Which bullet for deer for 6.5CM inside 400 yards?

I know this is a long range forum but the advice you all give here has been great so I continue to ask my questions here. Which bullet would you use for reloads on deer and smaller critters inside 400 yards? Im thinking something in the 120-140grain range (highly considering the 117gr Hammer sledgehammers and the 130 grain accubond). The 117gr sledgehammers should provide a flat trajectory so I'm leaning towards those but I'm not sure how they perform on game yet.

A 6.5CM, even at 50 yards, will not be overly high velocity that just about any bullet would fail except maybe a varmint type bullet like the 85 VMAX.

Barnes, Berger, Sierra, Hammer, Nosler, Hornady, etc. Take your pick. Find one that shoots well and run it.

Depends upon what you mean by success, DRT as opposed to running for a mile and eventually dying or somewhere in between. What are the odds that you'll hit where you want to at whatever distance you'll be shooting at?

antelopedundee said:

Depends upon what you mean by success, DRT as opposed to running for a mile and eventually dying or somewhere in between. What are the odds that you'll hit where you want to at whatever distance you'll be shooting at?

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I would preferably want a bullet that can penetrate a whitetails bone and still do the necessary to take the animal and have it run less than 100 yards. We always try for broadside shots but sometimes all you have is a hard quartering towards shot where you will be aiming at the front leg/shoulder area in order to hit the vitals. So which bullets would be best on a scenario like this under 400 yards? That's why I was thinking either monometal bullets or a bonded bullet like an accubond. DRT is always awesome but I never count on it. I have never had a whitetail run further than 75 yards, as long as I did my part on aiming.

Your goals are exactly the same as mine were for my creed. This I use the 124 hammer hunter. Only because I will stretchy it out farther on certain game like pigs. The hammers perform flawlessly in the 6.5. Super easy to load for and all rings of my load ladder were under .5". They stay that way even at 200 yards. On game they have been great so far the biggest test for a mono is to open up without hitting bone. I was able to take a large Michigan buck this year and never hit a rib or bone. It performed great. He made it about 40 yards spraying blood everywhere. Now that is a small sample size for no bone but I was shooting a very light load. I'm leaving next week for Texas for audad and using that same bullet just moving faster.
For under 500 the sledge hammer is the choice. In fact that's the bullet two other guys that I hunt with will be using after Texas and they can get time to do load work.

antelopedundee said:

Depends upon what you mean by success, DRT as opposed to running for a mile and eventually dying or somewhere in between. What are the odds that you'll hit where you want to at whatever distance you'll be shooting at?

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As this states most important is hitting where you want. I see so many guys at my range go with the bullet that is not the best group because they want a certain bullet or speed. Speed mainly is what people tend to chase.
As for drt I don't buy into a bullet doing that based solely on the bullet. Shot placement has a lot to do with it. Some animals I've shot with a .300blk fall drt others I've shot with a .338 lapua improved from 30 yards and they have ran 30- 40 yards.

snox801 said:

As this states most important is hitting where you want. I see so many guys at my range go with the bullet that is not the best group because they want a certain bullet or speed. Speed mainly is what people tend to chase.
As for drt I don't buy into a bullet doing that based solely on the bullet. Shot placement has a lot to do with it. Some animals I've shot with a .300blk fall drt others I've shot with a .338 lapua improved from 30 yards and they have ran 30- 40 yards.

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Watch the hunting shows and for every DRT you'll see a not DRT. My experience has been mostly with Hornady 129 grain interlocks on lopes and a few deer with a 6.5-06 or the AI version. Never any complaints. Last year I used the Sierra 130 grain Gamechangers and plan to again this year.

Yep high shoulder shots can cause a drt for sure but can also leave the animal laying paralyzed but not dead till you are able to get another round on it. It's nice and definitely looks cool when they flip but I had two deer same yardage same rifle do two different things. First one was 498 yards bang flop. The one by it ran about 30 yards closer and I put one in her. Same spot and everything that one ran 40-50 yards blood all over. First one was by far a cooler shot. Lol

Tagging in

I'm gonna swap over from the Berger 140gr. vld-h's Over to the 135gr. Classic Hunter's. To many pass through's on the VLD's shooting at 2860fps.

Snow... was the first deer relaxed and the second deer alerted after shooting the first one?

127 grain Barnes Long Range TTSX @ about 3,000 fps with the Creed works really well for the hunting that I do in the High Desert Mountains of Southern California......The new law of an all copper bullet has been on my menu for 20 years or so. This bullet is absolutely the best for Deer and Antelope in this caliber. My best results have been out to 300 yds. or so I can not see if an animal is legal fare or not beyond a distance as such. If a shot at any animal this size at any farther than this should not be an ethical one....HELLO....

daniel brothers said:

Snow... was the first deer relaxed and the second deer alerted after shooting the first one?

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Yes that could be it the first was looking at me but trying to figure out what I was the second knew something was up but wasn't sure what.
Man I need to crank up my speed on my creed I'm only at 2854 with the 124 hammers. Ran out of time to finish my ladder. Quick load said my charge of varget was way to hot but I'm getting no pressure at all and speed seems a bit low. I'm hoping to keep going and be around the 2950-3000 mark being I'm using a 22" tube. Good news is I shot a group today at 200 that all were touching. Have just enough ammo left for a audad and some pigs next week.

I use the 140 eld-m. At 2800ish fps it's a whitetails worst nightmare. For inside 400 my second pick would be the 129 sst. The 129sst puts a hurting on them when propelled to 3000 fps.