Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 6.5 PRC Bullet Selection

Definitely find you a good handloader ( it sounds like you do not handload) In the smaller caliber like 6.5/284 (which is comparable), I used 120/125 Noslers for deer/antelope like pure lightning bolts! While I would shoot and elk witht he 125 partition, I like the Monos or heavier Partitions on elk. The Barnes 127 LRX is one I personally would try first. Good luck to you and you must be "one wonderful Father" to get a Mesa for Fathers Day!

lol- I am blessed to have three awesome young kids and a fantastic wife. The oldest is 5, then 3 and 1. My wife asked the 5 and 3 year old what they should get me for fathers day. The 5 year old spoke up without any hesitation at all..."lets get him a gun!"

My dog got me a gun safe and a Nightforce for Dad’s Day. Twice daily runs with the dog paid dividends. Congrats on your new Stick.
😎

I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a local guy reload some ammo for me. I'm leaning hard toward the 127 LRX right now. I need to get dies for the 6.5 PRC as my guy doesn't have dies for the PRC yet. Any suggestions on good dies? I'm not a reloading guy obviously. I'll probably ask him what he prefers and go from there.

Family and friends took 11 big game animals last fall with my 6.5 PRC, four elk, three mule deer bucks, two whitetails, two antelope, all with 139gr scenars.

If that isn't a fair size test sample, I don't know what is......

Pat what distances were these shot at? Does be scenar exit or does it act more like a berger?

Pat,

Do you shoot a 6.5 Creedmoor? And if yes, what scenar and what load, if you can share?

[He's off and running with a 16" 22Creed now.

fixt it for ya, DF

It's da boolit, not the headstamp...


RTSJ. What's you magic powder charge for that load?

May need to try it.

DF

David, My Tikka T3X Creed loves the 139 Scenar and Rl 26! This was 17 shots in a row starting with a cold clean bore. Will take it out to 600 soon as I can and see how they do!

Folks may not realize how impressive that is...

A little Live Oak action...……..???

To the OP... I'm taking my PRC and the factory ELDX ammo out after elk/deer in a couple weeks.
2 years ago that bullet penetrated a few feet and bones of a large muley buck (6.5/284) and last year "iddave" shot a nice bull in Idaho w/ that bullet in my 6.5 4S. With the way that factory ammo shoots in my rifle, too close to gametime for me to want to change it up.

My 6.5 GAP likes the 156 grain Berger at 2850 fps.

That seems slow. My 156 EOL load for the 6.5CM is at 2770 in a 22” tube.

I do....

Here’s 20 at 200 yards from a 308...The maker is someone you and I know. Grins 😎

Well folks. Since I have gotten to use the new 6.5 PRC I thought I would shoot out an update. I didn't change my ammo selection and continued shooting the Precision Hunter 143 gr. ELD-X bullets. I harvested 2 elk, 2 whitetails, 1 antelope and my wife also used this setup to kill her first whitetail. With 6 animals down from this setup this is what I have to say..... These bullets are incredibly soft. In fact I would probably classify them as explosive. The elk are obviously very tough and have thick hides, heavy bones and all-in-all they're a beast of an animal. However, on every animal I shot I discovered that the bullet pushed through the hide without opening up but as soon as the bullet gets past the hide it opens up and begins to expand very rapidly. Even the deer and antelope I killed had huge entry wounds. In fact the entry wounds were bigger than the exit wounds because I didn't really have any exit wounds. The bullets didn't exit either elk, only exited one deer and the antelope had a big chunk of shrapnel exit out the backstrap (which I had a downward angle shot that hit behind the shoulder but must have deflected on a rib and threw a chunk of bullet upward toward the backstrap). Now, before someone roasts me for putting this out on the air here I want to clarify something. I am not complaining here. I actually cannot complain at all. I didn't lose a single animal. I didn't have a miserable blood trail. The elk I shot were dead within 10 yards of where I shot them, both shot right behind the shoulder. The antelope dropped in his tracks. My wifes deer ran 40 yards and left a crazy bloodtrail. One deer I shot dropped in its tracks with a high shoulder shot and the other ran a total of about 30 yards. This isn't a pitty party about how terrible the bullets are. My concern is that these super soft bullets might not penetrate enough for me some day. I think an elk hit directly in the shoulder might not allow enough penetration for get into the vitals.

Now, the other thing I've taken into consideration is the speed at which these bullets hit the animals. The bull I killed was at 258, the cow was at 303, wifes deer was at 135, deer one was at 150, deer two was at 220, antelope was at 158. Not only are these bullets soft but they hit these animals at a speed well north of 2500 fps.

My reloading source I mentioned earlier in this thread is going to load me up some Barnes LRX 127 gr. bullets and dial in a load that shoots well for me. The guy is a 6.5 nut so he should be able to help me get this thing dialed and shooting a tougher bullet that I personally feel a bit more comfortable with.

Anyway, thought I would post my findings. For what its worth I figured it wouldnt hurt anything

Thanks for the follow up. I just bought a CA Mesa in 6.5 PRC. It shipped yesterday. For these small southern Whitetail I am going to load ABs. If I ever get a chance to go for elk, the 140 Partition is the only bullet for me.

Where did you do your elk hunt? Did you use a guide?

Thanks for the follow up. I just bought a CA Mesa in 6.5 PRC. It shipped yesterday. For these small southern Whitetail I am going to load ABs. If I ever get a chance to go for elk, the 140 Partition is the only bullet for me.

Where did you do your elk hunt? Did you use a guide?