6.5 CM copper bullet choice lite and fast or heavy

[Jason Snyder]

Run them fast. I like 2k fps at impact or more. No issues with killing.

 

[polishmanmike]

Yes.

If you look at the published velocity of the 120 gr factory loaded Barnes Vor-TX it is going plenty fast at 400 yards to expand. Even if you cut the velocity numbers down to make sure it is going fast enough there is no worry in my mind out to 300 yards. My son shot a deer last fall with a handloaded 120 gr TTSX at around 100 yards and there was no problem at all.

Is there such thing with these Barnes coppers as... too close? too much velocity?

 

[NEWYORKHILLBILLY]

Is there such thing with these Barnes coppers as... too close? too much velocity?

I talked to Barnes about this when I was loading the 100 tssx. If you have impact at very high velocity the petals can break off. the fastest I run them was 3133 in the 6.5 Creedmoor. I guess you got to decide if thats a bad thing. hammer markets their coppers as petals breaking off. I am now shooting the 127 at 2780FPS they just seems to be what my riffle likes.

 

[polishmanmike]

I talked to Barnes about this when I was loading the 100 tssx. If you have impact at very high velocity the petals can break off. the fastest I run them was 3133 in the 6.5 Creedmoor. I guess you got to decide if thats a bad thing. hammer markets their coppers as petals breaking off. I am now shooting the 127 at 2780FPS they just seems to be what my riffle likes.

Great info. Thank y'all

 

[Robobiss]

So question to all of the folks giving advice here, I have been reading and reading and reading... seems like paralysis by analysis (and an overwhelming amount of different input) is real.
My understanding is that a copper bullet needs more velocity to properly expand.
With my simple thinking... If I shoot a whitetail within 50-100-150 yards with a 6.5 CM, the velocity will be MORE than enough to hit with authority, expand properly, exit (most likely), and in theory have a DRT deer, with little fragmentation/bloodshot meat. Or am I missing something here?

Looking to switch to all copper myself, mostly hunting in GA so shots under 150 yards, unless I'm in a field.

Looking at Hornady GMX (CX now I think), Barnes TTSX, and LRX (in another mag for those longer shots). Maybe Nosler eTip.

“In another mag for those longer shots”, as in carry two types of ammo while hunting and use a different one if it’s “too far” for the first?

That’s not the move, in my opinion, and likely many others’ opinion.

Are you going to zero the rifle for the LRX so your dope only matches when you switch to the magazine with those bullets in it? And just hope that your zero is “close enough” for the 0-150 yard ammo? (Whatever it is).

Maybe I understood the tail end of your comment completely incorrectly and I’m totally out of line here.

If not, pick one or the other and just shoot the one projectile. Zero your rifle for that one load, run your dope for that one load, etc. you can very quickly figure out at what range your bullet will dip below the suggested velocity for the given round.

You said “under 150 yards unless I’m in a field” what is it in a field? 300 yards? 400 yards? The regular 120grain TTSX should be north of 2,000 fps until somewhere around 500 yards. Unless you’re shooting further than that there’s no reason to use anything else if you are dead set on copper. Further than that and look into the LRX

 

[KenLee]

Is there such thing with these Barnes coppers as... too close? too much velocity?

Ripping the petals off???

 

[180ls1]

That hammer with a 200 yard zero should make things very easy in field and reloading.

 

[polishmanmike]

“In another mag for those longer shots”, as in carry two types of ammo while hunting and use a different one if it’s “too far” for the first?

That’s not the move, in my opinion, and likely many others’ opinion.

Are you going to zero the rifle for the LRX so your dope only matches when you switch to the magazine with those bullets in it? And just hope that your zero is “close enough” for the 0-150 yard ammo? (Whatever it is).

Maybe I understood the tail end of your comment completely incorrectly and I’m totally out of line here.

If not, pick one or the other and just shoot the one projectile. Zero your rifle for that one load, run your dope for that one load, etc. you can very quickly figure out at what range your bullet will dip below the suggested velocity for the given round.

You said “under 150 yards unless I’m in a field” what is it in a field? 300 yards? 400 yards? The regular 120grain TTSX should be north of 2,000 fps until somewhere around 500 yards. Unless you’re shooting further than that there’s no reason to use anything else if you are dead set on copper. Further than that and look into the LRX

I think thus far my questions have been settled and 127 LRX is what I may use, from what I'm hearing there are no disadvantages at short distance (expansion wise) and only advantages for longer shots if I ever do find that field.
Speaking of a field... To answer your question, I'm not 100% how close the deer will be standing in the field so I can't quite answer just yet

 

[Macintosh]

Ive shot a few animals with ttsx at under 50 yards, 2900fps impact velocity or so. I have recovered two of those bullets having lodged in a big bone on the off side. One I found lodged on the opposite side shoulder ball joint of a bull elk shot at about 50 yards. It did lose all of one petal and part of another. It still had 95% weight retention if you care about those things. Also, the bullets that create the biggest wounds are specifically designed to fragment, so I wouldnt worry in the slightest about losing a petal or 3 at close range.

 

[Caseknife]

Yep, won't have issues with close shots at all. May lose a petal if you hit a big bone, big deal. I've shot Barnes exclusively for 30+ years in all manner of calibers, 15 yards to 250 all work great.

 

[polishmanmike]

Any of you folks ever shot Winchester Copper Impact Ammo 125 Grain?

 

[Byard5]

Iv been using the hornady outfitters, believe 125gr. Getting good groups At 200 and they do very well on 2-300# pigs.

Sent from my SM-F731U1 using Tapatalk

 

[2bridgetiger]

Hard to beat the Hornady American Whitetail 129 interlocks.

 

[polishmanmike]

Hard to beat the Hornady American Whitetail 129 interlocks.

you may be 100% right, but wife and I make baby food with organic veggies and venison, kinda dont want shattered lead throughout the meat (and I hear these corelokts and interloks are famous for)

 

[2bridgetiger]

you may be 100% right, but wife and I make baby food with organic veggies and venison, kinda dont want shattered lead throughout the meat (and I hear these corelokts and interloks are famous for)

Yea, that could be a problem!

 

[polishmanmike]

Yea, that could be a problem!

yeh.
trust me, not trying to make things harder lol

 

[Brian77]

My daughter and son use the Winchester Deer Season XP. It is not super fast, but does a great job on whitetail. Out to 200

 

[jhoff04]

I’ve had good success with the Federal Premium Terminal Ascent 130 gr with my 6.5 cm. These grouped just fine for my XBolt and have knocked down both a whitetail and a Muley the past two seasons. Here’s a pic of the bullet I recovered from the mule deer at only a 120ish yards. Mushroomed and stayed in tact

 

[Ophidian]

Ive tried a few different factory options for copper (130gr outfitter, 120gr ttsx and 127lrx) the 127lrx grouped significantly better than the others in my seekins element and thats what ill be using this year. I've had good experiences with the 120gr ttsx out of my 7mm08 in the past so im sure the 127gr lrx will do just as well.

 

[randy66]

I've had very good results using the hornady superperformance GMX and now CX. A bit cheaper than Barnes factory ammo and very similar results. Never have recovered a bullet yet.