Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 6.5 Creedmoor on Elk

The 140 grain Partition is the 6.5mm bullet that I'd load for anything bigger or tougher than antelope and deer.

I'll be more specific, by all means practice and shoot as much as you can with a rimfire, air gun, varmint rifle on squirrels, prairie dogs, etc. and include your 6.5 or other centerfires as long as you shoot a few dozen rounds of your elk rifle mixed in from hunting positions to be familiar with the gun.

I'm of course poking fun at the sissy younger generation like my father and grandfather did before me....I think we are all right unfortunately. I'm not as tough as my Dad was and the generation before him was pretty tough too.

Yes placement is important but why not keep good placement with decently powerful elk guns. They are often hard to kill and stopping them quickly is preferred, particularly if they aren't far from a boundary. If you only have or can afford the 6.5 by all means use it. But jut because I can hit the brain of an elk with my 22-250 doesn't make it an elk gun, good sized bullets moving fast work better.

Point well taken.

There are some, however, who can handle a .300 pretty well, can place a shot with precision.

Assuming equal marksmanship, I'd go with the bigger gun.

Now, if more power becomes a trade off for marksmanship, I agree with you.

DF

I guess my point is inside of 200 and if you really stretch 300 yards( elk are fairly large targets) the creed is fine. And the creed owner is far more likely to have extended time at the range than the win mag owner. Past that distance I would never argue that the win mag is not more capable to break an elk down, the fact is most out there have no business trying to reach out there. Target shooting is one thing, you miss just try again. Animals deserve better. Heck, we had a mild to moderate wind blowing left to right at our last shoot, I didn't compensate like I should have and my point of impact moved enough to take me out of the kill zone at 500. I held a 4-5 " group, but still would have blown a good shot on a deer sized critter. And I was on a bench, with lots of time, not shooting at the bull I've been dreaming of all year while planning a trip. Just passing on my experience and observations.

MM

Brad, I really can't argue with what you say other than the fact that with certain cartridges - and the Creed may very well fall into that category - you're going to have to pass on a shot every now and then that you wouldn't with say, a 30-06 loaded with a stout 180 grain bullet.

Although a 6.5 loaded with a 140 Nosler Partition will probably penetrate as good as most anything, so maybe not.

What do you think?

I'm not going to have a dog in this fight....

I'll just point out a number of years ago, one of our forum members ( from Europe IIRC)
pointed out that the Swedish Game Dept ( or whatever they call their Fish and Wildlife Dept)
were considering making the 6.5 x 55 Obsolete for hunting Moose in their country...

Norway and Finland were watching the results...

They were considering outlawing the most used round on Moose in their country for more
than 100 years.

Whoever thought up the testing, the results proved the following...

When doing penetration tests on game, the size of Moose...

the 6.5 x 55 ( with appropriate bullets) was out penetrating and proving to be just as lethal
as the 375 H & H Magnum.

So in the end, they scrapped the idea of making the 6.5 x 55 illegal for hunting Moose...
much to the delight of the average Moose hunter in Sweden...

so since the 6.5 x 55, the 260 Rem and 6.5 Creedmoor are ALL pretty interchangeable....

I wouldn't feel handicapped carry one at all....

I can only add the experience of one Elk hunt, but I think it's relevant.
In 2016 I had a one-off opportunity to hunt Asian Elk, in Kazakhstan, and was warned that distances were very long, due to the landscape.
I took my 6.5 Creedmoor and (on the recommendation of a member of this forum) went with 139gr Scenars, loaded to ~2840fps. I had ranging binoculars & a ballistic turret on the scope.

In a week's hunting I had only one chance at a large mature bull, across an open valley, and had about a minute to take the shot as he was about to get up and chase off after a younger Bull. The bullet hit right behind the shoulder at ~590 yards and put him down within 20 yards. To my surprise it also exited.

The other guys in our party had multiple misses with 270 and 7mm rifles, at between 400 & 500 yards (as they had no ranging equipment or ballistic turrets). They eventually got animals at <300 yards.

Rightly or wrongly, my conclusions were:
1. Accuracy/bullet placement is the #1 priority, especially at longer ranges
2. A 6.5mm with ~140gr bullets can penetrate and kill large game animals cleanly
3. I would have struggled to get my Elk if I'd taken a more traditional calibre, like 30-06, 8mm or a 35 Whelan.

You were a "hard sell" at first....;)

You're right Pat - I think "scepticism" would be the correct term.
But oh boy, those Scenars have done me well as a hunting bullet, in both 123gr and 139gr!

Thanks.

You sound like a true believer...

Pat's a good source of real info, like hands on experience.

Cruising the Fire is not too unlike eating chicken wings. You eat the meat, spit out the bones.

The critical issue: discerning the difference...

DF

Hunt with what you want, but I'd not hunt elk with anything less than a .30 cal of some sort... but that's just me. And I'm qualified to make that statement. because I have killed elk with .243 and .270 and they were dead in the freezer. But I like a bigger bullet because if you hunt enough sheet will happen. But I'd still go with a bit heavier round/larger caliber. Good luck, and shoot straight whatever your choice ends up being.

A whole lot of people that have never killed elk sure like to offer advice on killing elk.

Aimed at no one in particular, but something to keep in mind when reading these threads...

Thanks for sharing. I may have to try again to get the 139 Scenars shooting really well out of my Creedmoor.

Just a thought on your point #3: a 30-06 loaded with 155 Scenars would be an even better long range option. But your general point is well taken.

Why do you think that you would have struggled with an '06?

After reading your post, my conclusion would be::

At long range, good bullets with a good BC, ranging binoculars, and turrets are more important than headstamps.

I guess my take is guys who can shoot can shoot with whatever rifle they happen to be using. Ballistic coefficients don't mean much until ranges are way over 400 yards. My little elk hunting group practices at a 1000 yard range from hunting positions and the guy shooting a 300 Win mag manages to hit the 600 yard gong without turrets a special reticle or super BC billets or a Kestrel but he does use a rangefinder. Knowing your trajectory from lots of practice matters more than trendy cartridge selection.

The guy shooting a 308 Norma with CDS tops out at 500 yards for reliably hitting targets from field positions. His marksmanship limitations don't seem to be a big problem because he kills one or 2 elk along with a few deer most years.

I've never killed anything as far as 590 yards but I did put 2 180 grain TTSX bullets from a 300 Wby through the same exit hole on a large cow at 550 using a Z800 reticle on a 3-15 Conquest. Yes I practice all the way out to 800 yards every year and have a target at 490 yards at home that gets frequent use with lots of rifles. There really is no substitute for practice and familiarity with your gun......if you are afraid of 30-06 recoil and think your Creed is a magic death ray- use it. If you are a capable rifleman or rifle woman for that matter use a more appropriate tool for the job.

[quoteBallistic coefficients don't mean much until ranges are way over 400 yards.][/quote]

I'm not going to tell anyone which bullet to use for elk, but I strongly disagree with this. A 30-06 shooting a high BC 180 gr bullet hits harder and with more speed at 100 yards than a 300 WM firing a 180 gr RN bullet even though the magnum starts faster. The magnum, even with poor BC bullets, will still shoot flatter out to 300-400 yards, but that isn't the point. That is an extreme example, but the real advantage of better BC is that you can start bullets at moderate velocity and recoil have them impact at faster speeds down range than bullets with poor BC's even though they start faster. A couple of inches in trajectory can be compensated for.

I guess you and I belong to the ole fart class, big gun for big critters. I may use my 7RM with 175 NPT's, which it shoots well with its 8 twist Brux.

I like my .300 WM Ed Brown Damara, too.

DF

Muley,

I have two .260's and I have no doubt they would easily take a elk. However for the type of hunting I do I prefer a little more versatility. I have identical .300 & 7MM mags.

With good bullets either of these will pretty much punch through elk at almost any angle. Case in point....year before last I was fortunate to take 3 elk. Cow, 5x5 and 6x6, all with the 7mm and Nosler bullets.

The cow at 200 yards was pretty much a bang flop. (lungs) 5x5 @ 200 yds. ran downhill about 30 yds.

Third bull, 6x6 was a different story. Jumped him in old growth timber at the point of a ridge. Fortunately for me they ran down of the ridge and then turned left offering me a trotting broadside between the trees about 200 yds. First shot hit him in the hip, and slowed him down. (broke both hips) Three more shots one of which was a miss, hit him in the chest and the diaphragm. Trailed him about 150 yards and found him alive tangled in a blow down. Pretty much dead but gave him a finisher.

Not pretty at all....but dead. I just got him back from my taxidermist in Great Falls.

Would the .260 have worked I don't know, but I have my doubts. I may have not taken the shot or I may have and lost the elk. I guess my self control is not good enough to trust myself when a big bull bust out through the timber and presents a "iffy" shot.

Fortunately I haven't lost one yet.

Lefty C

I wouldn't want to be an elk hip in the way of a 6.5mm 140 Partition or 120 grain TTSX.