Poll: .308 or 6.5 CM Help me decide & get off the dime.

[PNWguy]

I think there is no doubt that the 6.5 Creedmoor is better at putting holes in paper.

But for hunting, the .308 is better.

Then you get into the whole debate regarding the ethics of taking shots on game animals at greater distances. The furthest I've taken a deer was at 550yds with a .257 Roberts. Won't try that again.

I've seen the videos of people shooting elk at 1200yds and it makes me sick.

But in today's world of no morals, no patience, and screw everyone but me; it's not a surprise.

 

[Phantom Man]

In Sweden they use the 6.5 Swede for hunting deer, elk and moose. Here is a 2010 hunting forum.
6.5x55 for Moose? Really?

 

[PNWguy]

In Sweden they use the 6.5 Swede for hunting deer, elk and moose. Here is a 2010 hunting forum.
6.5x55 for Moose? Really?

I shot my first elk with a .257 Roberts using a handloaded 130gr Nosler.

 

[Phantom Man]

That is a very interesting blog or I should say forum with lots of feedback from people who actually hunt with the 6.5mm

 

[slimmer13]

If you want to make sure something dies within 1000 yards.....308 win

I disagree that the .308 is feasible for hunting for the last 1/4-1/3 of that 1k yds.

 

[slimmer13]

I think there is no doubt that the 6.5 Creedmoor is better at putting holes in paper.

But for hunting, the .308 is better.

Then you get into the whole debate regarding the ethics of taking shots on game animals at greater distances. The furthest I've taken a deer was at 550yds with a .257 Roberts. Won't try that again.

I've seen the videos of people shooting elk at 1200yds and it makes me sick.

But in today's world of no morals, no patience, and screw everyone but me; it's not a surprise.

The feasibility of any shot us intensely personal based on an individuals own skill set and equipment. The "moral" limit for any shot distance is different for every shooter.

 

[PNWguy]

The feasibility of any shot us intensely personal based on an individuals own skill set and equipment. The "moral" limit for any shot distance is different for every shooter.

I disagree, and agree. To a point, it is certainly up to the individual hunter's skill level and equipment. But when you get to certain distances, there is too much that can happen in the time frame of a shot taken and when the bullet impacts the animal.

I've shot a Sharps rifle in 1000yd matches using a .45-90. When I pull the trigger, I have time to look through the spotting scope and see the bullet hit.

That's a hell of a lot of time for a deer or elk to flinch or bolt and turn what would have been a clean kill shot into a horrible wounding shot.

No matter how good you are or accurate your equipment is, there are just too many variables in the wild to be taking extremely long shots for it to be ethical.

 

[PNWguy]

I don't want to derail the thread any further... Think I'll start a new thread in the hunting forum...

 

[slimmer13]

I disagree, and agree. To a point, it is certainly up to the individual hunter's skill level and equipment. But when you get to certain distances, there is too much that can happen in the time frame of a shot taken and when the bullet impacts the animal.

I've shot a Sharps rifle in 1000yd matches using a .45-90. When I pull the trigger, I have time to look through the spotting scope and see the bullet hit.

That's a hell of a lot of time for a deer or elk to flinch or bolt and turn what would have been a clean kill shot into a horrible wounding shot.

No matter how good you are or accurate your equipment is, there are just too many variables in the wild to be taking extremely long shots for it to be ethical.

I just dont think you can put a blanket statement that x distance is too far to be ethical. Maybe you have a super magnum barrel burner that will get the bullet there faster than a .308 at 500. Maybe the animal hasn't moved in 10 minutes. Like I said, it's a personal thing that's different for everyone that nobody else but the shooter can decide.

And bubblegum happens when hunting. Ive lost deer I've shot at short ranges. It sucks and yes, I think you should do what you can to keep that from happening, but that's the shooters decision.

 

[DirectDrive]

The 6.5 (or 6mm) Creedmoor is using the available horsepower more efficiently than the .308

 

[tac]

In Sweden they use the 6.5 Swede for hunting deer, elk and moose. Here is a 2010 hunting forum.
6.5x55 for Moose? Really?

IF you had read my post about shooting an elk in Northern Norway, you would have read that I used a beat-up old m/38 in 6.5x55 that had been used for culling elk since 1946, and had accounted for around eight or ten thousand of them in that time.

 

[Phantom Man]

IF you had read my post about shooting an elk in Northern Norway, you would have read that I used a beat-up old m/38 in 6.5x55 that had been used for culling elk since 1946, and had accounted for around eight or ten thousand of them in that time.

I'm sure I missed some posts but wow that's a successful rifle/hunter combo.

 

[tac]

Not me, I hasten to add, just the father of the professional game warden who loaned me his old rifle for the weekend. He had been in the Norwegian resistance during WW2 and had had a pretty hard time of it. He got hired on by the national game conservation authority in 1946, and he and his son spent their time shooting mooses/elgs.

That's all they did. And the 6.5x55 Swede was all they ever used.

 

[oli700]

all kinds of guns kill things its crazy

 

[erslll]

I think there is no doubt that the 6.5 Creedmoor is better at putting holes in paper.

But for hunting, the .308 is better.

Can you explain to me why you think the 308 is better for hunting?

 

[oli700]

The only thing one does better than the other as far as ballistics is the 6.5 fights wind and gravity better .
If a person can reach the same distance and can read wind and at the end of the day you are looking at two one inch groups , one by each rifle ...... who cares what it took to get there or that one person is holding a rifle a couple degrees steeper than the other .

Cartridge leathality for hunting became a non issue in my mind the first time I saw a deer die to a 22 as a child . It was instant and quiet .
It's the indian not the arrow every single time .

 

[DB is Here]

6.5 Creedmoor is so stupidly trendy, people who don't know anything about rifle cartridges are murmuring words about it in the isles of sporting goods stores. Cute.

LOL

 

[DB is Here]

I must say after reading all the posts here, we have some incredibly well versed folks in the world of long distance shooting. I have much to learn...

 

[tac]

There IS much to learn, Grasshopper.........

 

[bobdog308]

The thing you want to keep in mind when it comes to killing something is sectional density of your projectile. Penetration is king. Higher sect density equals more drilling power a bullet has while retaining bullet mass, hence why the 6.5, .284 caliber bullets have gnarly sd. One reason why 6.5 cal cartridges kill so well is because they have very high sd WHILE retaining tremendous foot pounds of energy. It's like a near perfect equation. But, but barrel life is far less than .308 caliber rounds (typical .308 rounds)

But then there are proponents a simply puttin a big assed hole in something, there is where the .308 wins.

....Now the .308 can be loaded with a 190 GR Sierra match king and easily bang steel at 1250 yards.....but the 6.5 cartridges still out perform even that load.....besides smacking a elk or a bear the killing performance and flight performance of the .308 win out to 500 yards is outshined by the 6.5 creed and the .260 rem and the6.5x47 lapua....note that the 6.5 Swede can be loaded above old school specs that Saami set to equally replicate the power of the .270 win with better sd and wind bucking dynamic....