Have a new 6.5 4S. Pretty standard- 1-8.5 brux mag sporter at 22", 0.81" freebore, 700SA. Whitetail are the main target. I have 143 ELD-X, but am wondering if 139 scenar might be a bit stouter? I'd rather not be picking bullet slivers out of my venison, but I'm looking for half decent ballistic performance as well. Thoughts?
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Hunting & Fishing prefered 6.5 hunting bullet
- Thread starter mpwolf
- Start date
127 LRX would solve the bullet sliver problem. I think the 130 TGK is a good option as well. Realistically, anything out of a 6.5 4S, put in the right spot, is gonna be effective on a white tail deer.
I had terrible experience with the ELD-X in my 6.5saum, very inconsistent expansion on game for me. I switched to the Nosler Accubond Long Range and had incredible success, so much so I ordered 2,000 of them. I run the 129 at 3,250fps in a 24" barreled 6.5 saum.
ELD-X is much better suited for the job. If you're not a fan of the ELD-X (not sure why but just in case), the ABLR is an excellent choice. You shouldn't have to worry about having enough "oomph" until you're looking at elk or something. Then step up to a barnes and make sure you're above the FPS threshold for expansion.
Deer are not hard to kill- but I don't want a bullet that's going to blow them to pieces either. LRX may well be an option.
Interesting that the LRAB is working well for you. I had fears that they were too soft as well.
Tried the ELD-X... we shot 5 deer, 1 elk and 3 antelope with them from 400-930yds, we had very poor results, they did not expand and just penciled through in 3 of the deer and couldn't even find an entry or exit hole until we opened the rib cage. In the others we had the bullets come completely apart if they hit shoulder or heavy bone. I lost 2 really nice bucks with perfect behind the shoulder shots, they ran for hundreds of yards with zero blood trail and died who knows where.
Switched to the LRAB and have had incredible success, everything has been DRT and the bullet performance has been superb! I loaded them in my daughters creedmoor and she had an epic season last fall. The bull elk was 250yds and she shot him through both front shoulders dropping him in his tracks and the 129gr LRAB was a perfect mushroom under the skin of the opposite shoulder. I also loaded the 129 in my friends son's creedmoor and he had an equally epic season.
Switched to the LRAB and have had incredible success, everything has been DRT and the bullet performance has been superb! I loaded them in my daughters creedmoor and she had an epic season last fall. The bull elk was 250yds and she shot him through both front shoulders dropping him in his tracks and the 129gr LRAB was a perfect mushroom under the skin of the opposite shoulder. I also loaded the 129 in my friends son's creedmoor and he had an equally epic season.
Some have had success with it, but most of them have only taken an animal or two with them which doesn't give you a good baseline for performance. I'm fortunate to live where I do and we (friends and family) harvest alot of game and a huge variety of game at that. I was excited about the ELD-X when it was introduced and gave them a shot (pun intended). I just was not impressed at all plus the base to ogive was all over the map. I even tried the ELD-M on game and they were even worst, nothing like the old Amax that I've had success with in the past.
Extremely happy with the Nosler's, their results have earned my business!
Pic below;
129gr LRAB from 6.5 cm through both shoulders of a bull elk at 250yds.
Extremely happy with the Nosler's, their results have earned my business!
Pic below;
129gr LRAB from 6.5 cm through both shoulders of a bull elk at 250yds.
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14 elk (and lots of whitetails and muleys) in the last 5 years with the ABLR 142gr in 260 rem and 150 gr 280 rem out to 630 yards all DRT no tracking.
Correction, one of those bulls, my youngest son's first, was 617 yards with the 129gr ABLR out of 260 rem. He took two steps and crumbled.
I think you will get mixed results from users on every bullet in the world. MOST of the time when a hunter says the bullet didn't perform it was due to poor shot placement. Most hunters won't admit that. I have had excellent results with the ELDX. I have also had great results with the Barnes ttsx in my 25-06. I have found that if you put just about any hunting type bullet in the boiler room it will get the job done on Texas whitetails.
To answer your question on the stoutness of y the Scenar vs ELDX...
IME over several calibers the Scenars are more robust than the ELDs/AMaxes/Bergers. The 6.5 139 is an absolute peach, and the 123s have never disappointed.
Like said above, the 143s have been too inconsistent for me. I've had them ZOOK and "pencil" somewhat with minimal internal damage. The 147 Ms have been great at CM and 47L velocities.
IME over several calibers the Scenars are more robust than the ELDs/AMaxes/Bergers. The 6.5 139 is an absolute peach, and the 123s have never disappointed.
Like said above, the 143s have been too inconsistent for me. I've had them ZOOK and "pencil" somewhat with minimal internal damage. The 147 Ms have been great at CM and 47L velocities.
I have been using the Barnes Vortex 127 grain LRX on pigs this summer and have been very happy/impressed with both accuracy and performance.
In general what you say I’m sure is true. But not always.
I have to wonder if the higher speeds some of us are running, just don’t work the way we might expect when running solids.
I run 168VLD at 3150 on my 7mm these seem to work great. Yet I run 14oTTSX over 3200 FPS and not so much. I one case a large hog was shot thru the hart, little frags exited, while the animal was dead in short order, the damn thing didn’t leak an ounce of blood until cut open - I also could not find the exit wounds until skinned and tiny pin hole exit wounds were found.
Sure it died, but it certainly was nothing like i’ve seen with the 168s not in any “sales propaganda” on Barnes sites or adds.
I just don’t think all bullets work well at all speeds, more so than it always being poor shot placement.
+1 on the 127gr LRX
My hunting partner took his sheep this year with the 143gr ELD-X. It worked well, but it came apart. Shot was at 528 yards where it should have been running out of steam. Found the jacket and one chunk. Dall sheep don’t exactly have a huge will to live tho. I’d look elsewhere for tougher game.
My hunting partner took his sheep this year with the 143gr ELD-X. It worked well, but it came apart. Shot was at 528 yards where it should have been running out of steam. Found the jacket and one chunk. Dall sheep don’t exactly have a huge will to live tho. I’d look elsewhere for tougher game.
I really like the way the bergers fly, but at the ranges I usually shoot game, they tend to come apart pretty violently. I killed a coyote with one at about 75 yards and it was about in two pieces. Mule deer at 20 yards acted like it wasn’t hit, walked a couple steps and then fell over dead. No visible entry wound and I recovered the base of the bullet under the off side hide.
Funny you say that. I have had horrible luck with 168 Berger hunters in my 7mm mag. Zero exit wounds when shot up close and personal. I shot a buck at 60 yards no exit wound. Same thing on a doe at 178. Both where dead but the bullet did not exit and zero blood trail on either. No when I shot further out I had better luck.
Not much of a sample size, but I tried the 150 SMK @ 3117 from my 6.5SS on antelope this year. Shot was only 186 yards, but dang. Buck acted like he was struck by lightning. Dropped at the shot without so much as a twitch. Exit was about 2" across with a river of bright blood and about half a lung on the ground where he dropped.
I hate to be the dickhead but, perfect (double lung/heart/lung some combination of) behind the shoulder shots? If it was perfect you could use a FMJ and they would be dead. The wound cavity from the shockwave alone from a high power rifle is enough to cause massive hemorrhaging and tissue tearing, leading to a quick death. No blood is a big possibility, I have shot plenty without an exit that bled little to none at all. Just yesterday on the early doe hunt, shot one at 50 yards with the 6.5 creedmoor 129 SST, no exit, no blood.
Watched the impact, but its hard to find a deer in 5000 acres of 6' grease wood, river bottom and sage without any blood trail. Deer is dead no doubt about it, but i was unable to recover it. Never again will I use them, we had multiple bullet failures with the ELDX and it is not acceptable in my book.
This buck was a 400yd shot with 143gr ELDX out of my 6.5saum, luckily we were in open country and watched him run over 300yds before he bedded down and expired. We were unable to find an entry or exit hole upon recovery, zero blood was evident. It wasnt until I gutted it and found the smaller than pencil entry and exit, perfect behind the shoulder shot, terrible terminal performance.
Wow, I was just getting ready to try some ELD-X bullets in a 6.5 Creedmoor, now I am having second thoughts. FWIW, I have been using a stout loaded 162 ELD-X in my long action .284 Win with great results, including several large bull elk. I have used Accubonds and Barnes X bullets in multiple rifles for years. If in doubt, go with one of those. I only use the ELD-X in my .284 because it shoots bug holes.
I have seen over 40 animals shot with ELDs in 6.5, .284, and .308 variety from Sitka deer, caribou, black bear, grizzly bears, caribou, moose, and dall sheep. Its been a great bullet. Granted the closest shot on all of those was at 120 yards, but I have seen enough thus far in the last 2 years to see reason to change. Its to the point now that if I had experience above I would chalk it up to an anomaly similar to what would occasionally happen with a NPT or Accubond.
My 6.5 Creedmoor shoots lights out with the ELD-X 143gr. I don't understand how some people arnt having good results, I wonder about the credibility of the negative reports hunting with the bullet. I'm ready to try it myself. I would much rather shoot it due to availability and price of precision hunter versus search for more expensive 142 ABLR Winchester.
DA was 3500', and MV of the 143 eldx was 2850 fps.....I'll let ya work it from there as I don't wanna catch grief over the distance.
143 ELDX do not expand at 1650 fps (estimated impact velocity just FYI) but the pencil through was still plenty lethal.
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Hahaha thanksDA was 3500', and MV of the 143 eldx was 2850 fps.....I'll let ya work it from there as I don't wanna catch grief over the distance.
143 ELDX do not expand at 1650 fps (estimated impact velocity just FYI) but the pencil through was still plenty lethal.
I had the same experience with othe Hornady red tips, pencil holes. Stopped using them and went to Berger VLD-H and love those freaking things!
Barnes LRX has my vote. I'm too old to want to chase or track game that isn't put down fast. Everything I've shot, seen shot and heard about being shot with descent shot placement just goes down faster with Barnes X series bullets. It's a force multiplier to have the bullet open up after impact like a grappling hook as it pushes it's way through the vitals. I've seen a lot of strange things happen at high impact velocities with jacketed lead bullets from bloodshot wasted meat to chasing deer for hours because of a wound channel resembling that of a target arrow. On occasion, with more luck than skill, an animal would go down quickly with a jacketed lead bullet. As far as I'm concerned, jacketed lead is reserved for match and vermin.
Do they fly the same? I need an alternative since Berger can't keep bullets on the shelves.
Here in a couple weeks I’ll be using the 140gr Berger HVLD in my 6.5CM. Velocity was right around 2900fps, and awesome accuracy! This will be my first season hunting with a 6.5CM, but a few yrs back I shot a nice mulie buck with a 168gr Berger HVLD, and it blew a big chunk of heart out of the exit hole that was the size of my fist! Can’t wait to see how the 6.5 performs!
Anyone using the Berger 135 grain classic hunter? They seem to fly well for me.
Shot the 142 ABLR but Winchester which grouped exactly the same/as tight as the 143 ELD-X.
I also shot the 147gr ELD-M and wow. My gun really likes the 142 ABLR and 143 ELD-X (3/4" @ 100), but it loves the 147 ELD-M. (1/2" @ 100). Next time I'll move out to 200-300 and see if there's more of a difference between them. All factory ammo btw.
I want to try the Barnes LRX 127gr but since my gun loves heavy stuff I would imagine the accuracy will be less than the loads above. Won't know till I try it!
I also shot the 147gr ELD-M and wow. My gun really likes the 142 ABLR and 143 ELD-X (3/4" @ 100), but it loves the 147 ELD-M. (1/2" @ 100). Next time I'll move out to 200-300 and see if there's more of a difference between them. All factory ammo btw.
I want to try the Barnes LRX 127gr but since my gun loves heavy stuff I would imagine the accuracy will be less than the loads above. Won't know till I try it!
Shot the ELD-X exclusively the last two years and got less than stellar results. My personal findings led me to put the 6.5CM up and get the .308 out to finish last year. Plan is to switch to the 6.5 Bergers this year and give them a go.
