6mm /.243 hunting success on Big Game

[The Guide]

View attachment 942064
6mm creedmoor
95 grain LRX
Shot distance about 100 yards
Broadside, Aimed middle middle, hit where I was aiming.
Bear ran about 100 yards.

That 95 LRX is a dang killer. They are one of my favorite ones for the 6CM.

Jay

 

[Thegman]

View attachment 942064
6mm creedmoor
95 grain LRX
Shot distance about 100 yards
Broadside, Aimed middle middle, hit where I was aiming.
Bear ran about 100 yards.

What did the terminal performance look like?

 

[HGL]

Got a chance to test the 108 ELDm at a high velocity impact, a doe came out at about 10 yards. Hit her quartering away from me, and impressively the bullet exited the neck. I was definitely surprised it held together just enough...

6mm creed, 108 ELDm, impact velocity was approximately 2975 fps, I was slightly elevated, so the angle was down from about 5 feet above ground level.

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Pretty much toasted the shoulder. But because I didn't hit the spine, she actually ran about 20-30 yards. Just goes to show you, unless you hit the CNS, they will run, at least a bit.

 

[ehayes]

What did the terminal performance look like?

I didn’t take the time to really look. There was no obvious blood trail, although I didn’t have to look for one as we found the bear quickly. The site where he laid there was very little blood until pressure was put on the chest cavity and then really poured out.

It was a pretty clean pass through with a small entrance hole and an exit hole a little bigger than what you expect from full expansion.

Sorry I don’t have more useful info.

I’d be nervous about losing a bear if the same thing happened again if the area I was hunting was more dense with thick cover.

 

[Wa2tx]

Decided to go the 6cm route and sold my seekins ph3 300prc and got 6cm. Shooting 108s from copper creek at 3048 (1st pic), 103eldx at 3025 (2nd pic), and 105 blacks at 2960 (3rd pic) for a combined average of .83” at 100 with three ten round groups and almost no shift in poi. Taken to 600 with factory eldm easily hitting almost every time in various hunting positions. Going to take the 108s for 2nd season CO mule deer. Hope to get to test out the terminal performance.

 

[Matt5266]

Decided to go the 6cm route and sold my seekins ph3 300prc and got 6cm. Shooting 108s from copper creek at 3048 (1st pic), 103eldx at 3025 (2nd pic), and 105 blacks at 2960 (3rd pic) for a combined average of .83” at 100 with three ten round groups and almost no shift in poi. Taken to 600 with factory eldm easily hitting almost every time in various hunting positions. Going to take the 108s for 2nd season CO mule deer. Hope to get to test out the terminal performance.

Those are some dang good groups

 

[Brap01]

Got a chance to test the 108 ELDm at a high velocity impact, a doe came out at about 10 yards. Hit her quartering away from me, and impressively the bullet exited the neck. I was definitely surprised it held together just enough...

6mm creed, 108 ELDm, impact velocity was approximately 2975 fps, I was slightly elevated, so the angle was down from about 5 feet above ground level.

Entrance:

View attachment 942503

Exit:

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Exit:

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Entrance and Exit:

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Pretty much toasted the shoulder. But because I didn't hit the spine, she actually ran about 20-30 yards. Just goes to show you, unless you hit the CNS, they will run, at least a bit.

View attachment 942510

Thanks for sharing detailed pics. I've been wondering about high velocity impacts with the 108 ELDM.

 

[Timjohnson11]

I had my first negative experience with a 6mm bullet earlier this week. I’ve been mixing in some of that Gunwerks 115 Berger VLD-H ammo (from their outlet) this year. Quality ammo, good velocity, cheap, and the bullet itself has performed well under more normal impact velocities so far this season.

Fast forward to this week and my buddy and I bumped a solid buck hiking in to the glassing knob. We made a quick decision and he jumped down on the gun and made it happen. The buck didn’t go terribly far (maybe 100 yards) so it’s hard to be too critical but the reality was the wound channel left a lot to desire. The exit was no bigger than the entry, and if not for the bullet having had some luck and hit the heart, I’m not confident that buck woulda died. Impact velocity was ~2,900 ish.

Not unheard of for certain Berger’s to “pin hole” at extreme impact velocities but we’ve had handfuls of kills with the 156, 140, and 108 variants at similar impact velocities with fantastic results. Perhaps an anomaly but less than comforting and going to go back to the 108 Elite Hunter for now..

 

[CJ_BG]

I had my first negative experience with a 6mm bullet earlier this week. I’ve been mixing in some of that Gunwerks 115 Berger VLD-H ammo (from their outlet) this year. Quality ammo, good velocity, cheap, and the bullet itself has performed well under more normal impact velocities so far this season.

Fast forward to this week and my buddy and I bumped a solid buck hiking in to the glassing knob. We made a quick decision and he jumped down on the gun and made it happen. The buck didn’t go terribly far (maybe 100 yards) so it’s hard to be too critical but the reality was the wound channel left a lot to desire. The exit was no bigger than the entry, and if not for the bullet having had some luck and hit the heart, I’m not confident that buck woulda died. Impact velocity was ~2,900 ish.

Not unheard of for certain Berger’s to “pin hole” at extreme impact velocities but we’ve had handfuls of kills with the 156, 140, and 108 variants at similar impact velocities with fantastic results. Perhaps an anomaly but less than comforting and going to go back to the 108 Elite Hunter for now..

what did everything in between look like? Same pin hole?

 

[Timjohnson11]

what did everything in between look like? Same pin hole?

Entry wound and exit wound looked identical when caping it with limited damage, bloodshot, and circumference. Internally, there was a fraction of the “trauma” that I’m used to seeing out of Bergers. It was all very weird and underwhelming.

(texted my buddy to see if he happened to get a picture and will post it up if he does)

 

[sierracharlie338]

I had my first negative experience with a 6mm bullet earlier this week. I’ve been mixing in some of that Gunwerks 115 Berger VLD-H ammo (from their outlet) this year. Quality ammo, good velocity, cheap, and the bullet itself has performed well under more normal impact velocities so far this season.

Fast forward to this week and my buddy and I bumped a solid buck hiking in to the glassing knob. We made a quick decision and he jumped down on the gun and made it happen. The buck didn’t go terribly far (maybe 100 yards) so it’s hard to be too critical but the reality was the wound channel left a lot to desire. The exit was no bigger than the entry, and if not for the bullet having had some luck and hit the heart, I’m not confident that buck woulda died. Impact velocity was ~2,900 ish.

Not unheard of for certain Berger’s to “pin hole” at extreme impact velocities but we’ve had handfuls of kills with the 156, 140, and 108 variants at similar impact velocities with fantastic results. Perhaps an anomaly but less than comforting and going to go back to the 108 Elite Hunter for now..

Possible clogged tip? I check every bullet I hunt with and have never had a pencil through. Not saying it can’t happen. Glad you recovered it

 

[bnsafe]

i found some 6mm tmk's yesterday. bought 200 of them, shoot, i dont even own a 6mm anything, yet, lol

 

[sierracharlie338]

i found some 6mm tmk's yesterday. bought 200 of them, shoot, i dont even own a 6mm anything, yet, lol

Hell yeah. Now you have to build/buy a 6mm. Those are the rules.

 

[bnsafe]

im debating between a used howa mini 6 arc thats got less than 40 rounds down the tube for a really good price at the lgs, get a tikka 243 or sauer 243, or turn a tikka into a 6cm. I just cant decide. I like the sauers especially at the price, but hate the fact you just cant change them.

 

[Undrgrndprdcts]

Possible clogged tip? I check every bullet I hunt with and have never had a pencil through. Not saying it can’t happen. Glad you recovered it

This is my first thought as well. I check and drill every Berger I use.

 

[bradmacmt]

There is no 1 bullet that is best for all ranges. You have to narrow down your distance. You say "typical western distances" but as a life long Montanan and "western hunter" I'll shoot stuff from sub 50 yards to further than most people can accurately shoot to, every year. I'll break your choices down into my expectations for proper performance on distance using my load data for those bullets I've used in my 6CM or have data on from others using it in a 6CM.

95tmk - possibly splashy at short range/high velocity and lower BC makes me consider these a 150 to 650 yard bullet. Better suited for 243 or 6 ARC speeds, IMHO.

103 ELDX - my experience with this bullet has shown me that is a great bullet for the 6CM. I consider it a 50 to 750 yard bullet in factory ammo from a 6CM.

108 ELDM - my experience with this bullet has also been great when shooting the 6CM. I consider it a 100 to 800 yard bullet in factory ammo from a 6CM. My experience on a short range whitetail (~60 yards and hard quartering away running shot) showed a very large exit and I wouldn't recommend it for a bullet that would do mostly short range work. On antelope and deer shot at or past 100 yards the performance was excellent with normal to large exit wounds never more than fist sized unless on bone.

112 MB - I've yet to shoot these on game but the accuracy is promising and I'll handload some after I shoot up the couple of boxes of factory ammo I have. My observation from others has suggested that these are a minimum of 100 yards (extreme damage seen on thin skinned animals shot sub 100 yards) and data shows they carry 1800 fps to past 900 yards at 5000' DA.

115 NR DTAC - I am assuming you are referring to the nose ringed DTAC bullets. These will be a tougher bullet and at 6CM speeds, you would be good to use them at 50 yards and since they require velocity to either fragment or tumble, you need to keep them above 2000 fps to do the best work in my observations. I would again look at these as a 50 to 600 yard bullet better suited for deeper chested game like elk or moose due to their need for a little more neck length before they fragment or tumble. These are observations and not my experience on game as I do own any of these bullets "yet".

There are 2 other bullets I might suggest for you to look at depending upon what your distance needs are. The Barnes 95gr LRX and the Berger 105 Hybrid are both excellent bullets for the 6CM. If you are hunting 50 to 600 yards the 95 LRX is lightning on game. I'm still above 2100 fps at 600 so I could be pushed further but I want to know I'll have full expansion of the copper bullet. No issues with whitetail, mule deer, or antelope with it. Would use on elk if the opportunity was there. The 105 Berger is my 100 to 880 yard bullet. If I'm under a half mile away, I'm sending that bullet with full confidence of good hit and a dead animal. I use the 95 LRX when we are doing a donation hunt since I can't control how the meat is cared for after we turn it over to the processor and I know many people have issue with lead bullets in donated meat.

Jay

Nice intel there Jay... any experience or thoughts on the 105 Scenar?

 

[khuber84]

FYI, 95 tmk in stock at midway.

 

[sierracharlie338]

im debating between a used howa mini 6 arc thats got less than 40 rounds down the tube for a really good price at the lgs, get a tikka 243 or sauer 243, or turn a tikka into a 6cm. I just cant decide. I like the sauers especially at the price, but hate the fact you just cant change them.

I’d go tikka or howa so you can customize if you want. If you hunt short range (inside 300) I’d go Arc. If you have the ability to take longer shots on game maybe CM just because of the velocity difference and the TMKs reputation to be a bit messy? Just an observation based on info here.

 

[MT-nuffgun]

I have nothing bad to say about my tikka 243. Just helped a buddy set up a Howa mini 22 arc. Trigger needed replaced with an jard and replaced stock. My tikka needed no changes out of the box other than a vertical grip, homemade cheek riser,limb saver recoil pad, and factory Trigger adjusted down to 1.5 lbs. howa minis are cool rifles but tikkas are a more solid option out of the box.

 

[The Guide]

Nice intel there Jay... any experience or thoughts on the 105 Scenar?

No experience with that bullet in any cartridge.

Jay