6.5 Creedmoor for Big Game? Fan Boy Round or a Worthy Contender?
When it comes to the long range and target shooting community, there is a large following for the 6.5 Creedmoor. A few years ago it really picked up and tons of folks are now shooting it at steel and paper, for it does have some really great ballistics. When people started it using it for hunting, it seems, there became a great divide in the shooting/hunting community. Is the 6.5 Creedmoor a worthy hunting round or is it just a “fan boy” caliber that has no place in the true outdoors?
To be clear, I’m not a fan boy in regards to the 6.5 Creedmoor. I previously owned a gun store that I sold a few years ago, so I had and have a collection of various rifles of my own, one of which was a Ruger American Predator in 6.5 Creedmoor. Because I also hunt the AZ/UT border for Muleys every winter in the sand, I decided to slap together a budget deer rifle using this Ruger rifle (blog post on that budget set up coming soon).
One shot drop with the 6.5 Creedmoor.
Loaded up with Hornady 143gr ELD-X rounds in 6.5 Creedmoor, I got the rifle sighted in with a quick 200 yard zero and took it off on its first hunting trip, a Utah Pine Valley deer tag. One shot, deer was down at just over 400 yards. This Creedmoor was already proving its worth as a decent deer caliber. 2 weeks later, I was on the Arizona side of the border hunting deer in the sand down there on the Kaibab Indian Reservation. In past years I had been using a different rifle every trip; I had to make sure all my rifles new they were loved, but some were nicer than others and the sand was hard on them. The 6.5 had done work in Utah and it did not disappoint in AZ either, dropping a 4x4 Muley buck right where it stood.
Fast forward a couple years to 2019. I had a Manti LE early rifle tag for bull elk that I had won at the Sportsman’s Expo. Because, after all my scouting during the summer, I knew I would be doing a fair amount of hiking, I decided to use the ol trusty Ruger American 6.5 Creedmoor. It was lightweight, had dropped 3 deer where they stood, so figured I’d give it a go on an Elk. Save me the whole “6.5 is too small and has no place as an elk caliber” speech here; I had seen plenty of guys shoot an elk with a 6.5 Creedmoor and harvest it successfully. On the same note, I’ve seen guys shoot deer and elk with a 300 win mag or .270 WSM and the animal run and get away. No matter the caliber, it is all about shot placement
Another Muley Buck dropped instantly with the 6.5 Creedmoor.
536 yards. One shot was all it took for this bull with 143gr ELD-X in 6.5 Creedmoor. Will it work for Elk? YES!
Opening morning that 6.5 took down a dandy of a bull from 536 horizontal yards with a single shot. Shot placement was on point, getting all three major vital organs (heart and lungs) from my elevated position above. The Hornady 143gr ELD-X did what it was supposed to, and even retained a good chunk of its initial mass as I was able to find and recover the bullet afterwards.
Finishing out 2019 with another deer down and thus far into 2020 (I have one more deer tag to fill here over Christmas), that same rifle has taken down 2 more deer in a single shot and a few more coyotes. So far, my Ruger American Predator chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, shooting 143gr ELD-X is 6 for 6 on big game animals. 6 shots and 6 animals in the freezer, not one of them ran more than a few feet.
I’m still not a “fan boy” about the 6.5, but I think it is a contender for big game for sure as it has proved its worth to me. Honestly, it is my go to rifle and caliber right now. Is it something I would take for elephants and buffalo or moose; no. The majority of North American Big Game; yes. In fact, I’m planning a trip to Alaska for Caribou, potentially this next year, and you can be certain this lightweight budget build 6.5 Creedmoor will be there for that trip.
Recovered 143gr ELD-X from my bull elk. Bullet did it’s job, retained mass and allowed for a clean, ethical harvest.
There will always be the guys with a $5K dumped into their .300 win mags, and they will swear that is the only way to go. I used to be one of those guys. I see daily on the hunting groups and forums I’m part of, people ask if 6.5 Creedmoor will work for elk or Mule Deer. Half the responses are yes, the other half are people talking shit, claiming it can’t be done without a .300 Win Mag. In my opinion and real world testing, yes, it worked great. If you can shoot well, then I say go for it. If you can’t group your shots and need a shit ton of kinetic energy to take down your animal because you might it high or towards the rear, maybe a .338 Lapua is more for you and keep saying the 6.5 is worthless as a hunting round; that is not “6.5 fan boy” talk, it is just the facts. I’ll definitely keep using it for deer and probably back country elk too (unless I add me a new 28 Nosler to the collection this year).
6.5 Creedmoor AR-10, Eisenach Arms Side Charger upper. My go to rifle for daytime coyote hunting anymore too.
Now to clarify again, I’m not a Fan Boy, nor am I saying the 6.5 Creedmoor is the optimal hunting round, especially for elk. I’m definitely not wrong that it is a viable contender when in the right shooter’s hands though. People constantly ask on the internet if it will work, and that is where this blog post idea came from. It will and has worked for me; I’m definitely not a hater on the 6.5 anymore. Comments are enabled, lets hear your thoughts. Have you had success on Western big game with a 6.5 Creedmoor? Share it to our Instagram DM, @mountainmanathlete, and we’ll post it up in our story!