Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Which 120 6.5 Creedmoor?

I plan on using the Barnes 120 TTSX for antelope/mule deer. I want to find a "softer, more frangible" 120 for coyotes/varmints. What do you 6.5 shooters suggest? Berger, Scenar, Sierra etc?

123 ELD or Amax (if you can find them)..... they NUKE stuff like prairie dogs and rock chucks...

I used 100 gr Nosler BTs for coyote, pigs and deer for a few years. Great bullet. Decided to go to 120 gr BTs for more killing power, but I really can’t say it’s more effective than the 100’s were. As soon as deer season is over, I’ll probably go back to the 100 gr BTs. Super accurate bullet, and doesn’t copper up my Brux barrel much at all.

For the preservation of fur if that is a concern...

consider the Nosler 100 gr partition,, myself I would rely on the 100 grain ballistic tip like 603 Country....

sierra offers Match Kings in 107 and 120 grain.... but there is also the 123 grain Match king, the 130, the 140 and 142.... those should pass thru with a behind the shoulder shot..

Hornady like, Sierra has a whole host of 6.5 mm bullets, the ELD and former A Maxes in 100 grainers up thru the 147 grainer, then their 95 gr V Max, which I have never cared for personally...

out of a Ruger 260, with a 22 inch barrel... a load of 4064 with a 100 grain bullet yield 3350 fps... which is a pretty flat shooting round.

choices abound... I think it is harder to pick a bad one, than a good one which is better than the others..

And I push the 100 gr Nosler BT from my 260 with IMR4064. About 3100 FPS from a 20” barrel.

And I want to tell all you folks to quit buying 6.5 mm 100 and 120 gr Ballistic Tips. They can get hard to find, so please switch to something else.

This combo works, good on WT's and hard on other stuff. Expansive enough, usually with good exits and quick kills. Not a 120, but close enough.

Rifle is a 700 with #2 SS Shilen 23", Timney 510, McWoody Mtn Rifle. NF 3-10x42 SHV, med LW Talley. Have posted target and rifle before.

DF

I like your rifle, DF.

not here in Oregon... if nothing else we can go over to Bend to Nosler's Factory Seconds, or order on line..

is there a problem of bullets coming across the border if not in loaded ammunition?

Aww my best stuff doesn't even compete with Df's worst stuff in quality and cool factor..

I don't do Creedmoors, since I do 260s, Swedes and 6.5 x 57s....

Now, I'm not buying that...

If I was running a .260 and a 6.5x57, don't think I'd need a Creed. I do have a Swede. It's a 98 FN also with a Shilen barrel.

I've found the Creed to be about the easiest round to load for, in fact it's hard to find a load combo that it won't shoot. Now, some are better than others, but it shoots about everything from good to great.

The Swede is more picky. This one really likes the 139 Scenar over MRP. I'm using Lapua brass, so I guess one could say this gun is a Lapua snob...

I found this action here on the Classifieds, all work already done. Seller had picked it up at a gun show; no one knows who did the work, but it's well done. It had a Canjar trigger and the swing type safety. Serial number indictes late '50's mfg. I put it in a Mauser Classic McWoody Edge.

DF

D.F.:

My 6.5 x 57 is on a Model 70 Long Action....neck up 257 Roberts Brass ( Win is my preference)....

its easy to load for also.....and I figured this out before the Creedmoor...

it is to a long action in 6.5 to what a Creedmoor is on a short action...

it will run with a 6.5 /06 for velocity all day long....using less powder

it allows me to seat bulets out to magazine length, just like the big selling feature on the 6.5 Creedmoor...

I have a fast twist ( 1 in 7) 6mm Rem also on a long action... same thing... like a Creedmoor but on a long action once again...
can seat long fast twist required style bullets ( like say a 115 grain Berger) to magazine length....

put both together before the Creedmoor came out and a lot of people on the Campfire gave me a bunch of crap. on what I posted...

then the Creedmoors came out with the exact same concept on a short action and same folks thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread...

Throated out my 260s to handle a 160 grain bullet, magazine length on Ruger Actions...no need for a Creedmoor...that dating back to around 2000-2002....

I have a 6.5-284 and a Swede, both LA. I like room, as you’re suggesting. Even my .257R is LA.

There are several SA rounds that should be in 3” actions, IMO.

DF

Something I don't get about the Creedmoor or maybe I've just read thing's wrong. Happened once before! They claim the case is a bit shorter allowing the bullet to be seated out farther than the 260? If I understand that right, it's bunk. It's not the case that determine's how far out a bullet can be seated, it's the distance to the lands and the magazine length. I have though this Creedmoor was a bunch of hocus pocus from the start. Doesn't mean it's not a good cartridge just that it was stuck in to do the same exact thing as the 260 when properly advertised! Know what I think would be great for handloader's? An action just a bit longer than the one used now for 308 length cartridges. Then the magazine wouldn't get in the way of seating a bullet out farther!

3” actions would have solved a lot of issues.

One thing about the Creed, it’s a great round to work with.

It’s very forgiving, shoots about any combo well. Even the least accurate loads aren’t bad. Can’t say that about many rounds.

I like mine.

DF

Like say the length of a military Mauser Action?

The "magic" of the 6.5 CM is that, with high BC bullets, the bullets can be seated with the ogive completely above the case neck when loaded to 2.80 max overall.

No, that isn't it.

It is that when seated to the same overall length as in the 260 the break over from shank to ogive on long VLD bullets stays above the case mouth of the Creedmoor.

Yes, but the shorter 6.5 Creedmoor case allows for longer/heavier VLD bullets to fit and cycle through the typical 2.82" to 2.89" short action magazine boxes. The 260's case is 0.115" longer, 2.035" vs. 1.920", not much, but enough to make a different with those longer/heavier VLD bullets that are popular today, but weren't when the 260 was introduced in 1997.

I shoot the same 130 grain ABs in a 22" 260 and a 22" 6.5 Creedmoor and don't see any difference that couldn't be explained by the variation in barrels. Two peas in a pod for hunting purposes out to a quarter mile.

Subjectively speaking, the 6.5 Creedmoor has at least four advantages over the 260:

1. Lots of different rifles chambered for it, including several low priced entry level rifles.
2. Lots of different factory ammo options, all of it accurate, and some that can be found on the shelf at Wal-Mart.
3. The shorter case is an advantage when shooting longer VLD bullets.
4. Rifles come with a quick enough ROT for shooting longer VLD bullets accurately.

Remember that I'm a fan of the 260, have been shooting them since before factory ammo was widely available, but I can appreciate the differences between the 260 and 6.5 Creedmoor despite the fact that those differences are neither an advantage nor a disadvantage to me because I'm not loading or shooting those longer VDL bullets in my 6.5 Creedmoors.

EDIT: This reply was intended to DonFischer, not for Seafire.

The 123 grain AMax wae designed for the lower velocities of the 6.5 Grendel and seem to explode on contact when launched at higher speeds. They are the polar opposite of "fur friendly", just like the 95 grain VMax.

I'm going to buy a few boxes of the Federal 95 grain VMax ammo for my Son to shoot in his 6.5 Creedmoor when we go coyote calling.

Well I enjoyed reading it anyway.....