Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Recommend a 6.5 antelope bullet for a quick kill?

I would definitely pick the 123gr Scenar.

It depends on your definition of "quick kill." My definition means the animal drops on the spot (DRT). DRT is the result of CNS shot placement, and the only requirement of the bullet is sufficient penetration. I use 140gr soft point bullets in my 6.5x55 and have never been disappointed as long as the shot is placed correctly. I used to shoot for the ribcage, and still do sometimes, but it almost never results in DRT performance. IME, deer shot in the ribcage typically run 100-300 yards regardless of cartridge or bullet choice.

Well put, and those that dont run some distance, are generally shot in the ribcage but also close enough that shock or frags get the CNS, if not breaking it, stunning it enough that the animal bleeds out before it comes back to, so to speak....

DRT is reliable 100% ONLY by shot placement to CNS, not to major bones...

Last two antelope I shot fell to a single shot each from my Swede and the 120 grain ballistic tip at ranges of 390 and 230 yards. Both animals fell at the spot they were standing when I shot them. The 125 grain partition is even more accurate in that rifle but I use that on larger animals.

Reading this, I can't imagine any bullet doing any better a job than what that 140 BT did to that doe.

It took out the top of the heart,penetrated completely and exited leaving a quarter sized exit hole. What more can we ask?

IME it is not at all unusual for a heart shot ungulate of any size to take a bullet through the heart/lung region and make some tracks..many people see the same thing happen and think that if they just find the "perfect bullet", that it will always result in instant kills with soft tissue hits. IME there simply is no such thing...

Reasons are many but they include that the heart shot animal will frequently run off a bit until it runs out of blood and then collapse. While it's true that some designs will show a more pronounced "blasting effect", destroy more soft tissue, it still does not guarantee an instant lights out because the heart shot(and pure lung shot), while fatal,will not guarantee instant lights out every time...just does not work that way.

A bullet may only demonstrate that kind of explosive expansion when velocities are high;after velocity falls off, the blasting effect is diminished.In other words the bullet does not behave exactly the same at every distance, or velocity level so you don't always get the same effect.

I think one of the biggest wastes of time among hunters is the search for a bullet that always gives instant DRT's with soft tissue hits because they simply don't exist. I have shot a pretty fair number of antelope with everything from 7mm magnums down to the 257 Roberts and have had my share of DRT's....but I have had just as many or more run of a little ways after a lung or heart shot and it did not matter if the bullet was a tough,controlled expanding elk bullet, or a thinner jacketed C&C bullet that made a big mess of the chest cavity.

Sounds to me like you shot well and your rifle and load did a great job. I'd grab it again for the same chore when the time comes and stop worrying about DRT's. If you want those, do as Jeff (rost495) mentioned above. Your bullet did fine.

Banjomule: I have had excellent lethality on Antelope and excellent accuracy from my 260 Remington using the wonderful Nosler 100 grain Balistic Tips!
This bullet when placed through the heart/lungs will produce death, if not instantly, then in just 6 secondes or so.
Best of luck if you decide to try these.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

THIS. If you want them DRT, shot them in the CNS.

Let me give you some perspective. A few years back I shot a doe antelope with 150gr NBT out of my 7mm STW. AT 475 yards, I placed it behind the shoulder, in the ribs. The insides looked like a prairie dog hit with a 52gr Sierra Match King. There was damage to EVERY organ north of the diaphragm, heart, both lungs, spleen, liver, there were holes in the diaphragm, but not the guts, and no damage to the CNS. Despite all this damage, she still ran about 50 yards before dropping dead.

Bottom line is, if you don't hit the CNS, they are going to run. Period.

This is not the movies, it's hunting.

We had long string of DRTs on whitetail & coyotes w Ruger Compact & factory 120 Accutips: heart/lung & High shoulder.

Til my son swapped it for another rifle!

Got NBT 100s & Scenar 108s waiting if the dang T3 CTR ever shows up!

Banjo,
I think almost anything labeled Hornady is generally good for quick kills on deer/antelope size game. Sometimes, if they get scared and full of adrenaline before the shot they are good to go 50 yards unless bone damage.

Agreed....Seen this same kind of things many times.

I've been thinking about this.

It goes against the grain as I don't like anything much Weatherby, and it isn't .260, but for bang-flops on 'lopes or deer, that .257 WBY Mag would seem to be the ticket.

In the .6.5, use the .264 Win Mag for same. Insistent on the .260 Rem, anything that is the most accurate, with proper shot placement. they ain't going far, whatever.

And after all, those 'lopes live in wide-open country, like the caribou here.

I've never had one run after being shot with my .264 Win Mag and a 120 grain Ballistic Tip.

They are where you find them........this'un was pretending to be an elk in the timber.



was packing the 264, hoping to whomp one on the north side of 500 yds. Wrong-o....Was in the bottom at 200 yds, so's I rib shot him with a 130 accubomb. DRT. Imagine DAT.....

Considering the reduced muzzle velocity produced by your handgun in 260 coupled with fairly extended range to target, I would forget the 140 ballistic tip in favor of the 100 gr BT on game the size of antelope.

That would let you get the impact velocity back up where the ballistic tip does the devastating internal damage we expect of it.

I would also consider the 120 gr ballistic tip or the 129 accubond long range.

I also shoot a .260 Rem out of a handgun - 17" barreled TC Encore. I've used the 120 gr. BT, 130 gr. AB, and 129 gr. Hornady Interlock. They all give me great accuracy and all have resulted in dead deer. I'm not pushing them real hard - 2550 on the 130/129 and 2650 with the 120 gr. I'll be using the 120 gr. BT this fall. All the deer I've shot with my TC have run, but I shoot them behind the ribs and trust that the blood will leak out. I could give a rip less if they are DRT - if they are DRT, then I pulled my shot as I'm always shooting for heart/lung behind the shoulders. They all produced the exact results you describe - small entrance, destroyed insides, quarter-sized exit. Honestly, what more can you ask for from a bullet? Unless you shoot the CNS, which I simply don't advise, but I differ from others here. I can do it, but pretty much any CNS shot (other than a head shot, which is a different discussion) destroys meat that I prefer to eat. Rib shots wreck about 4 oz. of meat. Your shooting and terminal bullet performance sound absolutely ideal in my book.

Oh - and the only DRT kills I've have with my TC happened with a .454 Casull or .357 Maximum barreled pinned into the action when I lived in Iowa to meet the handgun restrictions. Three of them were chest cavity hits, two at under 50 yds, one at 162 yds (high chest cavity - had to have affected the spinal cord) They all looked like a sledge-hammer punched the rib cage. It's hard to beat a big, flat bullet from 0-175 yds.