6.5 Creed no penetration

[Raudy707]

Magneto verified velocity. The box says 2830 fps so it's verified slightly lower.

 

[JMW67]

Last week while mule deer hunting in CA my son shot a nice sized mule deer buck with his 6.5 Creed at 327 yards. It was quartering to us and he made a bad shot hitting it square in the guts. A solid drum thwap and the deer jumped and walked over the hill. It's California so we are shooting all copper bullets. His rifle shoots Federal 130 gain Barnes TSX factory ammo very well so that's what he was using. We sneak up after a 30 min cooling off period because I felt it would need a follow up shot. As we sneak up the deer is bedded, jumps up and runs off zig zagging throught the junipers. The next time we see him is 500 yds away for a second as he continued walking into the juniper cover. Three of us comb the area for 3 hours. We find his tracks and I followed them for 1200 yds before losing them in a lava field. Not a single drop of blood. A few hairs at the shot impact on the ground and nothing else. Fast foward 2 days later. Still looking for the buck. We find what we think is him in an alfalfa field and wait for him to move on to the public. My son kills the buck with neck shoulder shot. Upon inspection we find a 6.5 cal hole in the middle of him so I field dress the deer. The bullet enter the main stomach with small hole and never exited. The deer was fine. No rupture of the stomach or internal bleeding. No pass thru. Bullet was just somewhere in a mass of alfalfa?? Has anyone ever had this happen? Poor shot placement for sure but really has me questioning my Creed. Maybe I should have taken the 7 mag. All ended well but it would have no matter what because the buck was alive and eating when we located him again. Dangdest thing I've ever seen in 35 years of hunting. Ruger American Predator with 22" barrel. Velocity is 2790 at the muzzle.

You may look at the hammer bullets they have a company that will be selling loaded ammo if you dont want to reload I think you would have a better bullet and they shoot great

 

[P7M13]

Kalifornia Ammo, Kamala Harris spec loads.
Surprised it wasn't a rubber bullet made to look like copper.
Did you have to pay a "reparations" additional tax for payouts to the deer's family for the years they had to suffer being hunted with lead?

 

[wildwilderness]

Magneto verified velocity. The box says 2830 fps so it's verified slightly lower.

That's good. As a general rule of thumb on Barnes the TSX needs 2000fps, the TTSX needs 1800 fps and the LRX needs 1600fps minimums in ideal conditions.

There is anecdotal concerns on the smaller caliber TSX bullets not expanding as well, maybe clogged tips since they are so small. That's why the Tipped versions generally have more reliable expansion. You can drill out the tips on the 130s and maybe make them work better?

 

[Raudy707]

He's killed 3 bucks with this ammo but hit bone on the other bucks. Worked well under 300 yds. I bought Hammers for my 308 with a 20 inch barrel and I got some absolute hammers for my 280 AI. I'll get some for the Creed and go back to the reloading bench. Bottom line, it was a bad shot. If he hits that buck in the front shoulder not in the last 2 ribs it's a dead deer. Just have to make better shots.

 

[JMW67]

You are right on the money good luck with the hammers

 

[Joefrazell]

If that had been a hornady eld or Berger the buck wouldn't have made it more than likely. Unfortunately you have to use copper. I'd aim for a shoulder every time with any solid copper. Those barnes need alot of resistance to open up which is impact velocity and bone

 

[Raudy707]

That rifle will put the 143 eld x in one hole at 100 yds. Sub 1/2" all day. Kinda crazy for a $400 rifle. As much as I wouldn't want to shoot another deer in the paunch, I'd love to see what lead cup and core may have done vs copper. Just curious.

 

[Tommyrexx]

Last week while mule deer hunting in CA my son shot a nice sized mule deer buck with his 6.5 Creed at 327 yards. It was quartering to us and he made a bad shot hitting it square in the guts. A solid drum thwap and the deer jumped and walked over the hill. It's California so we are shooting all copper bullets. His rifle shoots Federal 130 gain Barnes TSX factory ammo very well so that's what he was using. We sneak up after a 30 min cooling off period because I felt it would need a follow up shot. As we sneak up the deer is bedded, jumps up and runs off zig zagging throught the junipers. The next time we see him is 500 yds away for a second as he continued walking into the juniper cover. Three of us comb the area for 3 hours. We find his tracks and I followed them for 1200 yds before losing them in a lava field. Not a single drop of blood. A few hairs at the shot impact on the ground and nothing else. Fast foward 2 days later. Still looking for the buck. We find what we think is him in an alfalfa field and wait for him to move on to the public. My son kills the buck with neck shoulder shot. Upon inspection we find a 6.5 cal hole in the middle of him so I field dress the deer. The bullet enter the main stomach with small hole and never exited. The deer was fine. No rupture of the stomach or internal bleeding. No pass thru. Bullet was just somewhere in a mass of alfalfa?? Has anyone ever had this happen? Poor shot placement for sure but really has me questioning my Creed. Maybe I should have taken the 7 mag. All ended well but it would have no matter what because the buck was alive and eating when we located him again. Dangdest thing I've ever seen in 35 years of hunting. Ruger American Predator with 22" barrel. Velocity is 2790 at the muzzle.

I've had 2 impressive wound channels with the Hornaday 143 eld-x on whitetails in Missouri at around 400 yards, but we can use lead core bullets here. I am satisfied with the caliber. May be an all copper bullet issue. Way to stick with it and get your deer!

 

[the blur]

I gut shot a doe with an accubond. The bullet doesn't expand at all. Just makes a pencil hole in & out. I eventually hit the lungs.... but lost no meat with the gut shot

 

[gvjm]

Last week while mule deer hunting in CA my son shot a nice sized mule deer buck with his 6.5 Creed at 327 yards. It was quartering to us and he made a bad shot hitting it square in the guts. A solid drum thwap and the deer jumped and walked over the hill. It's California so we are shooting all copper bullets. His rifle shoots Federal 130 gain Barnes TSX factory ammo very well so that's what he was using. We sneak up after a 30 min cooling off period because I felt it would need a follow up shot. As we sneak up the deer is bedded, jumps up and runs off zig zagging throught the junipers. The next time we see him is 500 yds away for a second as he continued walking into the juniper cover. Three of us comb the area for 3 hours. We find his tracks and I followed them for 1200 yds before losing them in a lava field. Not a single drop of blood. A few hairs at the shot impact on the ground and nothing else. Fast foward 2 days later. Still looking for the buck. We find what we think is him in an alfalfa field and wait for him to move on to the public. My son kills the buck with neck shoulder shot. Upon inspection we find a 6.5 cal hole in the middle of him so I field dress the deer. The bullet enter the main stomach with small hole and never exited. The deer was fine. No rupture of the stomach or internal bleeding. No pass thru. Bullet was just somewhere in a mass of alfalfa?? Has anyone ever had this happen? Poor shot placement for sure but really has me questioning my Creed. Maybe I should have taken the 7 mag. All ended well but it would have no matter what because the buck was alive and eating when we located him again. Dangdest thing I've ever seen in 35 years of hunting. Ruger American Predator with 22" barrel. Velocity is 2790 at the muzzle.

 

[gvjm]

I had similar unsatisfactory results with 2 different deer I shot in the last 5 years. Nowhere near the range you experienced. Mine were at 50 and 110 yards with Barnes X and Nosler ABLR. I've hunted for years with the 308, 25-06, and 7 mag. With that comparison under my belt I left the 6.5 world. QUOTE="Raudy707, post: 1998999, member: 105681"]
Last week while mule deer hunting in CA my son shot a nice sized mule deer buck with his 6.5 Creed at 327 yards. It was quartering to us and he made a bad shot hitting it square in the guts. A solid drum thwap and the deer jumped and walked over the hill. It's California so we are shooting all copper bullets. His rifle shoots Federal 130 gain Barnes TSX factory ammo very well so that's what he was using. We sneak up after a 30 min cooling off period because I felt it would need a follow up shot. As we sneak up the deer is bedded, jumps up and runs off zig zagging throught the junipers. The next time we see him is 500 yds away for a second as he continued walking into the juniper cover. Three of us comb the area for 3 hours. We find his tracks and I followed them for 1200 yds before losing them in a lava field. Not a single drop of blood. A few hairs at the shot impact on the ground and nothing else. Fast foward 2 days later. Still looking for the buck. We find what we think is him in an alfalfa field and wait for him to move on to the public. My son kills the buck with neck shoulder shot. Upon inspection we find a 6.5 cal hole in the middle of him so I field dress the deer. The bullet enter the main stomach with small hole and never exited. The deer was fine. No rupture of the stomach or internal bleeding. No pass thru. Bullet was just somewhere in a mass of alfalfa?? Has anyone ever had this happen? Poor shot placement for sure but really has me questioning my Creed. Maybe I should have taken the 7 mag. All ended well but it would have no matter what because the buck was alive and eating when we located him again. Dangdest thing I've ever seen in 35 years of hunting. Ruger American Predator with 22" barrel. Velocity is 2790 at the muzzle.
[/QUOTE]

 

[TxHeartShot]

I shoot those Nosler Partitions in my 6.5-08 with no problems, stuff just dies within a few yards of where it was shot.

 

[TXTrained]

Last week while mule deer hunting in CA my son shot a nice sized mule deer buck with his 6.5 Creed at 327 yards. It was quartering to us and he made a bad shot hitting it square in the guts. A solid drum thwap and the deer jumped and walked over the hill. It's California so we are shooting all copper bullets. His rifle shoots Federal 130 gain Barnes TSX factory ammo very well so that's what he was using. We sneak up after a 30 min cooling off period because I felt it would need a follow up shot. As we sneak up the deer is bedded, jumps up and runs off zig zagging throught the junipers. The next time we see him is 500 yds away for a second as he continued walking into the juniper cover. Three of us comb the area for 3 hours. We find his tracks and I followed them for 1200 yds before losing them in a lava field. Not a single drop of blood. A few hairs at the shot impact on the ground and nothing else. Fast foward 2 days later. Still looking for the buck. We find what we think is him in an alfalfa field and wait for him to move on to the public. My son kills the buck with neck shoulder shot. Upon inspection we find a 6.5 cal hole in the middle of him so I field dress the deer. The bullet enter the main stomach with small hole and never exited. The deer was fine. No rupture of the stomach or internal bleeding. No pass thru. Bullet was just somewhere in a mass of alfalfa?? Has anyone ever had this happen? Poor shot placement for sure but really has me questioning my Creed. Maybe I should have taken the 7 mag. All ended well but it would have no matter what because the buck was alive and eating when we located him again. Dangdest thing I've ever seen in 35 years of hunting. Ruger American Predator with 22" barrel. Velocity is 2790 at the muzzle.

You cant blame a bad shot on a gun or caliber.We all know shot placement is Crucial. People have killed deer with much smaller calibers.Even those that Illegally killed them with as small as a 22Long Rifle.