Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Hunting the 6.5 Creedmoor

Like most people I started off with the Creedmoor as a strictly target rifle, and used it out to 1,000m with pretty good effect. After a while however, I got tired of punching paper, and returned to my first love; hunting. I figured the Creed would be a great cartridge for the Fallow deer we have here. First off I realised I didn't need the long high BC bullets I was using for the paper, and went down to 123gn SST's. When I sold the target rifle I had no lack of brass, in fact I doubt I'll need to buy any in my lifetime. With plenty of H4350 I was all set. The hunting rifle ended up being a Tikka Lite. Has anyone used the Creed on any deer roughly large whitetail size? I also have some 129gn SST's and some 130gn Accubonds. I zero to be on at 200m, which is as far as I care to shoot a deer at.

The last six or seven deer I've killed have been with the 6.5 CM. I'm hunting whitetails, and the bucks can sometimes field dress out at 200 pounds plus. I've used the 140 and 120 Nosler BT's, and the Sierra 120 grain soft points, the Prohunter, I believe. I've found the Sierra's to be my favorite bullet, but I also believe that any good hunting bullet would give similar results.

The 6.5CM is just the 6.5x55 or 260 in a modernized wrapper, so yeah, it’s a jam-up deer cartridge. If all my deer rifles were suddenly gone, I’d feel just fine starting over with a Tikka 6.5CM.

I’ll also add that a 130NAB at 2,800-ish MV works great with a zero of 200-220yds. Always performed well for me in the past.

we've had great results on deer and antelope with barnes 127LRX's.

120 Ballistic Tip, ot 120 ProHunter will work great at those distances.

No deer, only elk. Family won't eat Mulies.

Used 143 gr. ELD-X back when bonded bullets were unobtainium.

Now back to using various flavors of bonded bullets.

Couple of deer last fall did not complain about being shot with 125gr Winchester Deer Season XP. First deer I’ve taken with factory ammo in many moons!

Them 129 grain hornady interlock are pretty awesome, used some cause they were available. Used 120 BT, 143 eldx, 139 scenars, 140 bt all were killers

I recently posted this on "Ask the Gunwriters" in answer to a guy who asked about deer bullets for the 6.5x55. It applies to the Creedmoor as well:

According to my hunting notes I've taken a variety of "deer-sized animals" with the 6.5x55 and "moderate" 6.5 cartridges with similar velocities, including the .260 Remington, 6.5 Creedmoor and 6.5x57R Mauser. Many of the animals were actually deer, including whitetails, mule, fallow and axis, but there have been some pronghorns as well.

The bullets have ranged from 120 to 143 grains, and the makes include Barnes X-Bullets from the original to the LRX, Hornady Spire Point and ELD-X, Nosler ABLRs/Ballistic Tips/Partitions, and Sierra ProHunters. Muzzle velocities ranged from around 2700 to 2900, and there were only a couple of longish shots in the 300+ yard range. They all worked fine, whether the original Barnes X (a 120 that killed a pronghorn buck at 371 yards), or or a 143-grain Hornady ELD-X that broke both shoulders and the spine of a 300-pound mule deer buck at just about exactly 100 yards.

That's one of the great virtues of such rounds: Their moderate muzzle velocities result in consistent performance with just about any bullet. Recently, however, I've grown particularly fond of the 127-grain Barnes LRX, not so much for the "high" BC (which isn't all that high compared to 140+ grain bullets) but because it opens reliably and penetrates deeply, killing well but not ruining as much meat as lead-cores.

Some guys were having real good luck with the Horandy 147gr ELDM. Wonder if those guys can expound on the subject? beretzs was one of them, if I remember correctly. That bullet has been pretty impressive to me, at shooting out to 1,000 yards. Not that I'd shoot a deer out that far, but I'd have no qualms putting one in the boiler room at 600 yards.. There's enough weight and mass there, that it should even work well up close too.

129 grain interlocks have done well on whitetails from 10 yards to 270 yards for me.

Not the 6.5 Creedmoor, but my 6.5x55mm has done very well in the deer and hog fields w/ the lowly cup-n-core SPEER Grand Slam/140 gr.

Precision, and good exit wounds.

And inexpensive enough to use as a practice bullet.

No complaints.




GR

Cool, love to see some pictures of those 1000 yard groups.

Show yours first, so I can post up the ones that beat it.. Although, that's not what the OP was looking for. The last time I was using those 147's, I was shooting 600 yards. Hence the reason I said I'd have "no qualms" using it at that range:



Throw up a 600 yard target Mike.. Just 1. Thanks!!!

OR, how about a sub 1" group at 400 yards:


Again, the intent was to ask the guys that used this particular bullet on deer to "expound" on how well they worked. I'll wait for the pics buddy..

I load the 120 Barnes, hammers deer and pigs, killed one Aoudad too.

I have posted both 600 yard and 1000 yard targets within the past few months, feel free to check. I will note that they are shown on the proper sized target face. Not a 600 yard group on a 1000 yard face like you post above.

Regarding Hornady 6.5 ELDs on deer sized game, they work quite well on deer as I have posted in my hunt write ups in the past. What has been your actual experience with them? A rhetorical question of course...

I'm with Mule Deer, the 127 gr. LRX has worked very well for me this last year. Rio7

For larger game the 127gr LRX is a great choice. I have only killed one animal with that bullet, in a 6.5-06, but it was a 350" bull elk that crumpled with 1 shot quartering towards.

Another vote for the 127LRX. Took a big cow elk with one shot last year.

The older I get and with the limited experience a 'regular' hunter has, versus a guide or writer, the less difference I see in any rifle 6.5 up to 30 '06-ish. Stick a quality bullet in the lungs and it's all academic.

They're a great choice for smaller game too. Even from a short-barreled Creedmoor. And they look purty when dug out of the ground after going through a chest.

I've thought about using them on Coues deer, just not sure they would open up quickly enough. That expansion looks pretty good!

6.5 123 AMAX found under offside hide of a 93" Coues buck shot at 350 yards per my notes. Pretty much the same construction as the ELD.

I've killed quite a few whitetails but I quit using it and went back to my .270 because I never had one just drop DRT after the shot. I was always having to go find them. The 270 on the other hand, drops them on the spot. I love my creedmoor for shooting paper and I've shot it out to 500 yards very successfully.

I've killed a couple of truck loads of deer with the 6.5 Creedmoor (and 130 Accubond). When I purposely took out the running gear or CNS, they dropped on the spot - when put in the boiler, they ran.......Prezact same performance when I've shot them with the .270. It's not the chambering.

In the minds of some folks, it is. And there ain't no changing that.

I've killed several mule deer and antelope with the 6.5 CM and 130 and 140 grain Accubonds. I've also seen a few more killed with the same loads. It seems like an ideal deer cartridge to me since it's accurate, low recoil and very effective. The 140's may be overkill for deer, but I really like the performance of the 130's and they shoot a little flatter with slightly less recoil.

My experience as well....

One of the most common misconceptions about big game bullets is that some open quicker than others. Instead, extensive testing both in media and on game has proven that almost all open completely by the time they penetrate their own length--which is almost never more than 2". (The exception is "target" bullets like the Berger VLD, which usually delay expansion for a couple inches before starting to open.)

Believe me, TSXs or LRXs start to expand when they hit skin....

Thanks for the info. Is the total amount of expansion
mostly or completely dependent on the impact velocity then?

I have not killed anything with my 6.5creed. But I load the 130 game changes for my son and I.
I’m pushing the 130 around 2900+/- out 24” tikka.

Poison shroom!

My hunting partner uses one and has had great performance on deer and antelope. I shot a cow elk with one. (About 300-350 yards). I think its a bit light for elk and I won't use it again but the elk did die. I think its a fine deer and antelope round.

I've had excellent performance with the 6.5CM on a Barren Ground caribou - one shot at 375 lasered yards using a 143 gr. ELDX. The bull went straight down and never moved. Yes I have a witness. The bullet weighed 107 grains found on the offside.
Next was a cow elk at 135 yards with another 143gr ELDX after a snowshoe stalk in 10* temperature. No recovered bullet. Last was a 5x5 bull elk with a Norma factory 140 gr round - cup and core bullet. One shot - a little wobbly, a few stutter steps and crashed down. An offside hide recovered bullet weighed 113 grains. I've taken 20 previous elk using a 338WM, 300WM, 300WSM, 30-06, 30Win. and a .270 Win.. Nearing the end of my hunting career, I can no longer manage the recoil of the "magnums". The persistent statement about bullet placement vs. headstamp is very true.
The list of well knowns from Sheldon et. al. using the 6.5x55 is a testament to the capability of the 6.5's.'The 6.5CM is easy to load for in a Kimber Montana and a Kimber Mt. Ascent. Oh and the Tikka T3x is no slouch either.

I should add if the 6.5CM didn't exist, I'd be carrying a Kimber Montana in 308 WIn..

Amen Kane! Same experience here.

Not in my experience with 100+ TTSX and LRX bullets. If the impact velocity is enough for them to expand, then they expand completely. Or at least that's what the exit holes have inidcated, along with the few recovered bullets.

Good to know. I'll need to try them out on deer this fall. I've seen pictures with little mushrooms only at the tips that made me concerned. I get great accuracy with them.

I bought a 6.5 creedmoor back in 2018 and had intentions of hunting it myself. My son started deer hunting the next year and started using that rifle. I bought one for myself in 2020 and have deer hunted with it a bit.

Between my son and I we've taken whitetails with an assortment of bullets including the 120 Hornady GMX (now CX), 123 SST, 129 Interlock, 130 Sierra Gamechanger, and the 143 ELD-X. Shots ranged from 25yds to 275yds. Every bullet has done a great job. There's been a few drop right there bang flop ordeals along the way. None of them required an additional shot, none ran more than 50ish yds. All of it resulted from good shot placement.

I see so many people rag on the creedmoor, and there's alot of idiots out there that believe the Creedmoor is a "magic" cartridge. It's not. What it is though, is an accurate updated version of some other proven established cartridges, and it does its intended purpose real well, and is arguably the most successful cartridge introduced this century and as a result there's likely ammo at every retailer in every corner of the world.

I carry one because it just plain works and I don't care about the nay sayers and contrary to what you'll read, you don't have to sport a man bun to shoot one. Good thing because I'm bald

All the deer I've killed with both calibers were shot in the same spot behind the shoulder. Difference is several hundred FPS faster with the 270 creates much more Hydrostatic Shock. There is definitely a difference between the two calibers. Speed and size of the projectile does matter, otherwise we would all shoot the same caliber. Not going to get in a pissing contest with you are anyone else just relating my experience. BTW I never lost a whitetail shot with either caliber.

Very few of you guys have ever walked a thousand yards to measure a target.


Good shooting bsr----hunter!

This is from nathan fosters site. Fyi the eld is the new amax.

For longer range hunting using the swede, no other bullet can compare to the performance produced by the Hornady 140 grain A-Max. This bullet is best suited to lighter bodied deer under 80kg (180lb) and gives optimum results at impact velocities below 2600fps (beyond 75 yards) which allows the A-Max to shear into large fragments rather than smaller, less lethal particles. Wounding caused by the A-max at ranges of between 300 and 400 yards is such that both exit wounds and bleeding from exit wounds can be easily observed through the hunter’s scope. The A-Max has a BC of .550 and produces wide wounding for clean, extremely fast killing out to 500 yards (2000fps), continuing to produce adequately wide wounding at 1800fps, out at the 600 yard mark.

https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/6.5x55.html

Over the last 10-12 years we have seen more hunters switch from what ever they were using? to the 6.5 CM when I ask why? their answers are about the same, less recoil, more accurate, lighter rifle, threaded barrel,good factory ammo supply, or they just wanted to try something new. 99% of these hunters are not gun nuts, and what ever bullet comes in their ammo box is good enough for them.
The 6.5 CM has taken a hold of the Fudd's as well as the Loony's, no man bun required. Rio7

Hi BSA. I was out at our Thursday morning practice today and noticed that I had a 600 yard 5 shot group stored in my Silver Mountain E Target memory. I normally shoot at least 10 shot groups as they are more revealing, but on that day I was just firing some foulers the day before our state Mid range Championships began. Here is the 600 yard group you requested. All shooting done with my 12.5 pound iron sighted .308, prone with sling.







Since they were all saved a sighters, the system does display a group size, but you can see the X,Y coordinates of the outer shots in the 3 images... 2.51 inches on center.

1000 Yard Groups:





Let's see some 1k groups, 15 shot min.

Looks like the 308 still has it.

🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗

It can hang pretty well to 1000...

Like Bear Spray.

It works great... until it doesn't.

Have a 6.5x55mm - but it's not my only rifle.




GR

MikeS, Next time i run into a Big Bad bear in S.Texas i'll let you know how it turns out. Rio7

We’ve killed a bunch of whitetail with the 147gr ELDM bullets, though Hornady’s factory TAP ammunition. This is a duty round for our department’s precision rifles. Once a year for for about 10 years we’ve done a team hunt where we test our duty rounds, testing for terminal ballistics. We’ve used the Federal Gold Medal Match 308 win. 168gr MK, the Hornady TAP 168gr ELDM and now for the past 5 years we’ve used the 6.5 Creedmoor loaded with the 147 ELDM bullets. The hunt is more of a cull hunt where we average 7 deer a year. Each shooter is given a particular point on the body to aim at such as high shoulder, middle shoulder, heart, lung, neck, etc. Using the .308 win. Federal GMM 168gr. Sierra Matchkings we lost several animals. Although the Federal 168gr. GMM round is extremely accurate its terminal ballistics are not good, living up to the old adage that match bullets aren’t good for hunting. Many years ago I hunted with the Hornady A-Max bullets which always worked great, so I had faith the Hornady ELDM’s would closely mimic the A-MAX. Once we switched to the Hornady TAP in either .308 or the 6.5 creedmoor, we haven’t lost an animal yet. Many of the animals have gone down directly but some have run, few have gone farther than just a few yards. My only complaint with the 147 ELDM’s have been through the TAP they’re not moving as fast as I think they should or could. Sometimes the bullets didn’t completely pass through but when they didn’t we would normally find a well uniformed opened up bullet in the offside hide. Internal damage was always pretty devastating and if the shoulders were hit the meat would be bloodshot. Most of these shots were taken at 100 to 300 yards on South Texas whitetail.

Garandimal may be more interested than me.

MikeS, My mistake Rio7

For the Great State of Louisiana, and SE Texas, the 6.5x55mm works just fine.




GR

Garandimal, Won't you feel unarmed without your Bear Spray?? Rio7

Now you're just bein' silly.

Don't have any bear spray, just rifles.

Thought that was obvious.




GR

YEP!! Rio7

Unusual for BSA to miss a chance to post pictures... hope he's OK.

3-- 147-ELD-M 1200 Yards



5 --147-ELD-M 1800 yards

Rio7

Nice!

Hey BSA, haven't seen any 1k targets posted by you yet. What's up with that?

Here are my 1000 yard targets from this morning. The good the bad and the ugly. .308 155 grain Sierras, iron sights and sling.

String one felt good. Dialed 3 minutes right wind for shot 1 and just clipped a 10. Went ahead and converted that sighter to score and continued on. 3.5 right to .5 left wind range on this string. You can see what happens when you miss a let off with shot 5.



Let the barrel cool a little and started with 1 minute right wind. Bad call as the direction had shifted. More vertical on this string which may reflect some barrel mirage. Need to bring mirage band next time.



Let the barrel cool more this time but in spite of adding a click or 2 of right wind every other shot I was behind the curve as the group center shows. Except for that pesky let off at the end of course! 3 right to 1 right on this string



That was every shot fired this morning. Still looking forward to your targets.

Still waiting for your promised targets BSA.

Tick Tock...

What powder are you using Rio7

Remington 280, R-26 Rio7

Awesome

255 yards, DRT w/147gr ELD. No exit wound. Decent sized boar.

John

My son shoots the 100 gr. TTSX in his and has killed 11 with it so far. Most are DRT but the ones that do run only go about 20 yards with a great blood trail. I chose the 100 gr. TTSX due to the lighter recoil for him. I am very please with the results of that bullet and will use it on my new setup as well. It’s a great combo.

That'll work too! Good job by you and your son.

I've killed a number of deer and hogs with the 6.5 CM using 130 and 140 grain Accubonds and the 127 grain LRX, and they've worked well on every animal I've used them on. I've mostly hunted with somewhat larger cartridges in the past, and it's kind of nice to use a low recoil cartridge that's very easy to shoot well.

Here's a few Mule Deer Bucks that I have taken with my Bergara Woodsman in 6.5 Creedmoor. 2 were shot with 130gr Gamechangers and H4350, the other a 140SST and RL-16. Hope to use it on a Bull Elk this fall. Very likely shooting 140SST's and RL-16.

center shot, we’re you satisfied with the performance of the gamechanger? What range were the kills?

Likely loading some up in a Creed for a young teenager deer this fall. Haven’t shot anything with yet. Based on what I’ve read, I think it will be great at the ranges he’ll be hunting.

I've killed a few deer with it, it's definitely not like the game king just keep that in mind. According to Sierra it's designed to handle higher velocities. It's pretty tough bullet.

For the last 5-6 years I’ve carried the 6.CM for the majority of my hunting. Taken multiple elk and deer, a bull moose. The 30-06 was my go to for quite a few years before that. My experience lines up 100% with SKanes. It’s not the chambering causing WT to run off.

First deer I shot with the 6.5 (bottom pic) was at about 175 yards (130 GameChanger). Shot behind the front shoulder, deer just dropped right on his nose dead as a door nail. Second buck (top pic) - shot him about 40 yards behind shoulder, ran 40-50 yards and piled up (130 GameChanger). Third buck was at 312 yards - I hit him a little high again behind shoulder but he dropped like a sack of potatoes. My Son in law said "dang, he didn't even twitch"(140 SST). I've had very good luck with the 6.5. For 30+ years prior I have used a 30-06 w/ 150's or 180's and had longer blood trails on average than with the 6.5.

FWIW: I drew a good tag for antlered elk this year and will be using my 6.5 with most likely 143 ELD-X & RL-16 at about 2640fps. Extremely accurate in my Tikka T3X.

I'd be curious on how the 143 ELDX works on bulls from the 6.5. Did a bunch if gacking lately on the 6.5 creed to see what all the fuss is about. If the 143 ELDX or 140 Sierra TGK hold together at close range at 6.5 vels, I get it.

But, when I gack a plain Jane 270 shooting the same bullet, the140 ELDX at 3000, it shoots a bit flatter out to sane distances at similar recoil levels albeit a slightly longer barrel and about 1/2 lb more rifle weight.

But I do like shooting the Creed with its 35-45 grains of powder. It's downright economical to fling bullets with it.