6.5cm light for caliber choices and opinions?

[IrkedCitizen]

I would try Hornady Match 130gr ELD-M

 

[longrangelead]

42-43gr H4350 & 130 ELDM

 

[JBradley500]

43.0 h4350 an 130 TMK here.

 

[ztc92]

Some good info in this thread I started for the purpose of lowering felt recoil with a creedmore, especially if you reload.

For factory, you might try the 120 ELDM.

Thread 'Lighter bullets for less recoil in 6.5CM'

Apr 24, 2025

I’m all in on smaller calibers for shooting and hunting and like many, my two go to rifles are a Tikka RSS in 223 for practice and a Tikka 6.5CM for hunting. I live in Wyoming so must have at least 6mm for elk and would prefer to have one go-to hunting rifle and load that I use for all big game. I set my 6.5CM up to shoot the 130TMK so I had one rifle I could carry for deer and elk.

A few friends have downsized to 6mm and after shooting our nearly identical Tikkas in 6.5CM with 130’s vs their 243 and 6CM with 108’s, I find the reduced recoil of he 6mm is even better. It was significant...

• ztc92
• Replies: 94
• Forum: Firearms

• 

 

[Stinky Coyote]

https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/lighter-bullets-for-less-recoil-in-6-5cm.403670/

 

[S-3 ranch]

I just received my order of ammunition from the warehouse
This 6.5cm is a very strange little cartridge, I don’t see how it can fling any heavier than 120-130 grain mono or bonded ( it’s a tiny little thing)

 

[nm.otter]

Put one next to a .308 or a .243 and you can see the proportional shrink (with matching OAL).

Put it next to a .30-06 or a .270 and it does acquire a certain toy-like vibe. Shoot it at medium distances (400-700y) and it might make you laugh -- in a good way.

If you want a real chuckle, put any of those next to a 6mm ARC.

 

[EmperorMA]

You should also grab a box of the Winchester Deer Season XP 125gr. A great deer bullet that should work nicely in a 1:9 barrel.

 

[Stinky Coyote]

Put one next to a .308 or a .243 and you can see the proportional shrink (with matching OAL).

Put it next to a .30-06 or a .270 and it does acquire a certain toy-like vibe. Shoot it at medium distances (400-700y) and it night make you laugh -- in a good way.

If you want a real chuckle, put any of those next to a 6mm ARC.

Haha yup it takes a little bit to wrap head around how bc changes the game.

S3, the faster you launch stuff the faster it slows, and so slower things slow slower. When you increase bc you win on that part. Ie; your .270 and say a 140gr accubond and the 6.5 creedmoor with the 140-147’s both land at 600 yards about same fps but you burned around a dozen less gr of powder with the creedmoor.

The added benefit is increasing bc generally increases sd so penetration goes up given similar construction and impact velocities. Allows you to use softer bullets with the excess sd for more internal damage for similar penetrations and more drt experiences.

Another example, a typical older .243 and the 80-100gr low bc powerpoints or partitions...by about 300 yard mark the tiny 6.5 Grendel 123gr eldm is catching it and then walks away from there while again burning a dozen less gr of powder. Up the twist and roll high bc heavies like 108gr eldm on .243 though and then it hits a whole nother level as well.

Also one more benefit to high bc is wind drift upping hit probability at the newfound distances over trying to compensate with more powder on sad bc bullets.

More bc equals less powder required. You may start slower but you keep velocity better and find wind better at same time. It’s win win win on all fronts. It’s no accident the 6.5cm has done so well. Or the rest of the modern 21st century cartridges with this formula applied. It’s amazing what you can do with 30gr of powder now, a good stepping stone is the 40gr powder class lol.

Give it some time and next you’ll be asking about these little Grendel arc cartridges but right now to see one next to your already tiny to you creedmoor you’ll really think we’ve all lost our minds haha. The 6.5 Grendel is like a creedmoor short but they are the peak in what they can do for big game in efficiency for powder burned.

Times are good, we’ve got some amazing choices now. Could hunt rest of my days with a 6.5 Grendel. Nice bonus is drill out a spent and throw on key ring with your keys and laugh every time you look at your keys. The one hanging on my keychain was my first Grendel kill and it was the first moose ever killed with that cartridge, 125 yards, went 15 yards.

End of day it’s the bullet that matters, not the headstamp. So get used to looking at that end of a cartridge. The bullet is the hero of this saga.

You shop bullets first, then you shop what cartridge (how much powder) takes it as far as you’d like to go, then you shop the rifle and optic to wrap around it.

Had to add that high bc is a 4-way win.
1. Velocity retention (less drop more distance)
2. Less wind drift (reading wind margin, higher hit probability)
3. More penetration (higher sd)
4. Less recoil (easier to shoot well)

All of those compound to change the game and add easy effective range to anyone’s game.

The dynamic range potential for hunters and shooters went from a fairly narrow band to a huge wide band all because of bc.

And maybe a 5-way win if you consider how the higher bc brings higher sd allowing bullet ‘construction’ flexibility to broaden terminal goals bandwidth as well.

Pretty sure I got it all now haha

 

[SloppyJ]

I have a pile of 130 tmks for mine to test out this year. It shoots them well. Tikka 1:8

 

[IvanRusty]

Just went through a few boxes of 6.5cm to find what my rifle liked.

It did not like Federal Terminal Ascent 130g at all. Could not get groups even close to an moa at 100yds. Similar experience with Hornady Superformance SST 129g.

The ones I have confirmed it does like so far are:

Winchester Deer Season XP 125g
Federal Fusion Tipped 140g
Hornady ELD-M 147g

Thought I would find a pattern of "this rifle likes heavy/light ammo" but nope. Just came out confused.

 

[EmperorMA]

Just went through a few boxes of 6.5cm to find what my rifle liked.

It did not like Federal Terminal Ascent 130g at all. Could not get groups even close to an moa at 100yds. Similar experience with Hornady Superformance SST 129g.

The ones I have confirmed it does like so far are:

Winchester Deer Season XP 125g
Federal Fusion Tipped 140g
Hornady ELD-M 147g

Thought I would find a pattern of "this rifle likes heavy/light ammo" but nope. Just came out confused.

My 22" 6.5 CM likes just about everything. It goes sub-MOA with bullets from 120gr - 147gr and I really am just splitting tiny little hairs when I go about choosing a bullet for it.

I do have a 1:8" twist, however, so my experience is not comparable to the OP's with his 1:9" predator-style rifle.

In smaller bullets, it really likes the 120gr Nosler Ballistic Tip, 125gr Winchester Deer Season XP, 120gr TTSX, 127gr LRX, 129gr SST and 130gr ELD-M. It also LOVES the 140gr ELD-M, 140gr Nosler Ballistic Tip, 143gr ELD-X and 147gr ELD-M.

I settled on the 125gr Winchester Deer Season XP for places where I am hunting deer and I don't expect shots over 300 yards (although this load will easily do 400 yards, most the shots in the place I am using this are 250 or less) because the factory ammo is supremely accurate, less expensive than the 120gr Nosler Ballistic Tip ammo (as loaded by Nosler) and the XP bullet does an absolutely stellar job of putting deer down in their tracks. It is basically point at fur and shoot from these distances which makes life easy.

I use the 140gr Hornady ELD-M for times when I might take a long shot and/or have to deal with wind or if elk are on the menu. Its higher BC and slightly higher velocity than the 147gr version are a nice blend in the 6.5 Creedmoor that works extremely well.

 

[IvanRusty]

Yeah, Deer Season XP were by far the least expensive ones I was testing so I may settle on those as my "budget" rounds.

And that leaves me room to use either Fed Fusion Tipped or ELDM depending on what I can find at the time.

 

[fatlander]

I got a t3x superlite last week in 6.5 CM. Topped it with a zeiss conquest v4 3-12.

I’ve only got 12 rounds through it to get it zeroed after bore sighting.

I picked the sig platinum hunter 140 accubounds as my first rounds to try. It shot a sub 1/2” moa group at 100 this weekend. I’m not looking for anything else. Rifle impressed the heck out of me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[EmperorMA]

Yeah, Deer Season XP were by far the least expensive ones I was testing so I may settle on those as my "budget" rounds.

And that leaves me room to use either Fed Fusion Tipped or ELDM depending on what I can find at the time.

Deer Season XP is definitely good to go in the 125gr 6.5 CM load. That bullet is a wicked killer at these speeds and its performance on game reminds me very much of the .270 Win shooting 130gr bullets. Deadly AF and just point and shoot out to 300 yards.

Fusions are good bullets but at 140gr I'd just go with 140 ELD-M or 147 ELD-M. Same price or even a bit less and MUCH higher BCs means you get the best of all worlds ... better for longer shots, better in wind, no penalty at shorter ranges, excellent performance on game. The 147s will easily penetrate like a Fusion while causing more internal damage, and the 140s kill light lightning while holding velocity and bucking the wind much better than a Fusion.

The 143gr ELD-X essentially serves the same purpose but tend to be priced higher than the ELD-M loads.