Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 6.5x55 and elk hunting questions for the experienced elk hunters

I thought it was some kind of custom build. Very, very sweet indeed!

Darcy, your pics are great, indeed VERY beautiful country and memories to last a lifetime! Congrats.

Cool bull pics, cool elk story.

But, that is not an old bull. No way no how.

dink,

Interesting, why do you think it's not an old bull? Some local guys told us it was because of the wear on the ivorys. I had no idea how old it was but figured younger because of the size of the antlers.

That said I have seen older whitetails whose racks have declined greatly in later years.

I've only got a sample of one but I killed an approximately 700 lbs. bull (estimated by butcher) a couple years back with one round at 273 yards out of my 6.5x55 Swede. Bullets was the 160gr. Sierra Semi-point just under 2400 fps. out of a sporterized 96 mauser. Bullet entered just behind the near shoulder, angled forward through the heart and through the off shoulder. Bullet was found under the skin on the off side and retained 73%. Went less then 10 yards after the shot.

I think Sierra has now discountinued the 160gr. Sierra, but it was a fantastic bullet with DRT kills on several mule deer as well.

Impressive. Good shot placement and performance. Hard to change bullets w/your results. Typical Swede performance...

darcytribe

The old bull was from the local yocals that fed you that line of bull. That bull in your pictures is very nice and will eat good. He is probably two.. three at the most.

That's great news! I got these 160 grain Woodleighs protected point weldcores shooting 1.156" 5 shot groups @ 100 yards and 2362fps average velocity. I think the bullet construction is really solid and I'm hoping for similar results!

I'm not that familiar with the Woodleigh bullets, but I like what you are thinking. My only worry would be about them opening up at range and that would be a VERY small concern. Truthfully I would be a lot more worried about finding elk. When I run out of the Sierra I will be going to the Hornady 160gr. Round nose. In fact I am building a little .260 Mannlicher with just that idea in mind.

I don't like shooting past 200 yards and truthfully should have never shot at the bull I killed. Sure I practiced a couple of times at 300, but really had no business shooting that far away in that paticular situation. It was the only elk I had seen even including a previous trip two years before and the excitement of seeing that bull and a couple of cows was too much for a young man to handle. Hopefully I'll have more discipline should I ever have the opprotunity to go out West again. I will also hopefully have a lot more practice of shooting at range.

My MPBR is 260 yds and that's no more than 4" rise or drop in traj from muzzle to target with these loads. Velocity out there at 260 yds is 2025 fps. Woodleighs recommends an impact velocity range of 1800 - 2900 fps for these bullets. So hopefully if I had to take a shot at that distance they'd open up and perform the way they are supposed to. I feel confident they will.

In reality I don't expect to be taking any shots over 200 and probably way less than that. Like 100 or closer based on what my friend's father told me (he's been hunting that area for 30-some years) and what I laser ranged while scouting over the summer. I'm happy to be out in the field and I hope if any long shots present themselves I'll be able to sneak closer. Today I shot <4MOA at 200 yards from a sitting position with hasty sling and elbows braced on knees. Hopefully in the field I'd be able to rest my rifle on my pack or brace against a tree or something if I had to take any 200 yard shots. Anything further than 200 yards I won't take unless I do have a very solid shooting position and I am not planning to shoot past 260 yards at all. Especially if it is windy since I haven't been able to practice long distance shots in windy conditions over the last few months.

The old man said, "don't brag to me about how far you shot him, brag to me about how close you were able to get!" I think you're right, I'm more worried about finding a bull to shoot at than anything!

Good Luck Hunters!