Which bullet for Utah deer hunt/143 ELDX or 135 Berger Classic Hunter?

Rotten said:
Had a cow tag for chalk Creek last year. A lot of deer in the hay fields every time I drove up the canyon. If your on private property you will do well. Most the animals head towards private property from pressure even from the Whitney reservoir side. Deer that don't get pushed will most likely stay up high.
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Thanks!
 
143gr ELDX 6.5PRC 200YDS Wyoming muley. Nuf said.
 

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Shumba1 said:
Drew a buck tag in Utah this fall (Cache unit up north). Planning to take my Sako A7 in 6.5 Creedmoor. The rifle shoots most bullets amazingly well (under .5 MOA) and I have the following loads that all shoot great:

143 grain ELD-X @ 2,710 fps

135 Berger Classic Hunter @ 2,770 fps

125 grain Hammer Tipped Hunter bullet @ 2,920 fps

I know all of them are capable of doing the job, but curious what the group thinks, especially those who have shot deer with the 6.5 Creedmoor.

Previously, I always used a 30 cal rifle on deer (308 Win, 30-06, 300 WM) and have never taken game yet with the 6.5 CM. Also, the 6.5CM is topped with a Nightforce NX8 4-32x F2 scope, so very capable of handling the long range shots.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this!
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Normally I would say 143 ELD-X depending on shot distance because you'll get better terminal performance further out, but the hammer hunters will hit above their weight class being a monolithic. My choice would be the Hammers.
 
I would say either and take what you have the most condifent and what makes you fell good when shooting. That will probably make you have the best experience and boost you confidence in what you doing. As for pure bullets my wife shot her buck decent size body buck with an 87g VLD 243 at 300 yards and this was a load that was only moving around 2800 to 2850 fps. Not super fast for a 243 but it was consistent and group sub 1/2 MOA. The bullet was found on the off side shoulder just under the hide. It was completely turned inside out almost. Buck took about 2 hard leaps and went down. Bullet went in behind the first shoulder and then traveled through the body and going through the bone on the offside shoulder. Couldn't ask more of a such a small bullet
 
stx said:
I have four 6.5 CMs and have had great success with Hammers, Bergers, and ELDMs in them. I've also seen several failures due to jacket separation from my hunters using the ELDXs! My personal favorite is the Hammer Hunter 124 gr with which I've killed numerous whitetail and hogs…..with the Bergers and ELDMs both being a close second!
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Curious what you mean by "failures due to jacket failure" is this regarding the ELD-X in all calibers or just the 6.5 Creedmoor velocity? Did the animal die and you recovered a separated jacket on the off side hide but not the lead core? Did the animal run a long ways and you had to track it down because it suffered? Were the "bullet jacket separation failures" due to a bad shot such as in the guts and found in the off hide, but the animal still died and was still recovered? I too have had ELD-X copper jacket separate from the lead core in .270 Win 145 ELD-X and in .308 Win. 178 ELD-X, but the inner lead punched through creating two holes and a great wound cavity on numerous deer and elk. 1-2 separated as I was handeling the recovered bullets found when skinning the animal. All were one shot kills and the ELD-X bullets to me did their job killing the animals humanely with no real tracking. That being said, all shots were in the bread basket or shoulder area and not marginal/poor shots where an animal was wounded due to bad shot placement. Granted, on most of the harvested animals, I did not have that perfect recovered "mushroom" bullet with the copper jacket peeled perfectly back and intact like a core-lok or partition. In fact, most were complete pass throughs and no bullet was found. On the animals that I did have jacket separation and I recovered the separated copper jacket on the offside hide, the lead core exited including on a 6x6 bull elk. Nearly all the animals were "DRT," and only a few going about 30-50 yards. I would call that a success and not a failure, so that is why I ask what your experience is from them? Thanks for your time as I know there is generally no perfect bullet that works in all situations. Some are good for close shots and not so much distance, while others are good at long range but have poor performance at high velocity close range especially hitting bone. Tough bonded bullets or Partitions generally aren't as accurate at long range distance, having poor BCs and monolithic generally need high velocity impact of greater than (2000-2200 fps ) for proper expansion, While cup and core bullets have the highest BCs such as ELD-X, ELD-M and Bergers and are best at "extreme long range" and accuracy, but don't necessarily perform well for close range high velocity impacts. Kinda like mechanical Broadheads vs fixed blade Broadheads, there will alwaysbe debates. I really wish there was a perfect bullet for all situations though.
 
stx said:
I have four 6.5 CMs and have had great success with Hammers, Bergers, and ELDMs in them. I've also seen several failures due to jacket separation from my hunters using the ELDXs! My personal favorite is the Hammer Hunter 124 gr with which I've killed numerous whitetail and hogs…..with the Bergers and ELDMs both being a close second!
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Any ELDX jacket failures while the bullet was still in flight ?
 

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