6mm /.243 hunting success on Big Game

Poe

FNG
Joined
Aug 20, 2024
Messages
58
Much better with the link added. List doesn't include the 95 NBT, but has been brought up numerous times as a great option. Especially for non LRH applications and 1:10 barrels.
I have had good results on deer with the 95gr NBT and the 87&95gr Berger’s but I just got a 7.5 twist 6 creed barrel so I’m exploring the heavier options. Thanks
 

will_brap

FNG
Joined
Oct 2, 2024
Messages
14
Any experience with close range shots in a 6mm on elk facing you?

Several years ago a buddy of mine put a 6.5 PRC into the chest of a bull at 65 yards and it dropped. Something around 2900 FPS in that 140 gr range. It tried to get up and he shot it between the shoulder blades. After a bit it got up and ran off. Tracked blood in fresh snow for a couple hundred yards and then nothing all the way out to 700 yards. That worries me with smaller bullets.

Is there an upper limit for impact velocity on something like a 6mm 108 gr ELDM?
 

DisplacedHusky

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Sep 28, 2023
Messages
239
Any experience with close range shots in a 6mm on elk facing you?

Several years ago a buddy of mine put a 6.5 PRC into the chest of a bull at 65 yards and it dropped. Something around 2900 FPS in that 140 gr range. It tried to get up and he shot it between the shoulder blades. After a bit it got up and ran off. Tracked blood in fresh snow for a couple hundred yards and then nothing all the way out to 700 yards. That worries me with smaller bullets.

Is there an upper limit for impact velocity on something like a 6mm 108 gr ELDM?
Did you see this happen? Was the bull recovered?
 

mxgsfmdpx

WKR
Joined
Oct 22, 2019
Messages
6,121
Location
Outside
Any experience with close range shots in a 6mm on elk facing you?

Several years ago a buddy of mine put a 6.5 PRC into the chest of a bull at 65 yards and it dropped. Something around 2900 FPS in that 140 gr range. It tried to get up and he shot it between the shoulder blades. After a bit it got up and ran off. Tracked blood in fresh snow for a couple hundred yards and then nothing all the way out to 700 yards. That worries me with smaller bullets.

Is there an upper limit for impact velocity on something like a 6mm 108 gr ELDM?
I have multiple kills in this exact impact location on heavy bodied deer and cow elk using 95 grain SSTs out of a .243.

These would be considered “even more likely to grenade” than the 108 ELDM by most at the same impact velocities.

I wouldn’t hesitate to make a base of neck/chest shot at any impact velocity with a 108 ELDM (obviously with a low end spec of 1,800-2,000 for me).
 

mxgsfmdpx

WKR
Joined
Oct 22, 2019
Messages
6,121
Location
Outside
I did not see it. I trust him 100% and he has killed a pile of elk. The bull was not recovered. Lone bull in fresh snow, he said it was super easy to track.
Bummer. Happens when you shoot enough animals and it still sucks every time.

Did he mention which bullet?
 

will_brap

FNG
Joined
Oct 2, 2024
Messages
14
Bummer. Happens when you shoot enough animals and it still sucks every time.

Did he mention which bullet?
I don’t recall which is why I was vague about the bullet. I’m not sure if they e changed bullet construction in the last 5 years so it might not be the same bullet anymore anyway.
 
Joined
Mar 28, 2020
Messages
1,005
Any experience with close range shots in a 6mm on elk facing you?

Several years ago a buddy of mine put a 6.5 PRC into the chest of a bull at 65 yards and it dropped. Something around 2900 FPS in that 140 gr range. It tried to get up and he shot it between the shoulder blades. After a bit it got up and ran off. Tracked blood in fresh snow for a couple hundred yards and then nothing all the way out to 700 yards. That worries me with smaller bullets.

Is there an upper limit for impact velocity on something like a 6mm 108 gr ELDM?
A front on shot high in the chest is a bugger of a shot, above the heart and between the lungs
 

The Guide

WKR
Joined
Aug 20, 2023
Messages
991
Location
Montana
Any experience with close range shots in a 6mm on elk facing you?

Several years ago a buddy of mine put a 6.5 PRC into the chest of a bull at 65 yards and it dropped. Something around 2900 FPS in that 140 gr range. It tried to get up and he shot it between the shoulder blades. After a bit it got up and ran off. Tracked blood in fresh snow for a couple hundred yards and then nothing all the way out to 700 yards. That worries me with smaller bullets.

Is there an upper limit for impact velocity on something like a 6mm 108 gr ELDM?
I have taken that shot before and not had the outcome one would expect. Hunting with a friend and his kids. Son with dad, daughter with me. She spots a mule deer buck and hits high and back in the guts. I give the deer time to bed down and her time to get her composure back. We start the tracking job. The deer never bedded down. He was still on his feet trying to follow the does and they were 800 yards away now. We drop into a gully and get to about 275 yards and we get pinned down. All the deer are alert and facing us very aware of where we were. She could not get into a position where she could see the deer and have a solid shooting platform. I decided to try and end the rodeo and took a frontal shot with my 280AI shooting the 160 Nosler Partition. I hit him dead center of the chest at the top of the brisket. The bullet never entered the chest but instead followed the brisket in the fat between the hide. It exited just before the sternum, entered the gut cavity, exited the gut cavity, blew off a testicle, and lodged in the back leg. He dropped and we figured he was dead as we saw him taking those giant deep breaths that they take when they are lung shot and you hit bone. We get up there and he jumps up and runs away. Now it is a race to keep him off private and get him dead. My young partner made a great shot on him as he paused to jump a ditch at a little over 300 yards. When my buddy processed the deer he found the brisket and sternum bones all broken and the ribs loose but that joker was still moving fast and getting out of town. Frontal shots can work but they can also cause a rodeo. Aim higher than you think you need to.

Jay
 

will_brap

FNG
Joined
Oct 2, 2024
Messages
14
I have taken that shot before and not had the outcome one would expect. Hunting with a friend and his kids. Son with dad, daughter with me. She spots a mule deer buck and hits high and back in the guts. I give the deer time to bed down and her time to get her composure back. We start the tracking job. The deer never bedded down. He was still on his feet trying to follow the does and they were 800 yards away now. We drop into a gully and get to about 275 yards and we get pinned down. All the deer are alert and facing us very aware of where we were. She could not get into a position where she could see the deer and have a solid shooting platform. I decided to try and end the rodeo and took a frontal shot with my 280AI shooting the 160 Nosler Partition. I hit him dead center of the chest at the top of the brisket. The bullet never entered the chest but instead followed the brisket in the fat between the hide. It exited just before the sternum, entered the gut cavity, exited the gut cavity, blew off a testicle, and lodged in the back leg. He dropped and we figured he was dead as we saw him taking those giant deep breaths that they take when they are lung shot and you hit bone. We get up there and he jumps up and runs away. Now it is a race to keep him off private and get him dead. My young partner made a great shot on him as he paused to jump a ditch at a little over 300 yards. When my buddy processed the deer he found the brisket and sternum bones all broken and the ribs loose but that joker was still moving fast and getting out of town. Frontal shots can work but they can also cause a rodeo. Aim higher than you think you need to.

Jay
That’s a wild rodeo story. Thanks for sharing!

I still wonder if there is a higher velocity limit when killing big game with small calibers, especially with frontal or quartering shots.

I’m relatively new to this skinny bullets killing big game and just exploring the limits before I buy a new rifle.
 
Top