6.5 Creedmoor for hunting

[CBH Australia]

Please,don't take it too seriously.
But the image cannot be completely dismissed

We need a Eew emoji

 

[shark_za]

PS, my mate shot two Eland in two years with his creedmore and 140gr S&B bullets.

A big bull in the neck and a small cow in the lungs, both less than 50m in the Bushveld.
It can work.

But a load with the 156gr Oryx at 2500fps is magic for anything in the bush. This is the same as I load in my 6.5x55 and will be happy to shoot anything short of a large Eland Bull.

 

[Mauser78]

PS, my mate shot two Eland in two years with his creedmore and 140gr S&B bullets.

A big bull in the neck and a small cow in the lungs, both less than 50m in the Bushveld.
It can work.

But a load with the 156gr Oryx at 2500fps is magic for anything in the bush. This is the same as I load in my 6.5x55 and will be happy to shoot anything short of a large Eland Bull.

For big game I will use the 375, i am more interested in what Medium size at longer distance will be safe. The 156gr is a very good bullet for the bush. And my daughter is 11, so i might want her to use it also.

 

[shark_za]

I have shot black wildebeest at around 200m with the Swede, the long 6.5 bullets do better than you think.
I think the line is something like Gemsbok in the dunes. But even then a well placed shot will do.

 

[Mauser78]

I have shot black wildebeest at around 200m with the Swede, the long 6.5 bullets do better than you think.
I think the line is something like Gemsbok in the dunes. But even then a well placed shot will do.

yes i think Black and Red wildebeest will be fine up to 300m, Gemsbok in Karoo but for Kalahari where it should more than likely be 300m plus i would rather take the 375H&H

 

[Philip Glass]

It will work great on the medium sized game. The problem I have is the damage I see from these calibers/their popular bullets. I shoot deer with the Creed from time to time. We took my wife's 6.5 PRC along on a safari a couple years back. The exit wounds on Springbuck were unacceptable for me with the ELDX bullets. These were clean behind the shoulder shots. I'll just stick with my .300 because it kills the bigger stuff and with Barnes it does not do too much damage.

 

[AZDAVE]

The basic problem was all the hype the gun writers heaped on it as the wonder round that could take anything out to 1000. Beliveing them is like believing the press and politicians . My road to a 6.5 creedmoore was paved with 6.5x54 and 55 is shot as a young man. Then a buddy that was a bench rest shooter gave me 2500 rounds of once fired brass. So logistics drove the purchase of a creed. In my opinion it is a good deer and antelope round. Blesbok and smaller in Africa. In the states have shot deer and varmitis, in Africa the largest is an vaalie.

What gets most folks in trouble with wounded game in the creedmoore is poor bullet choices. So many of the current 6.5 bullets are designed for match paper and steel not hunting.

Based on my observations at the range the man bun crowd have migrated to 25lbs 6mm target rigs because the 6.5 creedmoore kicks to much

 

[shark_za]

Id be interesting in your results with the GameChanger tipped bullet.
Target bullets for hunting is the downfall of the Creed like Mr Glass says.

We hunt for meat so losing a large percentage of a small Springbuck is an issue.

 

[Daggaboy375]

It’s a 6.5 diameter at 2800ish.
Case is immaterial.

DB

 

[Russ16]

It will work great on the medium sized game. The problem I have is the damage I see from these calibers/their popular bullets. I shoot deer with the Creed from time to time. We took my wife's 6.5 PRC along on a safari a couple years back. The exit wounds on Springbuck were unacceptable for me with the ELDX bullets. These were clean behind the shoulder shots. I'll just stick with my .300 because it kills the bigger stuff and with Barnes it does not do too much damage.

I have to say I’ve never understood this thought process. Damage is part of what kills. I’ll sacrifice a little meat for a quick kill.

 

[Mauser78]

It will work great on the medium sized game. The problem I have is the damage I see from these calibers/their popular bullets. I shoot deer with the Creed from time to time. We took my wife's 6.5 PRC along on a safari a couple years back. The exit wounds on Springbuck were unacceptable for me with the ELDX bullets. These were clean behind the shoulder shots. I'll just stick with my .300 because it kills the bigger stuff and with Barnes it does not do too much damage.

100% true, i saw the same on other guys with 143 Eldx. That is why I went with the Gamechangers from the start.

 

[Mauser78]

I have to say I’ve never understood this thought process. Damage is part of what kills. I’ll sacrifice a little meat for a quick kill.

We pay for every gram of meat, so a better bullet with less damage make sense. There is no free hunting for us, and we hunt for meat. A springbok only weighs 35-45 lbs.

 

[Throwback]

Ok, i do know there are other calibers that can do the same, that the Creed is a target round ext. no i do not plan to have a man bun, or wear a bra.
I needed a rifle for Springbuck and Blesbuck hunting in South Africa for up to 400-500 meters.
I am loading 130gr Sierra GameChangers, and the rifle is a Mauser M18.
What have you hunted with a creed? What will you be comfortable to hunt with it?

I dont know that bullet from first hand experience but I think you are fine with that set up for those specifc animals, shooting from the prone position hopefully at that distance.

My son and I took a 6.5 Creedmoor and a 300WM to S. Africa on our first trip. It worked fine on Impala, but he did have to shoot his Blesbok three times. All were well placed shots. We use that ELD-X 143 grain. He reached for the 300WM every time after that Blesbok stalk.

All that said, I personally think the caliber is a good balance of light recoil and lethality, if you are using a good round, imo ELD-X, A-Frames, Hammers, TTSX, etc. It is great for younger and/or people starting out hunting. Many rounds for it buck the wind very, very well and it can reach out there without much recoil. 1000 yards at steel all day long if you want.

My son killed an Axis deer here in Texas at 327 yards with one shot from his 6.5 CRM (the situation did not allow us to get closer as we normally try to do). He has also killed many hogs and coyote with it. Again, he will be the first to tell you he prefers the 300WM for most everything.

The 6.5 CRM is a great tool for certain jobs, but it is not an all around tool imo. A 300WM or a 375 (H&H or Ruger) are all around tools more so, depending on the rounds used. For what you asked, it will work fine but I wouldnt use it on bigger animals. Cheers

 

[Mauser78]

TGK is the same as Gamechanger

 

[shark_za]

Shooting 140gr GameKings only do well in the damage department if the impacts are over 150m away.
If you shoot anything closer it does make a mess.

 

[Mauser78]

Shooting 140gr GameKings only do well in the damage department if the impacts are over 150m away.
If you shoot anything closer it does make a mess.

The TGK is a bit tougher than the Normal game king, and pretty nice BC, 130 and 140gr
On paper anyways, havent used it on animals yet.

 

[rdog]

Ok, i do know there are other calibers that can do the same, that the Creed is a target round ext. no i do not plan to have a man bun, or wear a bra.
I needed a rifle for Springbuck and Blesbuck hunting in South Africa for up to 400-500 meters.
I am loading 130gr Sierra GameChangers, and the rifle is a Mauser M18.
What have you hunted with a creed? What will you be comfortable to hunt with it?

Any thing you could shoot with a 260 REM OR A 6.5X55 WITH A 140 OR 130 GRAIN BULLET you could shoot with 6.5 CM.

 

[CBH Australia]

Any thing you could shoot with a 260 REM OR A 6.5X55 WITH A 140 OR 130 GRAIN BULLET you could shoot with 6.5 CM.

You can load up all the same projectiles but the concept of the 6.5 Creedmoor was to optimise the cartridge to use a high BC projectile for n a low recoil round for target shooting.

The .260 rem has a larger case and my gunsmith says a 6.5x55 in a modern action will outperform them all with a full load

 

[Jagerrand]

We shot impala, Nyala and Bushbuck with 6.5 CM 143 grain eldx. Killed all three. Bullets recovered in 2 of the three and both were complete jacket and core separation. So successful but concerning. I am now shooting a bonded cartridge's from Norma in the whitetail line. Shot a whitetail this fall at about 80 yards, DRT, no bullet recovered.

 

[Daisy]

I am local, so we hunt a bit different than what you would find in Africa.

A normal driven springbuck hunt over here is 8-10 guns in the field, we hunt for meat, not trophy’s. The are is flat with zero scrub above knee hight, you have a hunting chair, and if the animals are in your area you must shoot to keep them moving. Otherwise nobody gets any anamals.
Not my favourite type of hunting, but its the only way in that area, and it is a specialised type of hunting with chairs, rifles for long range shots, high power scopes ext. i would put it in the same league as your varmit shooting. So shots can be close, or it can be 400-500 yards.
Its more like live target shooting and “hunting” in the traditional sense. Also you are only in the field one, maybe 2 days, and 50-80 animals is shot in that time, so it is something different, but the only way for a verry big part of the country. I come from limpopo and live in Cape town now, so this is the “normal” type of hunting for us here otherwise you need to travel 700-1200 miles.

so that sounds very cool and I would love to try it!

However. The average traveling hunter won’t experience anything like that. 99.9% won’t run out of distance with a 6.5cm.