6.5 Creedmoor/260 for Deer, Elk, and whatever else.....

Joined
Sep 11, 2017
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Bozeman, MT
This may have been covered, but has anyone tested out the Sierra Tipped Game King, aka gamechanger? Im shooting the 130gr smk out of my rifle because I got a bunch of them pretty cheap. Im curious how that bullet does. I know it is a little tougher than the TMK but not a bonded bullet so it should fragment some.

I’ve only used them in 7mm and .308, but at MVs of 2600-2800 fps, they have performed really well for me. Not a ton of fragmentation at lower MVs, but I’ve had excellent expansion down to 1800fps or lower. Easy and cheap to load, excellent ballistics. I see them as approaching bonded bullet type performance at lower MVs, but with super reliable expansion and match type accuracy.


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Last edited:

amassi

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May 26, 2018
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3,918
This may have been covered, but has anyone tested out the Sierra Tipped Game King, aka gamechanger? Im shooting the 130gr smk out of my rifle because I got a bunch of them pretty cheap. Im curious how that bullet does. I know it is a little tougher than the TMK but not a bonded bullet so it should fragment some.

They sure act bonded
Wounds very similar to the accubond
They are very easy to load


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Bluumoon

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Shoot2HuntU
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May 4, 2020
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Finally got around to testing the 6.5 superlite barrel on my T3. 140 ELDMs shot 5 shots at about .75", but the 130 TMKs were lights out with 5 under .5". I still want to load up 10 of each and shoot a larger group sample size, but is there any reason to prioritize the 140 eld over the 130 TMK? Primary use is whitetail to 200 and deer/elk out to my self imposed max of 500.
As I understand it you won't be able to tell much/if any difference. I shot 143s for elk last year, the 130 TMK groups better for me and will be the go to for current barrel. Rumor is TMKs are a little more forgiving around 1800fps bottom limit.
 

SC HUNTER

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 9, 2022
Messages
162
180 pound 8 point in Georgia's rifle opener shot with a 6.5 creedmoor suppressed using a factory 143 grain eld-x. Shot was between 100-120 yards complete pass through, he ran about 40 yards heading back to his bedroom. He was pouring blood pretty quick and wasn't hard to find. At the shot it sounded like you'd dropped a Watermelon on concrete!
Picture 1 entrance
2 exit
3 lungs that weren't working appropriately.
4 internal entrance
5 internal exit
 

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JMundy84

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Nov 29, 2023
Messages
240
Big cow elk 340# hanging 6.5CM 147 ELD-M impact velocity around 2500 FPS both lungs were wrecked and there was a cut in the heart from a bullet or bone fragment. First shot hit and she spun and ran about 20 steps second shot hit and she took 3 steps and tipped over, found the piece of lead from shot #1 under the skin on the offhand side. The bullet jacket was loose inside the chest cavity.
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bigbuckdj

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Jul 29, 2019
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I’ve held off on posting this because I feel like I’ll get roasted. But I’ll share it anyway.

I shot 5 whitetails in a row with a 143 ELDX without any problems but I got poor blood trails. They didn’t make it further than 40 yards but still no blood.

So I decided to try a 140 fusion at the end of last deer season. Shot the buck at 150 yards, no blood at the shot, he acted hit and after a lot of looking I found a few piles of blood but nothing to go on after many hours of grid searching. Later that weekend, a friend asks me where I was hunting, which direction the deer was facing, etc, and then says I just killed him 300 yards from where you were hunting.

Sure enough there’s a small entrance right on the rear of the shoulder on the side I shot into and no exit according to my friend. I don’t know what to make of it, he was maybe quartering away just slightly, not absolute flat broadside, but I still can’t make sense of what could’ve happened here. No autopsy unfortunately.

I guess back to ELDXs? Just wanted to share what I thought was a failure. The giant holes are round nosed .308 corelokts for whoever might wonder.

IMG_0598.jpeg
 

mt100gr.

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Jan 29, 2014
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NW MT
I’ve held off on posting this because I feel like I’ll get roasted. But I’ll share it anyway.

I shot 5 whitetails in a row with a 143 ELDX without any problems but I got poor blood trails. They didn’t make it further than 40 yards but still no blood.

So I decided to try a 140 fusion at the end of last deer season. Shot the buck at 150 yards, no blood at the shot, he acted hit and after a lot of looking I found a few piles of blood but nothing to go on after many hours of grid searching. Later that weekend, a friend asks me where I was hunting, which direction the deer was facing, etc, and then says I just killed him 300 yards from where you were hunting.

Sure enough there’s a small entrance right on the rear of the shoulder on the side I shot into and no exit according to my friend. I don’t know what to make of it, he was maybe quartering away just slightly, not absolute flat broadside, but I still can’t make sense of what could’ve happened here. No autopsy unfortunately.

I guess back to ELDXs? Just wanted to share what I thought was a failure. The giant holes are round nosed .308 corelokts for whoever might wonder.

View attachment 780122
You're saying that you shot that deer with a 6.5cm where the red arrow is pointing? And it lived how long?
 
Joined
Dec 28, 2019
Messages
1,874
My Tikkas are darn near precision rifles with my handloads and shooting out of my shooting houses. I always aim for the heart because it’s lower third, specific target and lethal.

With the 143 ELDX and 6.5 CM I’ve always gotten lots of blood on the ground and fast.
 

bigbuckdj

WKR
Joined
Jul 29, 2019
Messages
690
My Tikkas are darn near precision rifles with my handloads and shooting out of my shooting houses. I always aim for the heart because it’s lower third, specific target and lethal.

With the 143 ELDX and 6.5 CM I’ve always gotten lots of blood on the ground and fast.
I really was being picky trying something other than the ELDX. They performed well, the deer basically jumped once or twice and died. It wasn’t a problem, I’ll use them again and I have some 130 TMKs to try.
 

SC HUNTER

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 9, 2022
Messages
162
I’ve held off on posting this because I feel like I’ll get roasted. But I’ll share it anyway.

I shot 5 whitetails in a row with a 143 ELDX without any problems but I got poor blood trails. They didn’t make it further than 40 yards but still no blood.

So I decided to try a 140 fusion at the end of last deer season. Shot the buck at 150 yards, no blood at the shot, he acted hit and after a lot of looking I found a few piles of blood but nothing to go on after many hours of grid searching. Later that weekend, a friend asks me where I was hunting, which direction the deer was facing, etc, and then says I just killed him 300 yards from where you were hunting.

Sure enough there’s a small entrance right on the rear of the shoulder on the side I shot into and no exit according to my friend. I don’t know what to make of it, he was maybe quartering away just slightly, not absolute flat broadside, but I still can’t make sense of what could’ve happened here. No autopsy unfortunately.

I guess back to ELDXs? Just wanted to share what I thought was a failure. The giant holes are round nosed .308 corelokts for whoever might wonder.

View attachment 780122
I have a real hard time believing a deer lived after being shot there with a rifle of any sort. Not saying it couldn't happen but whew I don't know. I'm definitely not flaming you at all and I've shot several with eldx in a creedmoor and I'm happy with the results enough to be very confident in the combination. I shot fusions in a 270 a few years ago and I was not impressed.
 

bigbuckdj

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Joined
Jul 29, 2019
Messages
690
I have a real hard time believing a deer lived after being shot there with a rifle of any sort. Not saying it couldn't happen but whew I don't know. I'm definitely not flaming you at all and I've shot several with eldx in a creedmoor and I'm happy with the results enough to be very confident in the combination. I shot fusions in a 270 a few years ago and I was not impressed.
I had the same feeling which is why I didn’t share it. I thought surely it was a different deer and I made a poor shot or something. The odds of having a different buck, with nearly the same horns, killed 300 yards from where I lost blood, on private, with a bullet hole where I was aiming, seems even more unlikely to me. I’ve been tossing it around in my head for 8 months.
 

SC HUNTER

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 9, 2022
Messages
162
I had the same feeling which is why I didn’t share it. I thought surely it was a different deer and I made a poor shot or something. The odds of having a different buck, with nearly the same horns, killed 300 yards from where I lost blood, on private, with a bullet hole where I was aiming, seems even more unlikely to me. I’ve been tossing it around in my head for 8 months.
I'm not saying it couldn't happen. I've seen some deer do some weird things in the past but you made a good shot as far as placement goes and I would have guessed it would have blown lungs out and been dead in 40 yards. 🤷‍♂️
 
Joined
Feb 16, 2021
Messages
1,354
Location
Eastern Oregon
I’ve held off on posting this because I feel like I’ll get roasted. But I’ll share it anyway.

I shot 5 whitetails in a row with a 143 ELDX without any problems but I got poor blood trails. They didn’t make it further than 40 yards but still no blood.

So I decided to try a 140 fusion at the end of last deer season. Shot the buck at 150 yards, no blood at the shot, he acted hit and after a lot of looking I found a few piles of blood but nothing to go on after many hours of grid searching. Later that weekend, a friend asks me where I was hunting, which direction the deer was facing, etc, and then says I just killed him 300 yards from where you were hunting.

Sure enough there’s a small entrance right on the rear of the shoulder on the side I shot into and no exit according to my friend. I don’t know what to make of it, he was maybe quartering away just slightly, not absolute flat broadside, but I still can’t make sense of what could’ve happened here. No autopsy unfortunately.

I guess back to ELDXs? Just wanted to share what I thought was a failure. The giant holes are round nosed .308 corelokts for whoever might wonder.

View attachment 780122
@Formidilosus ever seen something like this?
 
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