would 160 round nose in new 6.5 Weatherby Mag work for Elk?

S

SRHeer

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Houston TX but come from Colorado where I like to
I like the 6.5 bullets that they are coming out with today but what about the 160 round nose in a 6.5 Weatherby Mag as an effective elk round?

I have not done a lot of shooting - have hunted and shot two cow elk - one shot in the lungs with 7-08 at 20yrds - it went 60 - 70 yards

The other with two shots one in the back paralyzing its hind quarters and then follow up shot in the neck with a 270 - at 60 yrds.

Both seemed a bit on the light side as far as I could see for hunting elk so am considering a stronger hitting round that can be used for antelope - deer - and elk.

The new 6.5 Weatherby could fill that nitch if the 140 or 160 gr bullets are used - especially maybe with the 160 round nose - wouldn't the round nose be more effective with it's initial shock transfer?

I hunt in Colorado and just got lucky with close up shots these last two times so yes I could have done better with a 338 Federal at those distances but that's not always the case with needing to shoot longer distances rather than shorter being the norm.

I can imagine that the Weatherby will be loud and kick more compared to either 7-08 and or 270 but maybe not that much since its a 6.5. And I know that a lot of folk talks about this round to be a barrel burner but I mostly would be using it for sleight practice and hunting and not competition -

Why would or would not the 160 round nose work well on Elk coming out of the 6.5 Weatherby mag rifle?
 
Just to get some things out of the way before offering my opinion on this...

Do you reload?
What distances do you typically shoot?

With those answers we'll be off and running.
 
SRHeer,

Now your post conjured up images of an era when the .264 Win Mag was the long range elk magnum. Had it not been for the 7MM Rem Mag, the .264 Win Mag might be more popular.

I had no clue that Weatherby has come out with a 6.5 magnum cartridge. Without looking at it, I'd go with anything fired from it will kill elk.
 
I am referring to the 6.5x300 Weatherby Mag - they are producing three different Weatherbys - and I plan on re-loading but for right now I can buy over the counter ammo with the 140VLD - 140ELD - and 140AMax all ready to go -

I was wondering - it seems that the 140s like the 1-8in barrel rate twist and the 130s a 1-9in rate - also seems like the 6.5 bullets are more sensitive to rate twist than say 7mm or 30 cal?
Why is this? Is this because of the diameter of bullet in relation to its length or weight?

Would a 1-8in twist work well for both 140 and 160gr round nose or just for the 140s bullets? If not what rate twist would work best for the 160-round nose?
 
SRHeer said:
I am referring to the 6.5x300 Weatherby Mag - they are producing three different Weatherbys - and I plan on re-loading but for right now I can buy over the counter ammo with the 140VLD - 140ELD - and 140AMax all ready to go -

I was wondering - it seems that the 140s like the 1-8in barrel rate twist and the 130s a 1-9in rate - also seems like the 6.5 bullets are more sensitive to rate twist than say 7mm or 30 cal?
Why is this? Is this because of the diameter of bullet in relation to its length or weight?

Would a 1-8in twist work well for both 140 and 160gr round nose or just for the 140s bullets? If not what rate twist would work best for the 160-round nose?
Click to expand...

I can't find a length for the 160g RN Hornady but I would think that it would need an 8" twist to work well.

Stability for bullets is a huge deal. Bryan Litz has been the guy that has really brought stability information and education to the shooting world. It is well documented that a bullet that is marginally stabilized will loose bc. In terms of a round nose this is probably not a big deal. I can say from my terminal performance testing of bullets that it most definitely makes a difference on how well a bullet works on impact. A marginally stable bullet on impact will have a tendency to tip or not stay on axis, thus inhibiting the point of the bullet from realizing full deformation. The less stable the bullet is the more likely it is to tumble on impact or turn and head in a different direction. Marginally stable bullets can most often shoot very accurately, so people get fooled into thinking that accuracy translates into good terminal performance. I can say from my testing that a 1.5 sg or higher is needed for bullets to perform as designed consistently. The more the sg falls below 1.5 the more likely the chance of a bullet failure. I would go so far as to say most bullet failures that we hear about are a result of marginal stability not poor bullet design.

The only down side to having faster than required twist than a bullet requires for full stability is possibly a small loss in vel compared to using a slower twist and some bullets are not constructed well enough to handle the stresses of faster twist and can separate jacket and core on the launch or down range. This usually only happens to thin jacketed bullets and well over 3000fps vel. This should not be a problem with well constructed hunting bullets.

There is a very good stability calculator here. http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-
bin/jbmstab-5.1.cgi

There are many factors that go into calculating stability of a bullet. Yes you are right the diameter of a bullet has a lot to do with stability. The smaller the dia for the weight of the bullet the more twist required to stabilize it. Dia, weight, and length of the bullet are the main factors.

When it comes to bullet performance on game sectional density is a very over looked factor and more often than not the best indicator of how well a bullet will perform. Sectional density is good indicator of the bullets ability to penetrate deep enough to get the job done. Bullet construction is a huge indicator of how it will perform on game.

Good luck on your bullet choice. I am sure you will have a ball with the hot rod 6.5. Fast rifles are fun.

Steve
 
That 140gr Berger will put down an elk.
If you haven't gotten a rifle yet, check out the 26 Nosler as well. Ok e you begin reloading, you should look into Matrix bullets. They offer a 150gr and 160gr that perform epically on large game.
 
RockyMtnMT said:
.......I can't find a length for the 160g RN Hornady but I would think that it would need an 8" twist to work well..........
Click to expand...

The Woodleigh 160 6.5 is 1.381" long. The 156 Oryx is listed at 1.29".

Wikipedia indicates a 1-8.66" twist is what was used for the 6.55x55 Swede using the 156 grain bullets at the time.

I haven't looked for them in a while, but the Hornady 160 6.5 was out of stock every where, and I may remember it was cut from production until Hornady caught up with other product lines.
 

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