6.5 creedmoor for whitetails?

All,
My wife use to use a 243, which all though she never lost a deer with that cartridge, she did have some close calls. What I mean by this is for example, she once shot a buck who was trotting through, about 100 yards away. She did not wait for the buck to stop and She shot and swore she hit the deer. I found exactly where the deer was walking (the ground had a light covering of snow) and could not find one drop of blood in a 30 yard circle around where the deer was shot. I then asked her where it ran. We trailed about 75 yards until we hit a patch of ground where there was no more snow and could no longer see where the deer was going. Again, still no blood so now I'm thinking it was a clean miss. My nephew was walking down the hill towards us and points at a bush about 10 yards away from me and says " there is your buck". The buck literally died in the middle of this bush and all you could see was one leg sticking out. Had my nephew not seen it, we would have left thinking she missed the deer. Turns out the hit was a good hit in the lungs. A touch high but still well within the lung kill zone and was double lunged. The bullet did not exit and the entrance hole (being a 243 size) barely had a drop of blood coming out of it. I personally am a proponent of 2 holes is better than 1 and the larger the caliber (within reason) the better BUT that being said, we decided to step up to a 7mm08. She has killed a few deer since with that rifle and the performance has been amazing. Mostly drt and almost all with exits. That is where the story goes bad again. Last year, she had a deer come on her off side so she decided to try shooting at it lefty out of a treestand. Needless to say, she did not have a proper grip and she was scoped...ended up fracturing her nose. Now she has become a touch recoil shy due to this. I had her shooting all summer and she seems to be ok BUT we have transitioned her to custom handloads which are on the lower end of 7mm08 recoil using 120 grain bullets and varget powder. She is near the bottom end of the load value for varget and this leads to a very low recoil load but the bullet still performs excellent on deer, so far. She has 2 deer under her belt this year. Both exits with nice holes and the deer did not go far. So here is the deal, she has a backup savage lady hunter which I'm about to rebarrel since it shoots terrible. I am thinking instead of rebarreling to 7mm08, to instead have it barreled for 6.5creedmoor for several reasons. One, it is still a very low recoiling round and a 120 grain bullet out of that would have a bit better ballistics than a 120 out of a 7mm08 although she does not shoot extreme long range anyway so it does not really matter I guess. Two, 6.5creedmoor is a cool round and ive personally wanted to add one to the stable. Three, our child could someday start out hunting with that instead of a 243. My fear about going to 6.5cm though is that I don't want to be back to where we were with the 243 where some shots were debatable with whitetails. Is the 6.5 a really effective whitetail round OR is it just marginal like the 243? Again, this is her backup rifle. Her primary is the 7mm08 (she loves that rifle). This rifle will only be used occasionally unless she ends up loving it for some reason. Thanks.

The 6.5 creed and 7mm-08 are almost identical when it comes to down range energy. I currently shoot the 143 ELD-X out of my .260 Rem (6.5 Creed predecessor) and am very happy with it's accuracy. I haven't used it on any game yet however, as it is my long range steel ringer/varmint duster, and my back up rifle for deer and Elk. I know it's not the 120 grain bullet, but it seems that Hornady only makes a "hunting" bullet in that weight. Here is an actual real world review of that 143 ELD-X, hope it helps make your decision.... Also, since you're having a custom barrel made, why not have it threaded and put a muzzle brake on it for her.... Criterion barrels will do it all for you... Just sayin...

Edit: Hornady does make a 120 GMX (Solid copper) and a 120 SST... I believe both are considered "hunting" bullets??

http://panhandleprecision.com/hornad...rformance-test

The 6.5 Creedmoor is ideal for whitetail. I shoot a .260 Rem and it is just a hair more flexible for reloading than the 6.5 Creedmoor (debatable, I know, but Savage loved us and gave it a longer magazine, throat and proper twist than Remington started with). Truly, the 6.5 x 55 mm, .260 Rem, 6.5 Creedmoor and even the 7mm-08 are in that perfect little niche for whitetail. And the .264" bullets have had the latest and greatest design work in the last decade. Next year I plan on playing with the 130 gr Sierra Tipped Game-King for whitetail and coyote. And then there are all the Barnes monolithic bullets. So many good choices!

With a 130 gr bullet it will do the job on any whitetail. If you reload you might want to try the 125 gr Nosler Partition, or just buy Nosler cartridges, or that 130 gr STGK. I 'm shooting a 143 gr Hornady ELD-X which is more than necessary for the whitetail I hunt, but I'd rather punch on through than not.

I've owned .243 and .308 Win and the .260 Rem is closer to the .243 than the .308 recoil wise. Never owned a 7mm-08.

You might also want to look into te eye-relief measurements for scopes. I' wear eyeglasses and have found Nikons to keep their distance even with Butler Creek flip-caps. I keep to 4x to 5x for deer hunting (more light gathering at dawn and dusk). 3-9x40mm is plenty for my hunting needs. I'm ready for that 350 yard shot, but last year a buck came in from behind and at 10 paces I had a scope full of brown when I shot.

https://i.imgur.com/pUWb7T7.jpg

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Originally Posted by SageRat Shooter

The 6.5 creed and 7mm-08 are almost identical when it comes to down range energy. I currently shoot the 143 ELD-X out of my .260 Rem (6.5 Creed predecessor) and am very happy with it's accuracy. I haven't used it on any game yet however, as it is my back up rifle for deer and Elk. I know it's not the 120 grain bullet, but it seems that Hornady only makes a "hunting" bullet in that weight. Here is an actual real world review of that 143 ELD-X, hope it helps make your decision.... Also, since you're having a custom barrel made, why not have it threaded and put a muzzle brake on it for her.... Criterion barrels will do it all for you... Just sayin...

Edit: Hornady does make a 120 GMX (Solid copper) and a 120 SST... I believe both are considered "hunting" bullets??

http://panhandleprecision.com/hornad...rformance-test

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I was looking at the 120 GMX, the 120 Barnes TTSX, and the Nosler 120 e-tip. All are solid copper so should hopefully give good penetration with decent expansion. That being said I have seen some ~130 grain bullets which also look nice.

The thing about the muzzle brake is I do not think it is the recoil itself giving her a little flinch but more just her memory of the incident along with the blast of the rifle. We also tend to not wear hearing protection since rifle season is during very cold times where we are wearing winter hats and face masks which make it very difficult to hear anyways. Yes these are not wonderful at hearing protection but they do help more than you would think and 1 to 2 shots a year should be ok in open woods. That being said, it would hurt to have it threaded because who knows, maybe we will switch to hearing protection and if she can use a brake...great!

I'm a big fan of the Barnes TTSX (I use the 168 gr. in my 30-06 for Elk). I will say that it is a dang solid bullet and cloverleaves just like it does on the box. However, I will say that you may run into a similar situation with blood trail... I shot a 5x5 Bull elk right thru the heart from 150 yards out and it barely left a few drops of blood for me to follow. It was so bad that I thought I had "missed" too. Luckily he piled up on a deadfall log about 250 yards from where I shot him. Bullet was recovered on the far side scapula just under the skin; retained weight was 160 grains and was only missing one of the 4 petals on the cloverleaf.

The Brake was just a thought to reduce recoil for her and it sounds like you tree stand hunt mostly... I can say that it is my favorite rifle to shoot now, so she may fall in love with it...

I picked up a 6.5 last year to start target shooting , haven't hunted with it , but ive been folowling a few facebook groups , 6.5 creedmoor and creedmoor nation , and the guys are just piling up deer with that round, predominantly with the 143 eld-x , most all drt , I am totally surprised on the growth of popularity over the past year , hope this helps out a little

I have 2 Savage model 10's ,1 in 6.5 Creedmoor and 1 in .260 Remington A.I. I just returned from a 9 day hunt for mule deer in north central Montana and I can tell you after 4 downed animals there is a power difference between those 2 shells. The .260 slapped a big buck hit in the chest,he went down now. The 6.5 let the doe walk away about 80 yards before falling,hit in the same spot. All deer hit with Hornady 140 SST hand loads w/ H4831sc powder and CCI primers. 6.5 using a maximum load and the .260 was using a fire forming standard .260 Remington maximum load. Seeing is believing and the damage difference inside the deer between the 2 shells was impressive. My 2 cents worth.

There will be a lot of anecdotal evidence of folks dogging on a cartridge or bullet because those that are successful with it are too busy butchering. Loud minority type situation. Between my wife and I, we are now into double digit animals over the last two years with the creed and ELD-X’s. Wouldn’t change a thing. It’s nice for your weapon to be the last thing you are worried about.


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Long story short, the Creed is legit for whitetails. Id feel confident taking mine with a 127 LRX up against elk. Gotta remember the 6.5 Sweede has taken a LOT of reindeer in the past 100 or so years, and well, the Creed is essentially a modernized, pseudo-Ackley'ed Sweede. That said, I've never had a deer care if they were shot with a 6.5 Creedmoor, 30-30, 308, or 30-06.
On the availability side, 6.5 CM passes the "Walmart test" in that ammo is diverse and plentiful and about 60% the cost of 7-08 or 260 Rem... if you can find what you want on the shelf.

If she is recoil shy, have you considered a few ways to reduce the felt recoil? One way that I've used is to install a Grac BreakO in the stock. It is a tube of Mercury that goes in the stock. Works pretty well. The next thing to do is to either get the barrel threaded if it is thick enough, or to get a threaded barrel and put a muzzle break. You'll need to hunt with hearing protection for sure, but you're wife shouldn't have to worry about recoil anymore. The best thing IMO is to purchase a suppressor, but you'll have to check your start laws to see if you can hunt with one.

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Originally Posted by psharon97

If she is recoil shy, have you considered a few ways to reduce the felt recoil? One way that I've used is to install a Grac BreakO in the stock. It is a tube of Mercury that goes in the stock. Works pretty well. The next thing to do is to either get the barrel threaded if it is thick enough, or to get a threaded barrel and put a muzzle break. You'll need to hunt with hearing protection for sure, but you're wife shouldn't have to worry about recoil anymore. The best thing IMO is to purchase a suppressor, but you'll have to check your start laws to see if you can hunt with one.

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Long story short, she is getting over being recoil shy. I rarely see her flinch and when she does we stop shooting for the day. I should have stated, I wanted to keep recoil as low as possible with still allowing effective kills on deer out to 350 yards. I loaded her some 7mm08 120 nosler ballistics tips and some varget powder on the lower charge weight side. This yielded a bullet going about 2700-2800fps. She shot those a lot and loves them. She they shot a few factory loads of 140grain 7mm08 rounds and she could not believe how much harder they kicked. She still shot those very accurately but I could see it in her eyes she definitely had more confidence in the lighter loads I had made which are very much in line with a 120grain 6.5 creedmoor near/at max loading offerings. If recoil remains similar then we should not have a problem at all. I just didn't want to be back in the situation as the 243 which occasionally yielded sub optimal deer harvests even with decent broadside shots (higher in the lungs but still double lungs).

A slightly larger caliber is still not going to make up for bad shot placement. Your lack of confidence of a 243 being a deer cartridge is laughable.

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Originally Posted by psharon97

The best thing IMO is to purchase a suppressor, but you'll have to check your start laws to see if you can hunt with one.

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I agree wholeheartedly. Suppressor on a 6.5 would be pleasant to shoot and most certainly help cure a flinch. I don't deer hunt, and have not in many years. However, the few deer that I did shoot was all with a .243 Browning BLR. I have shot some deer, with excellent shot placement I might add, run a bit. A couple I thought I had made a bad shot, but found not far away....no blood, just had to zig zag and look to find the deer. So, yeah, I can understand wanting something a bit more. I have a 6.5 Creedmoor I added a Shilen bull barrel to a 12FV and only target shot with it. I like it, and would not hesitate to try that cartridge on deer if I still hunted. I see no reason why it would not be excellent on deer and at least hit a bit harder than the .243.

I have only shot one deer with my 6.5 creedmoor and it seemed to do just fine. My little brother just got his boy a 6.5 creedmoor this year and his boy got one, and he got 3. only one ran more than 20 feet and there was plenty of blood trail the 25 yards that it went. All of them were shot with the 143 ELD-X and the recoil is pretty light.

Personally, if she is shooting out of a stand most of the time, then I would go with a heavy sporter barrel in a 6.5 creedmoor and live with the extra pound of weight. The extra weight will reduce the felt recoil and increase the number of consecutive rounds before the heat starts throwing shots. IMO, it is a win-win.

The 6.5 Creedmoor is a very nice deer round.

.260 Rem did the job this evening. 160 yards Hornady 143 gr ELD-X on top if 39.6 gr IMR 4451. Pass through rib-to-rib (might have caught a little scapula as well) double lung and I watched him pile up 60 yards down the hill. Love that. Can't see the entrance wound and the exit is 1-1/2". Image is exit side. Lots of blood spray waist high on trees.

https://i.imgur.com/C6OjcUd.jpg

Pretty deer. Good job.

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Originally Posted by BB68

A slightly larger caliber is still not going to make up for bad shot placement. Your lack of confidence of a 243 being a deer cartridge is laughable.

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Laugh all you want. She has been hunting since she was 14, much longer than me. Her shot placement is spot on. She has approximately 60 deer or so to her name during that time. About 15-20 of those have been with the 243 from 50 yards out to 450 yards. All were recovered so yes does the 243 work... of course. A handful of those had very less than desirable tracking jobs, 3 of which I was a part of. The problem is she rarely gets an exit no matter which bullets we have tried. So unless the shot is a lower heart shot, sometimes it takes awhile for the animal to bleed out the little tiny pin hole entrance and you literally have no blood on the ground. Again, we have found all the deer but she was tired of not having exits, especially on broadside shots! Since she switched to a 7mm08, she has only had 1 deer not have an exit and that was on a hard quartering away shot where the bullet lodged into the front shoulder. She has shot about 8 deer to date with the 7mm08 2 of which were using lower charge powder 120 grain bullet loads (both of which were full pass throughs). So laugh all you want, to me...the 243 is marginal on our larger northern whitetails.

I have a 260 that i deer hunt with and have had good luck with 120gr Sierra 1720's. Several years ago I had shoulder surgery and couldn't take the recoil of my old model 70 in 30-06 so after searching around bought the 260. It's a very light recoiling rifle and unless it's loaded hot I believe pretty much any woman or kid could shoot it fine. I've never really been a fan of a 243 on deer, yes I know they account for thousands of deer a year but so do cars and I don't like hunting with them either. lol

Hi everyone, I just joined this forum, me and a couple of Savages...

Anything 6mm and up has been historically great for whitetails in general. I am sure 6.5 is just fine within reason. I personally hunt with a 308, because where I am the distance is 100-200y very typical and some brush in the way as the norm too so I feel better with a heavier bullet. On the Island where I used to live we commonly saw deer at 25-50y and 243 or even 223 is just about perfect, light bush rifle with a light recoil is great. I have taken Island mulies ( little black tails) with a 224. It's whatever does the job. I like to have different cals for different terrain. Hill country and Desert Mulies I hunt with 270, our local Whitetails with a 308, Island game with smaller caliber, its kind a fun gives me a chance to use different guns in the field. I have no personal experience with 6.5 Creed I see them at the range and I see most people choosing that caliber are shooting targets but whatever , its got good ballistics for hitting targets but I would personally be cautious shooting at anything deer size passed 200y, but I would be curious to see how this caliber does in a hunting rifle.

I'd have no qualms about taking a 6.5 CM (or .260 Rem) out to 400 yards on whitetail. Both still have plenty of energy to expand and kill efficiently.

Well, seems to me she has the perfect combo. I always liked my 7mm-08 (Rem 788). I bought it for deer hunting back in the mid-80's. I still think it is a great all around hunting round. Didn't hurt anything that my little rifle could shoot MOA almost every time. It is one of the rifles I regret selling.

Its about equal to the 7mm-08 but a lot less recoil, i have owned both so im not just reading what someone else has said. I've also had a 250 savage which has hardly any recoil but also doesn't exit and the 6.5 doesn't kick much more than that

I've used several calibers over the years, 303 Savage, 30-06, 270 Win. short mag., 7mm-08, 243 and what is my current favorite 260 Rem using 120gr Nosler Ballistic Tips. Works great on whitetails for me and if I didn't already have one (260) I'd be very interested in the 6.5 Creedmore as a deer rifle. I'd also suggest a muzzle break if you're rebarreling. Good luck with it.

Having said that, I've had deer run 60-70 yards after heart shots with 130 gr. 270 short mag. and drop in their tracks with hits with 100 gr. Powerpoints out of a 243. But I thnk you can't go wrong with the 6.5 Creedmore.

I've shot deer with just about all of the above, 243, 260, 6.5 creed, 7-08, and all make bang flops. My favorite is still my 25-06, never have I even had to look for a deer all have been drt and well over 30 deer anywhere from 150-225 pound dressed. All about bullet placement and how comfortable she is with the rifle

I bowhunt and I don't mind a blood trail. With firearms I do what I can to avoid bones other than ribs coming and going, terming for both lungs and perhaps the heart. I'd rather walk 60 yards than loose a shoulder of meat.

Surprisingly I have had deer drop in their tracks with a roundball from a muzzleloader. The WORST possible sectional density and ballistic coefficient . . . but it goes in making a 0.54" hole and spends all the energy in the deer.

One was a frontal shot while I was sitting on the ground. The ball went in through the heart and lodged under the skin on the back side of a femur. 32" of penetration! The buck reared on on his hind legs and then collapsed.

First of all, the 6.5 Cm and 7-08 are both really great whitetail cartridges with moderate/light recoil, but so is the .243. I know you have lost faith in the .243, but have you considered the tougher bullets in all three cartridges? I shoot Nosler 95 grain Ballistic Tips and get full pass throughs. If I didn't I would load a Barnes TTSX. In 7-08 I shoot 120 grain Nosler BTs. It is also a tough bullet. So far in 6.5 CM I am shooting Hornady 129 grain soft points. The recoil from 7-08 bullets in 120 grains and 140 grains is more than one would expect. For me the deciding factor in rebarreling would be that 6.5 CM ammo is the most accurate factory ammo I have ever shot and is usually more inexpensive than 7-08 ammo by a good margin.

I’ve hunted for a few yrs with a 6mm rem. 100 grain nosler partitions are fantastic. Never had one not go thru and do its job. But all deer shot less than 100 yds.

Consider a 257 roberts as well. Esp since you hand load. That will be my next gun. I like small caliber stuff.

I dont see how a 6.5 will be any better than a 7-08. Recoil wise bout the same imo. Either weigh the gun down, muzzle break it or get a slug gun scope with 4+ inch eye relief.

Hornady factory rounds, velocity/energy at muzzle, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500yds.

6.5CM 129 Interbond:

2820/2277, 2615/1959, 2419/1676, 2232/1427, 2053/1207, 1882/1015

6.5CM Precision Hunter 143 ELD-X:

2700/2315, 2557/2076, 2419/1858, 2285/1658, 2156/1475, 2030/1308

7-08 139 Interbond:

2840/2489, 2608/2098, 2387/1758, 2177/1463, 1978/1207, 1790/989

7-08 Precision Hunter 150 ELD-X:

2770/2555, 2613/2274, 2461/2018, 2315/1784, 2173/1573, 2037/1381

243 100gn Interlock:

2960/1945, 2729/1653, 2509/1398, 2300/1175, 2101/980, 1912/812

243 Precision Hunter 90 ELD-X:

3150/1983, 2911/1693, 2685/1440, 2469/1219, 2264/1024, 2069/855

Generally accepted "minimum required energy" to effectively dispatch deer sized game is 1000ft lbs. They are ALL adequate for whitetail deer assuming shooter can do the job.

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Originally Posted by Orr89rocz

I don't see how a 6.5 will be any better than a 7-08. Recoil wise bout the same imo.

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I agree. And vice-versa. Under 400 yards the 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 x 55mm, 6.5.x 57mm, .260 Rem and 7mm-08 all run in the same pack. We're talking 0.02" difference in bullet diameter.

I have a Bergara B-14 in 6.5CM with the 22 inch barrel. I shot the first deer with it this year that ran 30 yards. The load was a 123gr Hornady SST. The only reason I chose a lighter bullet was the short barrel. While that's not a tough bullet, it went through with a 2 inch hole on the offside taking out lungs and 2 ribs and there was a trail of material to follow. It would have been better if he was farther out. I'd consider taking shots on white tails at my max comfortable range with it. I have to tell you though, I'm pushing them pretty hard as it is a hunting load. Hornady brass only held up for about 4 firings before the pocket loosened up. I'm now trying starline brass with the small pocket so time will tell.

I shoot the 140 game king in my 6.5X55. It's recoil is that of a 243. The only downside is to see the full potential of that cartridge with the heavy bullets, you need 26 inches of tube for the 140 and up with slow powders. I've shot many deer with that rifle and never had to track more than 25 yards. Everyone has an opinion but that is mine based on my experience. YMMV

Steve

Shot quite a few with a 260. No 6.5 CM in my cabinet yet. At first I shot 142 smk because they were accurate as hell and had several people tell me they’d do good on deer. That wasn’t my results. Now we’re using 143 ELDX. Not going to lie, most deer do run after being shot. Much better blood trail to follow and very few lost deer (shot placement). I personally have dedicated my 260 to a target rifle and run the AR 10 308/300 WM/338 LM for deer now. The results with the AR 10 are about equal to the 260 running factory 165 SST. Many deer run but tracking is usually easy and they don’t go very far. The 300 is running a 200 ELDX and that thing is a machine at laying down deer. Of course the 338 Lapua does its job as well but that’s an entirely different animal running 300 gr bullets.

I have shot deer past 600 with the 260. The furthest being 1,121 yards. I wouldn’t consider this gun adequate for any distance like that. There just isn’t enough ft lbs of energy to get the job done ethically IMO

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Originally Posted by hafejd30

Shot quite a few with a 260. No 6.5 CM in my cabinet yet. At first I shot 142 smk because they were accurate as hell and had several people tell me they’d do good on deer. That wasn’t my results. Now we’re using 143 ELDX. Not going to lie, most deer do run after being shot. Much better blood trail to follow and very few lost deer (shot placement). I personally have dedicated my 260 to a target rifle and run the AR 10 308/300 WM/338 LM for deer now. The results with the AR 10 are about equal to the 260 running factory 165 SST. Many deer run but tracking is usually easy and they don’t go very far. The 300 is running a 200 ELDX and that thing is a machine at laying down deer. Of course the 338 Lapua does its job as well but that’s an entirely different animal running 300 gr bullets.

I have shot deer past 600 with the 260. The furthest being 1,121 yards. I wouldn’t consider this gun adequate for any distance like that. There just isn’t enough ft lbs of energy to get the job done ethically IMO

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thanks for the info. The furthest shots on our property are 300 yards and that is in one field and only one shot opportunity at that distance. All other shots will be under 250 yards most being under 100 yards. I am thinking of using the new Hammer bullets, specifically the 117 or the 124 grain sledge hammers. They should expand pretty fast but are solid copper bullets so should also penetrate deep yielding pass throughs most of the time. Using these lighter bullets I should be able to get speeds in the 2900fps range out of the 21in custom barrel I ordered which will allow for a relatively flat trajectory out to 250 yards. Hope it kills deer just fine haha

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...be1be9927f.jpg

Here is mine I shot with a creedmoor this year. Only a 100 yard shot but my dad has killed a few at 300+ nothing long range yet. Shooting a 143 grain ELD-X


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If recoil is the reason for the change get the calculator and do the mathe for both caliber/loads. I would consider adding weight to the rifle via heavier stock, barrel, or both if it's a practical solution.

My Daughter has used the 6.5 creed for the last 6 years . She started with when she was 12 and is now 18 , and has killed deer up to 300 yards with it . I hand load her 130gr nosler accubond for it and she has never lost a deer with the load . The recoil has never been a factor for her , its not much more than a 243 in my opinion. I have also killed a few deer with it and it has always preformed very well. Most of the time they are DRT only a few have made it 30-40 yards.

I hunt with a 116ww in 6.5x284 norma it drops them in there tracks, 129gr Hornady SST BANG FLOP !!!!!