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

Only a 475 creed will
Work!

Hey slgay888....You still have that boyfriend??

If you are using the 6.5, I will take the 06 off your hands😎.

Killing a bull elk with a 6mm has been done time and time again. My experience has been with 308 Win, 338 Win Mag and 444 Marlin. With shoulder shots, the last two put down elk much better than the 308 Win ever did. I never shoot elk in the lungs if I can help it, I always drill the shoulders to shut them down (the 338 Win Mag is exceptional in providing quick kills and no tracking). The 6.5mm chamber is fine, a shoulder or lung shot made well and you'll harvest the animal. Like all shots made on game some are better than others. Big animals can sometimes travel long distances regardless of caliber, an elk hit with a thirty-five bore will bleed like a stuck pig, hit with a 6mm-7mm, not so much. That's the only difference, and when tracking it can make all the difference. There will always be a noticeable difference in hitting a bull elk or any 600+ lbs game animal with a medium bore (.338, .358, .366 or .375) vs. a small bore for if there wasn't there would be a need for medium and large bore cartridges in the first place. Shoot well.

It could be up for sale Paul.........

162 grain ELD X Hornadys

Just shoot the greatest hunt bullet ever made man.. Partition. Never seen a Partition in any caliber that didn't shoot very well. No guessing.. Same same every time you pull the trigger. I'd have to look at my note book but I believe I ran 'the 140 at 2725fps and elk died. I didn't care for the rifle it was chambered so it went down the road. CM, .260rem make elk real sick real quick. Great elk round. Pick your poison and enjoy the bounty... Be safe and man I hope you have a great time!

My experience was a little different.




7mm Rem Mag, 162 ELDX. One shot, dead right now.


Same rifle and load, different shooter, same result.




150 ELDX, 7mm-08, 407 yards.



Four of the five bucks we killed last year died from ELDX bullets. Nothing needed shooting twice.

Maybe it ain’t the bullet.






P

I would worry way more about finding an elk to shoot than what caliber I’m shooting!

You might be onto something...

I’d rather talk about beer, a more interesting topic. Heady Topper is outstanding!

To fattening my friend!

Nothing like a Melvin IPA when coming out of the mountains...

300MAG

I know it's a little late in the game, but I would take whatever you are most confident with, within reason, and I certainly think that the 6.5CM is more than reasonable. Just be sure to use a bullet fitting to the task and make a good shot.

Good luck to you!

Be sure to come back with a good story to tell us!!

Well when you poke one thru the ribs (actually two) with a bullet at close range, it does not exit, and you watch the animal die and it take a long time, plus it did not work that well on the first shot I will not give that bullet a second chance. Plus a guy I know who guides for mule deer hunts had 4 different clients last year use ELDX bullets. Every deer had to be shot multiple times to kill it. I'm glad your experience was good, mine was not. Maybe it was a batch of bad bullets.
Maybe it ain't the bullet??? What was it then??? The shooter shot the bull, granted hitting the scapula was not the best choice. But twice broadside thru the lungs??

Don’t know what to tell you. We were seven for seven, and three of those seven were elk, and big ones.

Shoot what you have confidence in.





P

If you're crazy, then so am I. I'll be packing my 6.5CM and leaving my 30-06 at home this year.

Leaving the 06 at home? Oh man, have fun on your hunt.

Bust a big one.

Tom
There were a few bad batches of the ELDX being reported. I’m a Berger fan myself though.

The 13 year old that got a cow elk on Saturday with 6.5C was using the 143 gr hornady.