. Some claim the ELDM is better on some game, being a bit more expansive. I'd guess the X may be better on tougher critters.

Any comments on the difference between those two?

DF