Which bullet for deer for 6.5CM inside 400 yards?

Sounds like several of us have some bad real life experiences with the 143 ELD-X. Mine was a 185 yard slightly-quartering away shot on a doe. She was DRT, with a broken off-shoulder and no exit wound. I could feel some SMALL pieces of the bullet under the skin on the off-side and it took me a while to find the entrance hole, because there was not a drop of blood anywhere. It's a good thing she was DRT, because tracking would have been impossible. Seconds after the first deer, I shot another doe at 195 yards - DRT with a neck shot. Small entrance hole and 3" exit with a shattered vertebrae, but definitely not my preferred shot. The ELD-X is an accurate bullet, shooting sub-MOA in my Savage Lightweight hunter, but I think I need to go to a mono-metal to be more certain the bullets hold together, since I also want to hunt hogs with my 6.5 Creed at longer range.

I've only used the ELD-X twice on game. Both whitetail, both taken with a 7-08, both were DRT and both were complete passthroughs. One shot was right at 200 yards and the other was a fairly long poke around 600 yards. Range finder was so cold it wouldn't register but past experience gave me a pretty good ballpark and the deer was stationary and feeding. At those ranges, I couldn't have been happier with the results. Inside 100 yards though and I suspect it's the same as any other soft ballistic tip type bullet.

140 Gamekings have done a great job for me.

5 deer taken this year with my Kimber Mountain Ascent 6.5CM and Hornady ELDX 143gr. (several hunters, young and old) Some jacket separation (as they claim it was designed to do) but overall an effective bullet IMO.

230 yards, 250 yards, 300 yards, 350 yards and 400 yards.

Nosler makes the 6.5 Partition in 100, 125 & 140gr weights. Just try the best hunting bullet you can buy, the one all the rest are compared to. Granted, there are a few rifles out there that simply refuse to shoot them... I've sold 2 of them myself! But then I'm a bit of a curmudgeon (and more than a little opinionated) when it comes to my hunting bullets and scopes. I use Partition bullets and Leupold scopes because neither of them has ever let me down. I will admit, I have considered using some of the all copper bullets but that's a work in progress. Time will tell there but meantime, I'm sticking with what I know works for me.
Cheers,
crkckr

antelopedundee said:

Watch the hunting shows and for every DRT you'll see a not DRT. My experience has been mostly with Hornady 129 grain interlocks on lopes and a few deer with a 6.5-06 or the AI version. Never any complaints. Last year I used the Sierra 130 grain Gamechangers and plan to again this year.

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I used the SST 140gr on a 300 yrd buck last year. Hit center shoulder and he dropped stiff legged and layed there for about 30-45 seconds. He then started kicking and flopping around before dying after going down a 15 yrd slope. No more SST for me, no penitration in my opinion.

Kentucky said:

I used the SST 140gr on a 300 yrd buck last year. Hit center shoulder and he dropped stiff legged and layed there for about 30-45 seconds. He then started kicking and flopping around before dying after going down a 15 yrd slope. No more SST for me, no penitration in my opinion.

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If it was by design a shoulder shot is a poor choice for any shot [cept maybe with military ammo] because of meat damage and the vitals like liver and lungs are farther back.

antelopedundee said:

If it was by design a shoulder shot is a poor choice for any shot [cept maybe with military ammo] because of meat damage and the vitals like liver and lungs are farther back.

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I make all my guided hunters take broadside shoulder shots....with well constructed bullets, they usually drop in their tracks.....if not, they're not going far when you take out their running gear!

stx said:

My experience with the 143 ELDX, as well as that of several my hunters has not been very good!

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Interesting....what barrel length are you using...just asking to see if it makes any difference. Four of us have chosen this bullet after shooting a number of other loads. Using 41.5 GRS. Of 4350. 26" barrels

skipglo said:

Interesting....what barrel length are you using...just asking to see if it makes any difference. Four of us have chosen this bullet after shooting a number of other loads. Using 41.5 GRS. Of 4350. 26" barrels

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I've personally shot them in my CM with 26" bbl but have hunters who have used them in 22 & 24" barrels.

If you want a traditional lead core bullet the Hornady Interbond cannot be beat. Been shooting them since the late eighteis and have yet for one to let me down.

If you want a mono, the Peregrine VLR's have absolutely done the job for me every time I've pulled the trigger. They never over expand nor fail to expand. They are the most consistent and predictable bullet I've ever fired.

Dropped a very large boar running off quartering to the left last night, made my aimpoint the point of his shoulder. Bullet hit almost exactly on point and left a golfball sized exit through the opposite side of his face. You could see through the scope that he was stone dead before he even began to buckle.

A 400bls boar is as physically tough as any animal in the US but as has been my experience the VLR hit hard, tracked straight through along the line of side and made a perfect exit.

This was at almost dead dark, 300yds running into the last ight of the day so it had to be a "one shot deal" and I had perfect confidence the 183gr VLR4 would do the job before I ever touched the trigger.

Over the last five years and hundreds of animals killed with them in the 6.5's, 7mm STW's, 300wm's and .300 Rum's these bullets have been flawless.

Nosler ABLR's Have work fantastic for me out to 700 yds