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What grain bullets do you reload your 6.5 with and have had the best luck with. I have used the 143 grain eld-x but may look into something lighter.

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Originally Posted by houston1
What grain bullets do you reload your 6.5 with and have had the best luck with. I have used the 143 grain eld-x but may look into something lighter.


I like the Hornady 143 ELD-X for hunting. I've also killed deer with the Nosler 130 Accubonds, 120 Ballistic Tips, which did great. Perhaps the best all-around bullet might be the Nosler 125 Partition and the 130 Accubond.


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I was thinking about running in the 120-130 grain range to get more velocity as well the 125 partition and 130 grain accubonds sound like a good bullet to do that.

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If I were going to go lighter, I'd go barnes. Probably in the LRX flavor. However, I'm wondering, Is there a reason the 143 ELDX is not working? A lot of guys use the 147 ELD match bullets with good success. Are you thinking the 143 ELDX doesn't have the terminal performance? Just curious because that bullet will kill pretty far out there and it seems to be accurate in all of my rifles. Even my old Swedish mauser loves it..


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I have killed three deer with my 6.5 Creedmoor shooting 120 gr Ballictic Tips pushed to around 2900 FPS with Varget. Three shots, three kills. The longest shot was 100 yards. They work!


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I like the 143 grain eld-Xs just super hard to find right now and while I haven’t been able to find any I’ve been looking at other options and have thought maybe I can shoot somewhere in the 120 range and have better ballistics.

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Originally Posted by houston1
I like the 143 grain eld-Xs just super hard to find right now and while I haven’t been able to find any I’ve been looking at other options and have thought maybe I can shoot somewhere in the 120 range and have better ballistics.

Ha ha. I understand the availability issue, but there's no way a 120gr bullet has better "ballistics" than the 143. Like lastround and many others here have proven, the 120 works on deer sized game. The beauty of the heavier pills in the creedmoor is they reach out there better with better terminal ballistics. You'll see that more with target shooters though, not necessarily deer hunters. The question is, how far out there are you planning on shooting them? I put in for a tag every once in a while and shots have been in the 600 to 700 yard range. Giving those distances, I'd be using something in the 139-147gr range. Out to 4-500, the 120 will work just fine.
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Originally Posted by raybass
I try to stick with the basics, they do so well. Nothing fancy mind you, just plain jane will get it done with style.
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Originally Posted by houston1
I was thinking about running in the 120-130 grain range to get more velocity as well the 125 partition and 130 grain accubonds sound like a good bullet to do that.


The 130NAB is a great bullet at 6.5CM speeds. I've seen nothing but good expansion and penetration. The 129gr Nosler ABLR is much the same, but a bit softer. As I like trying new things, I'm looking at using the 127gr LRX this season, just to see what's what. Much like the .308 and 7mm-08, there are more good bullet options out there than bad, so long as you are operating within reasonable limits concerning bullet weight and construction (no varmint bullets or super heavyweights).


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Originally Posted by lastround
I have killed three deer with my 6.5 Creedmoor shooting 120 gr Ballictic Tips pushed to around 2900 FPS with Varget. Three shots, three kills. The longest shot was 100 yards. They work!


Yep, my Howa 6.5 Creedmoor loves Varget and Nosler 120 gr Ballistic Tips! But the deer sure don't. lol

Last edited by Dixie_Rebel; 07/29/21.

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Originally Posted by JPro
Originally Posted by houston1
I was thinking about running in the 120-130 grain range to get more velocity as well the 125 partition and 130 grain accubonds sound like a good bullet to do that.


The 130NAB is a great bullet at 6.5CM speeds. I've seen nothing but good expansion and penetration. The 129gr Nosler ABLR is much the same, but a bit softer. As I like trying new things, I'm looking at using the 127gr LRX this season, just to see what's what. Much like the .308 and 7mm-08, there are more good bullet options out there than bad, so long as you are operating within reasonable limits concerning bullet weight and construction (no varmint bullets or super heavyweights).

I'll bet that 127 LRX will shine.. As long as you can develop a good accurate load with it.


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I've used the 143 gr. ELD-X on cow elk only because I couldn't locate any 140 gr. Partitions/ABs at the time. Darn bullet shoots so well I stocked up before they went missing like everything else.


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I’ve got a few boxes of 143gr ELD-X’s to load in my .260 and 6.5 CM. Was goin through a drawer this morning and found a box of Barnes 127 gr LRX’s. Decisions, decision.

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So far, I can't find any 143 or 147 grainers. I did get a box of 129 sst factory stuff and it shoots sub-moa. 125 Partiions go the same POA with my load of R17. I have not found a 130AB or 129 LRAB load that shoots as tight. There is a lengthy thread on Good 6.5 Creedmoor Loads in this forum.

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I don't need the super hight BCs. For deer at "normal"ranges the 120-130 works great. My experience has been with 120gr Speer Gold Dots and 130gr Sierra HPBT. Both are accurate and perform well for my uses.

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I have been shooting the 135gr Berger’s the past few years and am really impressed with them. Killed a few deer with them and all had minimal meat damage and the deer don’t flinch when you hit em. They are very accurate and are not picky on seating depth and with a full load or RL26 I am getting 2960fps out of my tikka.

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I like the 120 ballistic tips in the 120 class, the 130 scirroco or 130 tipped game king in the 130 class, and the 140 Sierra game king in the 140 class. I have killed deer with several more but these seemed to be the best performers I have found for the speeds the 6.5 Creedmoor or 6.5x55 shoot.

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I bought a creedmoor for my son and developed a few loads for it. So far he's killed deer here in WV with the 130 Sierra Gamechanger and the 143 Hornady ELD-X. Every deer he has shot has been a bang flop ordeal. In the interest of trying different bullets I worked him up a load with the 129 Interlock to try. I can't say enough good things about the 130gr Sierra Gamechanger but the ELD-X is no slouch either.

In the meantime I bought myself a Bergara Wilderness Ridge in 6.5 Creedmoor and I've been shooting it alot here lately. I have loads with the 120gr Ballistic Tips with both Reloader 17, and Ramshot Hunter. I also developed a lights out accurate load with the Hornady 120gr GMX and Reloader 16. I'm going to go with this powder / bullet combo this year because I've only used the GMX on 1 other deer and I was impressed.

FWIW, I've been watching ShootersProShop and I just scored 200 of the 142gr Nosler Accubond LR. They still had some in stock last I checked.

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Originally Posted by Hudge
I’ve got a few boxes of 143gr ELD-X’s to load in my .260 and 6.5 CM. Was goin through a drawer this morning and found a box of Barnes 127 gr LRX’s. Decisions, decision.

Run the LRX and let us know how well they shoot. Simple decision.


Originally Posted by raybass
I try to stick with the basics, they do so well. Nothing fancy mind you, just plain jane will get it done with style.
Originally Posted by Pharmseller
You want to see an animal drop right now? Shoot him in the ear hole.

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Originally Posted by bsa1917hunter
Originally Posted by Hudge
I’ve got a few boxes of 143gr ELD-X’s to load in my .260 and 6.5 CM. Was goin through a drawer this morning and found a box of Barnes 127 gr LRX’s. Decisions, decision.

Run the LRX and let us know how well they shoot. Simple decision.


I’ve settled on a load for this year as caribou opens in 10 more days. I do plan on playing with that bullet this fall and hopefully find a good, accurate load for next year.

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129/130gn with H4350.

I wanted to run the 120gn Ballistic Tip but will load that in my 6.5x47 when it's finished.

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