Good morning, gun scribes!

I've read here in the past that weight is not such a big contributor to the performance of copper bullets. With that said, is there a point to the Hornady 140 grain 6.5mm GMX or, ECX, I guess they call it now? Or will the 120gr GMX or CX do just as well on big game?

Thanks!

(EDIT: Sorry, cartridge will be 6.5 Creedmoor)

I would say the main benefit to more weight with a mono .. within some limits .. would be improving the BC to reduce wind deflection and possibly retain more velocity at very long range. I would probably stick with the 120 grain version with the 6.5 Creedmoor. I would certainly try the 140 in a 6.5x.300 Weatherby or, if it was twisted tight enough, a .264.

All my opinion without shooting them, however ...

Tom

No worries Tom, I get you!

This ones actually pretty blunt, the BC is about .350 compared to .420 for the 120gr CX (Looks like the CX is actually lower in BC than their GMX equivalents?) Has a flat, blunt tip that must help with expansion at 6.5x55 speeds.

Wondering if its for certain European markets for their unique reasons.

Since speed is of the essence w/ mono-metals, with their nearly 100% weight retention and a reasonable lower threshold of ~ 2,200 fps impact velocity, that should drive the selection.




GR

Igloo;
Top of the morning from the cooler than normal south Okanagan sir, I hope you're well.

We've been fooling with 6.5's since the first surplus 96 showed up in '82 if memory serves. I modified one into a hunting rifle for my late father in the early '80's as well and it's been inherited and used to this day by our eldest daughter as her main hunting rifle.

She's had fantastic success with the 130gr TSX on local mulie and whitetail bucks so that's my baseline for experience.

I was so impressed at how the 6.5 130gr worked on game as compared to the .270 that was shooting 130gr TTSX and GMX that I rebarreled it to a 6.5x55. The barrel used was a near new Swede military surplus one so it's the 1:7.8" twist with fairly deep grooves.

For the sake of science or just to be different, I've loaded 120gr TTSX and GMX in it and have taken a few bucks with them. Last year I had the somewhat unusual occurrence where a 120gr GMX hit a moving mulie buck and didn't contact bone going in or coming out. With the monometals we've had the best luck breaking at least one scapula if possible and two is even better.

Anyways sir, all that to say that I was able to locate one box of the 140gr GMX from P&D in Edmonton to see how they'd shoot in my rifle.

They aren't a "usual" spitzer or spire point shape for sure, reminding me of the old 275gr Speer Semi-Spitzer I used to shoot in the .338 Win.

I want to say without looking that I tried at least 5 of the usual medium slow powders that have given decent results in my Swede and none of them would get the 140gr GMX to group for beans. Some were really terrible in fact.

A buddy found a couple more boxes of 130gr TSX out in the Kootenays for me, so for now I'm putting the testing of the 140gr GMX on hold and might test some of them in my rifle, again as they've worked so well in our daughter's 96.

Hopefully that was useful for you or someone out there, realizing of course it's a sample of one rifle, etc.

All the best.

Dwayne

When using mono's for deer, I usually drop down a size in weight. So, the 120g TTSX is great and a 130g is a heavy weight for me.

Also, we shoot hogs, and hogs are a great bullet testing medium, and quartering shots on hogs are very interesting. 129g Hornady SP will not let you down if you like old School bullets that just work, so are the Sierra 140g BTSP.

Unless I was hunting moose, I would never go 140g on a mono. Also, the 140g Hornady Sp is one heck of a tough bullet, and I rate them too tough for deer, as I like to see more expansion on deer.

For Mono's on deer/hogs, the 120g TTSX is a great way to go.