I’m starting with a magnum kill but we got both in a two day period and a lot of guys are interested in ELDM performance and how 6.5 creedmoor might compare to a magnum.
Kill #1: this is the elk in the brush
7mm PRC, 22” bbl
180gr ELD-M factory load
Suppressed
50yds, broadside, shot just behind the front quarter and 1/3 down.
He ran up to me while I was turned around looking at other elk, and when I turned around at the sound of hooves he stopped with his head behind a tree but looking my direction. I could see everything of him but his head, and he couldn’t see me. I shot him and he was surprised and started walking a few feet, I shot again and missed shot 2. He jogged down a steep hill and died at the edge of the brush.
Total run was about 100yds.
The ENTRANCE wound is shown as the giant hole through the ribs. Both lungs had a torn up section about 1.5-2” diameter in them. Zero meat loss beyond a rib on each side.
The bullet was recovered under the off-side hide, not intact but shockingly all of the pieces were in the same 3/4” hole. I’d say the bullet held together better than expected and the less inside I did far more separation/dispersion. We found no lead/copper in meat and the heart was untouched.


Kill #2: this is the elk in the open field
6.5 creedmoor, 20” Tikka bbl
147gr ELD-M factory ammo.
Suppressed
130yds broadside, shot just behind the front quarter, 1/2 way down the animal
We got to watch this group for about five minutes as they semi-circled around us. My buddy used my loaner rifle for this hunt and picked a great 6x6 at the back of the group. He shot it and the whole herd turned around and ran, with the shot bull only running about 10yds before stopping, turning around and walking back to about where he was shot. His hind legs squatted down and he slowly started to drop down. My buddy fired a second shot and the bull dropped to the ground and flopped for a bit. We discovered the second round never hit, the bull dropped at the sound of the shot. It took him about 0:45-1:00 of standing before the second shot and about 2:00-2:30 minutes to die.
Terminal performance was similar to, but smaller scale, than the 7prc. The lungs both had a cylinder about 1” diameter that was shredded, and the bullet was recovered under the far side hide, with all the pieces of the bullet together except some lead and a few copper fragments that made it into the flap meat and backstrap. The heart was untouched and zero meat was lost.


Overall, the end effect is what we expected, but how we got there was a surprise. For how fragmentary these rounds are supposed to be I did not expect the entire jacket to be together in the far side. I’ll keep trying these and see how more samples perform.