6.5 creed vs 30-06

I understand and I do believe your intentions are great. My beliefs and feelings are taken from years of experience that I do consider data. From those I use logic to make my decisions. I will concede that my experiences have not been apples to apples to yours mainly due to bullet selections. That might make a world of difference?

I am going to be in the Wyoming mountains again this year and hopefully will get a chance to see an elk or two taken with 6.5 147 ELDm as 2 in our party will be shooting them. One in a 6.5 PRC and one in a CM. I'll do my best to document.
I, for one, hope you get to see some work done by that 147gr ELDM. I'd have no reservations putting one thru any elk after what I have seen them do.

I grew up hunting with a 30-06. Then a 7RM and a 300WM as I learned the longer range game. I still own those rifles and shoot them often, but the 6.5 SAUM and a handful of creedmoors, handloaded to higher than factory velocity, (and suppressed) are much more enjoyable to shoot. I'm a better shot with them and more confident. I also have a couple .223 bolt rifles that my daughter and I hunt with, and they are even more fun to shoot and absolutely deadly as far as putting the bullet on the mark.

I don't document every kill and do field necropsies, but I do examine entries, exits, and the damage done within. The more I see, the more I can tell that centerfire rifles with good bullets and proper placement are way more similar than different in what they do terminally. Screenshot_20230315_110440_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20230315_110550_Gallery.jpg
 
If the premise is that caliber doesn’t matter and it’s all about the bullet, what’s the best bullet for each caliber? 223 seems to be the 77 tmk. Best 6mm, 6.5, 7, 30 cal?
 
If the premise is that caliber doesn’t matter and it’s all about the bullet, what’s the best bullet for each caliber? 223 seems to be the 77 tmk. Best 6mm, 6.5, 7, 30 cal?

Define “best”? If it’s sufficient penetration and maximum wound size, it depends on velocity. The “best” performer for a 6mm BR isn’t going to be the best performer for a 6UM.
 
Fudds will never be convinced even in the face of data that they don't need their uber magnums
Any field reports from your own experience with the caliber and chambering you choose?

Sounds like you found a caliber or caliber range that will work for you. Congrats.

Be careful throwing little stones with words, big ones can fly right back.
 
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So if finding the "best" bullet depends on velocity then cartridge/caliber selection has to matter some right?
Yes, to a point. You have to select a cartridge that gets you the velocity necessary for terminal bullet performance at the distances you’ll be shooting animals. But most of the smaller cartridges can keep velocity at long enough distances to still not justify jumping to a bigger caliber.
 
That was more of a rhetorical question in reference to other respsones that the cartridge doesnt matter
The point, I believe, is that unless you are one of the very few who truly has any business shooting at animals beyond a few hundred yards, the cartridge doesn't matter.
 
My point is saying cartridge is irrelevant and only bullet selection matters might not be entirely true
I haven’t interpreted what folks have said as “cartridge is totally irrelevant.”

What I think most of us are saying is that cartridge is mostly functionally irrelevant past a certain point.
 
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