Best 6.5 CM Hunting Bullet for Moderate Long Range Distances

[MoreSalsa]

Thanks for the clarification, so you have two requirements then. Your post was confusing because you also commented you do not want lead in your meat. Going lead-free is the only way you can prevent that.

Sorry for the confusion. Tough to get more info out there without more possibility of saying something that can be confusing. What I meant is that I don't want something that is going to spread lots of lead fragments throughout the animal. I know there is going to be some of that with any lead bullet, so I guess I should have said I want a load that will do less of that rather than more. I'll go back and add this to the original post.

 

[FEENIX]

What part of his needs won't it meet.
He laid out parameters and I have responded with data.
The bc will be irrelevant if the FPS drops below min for expansion. Since he is looking for a hunting bullet not a target it indeed does.
As stated above I posted that in fact both loads of hammers I use stay above min FPS just a touch farther than those of the 147 Hornady. I've played with the numbers for Berger's also and in the creedmore you simply can't get enough speed to make the bc relevant for hunting.

He simply is looking for a high BC bullet for LR, but none of us know those parameters. What does the OP consider as high BC or LR? BTW, nowhere did I recommend any target bullets.

 

[FEENIX]

Sorry for the confusion. Tough to get more info out there without more possibility of saying something that can be confusing. What I meant is that I don't want something that is going to spread lots of lead fragments throughout the animal. I know there is going to be some of that with any lead bullet, so I guess I should have said I want a load that will do less of that rather than more. I'll go back and add this to the original post.

That's OK; we're slowly learning what your actual requirements are. Just be patient, and you'll get there. Also, if you are looking for a pass-through, Berger bullets are not what you are looking for.

 

[lancetkenyon]

I only own 6.5 Creedmoor's. Five different platforms to be exact. I hunt all over the country and the 147 gr ELD-X is by far hands down the best there is. I hunt from 0 foot elevation on the coasts and as high as just under 13,000 in colorado. I've killed ground squirrels to moose with the exact same reload. Point blank to just over 1000 yards. Granted not all barrels are the same but I have yet to find one that doesn't love the ELD-X in 6.5 Creedmoor. With that being said, my son owns a 6.5 PRC with an extremely expensive Bergara barrel that barely shoots sub MOA at a 100.

Do you mean the 143 ELD-X or the 147 ELD-M?

 

[snox801]

He simply is looking for a high BC bullet for LR, but none of us know those parameters. What does the OP consider as high BC or LR? BTW, nowhere did I recommend any target bullets.

I understand but in no scenario does a high bc bullet provide much of a distance if any over a mono with low bc like hammers.
I think we both agree we are under the assumption he's looking for a hunting bullet. Which makes my statements on bc being somewhat irrelevant important.

 

[snox801]

Do you mean the 143 ELD-X or the 147 ELD-M?

I'd also like to know I shot both and both act differently but I was able to interchange them as they shot the same poi and had very close drops.

 

[FEENIX]

I understand but in no scenario does a high bc bullet provide much of a distance if any over a mono with low bc like hammers.
I think we both agree we are under the assumption he's looking for a hunting bullet. Which makes my statements on bc being somewhat irrelevant important.

Perhaps, but since "I" have options for higher BC, that would be the route "I" would take.

 

[snox801]

To the OP.
I think you can find a decent mono like you wanted that will get you to the hunting distance you want. Like I stated above the bc will be a very minor deal because of distance and intended use on game.
So being you need factory loaded you will be better off buying a few boxes of the top ones you like and shoot them out of your rifle. Accuracy will be important. If. A box of hammers does not shoot well it won't matter how good they are on game. Same with anything.
I would try hammers, cutting edge, barnes PRC in that order with whoever you can find in loaded ammo. Also the federal. See which shoots best at distance as far as groups. Let that decide they are all gonna be great.

 

[lancetkenyon]

Learn to reload. It opens up 20x the choices.

 

[Ga6570]

For my 6.5 creedmoor, I plan to use some monolithic bullet loads as my go-to for medium big game (deer, antelope, hogs). My one concern is that it looks like below 2,000 fps, you start to run into expansion problems, and with my 24'' barrel, I'm guessing most loads will hit that threshold before 400 yards. So, I'm thinking about trying to decide on a (lead) option for longer ranges when I'm not in a lead-free-only area. I'd like it to be something with good weight retention, and definitely not anything prone to fragmentation (I like my meat without lead [CLARIFICATION: I know this is possible with any lead bullet, but I'm saying that it would be good to have a bullet that is less likely to do a lot of spreading of lead throughout the meat]).
High BC would also be preferable since this is longer ranges. [CLARIFICATION - BC might not really be a factor at the ranges I'm talking about ... if so, a small factor. So maybe this shouldn't even be a consideration.]

I have been able to get a few boxes of Barnes Vor-Tx LR, so maybe that drops the threshold down a few hundred fps. But from what I've seen, I'd still be reluctant to trust those bullets out much farther than 400 yards.

I won't be taking any super long shots, so this question is really about the 300-something to 500-something yard range. At that point, the bullet is running out of energy anyway.

I'm not currently handloading, so I want the bullet in a factory load.

I know that there are a lot of bullets that will do the job (ELDX, partitions to name a few), but not sure what the best options are for what I describe as of 2022.

figured id share some real world data here that i shared last week with some distance shooting and the Barnes 6.5 127 LRX - great bullet. ive used it in creedmoor to kill elk at 600. puts a nice furrow through them at that distance.

see this post from last week for pictures of the expansion at 1005 yards in the creedmoor.

x bolt strikes again @ 1005 yards

took a friend out yesterday to shoot long range. the wind was perfect when we arrived but as soon as we got setup that all changed! 😣 he’d shot my pistols and a few rifles before but nothing over 100 yards. so getting dialed in and then setting him up for success behind my Browning X-Bolt Hells...

www.longrangehunting.com

 

[Shawn Carverelli]

or....just get more horsepower and quit trying to use the bare minimum to get the job done. Its unrealistic to carry 3 rifles to cover any shot from 100 - 800 yards and harvest an animal cleanly without overkill

 

[Kentuckywindage]

The Speer Gold Dot 140's are pretty close to the same with the boron nitride coating. My son shot a good sized mule deer buck this past season at 300 yards and the bullet hit the thickest part of the neck, went through the spine and exited with a 50 cent sized hole. My friend using the same rifle/load took a 3x3 mule deer through the slats at 300+ and exited just the same. I don't believe the claimed bc from speer but from what Iv'e seen they work very well from a 6.5cm.

I've been looking at Gold Dots for the 6.5 cm. They sure work great in my handguns and AR -.223 62 grain. Some testing on YouTube showed promising performance at lower velocity from a 6.5 cm.
Simple Minded Fella's sight. If you haven't checked him out, he has some good info. He loads a high velocity load, (average load) then from 2200 fps down to 1400 fps give or take.

 

[floyd kittrell]

143 ELDX at 300 will be a great choice.

 

[MoreSalsa]

or....just get more horsepower and quit trying to use the bare minimum to get the job done. Its unrealistic to carry 3 rifles to cover any shot from 100 - 800 yards and harvest an animal cleanly without overkill

I agree, but I'm really just trying to cover 0 - ~500yards. Were I trying to go farther than that, I would be looking at something bigger and/or faster. But I think the 6.5 creedmoor has enough horsepower for out to 500 yards (on medium big game). The only issue is that I'm skeptical about lead-free monolithics when you start getting into the long end of that range.