Myself and my wife both picked up new 6.5 chambered rifles a couple months back. Mine is a ruger Predator and hers is a t/c compass.

The first deer shot was with hers at about 10 yards max using Hornady 143eldx and it blew a baseball side hole in the entry with no exit.
The second was my deer at 110 yards with pin size entry and pin exit with no blood at all for first 50 yards and ran about 120 yard.
Second was my deer at about 100 yards with pin entry no exit but i shot high and hit lower of spin and she dropped in her tracks.
Next was shot with hers at about 50 yards and made a pin size entry and very small exit with blood starting at about 35 yards.
Next was mine at about 30 yards and no blood for about 50 yards and ran almost 250 yards.

All shots where placed just behind the shoulder all perfect broadside hits. All using the same batch factory load 143 ELD-X ammo.

My question is even tho all harvests were recovered i am very leery of the blood trails and the recovery's. I am curious if i would be better with a different round for deer hunting. We only have a few fields i could shoot out to about 300-350 or so and most are 200 or under with a vast majority being around 100 or under. I look to one day being able to bear hunt as well as hog, larger deer and maybe just maybe an elk hunt but i have a 300wm for that but i think the 300 is a little overkill for white tail deer.

I am just looking for knowledgeable information here to help myself and my wife along in our hunting journey. I would like to do this without having to buy a different caliber rifle bc if i do i would be buying 2 as my wife and really myself like us both having the same caliber that we hunt with the most being the same as it help with ammo and issue that may come about.

If a change in rifle would be needed as far as caliber i would consider it it would all just depend and the 6.5 and a shotgun is the only thing my wife has currently lol

Thanks in advance!!

Uh, different bullet.

Nothing wrong with the round. Change the bullets. I would suggest trying the Hornady American Whitetail load with the 129 interlock bullets. I have used that bullet for years in my Sweede with excellent on game performance. Shoot you current ammo up on targets.

Why are you using that bullet for those ranges?

Like you, I wasn't pleased with the 143 eldx performance on a couple of deer last year. Deer were recovered but the bullet performance was not what I was expecting.

I tried Nosler's 129 ABLR bullet (reload) and it's performance has been great on deer.

I'm shooting 140 Horn interlocks down south. Performance has been like a Partition. Couldn't be happier.

I will mirror what everyone else has said. Change bullets.

I would start with Hornady American Whitetail, 129gr.

So would I.

129gr Hornady American Whitetail

At the range you are hunting, interlocks will be hard to beat. The American Whitetail 129's mentioned above are an excellent recommendation.

However, I suspect your issue is due more to shot placement rather than cartridge or bullet. In my experience, no matter what bullet you use, high shoulder shots typically always result in poor blood trails. If you want a pass through with a solid blood trail you need to be aiming slightly behind the shoulder (armpit), at 1/3 to 1/2 of the way up the torso. This will clip the top arteries of the heart and punch through both lungs.

In factory ammo I like the 125 grain Winchester/Olin Deer Season XP (X65DS) better than any of the Hornady and Remington factory loads that I've used. Plus, the local Wal-Marts sell it for $18.33, less than any other factory load that I've seen, and Winchester/Olin sells a less expensive 125 grain target load (USA65CM) that is loaded to the same velocity and has a similar trajectory profile.

I have shot a few whitetails with the 129 grain Hornady American Whitetail load and think that it is also a good choice, but the Winchester 125 grain factory load shoot a little better in my rifles.

At the range you're hunting, the aforementioned new bullet choices should work well. At the ranges your wife is hunting, she might consider taking up bow hunting.

Scenar 136L over max dose of RL-16.

Very accurate thru Shilen barrel. Scenar performance well documented.

Have not yet killed anything with this load, just started using it near the end of the season.

Buck I did kill was with a 120 NBT out of my 7-08. Worked well, but a Loony has to move on...

DF

Take this for what it’s worth. Bail of newspapers soaked in water for 12 hours. I took the pic at approximately the largest part of the wound channels. All 6.5 creedmoor factory loads.
Clockwise starting from the top left:
Federal Premium 140gr Accubond 22” penetration (top left)
Winchester XP Deer Season 125gr 16” penetration (top right)
Federal Premium 130gr Berger 16” penetration (bottom right)
Hornady ELDM 120gr 16” penetration (bottom left)

120 Barnes, shoot them dead center in the shoulders, done deal.

Nothing wrong with the round at all. Try some 129 Interlocks or 125 Partitions, in my experience they are great on deer. There are others I'd have no qualms about trying, but I haven't yet.

This. I have shot several hundred deer with Interlocks, in several calibers. I love the 129 in 6.5. It hammers deer as well as anything going.

I bought the 6.5CM late in the year, so I haven't hand loaded for it yet. So I shot the Hornady factory ammo with the ELDX bullets in the 6.5CM this past season. 4 deer with broadside double lung shots (all shot in the crease right behind shoulder). All went about 25 yards max. Just about any bullet will work for shots like that.

Typically, Barnes TTSX are all I ever hand load anymore. I have a box of their LRX 127gr to load for a 6.5CM. I also have a .260Rem and will try the same bullets with that chambering, as well as the 120gr. TTSX. I prefer the mono-metal bullets for all around performance. When meat hunting, I typically shoot behind the shoulder and they seem to minimize blood shot meat and always provide a decent exit wound to help with tracking. If I'm trophy hunting, I typically shoot for the shoulder to break bone and they also perform well for that and hold together.

Try the Barnes 127gr LRX factory loads.

I’ve had great luck with them. I’ve shot 3 deer and 2 pigs this season. All have fell in their tracks.

I’ve tried the 143 gr eld-x precision hunters. Very accurate. Just don’t like how they don’t give a good blood trail.

I’ve had to look for deer. Though when cleaning the deer the insides are jellied.

I shoot behind the shoulder.

Shot in the shoulder instead of behind

I hunt with a 6.5x284 Norma, the 129gr Hornady SST or interlock are hard to beat ( bang flop ) !!!!

I've been very pleased with the 140gr Sierra GameKings in my CM.

GameKings are good bullets, I use the 150’s in my 308.

How about terminal performance, best load...

DF

129 interlock,125 partition or 130 accubond or my personal fav at the moment in my 260 rem is the 120 ballistic tip. ALL will give you the results that you desire.
Big Ed

^^^^^ This. ^^^^^

I picked up several different boxes of factory ammo to shoot and get to know my rifle with when I first got my 6.5 Creedmoor. The Winchester Deer Season XP 125gr printed the first three shots the rifle ever took into a 0.74” group. I’ve actually had a couple more groups from that box that went a touch tighter than that.

I know four guys who have shot game with the Winchester Deer Season XP factory ammo: one with a 6.5 Creedmoor (two Mule Deer bucks), a 7-08 (one Mule Deer buck), a .270 Win (five whitetail does, a whitetail buck and a cow elk), and a .300 WSM (two Mule Deer bucks). At ranges from 35 yards to just under 400 yards, they all got DRTs. BTW, the cow elk was at a LRF 312 yards.

Lots of very good reports of this bullet’s performance on game other than these. In fact, I’m leaning toward using it on Deer next year, even the the 142 ABLR shoots a little bit better in my rifle.

That said, if you want to shoot factory ammo for deer at 6.5 Creedmoor speeds, I’d buy a box each of Winchester Deer Season XP 125s, a box of Hornady American Whitetail 129s and a box of Federal Fusion 140s and see what each of those rifles likes best. All three will be excellent on Deer.

Terminal performance has been excellent... great wound channels, full penetration. Most deer and pigs have been dead within a second or two, literally. Accuracy is excellent - sub 1/2MOA groups are pretty normal. 42.4gr H4350, Hornady brass, F210.

I hunt similar sized deer in Sc....once I started taking my girls with me I put down the 30/06 and started toting a Tiika 25/06 or a Howa 6.5 as they are close to be ready and have been practicing.

While the girls are not ready yet, I have gone through a lot of research on factory bullet performance at ranges from 50-200yrds...I also had to change where I shot the deer with these super fast smaller rounds.

Basically American whitetail 129 gr bullets and pin the front shoulders out of a 6.5 will drop them right there....behind the shoulders and they run 100 yards plus

I think the factories are still missing the boat a little with the 6.5CM. I think a good 100gr bullet going 3100-3200 would be great for deer.

There's a great 100gr. bullet Cutting Edge Bullets ESP Raptor.....https://cuttingedgebullets.com/264-6-5mm-100gr-esp-raptor

No problem getting 3200 fps

I think even a 85-90 gr. copper or brass bullet with be good....

Sorry, talking about factory ammo. I realize it wasn't obvious in my post.

The CEB Raptor is a very interesting bullet, sort of a mono rendition of the Partition. The petals spin off, the core bores on thru. And, they're very accurate.

Expensive, but how many do you actually shoot at game. Practice with cheaper bullets.

Different caliber, different round, but demonstrates CEB Raptor terminal performance. Young sow, chest shot on purpose to show what the bullet can do. Usually chest shot hogs run, but this one was DRT. Looks like the petals spun off and chewed up the spine, which was not in direct line of flight of the bullet.

Rifle, a Kimber Classic with Broughton 5C SS barrel. Amazing how those Kimbers shoot with a good barrel...

Check out the speed and low SD/ES with Varget. Fed 210 primer.

DF

There ya go.

Yeah, my 257R is a real WT killer, 100 TTSX at 3,250 fps over H-100V.

Not much difference with that load and your Creed load.

DF

Hammer bullets are designed to behave similarly, but there's not plastic tip. They make a 99gr and a 110gr offering.
https://hammerbullets.com/product-tag/264-6-5mm/

Switch to Barnes TTSX... great on game performance and penetration from the muzzle to 1800 FPS... no lead in your burgers next year either...

Most 6.5CM factory ammo using heavier bullets than you need and lack for speed. Nosler loads 120gr BTs. The 125gr Winchester load would be the other appropriate choice for Southern deer.

My brother killed a buck last week with his 6.5 creed shooting WInchester Deer Season. BangFLop at 70 yards

I'm shooting the 140 Sierra Gameking and have had nothing but great success with that bullet. Drop in their tracks and blood all over the place.

100gr TTSX 3000+ FPS, square in the shoulder. Done.