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

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

The 147 has such a high BC it makes up for its weight difference. Based on these numbers I’d go 147.

That's the plan for now. I have a spare 6.5PRC barrel, and if this WSM works out, when I have it rechambered I may cut the second barrel to 18" and experiment with the 130. IME, 18" is ideal for a suppressed bolt gun. My daughter's chopped 18" 7-08 is a pleasure to handle and pack around.

 

[MuleyBuck]

Anyone shot any big game with the AAC Sabre Blade Black Tip 140’s?

 

[Drenalin]

Anyone shot any big game with the AAC Sabre Blade Black Tip 140’s?

I think someone earlier in the thread may have. I've got a couple hundred of them to try. I'll shoot about a hundred next weekend and run a few through animals this fall. I'll report back on how they do.

 

[Rockpicker]

Anyone shot any big game with the AAC Sabre Blade Black Tip 140’s?

They are a 140 SST with a black tip.

 

[919]

Trying to decide on an 18" vs 20" barrel for a 6.5cm that will be used mostly for steel target shooting out to 300 yards, deer hunting and possibly elk hunting. Planning on shooting suppressed, which is why im leaning toward the shorter lenghts. Any big concern with going with 18" instead of a 20"? Ballistic tables dont seem to show too much drop out to 600 yards and I doubt Ill be shooting any further. Anything I am not considering? Weight of rifle is not a concern to me, more the maneuverabilty of a longer rifle.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Trying to decide on an 18" vs 20" barrel for a 6.5cm that will be used mostly for steel target shooting out to 300 yards, deer hunting and possibly elk hunting. Planning on shooting suppressed, which is why im leaning toward the shorter lenghts. Any big concern with going with 18" instead of a 20"? Ballistic tables dont seem to show too much drop out to 600 yards and I doubt Ill be shooting any further. Anything I am not considering? Weight of rifle is not a concern to me, more the maneuverabilty of a longer rifle.

That’s what I had my 6.5 creed at, 18”. Factory Hornady 143’s were avg 2490 FPS MV, crossed 2000 FPS at ~400 yards and crossed 1800 FPS at ~570 yards.

 

[AZ_Hunter]

That’s what I had my 6.5 creed at, 18”. Factory Hornady 143’s were avg 2490 FPS MV, crossed 2000 FPS at ~400 yards and crossed 1800 FPS at ~570 yards.

Wow, that’s slow.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

Trying to decide on an 18" vs 20" barrel for a 6.5cm that will be used mostly for steel target shooting out to 300 yards, deer hunting and possibly elk hunting. Planning on shooting suppressed, which is why im leaning toward the shorter lenghts. Any big concern with going with 18" instead of a 20"? Ballistic tables dont seem to show too much drop out to 600 yards and I doubt Ill be shooting any further. Anything I am not considering? Weight of rifle is not a concern to me, more the maneuverabilty of a longer rifle.

I went with 20” for my Tikka 6.5 CM. I don’t care so much about drop as I do about maintaining adequate terminal velocity (staying above 1800 FPS terminal velocity for ELDMs). Once it gets out of jail, I’ll be mounting an AB Raptor 8 (6.25”) with 3” reflex on it.

I am used to hunting with relatively heavy (9-11#) rifles with 24-26” barrels. So I plan my barrel length and suppressor combinations around trying to stay under 10# and under 26”.

A 20” 6.5 CM with an OG (+4”) would probably work well. Of course, if being handy is more important than another 50-100 FPS muzzle velocity, than go with 18”.

For what it’s worth, my 18” CZ 527 in 6.5 Grendel is getting 2509 with Hornady 123-grain ELDM’s and SST’s. It seems to maintain terminal velocity really well 1800 FPS out to 450 yards, which is 100 yards further than I’ve ever shot a deer with any rifle. I’d rather use the little Grendel for my handy rifle than a CM.


____________________
“Keep on keepin’ on…”

 

[thinhorn_AK]

My 18” 6.5 creed was shooting my 140g ELDM load at ~ 2550 getting me to about 625yds before it dropped below 1800fps.

That was at sea level.

 

[Undrgrndprdcts]

Definitely go with 18".

 

[wyosam]

Trying to decide on an 18" vs 20" barrel for a 6.5cm that will be used mostly for steel target shooting out to 300 yards, deer hunting and possibly elk hunting. Planning on shooting suppressed, which is why im leaning toward the shorter lenghts. Any big concern with going with 18" instead of a 20"? Ballistic tables dont seem to show too much drop out to 600 yards and I doubt Ill be shooting any further. Anything I am not considering? Weight of rifle is not a concern to me, more the maneuverabilty of a longer rifle.

For that range, I’d turn the decision into 16” vs 18”, and 16” would win every time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bluumoon]

The only reason I’d go 20” is bc 140s/143s would prob line up better w quick drop corrections.

 

[ztc92]

For that range, I’d turn the decision into 16” vs 18”, and 16” would win every time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This ^^^

Mine is 18” and with an OG suppressor it’s handy and still lethal to 600 yards at the elevations I hunt. My next rifle will be a 6mm at 16.5”

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Wow, that’s slow.

Yeah, that’s why it’s now a 22” 6cm shooting 108’s at 2900+

 

[Rockpicker]

Has anybody shot the 120 NBTs at distance to figure out what the true BC of that bullet is? Nosler has a history of inflating BC and there’s not much info on the interwebs about the BC. Too late to tell me to buy something else as I have several years worth waiting to be reloaded, they were cheap.

 

[The Guide]

A little over 3 weeks ago, Sportsmans Warehouse had a sale on the Howa 1500 "Randy Newberg 2" Carbon Stalker in 6.5 Creedmoor that put them out the door at under $500. I'd been wanting another 6.5 Creedmoor to shoot up all the random ammo I bought when I was setting up rifles for friends and family. I have 2 Tikkas in the safe but one is my wife's and one is my daughter's. I bought a Tikka take off barrel but haven't gotten it threaded yet and this gun came with a carbon fiber stock, threaded, and had a rail so it was an easy choice to give it a try. The website said they had one in Bozeman so I ordered it from the the Bozeman store. They must have sold that one as they had to order me one in from another store.



I picked it up on Wednesday evening and got it cleaned up and degreaseed on Thursday. Swapped the scope from my 22 ARC on to it and shot it. I picked up a couple of boxes of ammo to try since I was at my Butte house and not where the other ammo is. Shot the Hornady Gunner 140 BTHP and the Hornady 140 ELDM into pretty decent groups. Took the 140 BTHP and guessed a velocity of 2630 fps (chrono was at home) and made hits on 2 mil rocks at 575 and 590 pretty easily. I was consistent left to right but just a little low (less than .2 mil) so I called it good.


Shots 3 to 7 through the new rifle.


Shots 8 to 12 through the new barrel. The shot under the #2 on the right edge is the first shot after bore sighting with the other ammo.


Anyway we finished up in Butte on Saturday and headed back across the state to Sidney. Stopped at the public range in Glendive and shot the 500 yard and 1k yard steel. The 500 yard steel was easy so I move out to 1k yards and couldn’t make a hit nor see a splash due to the lighting (last 30 minutes of light) and the fact we had gotten a bunch of rain.

Went out this evening and shot it more at 510 using my guessed velocity while getting chrono data. I guessed 2630 fps from box data of 2690 fps. I clocked 2597 fps from the ammo so my guess was 33 fps faster. I used the new data and the guessed data and made some comparisons to the change in dope. At 500 yards the difference between 2597 and 2630 fps was only 0.1 mils or 1.8 inches. However, at 1k yards the difference was 0.5 mils or 18 inches. This was probably a pretty good reason why the 1k steel eluded me with guessed velocity.

I need to revisit the 140 ELDM now that I've got a few more rounds down the pipe along with the rest of the ammo I need to shoot up. After I get the barrel good and broken in I'll see if my son wants to trade me for his 7mm-08 Tikka...

Jay

 

[Castle Rock]

I'll see if my son wants to trade me for his 7mm-08 Tikka...

Jay

You must really dislike your son

 

[The Guide]

You must really dislike your son

Why? We went to the Glendive range again today. He hit the 500 yard target 5 for 5 and the 1k target 3 out of 5 times in switching 15 mph winds with the 6.5 Creedmoor Howa. Gun is pretty easy to shoot. Not that there's anything wrong with his Tikka other than not being threaded and being ammo picky. The only thing we've found it really likes is the 120 Barnes TTSX. I might just get the 6.5 Creedmoor Superlite barrel I have threaded and put it on his action for him and buy him a couple of cases of the AAC 140gr Sabre Blade Black Tips ammo to practice and hunt with.

Jay

 

[LongWayAround]

@The Guide

I would be curious what you think of the Black Tips.

I put a few boxes through my new Tikka 6.5CM and didn't think they grouped as well as other ammo I have shot. I basically used them for break-in and most of my other flavors were shot through a different gun, so definitely some variables in there. I also seemed to notice some heavier bolt lift as compared to Hornady, but was not able to chrono the AAC.

 

[waspocrew]

@The Guide

I would be curious what you think of the Black Tips.

I put a few boxes through my new Tikka 6.5CM and didn't think they grouped as well as other ammo I have shot. I basically used them for break-in and most of my other flavors were shot through a different gun, so definitely some variables in there. I also seemed to notice some heavier bolt lift as compared to Hornady, but was not able to chrono the AAC.

I just picked up this Sig Cross Sawtooth in 6.5 CM. 18” barrel.



First 5 rounds through the rifle with 140 Sabre ammo. This got my attention! Average for the entire box was 2490 from my 18” barrel.



Then took 3 more 5 round groups:


Then 5 rounds of Gunwerks 147 ELDM ammo:


Overall, pretty happy with the Sig Cross Sawtooth I expect things will tighten up a bit once I get a few more rounds down the barrel.

Will definitely be adding more 140 Sabre ammo to the shelf. At $1/round, I think it’ll do just fine.