6mm Creedmoor first elk hunt

[birddog 68]

Genuinely curious, what evidence leads you to say you would not? Is it based on seeing it not work?

There's guys reliably punching through moose shoulders (blades and knuckles) with 77, 80, and 88 grain .223 and .22CM's.

What evidence would it take to convince you that a good 6mm bullet is an effective elk killer?

I am not saying that a 6mm bullet is not effective for elk. I am saying that I would not use the shoulder shot with a 6cm unless at close range with the correct bullet but I wouldn't be carrying a 6cm elk hunting in the first place.
I prefer a little bigger and heavier bullet for elk. I use a 280 AI with 160 accubond.
The 6 creedmoor will kill elk but I think it's a less than ideal elk cartridge. Just my opinion and everyone has one.

 

[Ckleeves]

The really interesting thing about these conversations is I don't think anybody would say "you owe it to the elk not to use a 50 cal muzzleloader" when the wounding produced by a 6mm match bullet is about 5x more then a muzzy shooting many of the common conicals.

 

[d.downey24]

Thanks! I think one of the things that gets me going is that it seems like 95% of people that try the heavy for caliber match bullets in smaller diameters end up really liking them, and 95% of the "it's not enough gun" people have never tried them and are basing their position on, at best, experience with those cartridges using bullets that are nowhere near the top of the heap for performance. At worst, basing their position on emotion and conventional wisdom that they haven't investigated for themselves.

On the one hand I get it. I was super skeptical, and I'm not personally very interested in finding out for myself the lower limit of what produces good terminal results (because by definition that would involve going too far and shooting animals with stuff that doesn't kill them well). But there's so much info out there now showing smaller stuff that is easier and cheaper to shoot, can do a metric ton of practice with, suppresses well (I've gotten to a point where I hate muzzle brakes), and kills extremely well.

I don't mean to sound like a dick
I'm just kind pain killered up, had hernia surgery few days ago. Was Muledeer hunting in the Selway-Bitteroot shot nice Muley and while packing him out tore my gut open . Anyway I have a Custom 243 with 1-7 twist Im shooting 115 Bergers which pretty much is the same as 6CM. I love it for deer size game with excellent results, I just don't use it to Elk hunt I feel more than confident it would do the job and if that's all I had to use I would take it. I really like my 300 WSM that's what I carry most of the time MDT HNT 26 folding stock arca rail 20" barrel 1-8 twist shoot 208 LRX around 2850 setup is under 7 1/2 lbs and it just hammers stuff and I don't shoot over 600 yards. Even though I have a 1000 yard range at my house and shoot it religiously. If the 6CM works for you for Elk use it, till it don't. You seem like a smart logical man it was a pleasure chatting with you.

 

[stazmania]

When I was a kid I used to love the caliber cartridge wars. Jack Oconner and elmer kieth. Good stuff. Now the redundancy on every forum kind of sucks. Scramble the vitals and all is well. It all works just know how to use it.

 

[d.downey24]

The really interesting thing about these conversations is I don't think anybody would say "you owe it to the elk not to use a 50 cal muzzleloader" when the wounding produced by a 6mm match bullet is about 5x more then a muzzy shooting many of the common conicals.

Yea especially with open sights

 

[tonyf3]

I think context of where youre hunting are important.

Where I currently hunt I wouldn't hunt with anything smaller than a 7mm/180class or .30/215class. There is too much wind, shots are almost always in the 400+ yard range. It's late winter and the elk are fat with really thick hides.
More importantly, setting up and shot can be quick and I'm more comfortable and proficient at shooting my 7 or 300 in a pinch than I am with my old 243.

I've shot a plenty of elk with a .243 using 100grain partitions in different circumstances. Late summer, feeding in clover fields and shots under 400y. I'd do it again if i had early season damage tags.

 

[stazmania]

Yea especially with open sights

This is almost as fun as archery forums. Front of center, cut diameter, arrow weight, mechanical vs. fixed, blade count/angle/material, bow poundage. I want to know what the OP has decided after hearing all this wisdom?

 

[eric1115]

I don't mean to sound like a dick
I'm just kind pain killered up, had hernia surgery few days ago. Was Muledeer hunting in the Selway-Bitteroot shot nice Muley and while packing him out tore my gut open . Anyway I have a Custom 243 with 1-7 twist Im shooting 115 Bergers which pretty much is the same as 6CM. I love it for deer size game with excellent results, I just don't use it to Elk hunt I feel more than confident it would do the job and if that's all I had to use I would take it. I really like my 300 WSM that's what I carry most of the time MDT HNT 26 folding stock arca rail 20" barrel 1-8 twist shoot 208 LRX around 2850 setup is under 7 1/2 lbs and it just hammers stuff and I don't shoot over 600 yards. Even though I have a 1000 yard range at my house and shoot it religiously. If the 6CM works for you for Elk use it, till it don't. You seem like a smart logical man it was a pleasure chatting with you.

I didn't think you sounded like any more of a dick than most of my friends or me.

Honestly, if I hadn't made the switch away from brakes and to suppressors, I think my 7mmRM/180 Bergers might still be my choice. .347 G7 and close to 3k at the muzzle, that thing was a laser beam.

My .243AI though, with .285 G7 and 3100 is no slouch either, and spotting shots is so much easier. The 7RM when I switched from brake to can was just too many impacts I couldn't see when shooting from iffy field positions and under 400 or so. Past 400, or solid prone, I could typically spot stuff. That .243 I'm seeing everything, almost all the time.

I have gone all in on suppressors though. Part of that is wanting to not make my own tinnitus any worse than it already is, part of it is hunting and shooting with my kids. Ear pro in the field kind of sucks when solo, and really really sucks when you've got a couple of pre-teen kids with you. My kids shoot so much better with suppressors than brakes; the noise/blast off a brake is almost as disruptive to them as the recoil of a bare muzzle.

Longest kill was actually with a thrown together fire forming load that was only 2600 at the muzzle but accurate. 605 yards, 1900 fps at impact. I was super impressed taking that deer apart. The equivalent of a 900ish yard impact with full pressure loads and that deer was wrecked.

 

[d.downey24]

I didn't think you sounded like any more of a dick than most of my friends or me.

Honestly, if I hadn't made the switch away from brakes and to suppressors, I think my 7mmRM/180 Bergers might still be my choice. .347 G7 and close to 3k at the muzzle, that thing was a laser beam.

My .243AI though, with .285 G7 and 3100 is no slouch either, and spotting shots is so much easier. The 7RM when I switched from brake to can was just too many impacts I couldn't see when shooting from iffy field positions and under 400 or so. Past 400, or solid prone, I could typically spot stuff. That .243 I'm seeing everything, almost all the time.

I have gone all in on suppressors though. Part of that is wanting to not make my own tinnitus any worse than it already is, part of it is hunting and shooting with my kids. Ear pro in the field kind of sucks when solo, and really really sucks when you've got a couple of pre-teen kids with you. My kids shoot so much better with suppressors than brakes; the noise/blast off a brake is almost as disruptive to them as the recoil of a bare muzzle.

Longest kill was actually with a thrown together fire forming load that was only 2600 at the muzzle but accurate. 605 yards, 1900 fps at impact. I was super impressed taking that deer apart. The equivalent of a 900ish yard impact with full pressure loads and that deer was wrecked.

So you're also shooting a 243 but AI cool. What twist you running? 1-7.5 or 1-7 ?

 

[eric1115]

So you're also shooting a 243 but AI cool. What twist you running? 1-7.5 or 1-7 ?

Factory Tikka barrel 8" twist, chopped to 19" by Kampfeld. Stabilizes the 106 TAP and 108 ELDM fine, I'm about to see what it does with the new 109 ELDM.

 

[d.downey24]

Factory Tikka barrel 8" twist, chopped to 19" by Kampfeld. Stabilizes the 106 TAP and 108 ELDM fine, I'm about to see what it does with the new 109 ELDM.

I got the 1-7 I'm going to try the LRX 95 gr it requires a 1-8 but I'm figuring they going to come out with something heavier. Too many 6mm cartridges out there now it's taken off like the 6.5 did a lot range shooters using them. Long range shooters like them heavy high BC bullets.

 

[340 in Va]

I said that sarcastically, I'm not even considering taken anything smaller than a 7mm Elk hunting. I'm not sold on these bench rest calibers, like I said at ethical hunting distance there no better than the old calibers.

What part of Va?

 

[d.downey24]

What part of Va?

What part of Va?

 

[Fenix Outdoors]

Go with the 7mm way better the 6mm will do the job but is very marginal cartridge for Elk. 7mm is my new favorite with 175 gr for Elk.

The 6mm is not marginal at killing anything, nor is the 7mm way better than it, and I wish people would stop spreading misinformation like this.

Terminal ballistics of bullets kill animals, not headstamps on brass. A well built, fragmenting heavy-for-caliber bullet that upsets down as low as 1700 fps and within 1"- 4" of entering the animal, creates a Nalgene-sized and up to a 2-liter bottle-sized permanent crush cavity, that penetrates 12" - 14" will kill any big game animal in North America. I just described the terminal ballistics of the 6mm Hornady 108 ELD-M, the Sierra 107 grain TMK, and the DTAC 115 with nosering.