6.5mm bullets, enough for Elk?

[Brent]

Just to throw out some other ideas since you seem to like the 30s, take a look at 30/06 with the 215 Bergers. You should be able to get 2600 FPS out of them. Assuming 1000 ft elevation, that leaves you at 1700 FPS with 1400 FPE all the way out to 800 yards. The .696 BC makes it VERY flat shooting. The lower MV actually helps performance with the Bergers.


Good point here for sure from Tarheel. At some point the bigger pills begin to equal or better the 6.5 for certain applications. There is always a trade off in every relm of this process. If you look at the experts view of the 6.5 from 140-160 grain pills the sectional density of these bullets is very impressive. That SD is one thing that helps the bullet perform well on game. If we use the 140-160 line of bullets and look at G1 from .613 to .685 you can see that these carry some decent numbers. There is no debate that the bigger the pill launched at a higher velocity is going to be better. The question is if the 6.5 is enough for elk? It appears it is and in europe it is the primary caliber for everything, including moose. I think the main issue is how far to do truely expect to shoot an elk then pick the caliber and chambering that gets you safely into that range.

[Tarheelpwr]

Good point here for sure from Tarheel. At some point the bigger pills begin to equal or better the 6.5 for certain applications. There is always a trade off in every relm of this process. If you look at the experts view of the 6.5 from 140-160 grain pills the sectional density of these bullets is very impressive. That SD is one thing that helps the bullet perform well on game. If we use the 140-160 line of bullets and look at G1 from .613 to .685 you can see that these carry some decent numbers. There is no debate that the bigger the pill launched at a higher velocity is going to be better. The question is if the 6.5 is enough for elk? It appears it is and in europe it is the primary caliber for everything, including moose. I think the main issue is how far to do truely expect to shoot an elk then pick the caliber and chambering that gets you safely into that range.

Agreed. I think the 6.5 is enough if you consider all the limitations of it and pick your shots/placement accordingly. I know I've seen people shoot elk with a 6.5-284 out to near 1000yd and drop them with 140 VLDs, but that's just not what I would choose to do. Nothing wrong with different opinions.

On that same note, I think it is more responsible to poke a bigger hole in an animal that large when possible. 30/06 is not obnoxious recoil wise. If ranges are going to be close, I like .308 better than 6.5s. Frontal area is very often overlooked in the quest for BC/SD. Yes, those are both important, but BC is pretty meaningless out to reasonable hunting ranges; well, not meaningless, but VERY much over valued. BC really matters at range for wind.

I honestly don't see enough of a difference in 6.5s running at 2800 fps and the 270 he already has buzzing along over 3000FPS. I could be overthinking everything though. Just seems like I would want to go up to 7mm (280 AI in LA or 284 in SA) or up to a 30 cal if I wanted something built specifically for elk. I would not go DOWN to a 6.5 if elk was the main reason for a build.

[FEENIX]

I know this an older post but the Matrix 150 (preferred)/160 VLDs are getting very good reviews and actual results afield in the LRH side.

[Tarheelpwr]

I know this an older post but the Matrix 150 (preferred)/160 VLDs are getting very good reviews and actual results afield in the LRH side.

do you have info on the 150/160s? I'm only showing 129, 142, and 160 on the site. At a surface glance, the 160's don't get enough of a BC boost to outweight the speed drop.