Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 6.5C hunting in the south woods.

100 yd. WT hunting, it's hard to beat my .45-70 Marlin with 300 gr. Combined Technologies slugs at around 1,850 fps. It'll go faster, but can get pretty nasty around 2K, which isn't necessary.

It's nice to have a number of good choices.

DF

I don't think so. I believe the 6.5 Creedmoor is here for the long haul. As a big game round at close to moderate ranges it only offers some recoil reduction compared to 308. But as ranges increase, or for the guys who are target shooting the 6.5 starts to show some real advantages.

Gun and ammo makers aren't just selling to hunters right now. In fact the hunting rifle market is in decline as more and more shooters are buying guns to shoot at the range. It makes sense to offer guns and cartridges that fill that role. And there is a lot of interest to shoot at longer ranges than most hunters would normally shoot. To get close to the same long range performance as a 6.5 with a 140-147 gr bullet you have to start shooting 175-180 gr 308 bullets. When comparing those bullet weights there is a very noticeable difference in recoil. I own both, and while the 308 isn't a hard kicker, after 20-30 rounds through each the 6.5 is certainly more pleasant.

For guys buying a rifle to shoot lots of rounds down range at targets the 6.5 makes a lot of sense. That after all is what it was designed for. It just happens to also be a good choice for hunting too. It may well level off off as a hunting cartridge, but I think it will still be selling well for the target shooters and as a dual purpose hunting/target round.

Agree.

It's harder and harder, ever more expensive to hunt, not so with a trip to the range.

Target shooters may outnumber hunters following the current trend. More shooters the better.

Hunters do pay attention to advancing target shooting technology, I know I do.

So, what's not to like

DF

I know my family shoots a lot more these days for fun since we discovered AR500 gongs and cleared out a place to shoot to 400yds. It was mostly 100yd paper when I was growing up, so I generally only had one big-game rifle. All the fun shooting was with handguns and rimfires or maybe clay targets with shotguns.

I shoot more than I hunt, but we still deer hunt every year. I already reload for a Kimber Montana in 308. The CTR is a bit heavy and muzzle heavy the only thing I can see as an advantage is that it should shoot bug holes at the range, I believe I would remove the picatiny rail and mount a scope lower to the bore axis. The damn 6.5 would be easier to shoot if your shooting a bunch. But there we go more cases, bullets, and dies damn it.

6.5 should be great in the south.

I could be wrong. I saw Winchester/Olin 6.5 Creedmoor Deer Season XP ammo at Wal-Mart priced just under $19 per box of 20. If W-M is selling 6.5 Creedmoor ammo, it must be mainstream.

For 100 yds and closer you would be hard pressed to beat a Marlin or Winchester 30-30 or even a 44 Magnum. No practical advantage in using a 6.5 Creed or any other long range cartridge for deer at those ranges.

When did practicality become part of the rifle-loony deal?

Practicality? That word only rears it's ugly head when deciding which rifle to sell! On the other hand for sub 100 yard deer hunting the Creed will do fine as will the 30-30.

Good point.

If you expect the deer to notice you will be disappointed and I'll stretch that statement to ranges well over your 100 yds. Having said that I base it on my friend and I having used the 257 Roberts and the 6.5x55 for the past 25-30 years in the Kentucky deer woods and never had anything but excellent results and thus wouldn't expect anything less from the 6.5 CM. The only one that will notice or care is you and that's the only one that matters. If you want one and won't blow your rent check go for it.

I just last week built a 6.5 Creedmoor for one of my young friend using a Hart # 3 barrel and a New SS Remington 700 Action. I also used a New HS Precision Stock. He couldn't wait to get it, had it done in two days.

A 6.5 will work great up close or across the bean field.

and there it is, the truth.

I'm not much on "trendy" these days, keeping only a .270 Winchester and a .30/30 on hand for deer huntin'. For ratwhackin', I'm still kinda "trendy", with a .17 Hornet, a .221 Fireball, and a couple .204s, but the 6.5C just doesn't rock my world, and never has.

Deer are easy to kill, and those tools WORK. I appreciate what the 6.5 represents, but for my wants and needs, it doesn't fit in. I won't argue that it works like a champ, so does everything else, though.

If that's what you wanna use, it will work fine, at any reasonable distance, and with little recoil. If it makes you giggle, go for it.

I'm the old guy with his old, proven, hard-working tools, that will also work, AND they make me giggle. Cain't we all just git along???

If you just want something new, get it. But it isn't going to do anything the 308 won't for sub 100 yard shots. Could get by just fine with a 30-30

Jimmyp, you want a mild recoil deer zapper?

Load some 100 grain NBTs at 3,200 out of a 6.5C. In a CTR they'd nudge less than a .243 and kill well in woods or across a field.

For Deer, a lot of guys aren't familiar with the joys of a 6.5mm round shooting a 100 grain bullet...

Certainly is a sleeper of being a real deer killer...

That's the cool thing about a moderate-case 6.5mm. It can be a 243win+p/257Roberts with 100's when you want, or a 6.5x55 with 140gr hunting bullets, or a 270win+/- copy with 120's at 3,000fps, or a long range target rig with 130-147gr match bullets. My 22" 260 has been shooting 130gr NAB's at 2830fps to good effect, but I'm looking to try the 100gr TTSX at 3,200 with Big Game, just to see how it works. It's generally much cheaper to play with new loads than to buy a whole new rifle.