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

[Castle Rock]

Interesting replies....a bit of respect and decades of field experience / results conspicuously absent. Take a moment and be thankful we all have choices which can be freely expressed.

Have a good day ya'll.

Sayonara sweetheart, hopefully

 

[mtnwrunner]

Don't have the time to read 76 pages, wish I did. If I'm repeating what's already been said somewhere in those pages...sorry.

My 7 decades of hunting and a library of reading has confirmed what Bob Hagel said...... “You should not use a cartridge that does the job when everything goes right; you need one that works when everything goes wrong.”

Amen Mr. Hagel, Amen.

YMMV.

SMH.

Randy

 

[xsn10s]

Without responding to any particular naysayers I'd say you have to look at the body of evidence in a whole. That includes the .223 evidence, which is what Bob Hagel didn't have. Even Berger bullets and a notable gun writer did their own work on testing Berger VLD's for hunting. They used test media and then live animals before relying on hunters reports of success with VLD "Match" bullets. I'm still in the larger caliber camp. But you cannot deny the success of the smaller caliber match bullets. You just have to do your own due diligence to figure out the esoteric characteristics of each bullet. And you see that all the time on these pages with questions like "did you clear the tips?". After testing at distance on predators and varmits and reading threads like this I'm confident the bullets are up to the task on big game. I'll still use my 7mm RM with 180gr ELDM's for my LR elk hunt. It's the most accurate rifle I have with higher BC bullets. If I hunt a wooded area then I'll take my 7-08 with either 162gr ELDM, or 150gr ELDX as per pharm. If I pull a cow tag I'll test out my 260 AI with 145gr MB. As long as I don't have to carry that rifle far lol. If you are a student of terminal ballistic then you read threads in their entirety. You never know where you'll find gems of information.

 

[packgoatguy]

Don't have the time to read 76 pages, wish I did. If I'm repeating what's already been said somewhere in those pages...sorry.

My 7 decades of hunting and a library of reading has confirmed what Bob Hagel said...... “You should not use a cartridge that does the job when everything goes right; you need one that works when everything goes wrong.”

Amen Mr. Hagel, Amen.

YMMV.

With all due respect, that quote speaks to an ethos that is inconsistent with my hunting ethics. As a hunter... no one forces me to pull the trigger under less than ideal conditions. I can choose to only pull the trigger when I have the situational variables in my favor. I feel that is part of hunting and I owe that respect to the animals I hunt.

As a mentor of a number of young hunters, my primary goal, (besides firearm safety) is for them to learn the discipline it takes to make correct decisions in the field. They learn that it is OKAY to not take a shot if they don't feel confident and comfortable. They learn to not take a shot at a moving animal, to shoot from fully supported positions, to not shoot in excessive wind, etc. I also insist we take the time to video the shot through a spotting scope so that we can review the results in real-time. We also observe conditions like how close the animal is to thick cover that could affect tracking, or how much area we can see in any direction the animal might go, or the amount of light left, or whether I/we can accurately dope the wind, whether the kid needs an extra moment for a quick dry-fire practice to calm their nerves, etc. If these conditions aren't favorable, and to the degree of the competence of the individual shooter... I might not have them take an otherwise doable shot. I also spend a substantial amount of time and money preparing and tweeking my equipment to ensure success... including the mandatory use of suppressors, spotting scopes, and tripods I've designed for maximum stability and minimal weight.

In the past two years alone, 20+ big game animals (Elk, deer, bear, wolf) have been taken with my ultralight rifle setups (ie, bare rifle my 6mmCreed weighs 4.25lbs) using 'diminutive' calibers like 6mmCreed and 6.5cm (only two of which were animals I personally harvested, the rest were shot by youth or adults with minimal experience). Zero animals were unrecoverable. Zero animals went further than 150 yards. And all but 3 were one shot kills. More than half were over 300 yards, and most of those were over 400 yards, and a couple were over 500 yards. (Only 2 were under 200 yards). All were spot and stalk, all were DIY, all but 1 were at least a mile from an open road, and most were several miles deep into the rugged backcountry of Idaho, including notoriously challenging terrain areas like the Selway.

The moral of the story is... shot placement is key... but we as the hunters control when and how we take the shot... and choosing heavy hitting cartridges (which also have inaccuracy inducing recoil) because they appear to compensate for a poor shot will only invite hunters to take shots under less than ideal conditions, rather than learning to discipline themselves to only take a shot they are confident will quickly and humanely dispatch the animal.

 

[AZ_Hunter]

My son got a M7 260 last fall for his 9th birthday.

He made one shot kills on a big doe whitetail during the early youth season and a middling sized pig a week later. Both with factory loaded 130ELDMs and both at around 80-100 yards. Lung soup in both cases and not much tracking necessary, the doe went about 15 yards and the pig straight down.

He wanted to load his own ammo so I bought him some dies and a box of 129gr mystery bullets off the Midway 2nds list. We formed some brass from 308 and were soon in business. He put one of them through the shoulders of a big cow elk from 250 yards and she staggered 2 steps before collapsing. Bullet went through both shoulders and both lungs in between and was caught against the hide.

Pretty good season for a scrawny 9yr old.

Elk lungs


Recovered bullet and ivories.

Awesome! Did he shoot off a tripod?

 

[D Lee]

To those who've chosen to criticize my post with a Hagel quote....

Forums offer us a place to express our opinions. A place where we can agree to disagree. When one opinion disagrees with yours...consider reading xsn10s & packgoatguy quotes. Respectful and informative. Kudos.

Assumptions that I was downgrading smaller cartridges are false. Just use enough gun.

Cheers.

 

[ianpadron]

To those who've chosen to criticize my post with a Hagel quote....

Forums offer us a place to express our opinions. A place where we can agree to disagree. When one opinion disagrees with yours...consider reading xsn10s & packgoatguy quotes. Respectful and informative. Kudos.

Assumptions that I was downgrading smaller cartridges are false. Just use enough gun.

Cheers.

Dude....you stated it essentially wasn't worth your time to actually READ the applicable threads, to inject an opinion no one asked for, that contradicts literally hundreds of times more data than you'll generate in a lifetime.

You're getting roasted for good reason.

 

[NWBLKTAIL]

With all due respect, that quote speaks to an ethos that is inconsistent with my hunting ethics. As a hunter... no one forces me to pull the trigger under less than ideal conditions. I can choose to only pull the trigger when I have the situational variables in my favor. I feel that is part of hunting and I owe that respect to the animals I hunt.

As a mentor of a number of young hunters, my primary goal, (besides firearm safety) is for them to learn the discipline it takes to make correct decisions in the field. They learn that it is OKAY to not take a shot if they don't feel confident and comfortable. They learn to not take a shot at a moving animal, to shoot from fully supported positions, to not shoot in excessive wind, etc. I also insist we take the time to video the shot through a spotting scope so that we can review the results in real-time. We also observe conditions like how close the animal is to thick cover that could affect tracking, or how much area we can see in any direction the animal might go, or the amount of light left, or whether I/we can accurately dope the wind, whether the kid needs an extra moment for a quick dry-fire practice to calm their nerves, etc. If these conditions aren't favorable, and to the degree of the competence of the individual shooter... I might not have them take an otherwise doable shot. I also spend a substantial amount of time and money preparing and tweeking my equipment to ensure success... including the mandatory use of suppressors, spotting scopes, and tripods I've designed for maximum stability and minimal weight.

In the past two years alone, 20 big game animals (Elk, deer, bear, wolf) have been taken with my ultralight rifle setups (ie, bare rifle my 6mmCreed weighs 4.25lbs) using 'diminutive' calibers like 6mmCreed and 6.5cm (only two of which were animals I personally harvested, the rest were shot by youth or adults with minimal experience). Zero animals were unrecoverable. Zero animals went further than 150 yards. And all but 3 were one shot kills. More than half were over 300 yards, and most of those were over 400 yards, and a couple were over 500 yards. (Only 2 were under 200 yards). All were spot and stalk, all were DIY, all but 1 were at least a mile from an open road, and most were several miles deep into the rugged backcountry of Idaho, including notoriously challenging terrain areas like the Selway.

The moral of the story is... shot placement is key... but we as the hunters control when and how we take the shot... and choosing heavy hitting cartridges (which also have inaccuracy inducing recoil) because they appear to compensate for a poor shot will only invite hunters to take shots under less than ideal conditions, rather than learning to discipline themselves to only take a shot they are confident will quickly and humanely dispatch the animal.

I know you are suppose to enjoy your kids at all stages, but damn this makes me really look forward to them getting older and doing these things with them
Great photos.

 

[gerry35]

Sure would be nice to get back to posting pictures of success with 6.5 mm cartridges. Someone has a different opinion, so what. Having 15 guys or whatever it is raking the guy over over gets old.

 

[gerry35]

View attachment 874843

Sweet, in a few years you'll be in the age where no one wants to listen to you.

 

[AZ_Hunter]

With all due respect, that quote speaks to an ethos that is inconsistent with my hunting ethics. As a hunter... no one forces me to pull the trigger under less than ideal conditions. I can choose to only pull the trigger when I have the situational variables in my favor. I feel that is part of hunting and I owe that respect to the animals I hunt.

As a mentor of a number of young hunters, my primary goal, (besides firearm safety) is for them to learn the discipline it takes to make correct decisions in the field. They learn that it is OKAY to not take a shot if they don't feel confident and comfortable. They learn to not take a shot at a moving animal, to shoot from fully supported positions, to not shoot in excessive wind, etc. I also insist we take the time to video the shot through a spotting scope so that we can review the results in real-time. We also observe conditions like how close the animal is to thick cover that could affect tracking, or how much area we can see in any direction the animal might go, or the amount of light left, or whether I/we can accurately dope the wind, whether the kid needs an extra moment for a quick dry-fire practice to calm their nerves, etc. If these conditions aren't favorable, and to the degree of the competence of the individual shooter... I might not have them take an otherwise doable shot. I also spend a substantial amount of time and money preparing and tweeking my equipment to ensure success... including the mandatory use of suppressors, spotting scopes, and tripods I've designed for maximum stability and minimal weight.

In the past two years alone, 20 big game animals (Elk, deer, bear, wolf) have been taken with my ultralight rifle setups (ie, bare rifle my 6mmCreed weighs 4.25lbs) using 'diminutive' calibers like 6mmCreed and 6.5cm (only two of which were animals I personally harvested, the rest were shot by youth or adults with minimal experience). Zero animals were unrecoverable. Zero animals went further than 150 yards. And all but 3 were one shot kills. More than half were over 300 yards, and most of those were over 400 yards, and a couple were over 500 yards. (Only 2 were under 200 yards). All were spot and stalk, all were DIY, all but 1 were at least a mile from an open road, and most were several miles deep into the rugged backcountry of Idaho, including notoriously challenging terrain areas like the Selway.

The moral of the story is... shot placement is key... but we as the hunters control when and how we take the shot... and choosing heavy hitting cartridges (which also have inaccuracy inducing recoil) because they appear to compensate for a poor shot will only invite hunters to take shots under less than ideal conditions, rather than learning to discipline themselves to only take a shot they are confident will quickly and humanely dispatch the animal.

What state?

 

[packgoatguy]

What state?

Idaho

 

[Slickhill]

Awesome! Did he shoot off a tripod?

No sir. A cheap set of sticks for the deer and the pig and prone over a fanny pack for the elk.
I drill into him and we practice using field expedient and improvised rests regularly. We burn up lots of 22 shells at the ranch weekly practicing.

 

[Huntr]

Here are a couple of 260 Rem kills-

 

[Tanner]

6,5x47, by far my most killing SOB of a rifle I’ve ever had

 

[atmat]

6,5x47, by far my most killing SOB of a rifle I’ve ever had View attachment 876023

Lol 10/10 solid job on masking their identities

 

[Tanner]

Lol 10/10 solid job on masking their identities

It’s not easy being a professional photoshopper but somebody has to do it.

 

[Tim14167]

260 Remington - Great round!

 

[Mike D Texas]

Sure would be nice to get back to posting pictures of success with 6.5 mm cartridges. Someone has a different opinion, so what. Having 15 guys or whatever it is raking the guy over over gets old.

Yep, no need to be a dick.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[gerry35]

260 Remington - Great round!

For sure I have had one since it was introduced and it's never disappointed. The 1 in 9 twist guns do well with the 130's and shorter 140's. My current gun is a 1 in 8 Tikka and shoots every bullet tried well including the 140 gr ELD-M and 143 gr ELD-X bullets. We also have a Tikka 6.5x55 that shoots light's out too, before that a Ruger M77 Mk II that was a nice gun.