My 9 year old son shot this Michigan Elk about 3 weeks ago. I did a lot of research on mild calibers for kids that could effectively kill an Elk. 6.5 CM kept coming up as a marginal round for Elk. Yet several reputable hunters have endorsed it when under 300 yards. 7mm-08 was my 2nd choice, but went with the 6.5cm. Bullet choice was a bonded bullet from Norma "Bond Strike 143gr". A lot was at stake for this hunt with such a hard to draw tag. We spent hours at the rifle range, his shooting was exceptional. Honestly the 6.5 cm recoil rocked him pretty good, but he completely stayed in control & shot beautiful 3" groups at 100 yards. Anything bigger would have been too much I believe. So he ended up making a perfect 87 yard lung shot on this 500 lb cow Elk. Here is the lung bullet trauma pic. The elk went about 70 yards we estimate. I just wanted to post this for anyone with kids who may be recoil sensitive. This combo worked great and was manageable for my little guy.
