Hornady 6.5CM Ammo Choice

[HunterMc24]

The stuff is always so wild bc growing up, I’d buy. About any bullet that carried the correct grain for what I was sighted in for. Never paid attention to bullet model. I mean, late teens early twenties. Never had a problem bringing home harvested game. Some would drop, some would go a few yards. As I get older I get pickier bc I know more info. Then it’s like overthinking at times, ya know what they say, “paralysis via over analysis”
Obviously everyone of yall share valid points, but I think at some point we’re all just fine tuning, which is a great thing to do. That being said , my .270, 300win mag and 338 win mag are American hunter or eldx. Havnt lost a deer I hit in the last 4-5 years (really as far as as I can recall)

I agree 100%. I never really thought twice about ammo until I got a little older. Definitely leads to some overthinking lol. The American Whitetail does seem to be a solid lineup of ammo for the price.

 

[HunterMc24]

Appreciate all the responses from everyone!

 

[bazzturd]

I tried them in a .308 ( slow also) they didn’t work well, I’m definitely going 127 LRX to try and wring out as much FPS as I can from my 6.5cm

Have you gotten around to hand loading those 127 LRX? What kind of performance and accuracy are you getting?

 

[SC HUNTER]

I shot a few last year with 143 eldx they died just fine. Good blood trails with 2 big 180 to 200 pound whitetail and several pigs.

I shot several ~8-10 with 123 grain SST and they never went far, always less then 100 yards. Shots from 40 yards to 280 yards. I caught 1 in the hide of a bigger deer the rest got pass through. I was already familiar with the bullet design and stayed off the shoulders.

5 with 140 grain ballistic tips seemed a little harder than the SST with exits on all, less meat blood shot than the SST but a killing bullet none the less.

I've got some 100 grain barnes TTSX for this year I want to try in the 6.5 creedmoor, just for and giggles. Should be very flat and fast, we shall see. I'll shoot a few pigs with the barnes as well I'm sure.

140 grain ELD-murders are great as well. I believe between my oldest kid and myself we've killed 15 or 16 and their hammers.

We shoot alot of deer so I get to try alot of different bullets. Most any bullet minus a varmint bullet will kill deer if you hit them in the right spot.

 

[UnckleBob]

My experience with SSTs being too soft is 150s from a 308. A couple buddies asked me to load SSTs in a 270 and a 30-06 for them. I did and then they asked if I could swap to a different bullet after one season (we can shoot 12 deer here in GA). I am a big fan of the Interlock but not the SST. Lately though I have been gravitating to Sierra bullets. I am trying the Tipped Game Kings this year in my 6.5CM and 7mmRM. I just hope they are not too soft.

As I understand it, the SST is essentially an Interlok bullet with a polymer tip to mark sure it spandex quickly. It is my understanding that it is their softest bullet.

The CX is their hardest bullet with the ELd's somewhere n the middle.

 

[UnckleBob]

I have shot a number of deer with the 140g Nosler Ballistic Tip and the 143g Eldx. I could not tell any difference between them. Dead deer every time.

Deer are not that hard to kill. Simple Remington CoreLok and Hornady Interlok bullets have been killing deer for decades. The only reason they aren't hip now is the fact people want high BC bullets.

I haven't hunted with my 6.5CM in a few years, but the CoeLok, InterLok, Eldm, Eldx, Nosler BT, and Sierra TGK are all going to slaughter deer if a hunter hits them in the right spot.

If hunters hit animals in the wrong spot, I doubt bullet type really matters much.

(I left all copper bullets like the CX or TTSX out of my list because I have never used an all copper bullet before. I have no opinion good or bad on them. That might change this year if I can get my 6ARC to shoot Hammer Hunter bullets accurately.)