If you plan on changing the stock and the barrel, why not buy a 700 Remington used action and put on the components of your choice? Or just buy new components and build from the ground up. People on here get great satisfaction from a custom gun they had built. I had a custom 300 WM built from a stainless Remington action, HS stock, Jewel trigger, Krieger barrel, and Vari X6 Leupold 4x24 scope. That was all I could afford at the time, but I love it. 26" 5 1/2 contour barrel.
Need some guidance..
- Thread starter Swatman05
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I live in Utah. I own a 6.5 Creed. (Like everyone else) love the Elk hunt.
I have a .280 Ackley that worked great. Last year.
540 yards one shot well placed.
P.S. my Creed shows about 430 ft.lbs of Energy at 1500 yards. IMO not the right Caliber for Elk. Not to mention, shots that long should be for steel only.
I have a .280 Ackley that worked great. Last year.
540 yards one shot well placed.
P.S. my Creed shows about 430 ft.lbs of Energy at 1500 yards. IMO not the right Caliber for Elk. Not to mention, shots that long should be for steel only.
Castleberry43
Member
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- Feb 2, 2013
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I agree whole hardly with you on this and if you do the ballistic calculations it's only 370fpe left at 1500yds. Yes I know I'm a South Alabama guy and I do shoot longe range competition, but I wouldn't be afraid to shoot my 7mm mag on an elk with the correct load. But it would most likely be using the Berger 195. But 300WM will do the trick also. And yep I don't own one either.
300 win for sure 210 berger
Is better then a 140 without a doubt
Is better then a 140 without a doubt
wonderman4
Well-Known Member
My thoughts are that you used to have a 340 Wby and could handle it, get another one. It will make a fine Elk cartridge.
Jeff R
Member
For a muzzle brake, I mounted a Precision Armament M4-72 Severe Duty Compensator on my 300 Weatherby Magnum and it reduced the recoil considerably and it does not kick up dust. It is very loud though if someone is beside it when you shoot. I whole-heartedly recommend this muzzle brake.
You have been given a lot of advice and I agree with it. The Creedmore is "NOT" an Elk Caliber. Can I stress that any more? Please, read a ballistic report, a reloading manual or something. Just because it is new and shiny doesn't mean that it does everything well. The ballistic tables say that it is nothing more than a high pressure equivalent to an 1896 Swedish 6.5X55. I would prefer the Swedish, the barrel will last longer.
Excellent advice was given on the first reply, 300 Win Mag does everything great. You can buy good, even Match grade over the counter and you have something that will serve you well in all environments. Actually any of the magnum cartridges will work well. There is a lot of good information here.
That ammo isn't cheap.. Haha.. I was paying $80/ box
I have also recently purchased a 6.5 Creed. Excellent long range target rifle without doubt! That being said I will always fall back to my .300 weatherby for Elk and Moose. 1550 yards...6.5....Elk? We will always here such stories and they are growing by the second....seems everyone has become world class shooters all of a sudden....what ever happened to the story....of the 550 yrd.long shot!
I will definitely check them out
I agree.. I'll only ever shoot steel past 600yds..
greenejc
Well-Known Member
If you will read some of the statements in a few of the forums here, you will read about lost elk using the 6.5 Creedmoor. I will refer you to 'Ballistics Studies' which is a website out of New Zealand that a ballistician and hunter runs. He has done extensive wound analysis and impact studies on animals he and those he has guided have killed with various combinations of bullets in calibers ranging from .224 up to .475. Read his material on bullet diameter and weight.
I would not hunt elk with a 6.5 caliber anything. The bullet doesn't have enough mass to penetrate heavy bone at any distance past (maybe) 200 yards. I live in Colorado and go out every year for elk. I use a .35 Whelen and a 225 grain Sierra or a 250 grain Speer. My backup rifles are a .300 winmag or a 30-06. The lightest bullet I load in them for elk is a 180 grain Sierra Pro-hunter. At 400-500 yards, a 140 grain 6.5 Creedmoor round has a velocity (at 7,000 ft.) of about 2100fps. It has about 1,350 Ftlbs of energy. You've just shot a 600 lb animal with the equivalent of a .223 at around 50 yards. With a 300 winmag using a 180 grain Sierra GK bullet, my MV is about 2450fps at 400 yards with a starting MV of 3,000fps. The energy is apout 2450 foot-pounds. (.308 Win. at about 50 yards) The bullet mass is about 20% greater, and it makes a considerably greater entrance and exit wound. With the Whelen and a 225 grain bullet at around 2725fps starting velocity, I have about the same velocity at 400 yards but my entrance and exit wounds are much larger, and because of the bullet mass, it penetrates heavy bone and doesn't deflect.
Elk are pretty tough. Go with a round that will penetrate and exit at 400 to 500 yards and give you a good exit wound. The larger the better, because you may have to blood-trail him. Also, a large sucking chest wound will put him down much quicker than a small one. A 6.5 Creedmoor is accurate, moderately flat-shooting and easier to hit with. It can kill an elk, but so can a .22, and if you hit an elk with it properly, it will work. However, the elk may be in the next county when it dies, and you won't have much of a blood trail to follow if you have to trail it. A .300 or a 30-06 makes a nice large exit wound and leaves a good blood trail. My Whelen makes a very large blood trail, and an enormous sucking chest wound at 500 yards. Pick a round that will do the job if the shot isn't perfect at 400 yards (which it probably won't be). Go with the 30-06 or the .300 winchester magnum. (or the Whelen, which when handloaded just about equals the .338 Winmag.)
planetwaves
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- Oct 18, 2014
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I grew up in Utah (hunted mule deer for about 10 years) and have lived in Oregon for the last 30 years. In Utah, you will likely hunt mule deer much more often than elk, unless you contract with an elk guide each year. While in Utah, I used a 30-06 with factory ammo (that was before I started reloading). In Oregon I have used both a 300 WM and a 270 Win to kill elk (3 with the 270 and 3 with the 300WM). Of the 6 elk, all were within 450 yards and within that range the 270 using 130 gr Nosler Ballistic tips at 3050 fps did equal damage to the 300 WM using 185 gr Berger classic hunters at 2750 fps. Notice that the 300 WM load is not a hot load and is essentially the same as a 30-06 load. In working up a load, I found a node that gave single hole 4 shot groups at 100 yards. But it is at 72.5 gr of H4831. You could get the same performance with a 30-06 using a lot less powder (i.e, 57.5 gr of H4350 would give closer to 2800 fps). Since I am not a "long range hunter" I developed a "range chart" and validated out to 600 yards. I won't shoot at game beyond 500, even though the load is capable of going further. So what I am hinting at here is the following. The 300 WM is a fine caliber and you can't go wrong with it in terms of performance on game. But rather than getting a 300 WM with a muzzle break, you could do everything you are planning to do with a 30-06. The recoil will be low enough that you don't need a muzzle break (which will kill your ears if you use it in the field without ear protection). The 30-06 is quite versatile for anything you might ever hunt in Utah. Just my 2 cents.
