Seeking Recommendations for My Next Hunting Rifle

[collinjet]

Hello!

I currently have a Bergara B-14 Crest in 6.5 Creedmoor. I will be for sure be going to Idaho to hunt mule deer this fall with the possibility of hitting Colorado for OTC elk.

While I'm not completely opposed to using the 6.5 on elk, I would rather hit a bull with more energy if possible. Being that this is somewhat late notice, I will more than likely only be able to buy the rifle and have to swap the scope from my 6.5 for the time being (4.5-22 Vortex Razor LHT).

With that said, I'm looking at getting another Crest in 7PRC. Im interested in a semi-custom Tikka as well. Does anyone have recommendations for a 7PRC in the sub $2k range?

I appreciate the insight!

 

[Mountainrancher]

Buy 2k worth of this and shoot the crap out of the rifle you already have

Hornady Match 6.5 Creedmoor Ammo 140 Grain Hornady ELD Match Polymer

This ammunition is custom-grade from the factory, loaded to stringent specifications to guarantee proper ignition and provide consistent, match-winning,...

www.midwayusa.com

I promise the confidence from a summers worth of practice will do many times more than that of a new rifle.

 

[collinjet]

Buy 2k worth of this and shoot the crap out of the rifle you already have

Hornady Match 6.5 Creedmoor Ammo 140 Grain Hornady ELD Match Polymer

This ammunition is custom-grade from the factory, loaded to stringent specifications to guarantee proper ignition and provide consistent, match-winning,...

www.midwayusa.com

I promise the confidence from a summers worth of practice will do many times more than that of a new rifle.

I like the way you think! My brother and I started handloading last summer and I built up a nice size stock of 143gr ELDX and H4350 that I have been playing with.

My current pet load has me sitting at 2665 FPS out of my 20in barrel that will hold 1429 ft/lb energy out to 400 yards.

My only problem is that my buddy who lives out in Colorado, who would essentially be guiding me, told me there was absolutely no way he would let me shoot a 6.5 at an elk. While I understand that more gas would be better for the knock down factor, I'm fairly confident in my current set up.

 

[11Justin22]

I like the way you think! My brother and I started handloading last summer and I built up a nice size stock of 143gr ELDX and H4350 that I have been playing with.

My current pet load has me sitting at 2665 FPS out of my 20in barrel that will hold 1429 ft/lb energy out to 400 yards.

My only problem is that my buddy who lives out in Colorado, who would essentially be guiding me, told me there was absolutely no way he would let me shoot a 6.5 at an elk. While I understand that more gas would be better for the knock down factor, I'm fairly confident in my current set up.

This has been been beat to death. Energy is meaningless. That bullet at that velocity depending on your temperature/ altitude is going to be good to like 7-800 yards. 1800 fps is the minimum velocity for that bullet to do its thing.... Anything above that is fine. Knock down power is a term given to something that doesn't exist. Only way an animal goes straight down is from central nervous system disruption..... That's it.

As far as your buddy telling you what to do..... Tell him to go fly a kit. Last year my hunting group had 5 people with magnums,a couple brand new. None of them could shoot for crap but had all the confidence in the world because they had a magnum. Everyone thought my creed wasn't enough or only enough for short range. I shot my bull at 575 and they went home empty handed. Take the above advice and load up on ammo and have intentional practice.

 

[farmermail]

Buy 2k worth of this and shoot the crap out of the rifle you already have

Hornady Match 6.5 Creedmoor Ammo 140 Grain Hornady ELD Match Polymer

This ammunition is custom-grade from the factory, loaded to stringent specifications to guarantee proper ignition and provide consistent, match-winning,...

www.midwayusa.com

I promise the confidence from a summers worth of practice will do many times more than that of a new rifle.

What Mountainrancher said. 6.5 is plenty for elk or mule deer, I can confirm with personal experience.

Being able to seal the deal when an opportunity presents itself has nothing to do with the caliber.

 

[180ls1]

If you're traveling that far I would do what I could to have 2 rifles setup. Maybe just use that gun and buy a cheaper ruger american for backup.

 

[king402]

Have you looked at the new Weatherby 307 Alpine CT? Its right close to $2K and has definitely peaked my interest.

 

[rockymtnsam]

I was super torn between the B14 Crest and a Seekins PH2, ultimately decided on Seekins and I'm very happy with it. That said, your 6.5 is plenty for elk at closer distances. But if you're set on buying a new rifle look at Seekins in 7 PRC.

 

[JohnJohnson]

My only problem is that my buddy who lives out in Colorado, who would essentially be guiding me, told me there was absolutely no way he would let me shoot a 6.5 at an elk.

That's a tricky one then. If you had to guess, how amenable is he to learning how bullets actually kill things? A lot of people have their egos tied up in what they think they understand about this stuff. If he's not going to budge or he takes offense to you challenging what he thinks he knows, then this situation might be kind of crappy.

1429 ft/lb energy out to 400 yards

So you're using ELD-X's. Hornady says you want at least 1800 fps impact velocity for the bullet to perform. They never mention energy because that's not how bullets work. If you want to stay on the very safe side, check out with your load what range your bullet goes below 2000 fps at and then treat THAT as your max distance.

 

[collinjet]

I was super torn between the B14 Crest and a Seekins PH2, ultimately decided on Seekins and I'm very happy with it. That said, your 6.5 is plenty for elk at closer distances. But if you're set on buying a new rifle look at Seekins in 7 PRC.

Thanks for the tip on this one! I liked those rifles but thought they were priced higher.

 

[VuduDoc]

Just to add some food for thought if you’re still on the fence about impact energy vs. impact velocity (bullet performing the way it was designed within the parameters it was designed for) just think of archery elk.

My bow setup has approx. 21ft lbs of energy at the string. I wouldn’t hesitate to shoot an elk with that. So do you think energy matters to take game?

 

[nobody]

140 ELDM’s at 2650-2700 FPS is all you’ll need. Energy DOES. NOT. MATTER. It’s fuddlore that’s been passed down for generations through all the gun writers.

Read this:

6.5 Creedmoor/260 for Deer, Elk, and whatever else.....

Seeing that the 223 thread is such a success, I thought maybe I would start one for the Creedmoor/260. Seems like people are asking a lot about using them and various bullets, especially for elk. I've used mine for the last few years almost exclusively. I have some pics of bullet damage, albeit...

rokslide.com

And this:

.223 for bear, mountain goat, deer, elk, and moose.

DON'T HAVE TIME TO READ 176 PAGES? HERE'S THE CHEAT SHEET. “Bullets matter more than headstamps.” “Spent primers offer the supreme tutorial”. I’ve read it here and elsewhere online. It got my attention. I started digging and asking questions and listened. The 77gr TMK delivered by a .223...

rokslide.com

And Listen to this:

Then go read through all these:

Rifle Scope Field Evaluations

rokslide.com

Specifically this one:

Vortex Razor HD LHT 4.5-22x50mm Field Eval

Ryan Avery asked if I would review this scope in the same vein as the Meopta Optika 6 and Tanget Theta evaluations and I agreed. I get queried about these scopes almost as much as any, and even though I have seen poor performance from the prior LHT’s, this is a different design and will be...

rokslide.com

And then go spend the rifle budget you have in mind on a new optic. Trijicon, Maven RS 1.2, or Nightforce. Mount that optic up on a pic rail in some nightforce ultralight rings, with loctite. Go put 800-1k rounds down range this summer in field positions from that rifle, and kill anything and everything on god’s green earth.

I got rid of the 7 mag awhile ago and my primary rifle is a Tikka in 6.5 creed. The longer you’re on rokslide, the more you’ll see a trend: efficient cartridges with low recoil, pushing high BC non-bonded bullets (TMK, ELDM, etc) at moderate velocities, and copious amounts of REAL practice (IE not on a flat range).

And ditto what @11Justin22 said above. If your “friend” is saying stuff like that, I would question his understanding of ballistics and his overall rifleman-ship in general. I had a buddy like that once too, and guess what? We aren’t hunting buddies anymore. I would rather hunt alone than with someone who holds such strong opinions without any measurable, verifiable proof of the contrary beyond “common knowledge says…”

Because guess what? If we’ve learned anything in the last 10 years, it’s that common knowledge isn’t very common anymore.

 

[JohnJohnson]

Saw this thread in the LR forum and figured you should take a look at the two videos in it. Maybe listen to them while driving or something. It's 3 hours of information (I think the serious stuff starts at 42:00 in the first part) but it appears to be a distillation of everything people here say about the topic, as well as answers to questions/challenges people often say as to why big cartridges are good. That way you're not faced with reading like 500 pages of posts and threads.

Best information I have found yet on bullets and terminal ballistics

As an adult on-set hunter and engineer by schooling and career, when I got into rifle hunting and shooting I naturally did what I normally do (and enjoy) - research and learn about this new interest (and now lifestyle). I recognized there were so many choices available and I wanted to be...

rokslide.com

 

[rockymtnsam]

Thanks for the tip on this one! I liked those rifles but thought they were priced higher.

Sure thing. At $1849 + muzzle break you’ll be around $2k, 100% worth it. I’m shooting half MOA at 100 yards. Best of luck with your search.

 

[waspocrew]

I'll second the Seekins - absolutely stellar rifles.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

My only problem is that my buddy who lives out in Colorado, who would essentially be guiding me, told me there was absolutely no way he would let me shoot a 6.5 at an elk. While I understand that more gas would be better for the knock down factor, I'm fairly confident in my current set up.

Your buddy is sadly, 100% misinformed and is clueless. Sorry.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Go big or go home! .300 Win Mag Baby. 1 shot kills. Buddy of mine hit one 5 times with a 7MM mag before it fell down. Most useless caliber in the entire world of hunting.

 

[WeiserBucks]

Go big or go home! .300 Win Mag Baby. 1 shot kills. Buddy of mine hit one 5 times with a 7MM mag before it fell down. Most useless caliber in the entire world of hunting.

The train load of game that I've taken with a 7mm disagrees.

 

[Turkeytider]

Elk? Why not just down size to a good .223 with 77grain TMK? With a perfect shot it`ll apparently kill everything this side of a rhino.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Elk? Why not just down size to a good .223 with 77grain TMK? With a perfect shot it`ll apparently kill everything this side of a rhino.

If legal in the state you're hunting, no reason not to go for it.