140 VLD 140 Classic Hunter or 156 EOL for 6.5 saum

[Blacktail]

Been racking my brain i get my new 6.5 saum from Hells Canyon this week and cant decide which way to go. 140 VLD, VLD Elite Hunter or 156 EOL its a 24" 1:8 tube. Primarily a deer and antelope rifle maybe elk here and there but I have a 280ai that shoots 169 ABLRs very well. Trying to figure out which way to go. Open to other suggestions as well. Trying to speed up the process and selection. I have 0 experience with bergers on game.

 

[Lenwood901]

used the berger elite 140 they're super accurate and good on game that 156 with its good b.c in the saum should be awsome too

 

[Send it 284]

Do you have mag space for the 156?
Assuming you do and its throated out enough id use them for sure, you'll easily get 3000fps

 

[Blacktail]

Thnx guys i should built in a tikka action and using mikes custom mags

 

[cjl2010]

Killed 3 deer this year with 140 HVLD bergers going 2935 from a 6.5ss. Worked well as usual. I use a suppressor so there is a difference in recoil from 140 to 156. I would use whatever you could buy enough of between your options listed.

 

[orch]

Haven't played with vld's but the 140 hybrid works great on deer out of my 6.5rsaums, have also used 143 eldx with good results, either being pushed by h1000 or rl26. Haven't played with the 156's but have been shooting Berger 144 hybrids lately...only at steel so don't have any idea how they'd work on game, they have pointed meplats so may not expand reliably... maybe once Tubb's bullet nose ring cutters make it into the wild it would be worth looking at just to make sure they expand reliably as they are very consistent bc wise...

Orch

 

[Blacktail]

Any issue with the hybrids not expanding ? Was a hint helping out with a bunch of guys who guide for a living and they like the VLD and the Emkte hunters but saw a few pin hole stuff. Cause of that I was a bit nervous with them

 

[orch]

Haven't had a failure to expand with they 140hybrids, never had any pinholes with them. 143eldx's definetly expand well, at close range they're pretty violent...

I've had mixed results with vld's in my 2506ai at long range it was around when they came out with the orange box hunting line... the original yellow box ones worked great, but then I had some of the "new" targetyellow box vld's not expand and tumble recovering a banana under the skin on the opposite side. Had one "failure"when I switched orange box hunting vld's at about 350yrds had one blow up on contact and fail to penetrate on a shoulder...

Orch

 

[Ckleeves]

I would try 140 elite hunters and 156's and go with whichever shoots better. The 140 elite hunters have been one of the best critter killers I have seen and we have killed a stack of game with them including elk with zero failures. The 140 HVLD is a killer too. I don't think any of them are a bad choice.

 

[cb4128]

I shoot 140 elites in my 26" barreled 6.5 SAUM at 3,123 fps. The furthest I've had a deer or antelope is about 20 yards - most drop in their tracts like they're hit by lightning.

shots have been 50-600 yards

I'm shooting 60.5gr H1000 in Hornady brass

I shoot the elite hunters in most of my hunting rifles with excellent success the past 4 years

 

[Blacktail]

Sweet the rifle I'm getting has a 25" and current load the owner had was 140 elites at 3075 good to hear