Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Hard to wade through the B.S.

I have been doing some online reading on bullets and their construction. I am looking for a bullet that will perform suitably in a large velocity window in my 260 Rem. Upper end of that being 2800-2900 (depends on weight) and out to 500 yards, so 1800-2000 for the lower end (depends on BC) . Notice I said perform suitably, not perfect. I realize that no bullet can be expected to perform perfectly at all velocities and distances. But I am wanting to get as close as I can.
I live in PA, and have a Ruger M77 chambered in 260 that my late father gave to me in 2003. I love that gun, and have taken 30+ deer with that gun, including my largest buck, a 129". I have lost only 1 deer with it, a small 6 shot with a 140 Accubond (still don't know what happened, probably bad shot placement). All those deer except 1 or 2 were taken in the woods with 80 yards being the farthest. Most were inside 70. Recently I have started enjoying red tag hunting where there are huge open fields. That is a different ballgame altogether, with shots over 200 common, out to 450 or so. I would like to find a bullet that works well for both scenarios.
That brings me to "wading through the B.S. "part. On youtube and other sites, seems like each person has their own version of what that bullet looks like. Here on the Fire, I would say the Lapua Scenar is said to be the perfect bullet for what I want. On the Hammer forum, obviously it is the Hammer bullets. Some one else says the Nosler partition, Nosler Ballistic tip or E-tip.
One guy I like to watch some on you tube ( he does a lot of ballistic Gel testing at low and high velocity ) was surprised at the Hammers and thought they worked well. In the comments, someone was trying to say he was using a Barnes, not a Hammer due to the petals not shearing off at low velocity)
Then their is the guy I like to call the "Rabid anti-Hammer Guy) it seems like he has a personal vendetta against Hammers. He has put out multiple videos against Hammers, and in the comments, it appears there are plenty of guys supporting what he says about Hammers. In fact, several guys claim to have caught him in a lie several times, and he is known to remove/block some comments in his videos. He claims the Hornady ELD-M to be a superb bullet. He is fairly strongly anti solid copper bullets. Says if you must use them, then he figures Maker Bullets has about the best you can use. Honesty he has no credibility with me, and I think he is spewing B.S that muddies the waters.
So how do you wade through the B.S and sort out the solid bits of advice? On the internet, anyone can say what they want, and somebody somewhere will support/believe them. The example of "the average person eats 8 spiders a yr is their sleep" comes to mind. I guess there needs to be a level of trust in the person giving you the info. People like John Barseness, Pat?(scenarshooter) and Phil Shoemaker come to mind.
But people's info/theories/experiences are like many products. "You can always find people that swear at them or by them"
I guess bullets are the same way.
So if you made it this far, what, in your experience checks all my boxes? Notice I said experience, not theory. I do like to eat deer, I do not like a lot of bloodshot meat. Honestly at this point the Lapua Scenar in 123 grain (not sure the 139's will stabilize well in mine, Ruger said it has a 1:8.5 twist) and the Hammer 110 Hunter are looking like the solid choices. The plain old Hornady 129 Interlock is also getting some attention, not sure how well it would do at 500 yards.

Speer make anything in 6.5? Hard to find fault with them.

Hard to go wrong with the 140g Partition. I have killed mule deer and/or elk with them launched from a 260, 256 Newton, 6.5 CM, and 26 Nosler. That bullet checks a lot of boxes in my opinion. I also really like the 123gr Scenars out of a 6.5 CM or the 256, I have never found the scenars to be lacking in any way.

Following

I’ve got a 6.5CM with a very similar mission profile as you have described.

Accuracy at 400 yds (sub 3/4 MOA) and terminal performance at 50 and 400yds is what I have set. My initial load development with 140 Deep Curls meets the bill.

I bought some 143gr Norma Bondstrike bullets that I haven’t had time to work up a load yet. These are very close in construction to Accubonds. Not sure if they will stabilize in your twist.

Red tag is going to be doe only. So even the 129 Interlock is not a bad choice - or even the 140 Interlock. Those bullets work great from 1800-2800 fps. I don’t think you need a bonded bullet to kill whitetails. Plus in the 260, your max velocity even at short range doesn’t require it.

Correct, red tag is doe only. Around here a farm fed doe can yield 45lbs meat on the low side and 70+ on the high side. I would say 55 lbs as the average, so the deer are not like the big Northern ones.

They do some, not sure about availability. I believe the 120 Gold dot? has a fairly good reputation.

If you have taken 30 deer, you know more than you think you know. You are overthinking this, quit stressing about the damn perfect bullet. I shoot military bbl Swede sporters and have great results with the 129 Hornady at 500 yds on coyotes...expansion is reliable...and I'm starting the bullet 150 fps slower than your .260 probably.
Also my stability chart says your 8.5 twist will stabilize the 160 Sierra roundnose at 2450 fps with quite a bit of margin, just sayin'.

Hard to go wrong with any of the bullets mentioned here.

I've killed two cow elk with my .260 and the Hornady 129. One at about 50 yards and the other over 250. One shot apiece - No issues.

With the 6.5CM I've used the 140 Fusion, 129 IL, and right now I'm running the 140 BTSP from Sierra. All have worked very well on Blacktail and elk. The Sierra is very accurate, inexpensive and I happen to have a whole bunch of them on hand - next up will be the Speer 140 spire points. I've had great luck with Speer products in my .270 and can't see them being anything but a good combination for any 6.5.

For deer sized stuff out to 450yds from a moderate-cased 6.5CM, there have got to be a lot of options that would work really well. Nothing is perfect though.

Assuming you are going with a reasonably sleek bullet, do you lean more on the side of lots of penetration or more on the side of lots of expansion and damage? What one camp sees as great performance might not make the other camp happy. Some try to split the difference and go with something like the 130/140NAB or the 130SSII. In my book, the 130NAB and 129ABLR are good all-rounders that can give good expansion further out there while still holding together on tougher-angle shots up close. They've worked well for me.

You're on the right track with the scenars, hammer (I use Barnes ttsx). My hunting situation are similar. hard wood hunting where shots rarely get 100 yards then I hunt another part of our property where shots can get as far as 400. Not a 260, but 308. I load two seperate rounds for my current needs. 155 lapua scenar over varget for further shots and the 130 ttsx over TAC for my hard woods hunting. I have seen videos of the barnes ttsx with shots up to 350 yards on hogs and does, but i haven't personally tried them at that range on game.

Since a majority of the time is in close, I tend to prefer less meat damage/complete pass-throughs.

Here are a few posts by a very experienced user of the 139 grain Scenar:



https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...ars-minimum-impact-velocity#Post13492617

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...rue/re-6-5-creedmoor-on-elk#Post12196290

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...-284-bullet-recommendations#Post11320134

127 LRX?

I just bought a 6.5 Creed and am contemplating the LRX for just such an application but have no first hand knowledge to pass along.

These days there are lots of good bullets to chose from. Years ago, you had 3 or 4 choices and that was it.

"But people's info/theories/experiences are like many products. "You can always find people that swear at them or by them"
I guess bullets are the same way."

Yup! People will swear by the bullet that has worked for them. Not much experience with 6.5 bullets, my only rifle being a 6,5x54 Mannlicher that was stolen back in 1975. It shot well enough with 160 gr. Norma ammo but scattered bullets like a hand full of gravel with anything lighter.

Much of what I have used has been with Sierra bullets, the 150 gr. in 30 caliber for a very long time. Switched to their 180 gr. bullets sometime in the 1970s as the 150s ruined too much good eating meat from 30-06. I later went to the 165 gr. Speer Hot Core when the 150 gr. Sierras still mangle meat when shot from a .308 Win.

When I did any elk hunting, my .300 Win. mag. used the 200 gr. Speer Hot Core for a very long shot, 530 yards laser measured. Meat damage wasn't too bad. Another elk was taken with the 165 gr. Accubond from a 30-06. Shot was maybe 100 yards give or take. Five other elk were taken with a .35 Whelen running the 225 gr. TSX bullet.

I guess my point is most bullets made today should work just fine. Just put them in the right place and sharpen the knife. Considering the general conditions you posted, I wouldn't worry if I had my 7x57, .308, .280 Rem or 30-06 loaded with the bullets mentioned. The 165 gr. AB and the 200 gr. Speer HC are just samples of one and they worked on the occasion of use. Whether that would be standard performance as usually or lucky flukes is something I can't say. However, the others used have been use multiple times and have worked well for me. I do favor the Speer Hot Cores though and use them quite a bit. Nosler Partitions are well liked but I only used them one time and the performance was less than stellar. I shot a large Mule Deer three times and when opening it up it looks like the bullets never opened up al all. The one through the lungs looked like they'd been poked with a pencil. A few years later, I decided to shoot the rest of that box of ammo and salvage the brass. I ran them over the chronograph and velocity was only 2600 FPS. All three shots at the deer were at 35 yards or less so something there wasn't quite right. The loads were shot over the chronograph from the same rifle used on the hunt.
PJ

I bought 3-4 boxes of those to try out in that chambering but have not yet gotten around to it. Seems like a well-balanced bullet for the application.

When the expectations for a bullet that can be suitable within a wide velocity envelope like 2900-1800 I don’t think there’s a better option than a mono. TTSX, TSX, LRX, etc. they have been without exception the best of all worlds for my hunting. Speed, accuracy, toughness, wide velocity envelopes, etc. It’s not like you can really over-push a TTSX because they’ll expand and shed their petals but the base keeps driving like Hammers. On the low end of 1500-1800fps I still expect some expansion and I’ve never seen a Barnes not expand in that range….it can happen but….

You won’t get that same performance from a cup & core imho. If they impact at 2900 most won’t retain much weight and at 1600 (depending on lead) might not expand. I’m more concerned with HIGH impact speed since it’s the times that I’ve surprised the elk or deer at 10 yards or less and THAT IS when I take comfort in using Barnes. If the game is at 500-800 yards and I’m worried about expansion I’ll deal with that as it happens but considering that 100% of the time I was at knife fighting distance the bullet performed perfectly and the 1 time I needed to shoot the elk at 537 yards the bullet worked perfectly I’m more concerned about close range performance.

I like the 120 grain gold dot bullet.

I load 120 Barnes for four 6.5 Crudmoor rifles. Great accuracy, kills hell out of deer and pigs. I’ve killed one Aoudad that weighed 210 lbs. went through both shoulders at 150 yards. I use the same bullet in a 6.5-06.

Got lucky, hit second pig on the run

I have played with a variety of bullets in my 6.5 Creedmoor and have pretty much settled on the Sierra 140 SBT. I haven't taken any game with this rifle yet, but I've also used similar Sierra cup and core bullets on deer and elk with great results.