Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Taking my 6.5 Creedmoor for elk...am I crazy??

Going to Colorado on an elk hunt and I am planning on taking my 6.5 Creedmoor....am I crazy??

I have been shooting it along with my 7 Mag and 30-06 all summer...the Creedmoor just out-shoots the other 2 rifles. The Creedmoor shoots just as well at 250 yds as it does at 100 yds. In my head I have 2 voices: one telling me I am under gunned, and the other telling me that a well paced bullet will kill an animal every time.

I will be using Hornady Precision Hunter Ammo with the 143 grain ELD-X bullet and will limit my shots to 250 yds and under....what are your thoughts...am I crazy??


PS - I am starting to fade away from the big magnums I have shot in prior years...taking a beating and with decent accuracy is not fun anymore, LOL!!

I think you'll be just fine.. Good shots will put elk on their chins. Good luck with the hunt.

I’ll have 139 Scenars in mine. I don’t intend to limit myself to 250, only to shots I’m sure I can make. Those slippery bullets hold on to energy pretty good, especially at 10k’!

I dumped a bull last year at 458 yards. High shoulder shot with a 140 Amax, and it exited.....DRT.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt.../13034818/1/7mm-08-for-my-first-elk-hunt

My thread from a couple weeks back. Pretty much the same question. Lots of good reading here in the first few pages until it got derailed by some blowhards....

Granddaughter has one. We zero’d it 2 days ago (with that bullet) and did a gallon milk jug test. Only three jugs, bullet “came from untogether”, IMHO......not an elk round! Vortex has a load ( Barnes 127 grain LRX)....which should be a much better elk round. Found some at Lucky Gunner at a reasonable ( for store bought ammo) price! memtb

300Mag,

Have you hunted elk before? Bull or Cow?

I am an Eastern hunter too that goes West for elk. It’s be said before, and is true, that the further East you go the bigger the rifle recommendation for elk by the gun store staff. I just shake my head in the gun shops when somebody asks the gun counter guy for elk rifle advise and the “expert” immediately spouts 300 Mag ect. Then when you ask the “expert” about their personal elk hunting experiences it quickly becomes a tale about what he read in a magazine, or online, or their brother-in-law hunted elk once.

My elk rifles have progressed, or regressed, from a 9.3X62, then 54 Cal muzzleloader, then 308 Win and now 270 win. These have all worked with 1 shot kills. I use a 130 TTSX in both the 308 and 270 to keep muzzle velocity above 3K with the TTSX. I don’t shoot at animals running away in the ‘rear shoulders’. I also haven’t taken a shot much over 100 yds in the National Forests I have tags for. I’m sure some get chances at longer range with an animal standing in the middle of a park in daylight, but I haven’t personally seen it!

I don’t have a Creed - yet, but I am sure it will kill any elk you hunt if you put a bullet into the chest.

A ,22 magnum will kill and elk with a chest shot.. The question is how quickly!

djb:

Yes I have hunted elk (Bull) a couple before & have used magnum calibers (7MM & 300WM)...with good results. But like I said in my original post, my Creedmoor is a hammer...it is shooting great!! I guess its my Eastern mentality telling me that I am under-gunned....?? Shots will be most likely be in the 150-200 yd range...and I will be patient & wait for the best possible shot, hopefully standing full broadside...LOL!! I am probably overthinking things here...….



memtb:

I have heard nothing but good things about the ELD-X bullet on big game...elk included. Your post surprises me.....

My niece just took a 335" elk in Utah last Sunday ( a week ago) with a 6.5x284 Not much difference than a 6.5CM
Her younger brother used it yesterday to take a take mule deer at 475 yards. One shot and DRT.


It's all about using the proper bullets and shot placement.

If you shoot it in the heart or lungs, it's going to die. If you hit it in the knee, well... You've just maimed an animal.

Practice, practice, practice.

Use it....

300 Mag,

At the ranges you are speaking of, the difference in accuracy isn't going to make a difference. Any 2-3 MOA rifle will work fine under 200 yds. There is a lot to be said for confidence. Just take whatever you feel most comfortable with. Good luck on your hunt.

djb:

The confidence is in the 6.5 Creedmoor...its headed to Colorado!!

Memtb, just to clarify, are you talking about the ELD-X bullet?

I have a friend who is thinking of using them in our upcoming elk hunt.

If you had problems with them, this seems concerning as well: https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/13149713/what-happened#Post13149713

I generally hope my bullets stay together, at least, until they hit the intended target.

I would worry more about finding elk than shooting one...

Yes! I was “not” impressed! On a perfect, broadside shot, no problem.....anything else, results would be questionable! I certainly can’t recommend it. But, likely my granddaughter will be using it.....because I can’t reason with her father. Some people don’t believe video evidence!

We did find a small piece of core material, didn’t weight it, but it couldn’t have weighed more than 10 to 20 grains. memtb

I am taking my 243 elk hunting, and I'm not crazy.......

Crazy?
No.

Misguided? Maybe.

I see this all the time.

"Load or Rifle X is 2X more accurate then Load or Rifle Y."

Such lack of logic seems to be common today, as a result of becoming misguided about what matters and what doesn't.

I'd ask------- If you are shooting from your belly over a pack on uneven ground that is not flat (a) can you tell the difference in accuracy?

And then (B) why would it matter ----when your target's kill zone is as large as a breadbox?

If your 7 mag or 30-06 are, lets say, 10X more accurate then you need, how is having one 20X more accurate then you need going to help you?

If you can hit the vital zone of the elk with a rifles you are more familiar with at 2X or 3X farther then you should be shooting anyway, going to a "more accurate" round that is less powerful and may not give the same degree of penetration is exactly backwards of what you should do.

I live in elk country. I hunt in some of the best elk country every single year ,and I have been hunting and guiding for elk hunts for most of my life and I am NOT a young man anymore. I have about 1/2 a century of experience in this.

This obsession with "accuracy" and the loss of sight of everything else that is far more important, is a national phenomenon that is 100% unjustified in elk hunting.

I have killed more of them than I can count and seen probably between 3X to 5X more then that killed by other hunters.

In my life, the longest shot I EVER made on an elk was about 400 yards. The next longest shot ever was about 300, and the next longest was about 175. ALL the others have been killed at 150 and less, with about 50% being killed at 50 yards and less. And that's not because I could have have shot farther, but the existence of a brain and some ability to hunt caused me, for 50 years, to always get closer. It's not hard to get under 500 yards from an elk and if you can't you (or your guide) are not doing it right.

But with all that said, it's in no way a condemnation of the 6.5 CM if you load a good bullet in it. I would feel fine hunting them with my 6.5X54 M/S which is less powerful then your CM.
But the bullet is important and that bullet should retain 70% or more of it's weight for elk hunting. Most of the super-accuracy bullets made today for the 6.5MM bore will not do that. Barnes, Nosler Partitions, Swift, and anything that is bonded are your friends when you hunt elk. (note, that is not just for the 6.5 either, but also for your 7MM and your 30 cal too)

But your 6.5CM is just fine. So are your other rifles. The 6.5CM is very close to the same ballistics of the 6.5 Swede, and that is a success story and history that is beyond question.

If you are going to invest in a dream hunt, and spend time and money to come west to do it, do not make a mistake of changing horses mid-stream. Go with the rifle you are most familiar with. To know what to do, go shoot 20 rounds from sitting, kneeling and standing with each rifle at a paper target of about 16" square. Do it all from 150 yards, but when you shoot do so in the order of 3 shots 6 times and 2 shots 1 time. (=20 rounds) And do so at a "go" signal with only 15 seconds per string. Any shots not fired in 15 seconds or less from the "Go" are counted as misses. Don't cheat. If you cheat you are only cheating yourself, and it will not help you to do that.

The rifle that you get the tightest group with, in the shortest time, is the one to bring. This test is to give you an HONEST overview of which rifle you will do the best with, not which one is "more accurate" It shows you which rifle YOU shoot best in REAL hunting times and positions.
It's YOU doing the shooting, not your gun!

Elk are big. You don't need and can't even use the difference between 1.5 MOA and .3 MOA.

Szhin:

I have shot all 3 rifles from various field postions not just off the bench...at this time I tend to shoot the Creedmoor more accurately...feel
more comfortable shooting it too!! Maybe its the lack of recoil or whatever, but I feel confident shooting this rifle. Do I wish the other 2 shot as well to have a little extra horsepower, hell yeah!!

Gotta take my time, be patient, & calmly execute a good shot.....hopefully it all comes together!!

Nope! Use with confidence.