Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 6.5 Fav Bullet For Deer

Thanks! It's working out very well.

John

129 grain Hornady.

Great pics and report John. I've had similar experiences with the 140gr VLD from my 6.5x55......very effective bullet in 6.5 with a very high BC/SD (.612/.287)

Anybody tried pushing the [b][color:#3333FF]100 gr. TTSX[/color][/b] as fast as they can...?

Hondo - THANKS A BUNCH for the pics AND the reports on the bullets' performances. Great Buck. Brute Pig.

I like your reports. It helps to get an idea of penetration & expansion FROM the diff. game.

Jerry

Late to the party but what the heck.... I still favor the Hornady 140 and the Sierra GK 140 second. I have killed a bunch of deer with these two bullets in a 6.5x55 and their performance has been excellent.

Late to the party but what the heck.... I still favor the Hornady 140 and the Sierra GK 140 second. I have killed a bunch of deer with these two bullets in a 6.5x55 and their performance has been excellent.

Have used the 140 gr Speer Grand Slam on quite a few deer in my 260 Rem and been quite pleased. When these run out I plan on trying the new Deep Curl and see how it performs. Have some 100 gr Partitions to try out soon too. In my 264 WM the 130 gr TSX worked great but my favorite bullet is the 130 gr Scirocco.

Barnes 100GR TSSX's. I've Yet to Keep One inside Anything That's Been Hit with one...

I like the Barnes 140gr TSX in both my 6.5x55 Winchester Mdl 70 and 6.5x54 MS:

In the 6.5x55, the 125 grain Nosler Partition has worked very well for me.

129 grain Hornady, or the 125 grain Partition.

Fine MS

444- I'd rather run a 100 in a 1/4 bore personally...

JW - as you can see, ALL save varmint specific and target/match bullets have been proven....

The 129 and 125 - BOTH fine performers, well, if handloading I'd choose the less expensive bullet - 129. WHY? It's proven accurate/effective and bullet test show near/equal performance.

If one needs the ultimate 6.5 bullet for the deepest penetration, a Barnes is what I would use and recommend.

Yet, on deer, at these speeds it's not necessary, and std. cup/core work great which is why a 140 like a SGK or IL has an enviable record.

The nice thing for those wanting 140 or heavier w/Swede as most/all here know, you can seat out well, feed thru magazine and chase lands w/o issue.

JW- have a feeling you are going to have a case of ADD after this so flip a coin, perhaps 2 or 3 coins -

TRUST me - they will ALL drop deer as dead as the next when they hit home

6.5 - First I want to try 120 gr Rem core 'loss' & see how well made the newer line is & how strong they are. I will test them BEFORE I use them on deer. ALL Rems I have used in the past have been very dependable & more controlled expansion than even the Hornady Ils.

If I'm not satisfied w/them I have Horn. 129s and we know they will work.

As y'all know WE have several bullets to choose from.
Jerry

Jerry, for deer to Caribou, 129g Hornady Sp...all you need!

139 Scenars are great or 130, 140 Bergers.

I didn't see 123gr Scenar's mentioned, are there reports on this bullet at 260 speeds?

keith - it certainly is/could be.

The reasons I'm thinking 120 gr are, weight/velocity from the Swede. It is limited in powder capacity for higher vel for the heavier bullets.

I've been a little surprised how many recommend the 140s on a case as small as the 6.5X55 and the lower velocity. That also adversely effects the trajectory.

Also in proportion, the 120, 6.5 is almost identical in SD & BC to the 130, 277 (among NORMAL hunting bullets - shhh I'm not a fan of 'bergers' w/o cheese) Add to that the slower velocity of the 139-160 gr, the 120 will be faster AND flatter shooting. Given good bullet construction a 120 should work well, being faster & flatter.
Jerry

edited to spell my name correctly. (watching the Cotton Bowl)

Keith - agreed - for money and results, it's hard to beat, always been a standard for 6.5mm IMHO...and I'd do Elk/Moose/Black Bear w/o hesitation btw.

JW, was shooting both 120 and 140 CLs at the range one day in my 260, the 120s do fine at 200, but stretching out to 415 yds, you can see the 140s overtaking the 120s due to BC, hit harder, slice wind better, and lose speed at a lesser rate so the trajectory diff grows smaller as you get further out.

That said a High BC 123 will fly flat, yet not designed for game, on LR paper they do better than a not so svelte 120 CL - again they are deadly on closer shots, but a 120 BT will be flatter.

FWIW I'd look at these if not a 130AB:

120BT
125PT
129SP (not SST)
140 Sierra/Hornady, Noz PT, (and RP CL) - IF accuracy to par

If not shooting over 200-250 and your rifle likes them - the 120 will do fine, further if you place your shot, ALL My 6.5 rifles in the past shot the 140 CL better than the 120 CL, but I use some of both for plinking gongs and water filled milk jugs, etc.


Re: 123 Scenars- read a post from another site...

Here is that post - granted from a higher vel round:

mudvayne
Manbearpig

Registered: 02/23/11
Posts: 173
Loc: Washington TX Better late than never...

I have killed no less than 500 deer with my x47. I am running a 130 Berger at 2940 fps in mine. My brother clones deer so we kill a crap load of doe every year for their overies.

I have shot a few pigs in my day as well with this round. I have used several bullets trying to figure out the best killing combo and here is MY opinion on what I have experienced. It is not holy nor sacred, just what happened and I observed. So take anything you read with a grain of salt as it may not turn out the same for you.

My rifles specs:
Rem 700 left hand
Lawton 1-8" twist finished at 29.5"
Fat bastard break
McMillan A3 with 3 way butt plate and adj cheek piece
Hubor concepts 2 stage trigger
Premier Ret 5-25x56
130 Berger VLD @2940 fps

123 Scenar- this bullet shoots great on paper with my rifle. consistant .3" groups. Even at 500 and 1000 it would print an occasional half min group. That is with three shots mind you. On game I was less than impressed. They have a bit thicker jacket and didnt expand too well. I actually never dropped a deer once with a shoulder shot. Head shots didnt show to do too much damage either. IMO this is not a great projectile for hunting.

123 SMK- This bullet shot absolutely lights out in my rifle. I had to shoot this round for the first thousand rounds or so because 130 bergers were rare as hens teeth. This round shot in the .1's-.2s all day long for 5 shots. At 600 yards this round printed a 3.4" 10 shot group shot prone. I had some interesting results with its terminal effects. The very first deer I shot was a cull 6 pt and he was 606 yards. I put a high shoulder shot on him and he folded up. The next few doe I shot I put shoulder shots just to see bullet performance. One was DRT and 4 ran off a good 100 yards before dying. Not what I like for the amount of deer I shoot. On the head shots again I didnt see consistant enough trama to use this as my go to bullet.

130 JLK- This is the best long range target bullet I have ever used. I have shot some groups that yall would flat out call BS on so I wont even say what it can do on paper. On critters...TERRIBLE! I never once dropped a deer with this bullet. Last month I was wanting to test it on a coyote. While waiting 800 yards from a gut pile, a BIG boar walked into the field at 660 yards. Dead calm wind. I fire up the video camera and zoom in on him. dial up and send the shot. I hear the bullet smack him and actually see it through my scope. Well he just absorbs the bullet and runs off without a limp. I maybe thought I missed..rewind the camera and you can see trace go down range and his upper shoulder ripple. He just absorbed it and trotted off. I even shot a crap load of prarie dogs this summer with the JLK and it just penciled through all of them. Only popped em if they were within 200 yards and thats off kinetic energy alone.

130 Berger- this is THE bullet for hunting for what I have found. I literally have not had a deer take a step yet from the hunting VLD. This bullet shoots very well on paper and shoots very well on critters. Wound cavities are unreal. It looks like a grenade goes off inside the deer. I almost took a does head off this last weekend! A few months back I shot a yote at 1230 yards and he folded up.

Hope this helps - as ALWAYS - it NOT the round you use - it's the bullet - and where it goes.....

6.5 - Thanks for your personal experiences with 6.5 & diff bullets. Also Thanks for the post from Manbearpig. I certainly have NO reason to doubt him or his experience & will give due consideration.

I plan to move in the Spring about 42 mi from where I am now but TOO FAR to hunt here frequently. I have relatives w/property very close there and the TERRAIN is very different. Typical old family farms, creeks, fields, & the woods vary.

IF I decide to hunt there, 200 yds would prolly be max distance.
Basically I don't know where I'll be hunting next yr or what the terrain will be like. (We have a long deer season and I get to hunt FREQUENTLY, but if I drive a long way then I get to hunt less.)

Regardless, I sight in & prepare for up to 400 yds with ANY/ALL of my rifles. IF I find a place with long range opportunities, I can adjust for the occasion. I would LOVE to be able to spot & stalk but I'd doubt that type of terrain will be close enough.

I haven't even looked close at the price on the 'bergers', and the N Pts are NOT too expensive to HUNT. For example, this year I ONLY shot 2 Xs during the season and the last 3 yrs no more than 5 or so Xs in any 1 yr, again during season. More shots are fired with HUNTING bullets verifying or adjusting sight in than are shot during season. Sooo the price of hunting bullets is not really that critical.

Thanks Again,
Jerry