Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 6.5 bullet questions

How are you measuring your velocities. 2,900fps is screaming. I've shot a lot of 147 ELDMs out of a 22" CM in both Lapua SRP and Starline SRP brass. I ladder test my loads at 400yrds. The RL26 charges are slightly compressed even using a 10" drop tube and load averages 2,763fps. I've recorded hundreds of these loads through this barrel with the Labradar.

I will echo what has been said about the ELD-X. At longer ranges, they are OK, but if you happen to get a close shot, they tend to come apart. My experience with them are the 7mm 162s and 150s in a 7-08AI and the 143s in a 6.5-06. If the shots are over 200 yards, the wound channels look relatively normal. Anything closer and the bullets tend to come apart.

I have no experience with the Gamechangers, have used the 140 grain GameKings for a while in the .260 Remington. Hit them where it counts and they die, without too much extra meat damage. Pretty much the same with the Hornady SSTs. Shot them for years in my 7-08 (139s) and the .260 (129s). Very effective at killing whitetails.

Bingo

And then there is that..

Some folks have me half convinced that my particular rifle has a rough(er) bore, as I was also having issues with the 140 berger hunting blowing up on elk shoulders at 2880 muzzle velocity, but I digress.
I have no damn idea what to think as it isn't like I am only having all of these bullet results from a single lot of bullets.

Find some 140 or 120 grain Ballistic Tips or Speer SP....Sierra 120 and 140 SP's aren't bad either but not a good as the Speer does in my opinion..

the regular old Hornady 129 and 140 grain Soft Points are two time proven bullets....

I'm not much into the latest greatest....

I had and still have, the remains of some bad lot of 130 Gamechargers ( evidently they were a bad batch, so I am told.. they certainly didn't work as explained to me by the factory...).. Still have about 190 left of them....

The 143 is a decent bullet at Creed velocities. You guys that are pushing them real fast out of a PRC, etc., should know better. Use a more premium bullet, if you are hunting deer, or bigger. They are created for Creed-type velocity. I love the 147 ELDM for deer. I have shot probably 15-20 at close range, out to over 400 yards. They are extremely accurate and kill well at Creed velocities. It is real hard to beat a plain, old Interlock, either 129, or 140-grain in most all 6.5 cartridges. Oh, but I guess they aren't fancy enough anymore.

I've only killed 3 deer with the 6.5 Creedmoor, all of them big mature bucks. Bullets used were a 140 NBT, a 120 NBT, and a 120 Sierra Prohunter. I only chronographed the 120 Sierra and it was running 2850 out of a 20 inch barrel. Ranges were from 150-215 yards, and were all one shot kills, one DRT, the other 2 going only a few yards after being hit.

That's not a lot of deer killed with one cartridge to do a really fair comparison, but the 6.5 CM would be no different from any other cartridge, and I probably killed at least 50 deer with a 270, most with the 130 Sierra SP. Nothing fancy, as nothing fancy was needed. Deer aren't hard to kill as long as you put a bullet in the right place.

When I was loading the 6.5 PRC with the ELDX and ELDM, these were brand new bullet lines. Further, Hornady sold and continues to sell factory 6.5 PRC ammo loaded with them.

Excuse me for my typo. 143gr ELD-X Hornady blew to pieces. MV, using Rel 26, 3075fps in my 6.5x06, 24" bbl... Who knows at what range you will see game? Hornady list loading data for the 143gr & the 6.5 PRC.@ 3150 fps with a 26" Bbl. They, Hornady seem OK with a higher velocity than what is capable in a CM. The 6.5x06 , same velocity as the PRC. I don't have this blow up with a basic Sierra 140gr GK. The ELD-X has a long slender fragile nose which is why it has the tendency to explode at closer shots.

I knew what you meant.

When I rebarreled my .243 to 6.5CM two years ago I played with a bunch of pretty bullets at the range, 123 and 129gn SSTs, 130gn Game Changers, 100 and 120gn Ballistic Tips, Accubonds and Sciroccos. But when I went to load up some hunting loads for fallow deer I went straight for the 129gn Hornady Interlocks.

no one mentioned one of the most accurate 6.5 bullets, from time gone by... and most capable..

the old Remington 140 and 120 rain Corelokts...

I have about 950 left out of a batch of 1000 / 140 grain Corelokts...

This was back when the price on Corelokts were 10 cents each or less...

I think I paid about $65 to $70 for the thousand, back when they were on sale...

These plain old style bullets, especially a 140 grainer in 6.5 mm, ALWAYS seemed to do the job...
when running it out of a 6.5 x 54mm or a 264 Win Mag.....

Still being made and doing their job, are the 120 and 140 gr SP from Sierra and the 129 and 140 SP from Hornady

Speer is still making and selling their 140 grain SP, which I used out of my Grendal this past season...

and then if you need a tougher bullet, Nosler is still cranking out 100, 125 and 140 grain Partitions for any 6.5 mm cartridge...

if you need a plastic tip bullet, tried and proven the 100, 120 and 140 grain Ballistic Tips work just fine... in fact the 140 will work on a pretty good sized elk, with
the proper bullet placement...

if you do your job, any one of these bullets will certainly do theirs... why play Russian Roulette with all the latest greatest, when their problems haven't been ironed out yet..

you want to push a plastic tipped 6.5 mm bullet of the new types HARD....

130 gr Sierra Game Changer....

push it slow, it probably won't work real well...

Seafire,
6.5 caliber bullets are just what want to discuss. I picked up a Ruger M77 Compact for my 7 year old grandsons. Picked up a M77 Frontier in ,308 as well for them but that's another discussion.
With bullets being hard to come by at the moment I am looking at trying to do a reduced load with the Sierra 120 grain Pro Hunter. As I can find other bullets I will try those as well. The 130 grain Gamechanger is one I have wanted to try for a full power load for when I use the rifle. I am getting good accuracy with the 90 grain version in an old Rem 700 ADL in .243.

As for the ELDX bullets I can say I have killed 3 critters with the 103 grain version in my 6 mm Creedmoor. First was a buck at 380 lasered yards. Broadside right behind the shoulder. Stumbled a few yards as he fell. Caliber sized hole going in and about 50 cent size exit. Next was a buck at about 325-350 yards. Buck was already wounded by my buddy and I was just helping get him down before he got to the woods. Hit the deer in the ribs slightly raking. I was shocked to see entrance and exit holes were in much larger than expected. Third critter was a large male coyote shot at 488 lasered yards. Very little damage DRT. Would post pic of coyote but I don't know how.

I have killed 2 Mule Deer bucks with the 130gr Gamechangers. One at ~200 yards, broadside shot right in the crease, tipped over right on his nose, never took a step. Second one was shot offhand at about 40 yards - deer was quartering pretty hard away and I hit him a little too far back. He went about 50 yards and I shot him again. They are very accurate out of my Bergara at about 2700fps. I would be happy using them with 41gr of H4350 exclusively if I could find them.