6 Creedmoor for Desert Bighorn

[6.5x300 WBY]

Sheep are thin skinned and are fairly easy to kill when hit in the vitals

More like tough and big boned! I live here in Nevada and have been out with friends who got drawn. We just go out scouting on our own where we have seen them over the years. No guides or BS unless I'm a guide for beer and the fun of it. Sheep are a creature of habbits walking the same direction like clock work. On their way to get water every evening coming by our camp. It was just always trying to decide on which one. Big rams are tough animals solid animals. I've been watching the shots on two through spotting scopes 7mm rem mag with 175's and 300 win mag with 180's both relatively broadside one at @ 165 yards and the other at like 240 yards. Even with all that HP neither one even flinched and the 7 mag after being shot wondered away like it was a miss and the guy shot it again. I even wondered if the first shot was a miss. The 300 WM just stood there like they do motionless and finally quivered and dropped. I would never consider my 26 inch 243 as a Ram getter. I draw the line at antelope. Then I move up to more fire power.


Just a few old pictures of the herd of 20 + wondering by our camp every evening!

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Bullet type is very important to your writings.

 

[stazmania]

This is sound advice. Your there, hunt all you can, for tomorrow, access, rules, opportunities, health, and wealth can change. And you have already carved out the time and money to get there/half the battle.

Oh Yeah, and don't forget the 6 creed! Not to derail or get too far off in the weeds. That 6 creed may not work for these big Alaskan adventurer's but will be fine for your lower 48 desert bighorn. Good hunting

 

[Wind Gypsy]

When in grizzly country they don't carry backups? I'm looking at post 111.

If he doesn't have another gun, I would definitely be leaning larger.
Unless they are completely separate ordeals.

No, not all interior guides in AK carry rifles. Nor do all the guides in the northern rockies where I'd actually be more worried about getting mauled.

A lot of the interior griz aren't that big but it's funny how everyone thinks they are godzilla.

Outfitters are usually more up to speed that most. They see first hand, all of the hunters that just search forums before their hunts. Who get piles of info from people who have never done something. Then they bring up the newest and greatest things bullets rifles and cartridges. Only to see them fail at the worst possible time.

What an outfitter sees across a bunch of rich clients with magnitudes more money and gear than knowledge and skill in using it is a poor extrapolation of whether something works or not.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Wait...major derail! You would hunt a grizzly bear with a 6 Creed? You could watch him put on a bib after your first shot 'cause you're about to be a snack!

Yeah, you better tell all those folks who shoot em with an arrow from inside 40 yards that even a softball diameter wound through the pump house just preps them to eat people..

 

[stazmania]

This is sound advice. Your there, hunt all you can, for tomorrow, access, rules, opportunities, health, and wealth can change. And you have already carved out the time and money to get there/half the battle.

Oh Yeah, and don't forget the 6 creed! Not to derail or get too far off in the weeds. That 6 creed may not work for these big Alaskan adventurer's but will be fine for your lower 48 desert bighorn. Good hunting

 

[Phil Rizzo]

I don't care to get mauled by a 6.5 or 9', either one!

 

[Goldengun]

2 cents. I pretty much live with a worst-case scenario mind set in all things. If you can live with that, and you want to do it, knock yourself out. I also try to apply common sense as necessary (not saying it's my strong point). So, my third and final answer is no, hell no. Why? If you have other better options. Why? Because you have a new and shiny toy to play with? If you have to shoot it that bad, there's plenty of game and non-game species for you to scratch that itch, that it would be more suited to. I'm a huge .243 fan and I know it's capable of killing everything in the lower 48 used within its capabilities. But I have never taken mine elk hunting. Why? Because I have better options. You probably do too. Good luck, whatever you decide.

 

[dnb86]

We are obviously all morons here guys! If this is a once in a life time hunt why increase our chances of failure of shooting these tiny 30s and 338s!? This is obviously the smallest cartridge you'd want to shoot at those almost invincible big horn sheep! This incredible guy here is so big and bad you can actually miss the animal completely AND STILL make a clean kill!

 

[Marky_mark]

When in grizzly country they don't carry backups? I'm looking at post 111.

If he doesn't have another gun, I would definitely be leaning larger.
Unless they are completely separate ordeals.

The bears can be anywhere
You'll find them in the valleys, and you'll find them climbing the highest mountains

No, not all interior guides in AK carry rifles. Nor do all the guides in the northern rockies where I'd actually be more worried about getting mauled.

A lot of the interior griz aren't that big but it's funny how everyone thinks they are godzilla.


What an outfitter sees across a bunch of rich clients with magnitudes more money and gear than knowledge and skill in using it is a poor extrapolation of whether something works or not.

Wrong
You think you're getting more reliable info from an online forum, than from a guide who's been on 100 plus sheep kills? Or an outfitter who has 2-4 of these same guides working for him every year. And 10-20 sheep hunters come through their camps season. Nope, the guy who shot a single antelope with a 6 creed is definitely the end all be all source of information you should listen to. It's the same as bear outfitters saying to bring a 30 cal min and don't bring hornady bullets… why… because they have had to chase too many brown bears in the alders and they know what works.

 

[budlight]

Bullet type is very important to your writings.

It's been years, but generally my friends reloaded with Sierra SPBT and with near max powder. Back then imr 7828 was about the slowest powder

 

[stazmania]

Not many "Griz" or "Brownies" in desert bighorn country! But what if you get charged by a rouge desert tortoise? surely you will need a magnum to get though that shell to the vitals The 6 creed will work fine.

 

[DMack]

So, here's the result of all the wisdom, sarcasm and heartfelt advice...

Decided to go with the 6.5 Creedmoor at the end of the final auditions. I was getting a random flyer with the 6CM I could not explain. The 6.5 is shooting bugholes with SD's under 5. Using Peterson SRP brass, H4350, 143 ELD x, and a Fed 205M primer.

I was able to sneak to 330 yards of a 9 year old ram. The steep uphill angle needed almost .3 mil correction. He was bedded, and when he stood up I had a slightly quartered broadside. The first shot was a solid hit right where I was holding. He humped up and turned the opposite direction. I bolted the rifle and hit him a second time in pretty much the same place on the opposite side. That round piled him up and he fell about 30 feet into a tree

Both rounds had full penetration and the exit holes were about an inch I would guess. In this instance, the rifle, round and bullet all performed fantastic. The more I shoot the mid-bore rounds, the better I like them. I certainly did not "needmoor".

The hunt was hot, miserable, grueling and AWESOME! Keep applying, you never know...

 

[Huntnful]

So, here's the result of all the wisdom, sarcasm and heartfelt advice...

Decided to go with the 6.5 Creedmoor at the end of the final auditions. I was getting a random flyer with the 6CM I could not explain. The 6.5 is shooting bugholes with SD's under 5. Using Peterson SRP brass, H4350, 143 ELD x, and a Fed 205M primer.

I was able to sneak to 330 yards of a 9 year old ram. The steep uphill angle needed almost .3 mil correction. He was bedded, and when he stood up I had a slightly quartered broadside. The first shot was a solid hit right where I was holding. He humped up and turned the opposite direction. I bolted the rifle and hit him a second time in pretty much the same place on the opposite side. That round piled him up and he fell about 30 feet into a tree

Both rounds had full penetration and the exit holes were about an inch I would guess. In this instance, the rifle, round and bullet all performed fantastic. The more I shoot the mid-bore rounds, the better I like them. I certainly did not "needmoor".

The hunt was hot, miserable, grueling and AWESOME! Keep applying, you never know...

Congrats on the ram! And thank you for the update on the cartridge/bullet performance. Can we see the ram?

 

[DMack]

Visible exit is several inches higher than the entrance. Steep sheep shot...