Light bullets in the 6.5 Creedmoor

[Blkram]

So Susan had such a great time shooting the 6.5 Creedmoor and then taking her Arapawa rams with it in New Zealand shooting the Federal ammunition with 130gr Terminal Ascent bullets, that when she saw a LH X Bolt Hunter in 6.5 Creedmoor on sale in a local gun store yesterday, she immediately put a deposit down on it!
And is now on the hunt for some of the Federal ammunition for it! She plans on using it for her springbok and sable in Africa next May. Will have to see how her rifle likes this ammo.
I also have some of the Hornady Outfitter with the 120 gr GMX bullets to try if it doesn't like the Terminal Ascent.

All I can say is "Whew!!!"
My LH Browning X Bolt All Weather in 6.5 CM is now safe!!!

 

[gerry]

Sounds like a great find for her Gil!

 

[Blkram]

Follow up:

So, we finally got to the range to get Susan's new rifle sighted in on Wednesday. We had mounted her VX-3 2.5-8x36 B&C scope on it. Susan's rifle has the factory 22" barrel.
I also had a new to me Leupold VX-3HD 4.5-14x40 B&C scope mounted on my own LH Browning X Bolt in 6.5 CM. My rifle has a Benchmark 24" SS 5R barrel.

Some interesting results when comparing performance of various factory ammunition in the 2 rifles side by side:
Susan's rifle:
Winchester XP 129 gr Power Point @ 2703 fps (SD 33) - factory published velocity of 2820 fps
Federal 130 gr Terminal Ascent @ 2755 fps (SD 43) sighted in and produced a 3 shot 0.420" group at 100 yards - factory published velocity of 2800 fps
Hornady Precision Hunter 143 gr ELD-X @ 2477 fps (SD 17) - factory published velocity of 2700 fps
My rifle:
Winchester XP 129 gr Power Point @ 2810 fps (SD 21) produced a 3 shot 1.251" group at 100 yards
Federal 130 gr Terminal Ascent @ 2843 fps (SD 23) sighted in and produced a 3 shot 0.291" group at 100 yards
Hornady Precision Hunter 143 gr ELD-X @ 2510 fps (SD 25) produced a 3 shot group 0.494" at 100 yards

While Susan's barrel should be slower being 2" shorter, the variance was not the typical 25-30 fps/inch expected. And not even for all 3 loads.
And the Hornady ammo was a lot slower than anticipated in both rifles.

On game performance to date fro my rifle:
Hornady 143 gr ELD-X - moose at 15 yards - bullet lost in the thoracic cavity devastation
Federal 130 gr Terminal Ascent -
red stag at 296 yards complete pass through
fallow buck at 267 yards complete pass through
arapawa rams at 122 & 124 yards complete pass through
caribou bull at 43 yards complete pass through

 

[TackDriver284]

Follow up:

So, we finally got to the range to get Susan's new rifle sighted in on Wednesday. We had mounted her VX-3 2.5-8x36 B&C scope on it. Susan's rifle has the factory 22" barrel.
I also had a new to me Leupold VX-3HD 4.5-14x40 B&C scope mounted on my own LH Browning X Bolt in 6.5 CM. My rifle has a Benchmark 24" SS 5R barrel.

Some interesting results when comparing performance of various factory ammunition in the 2 rifles side by side:
Susan's rifle:
Winchester XP 129 gr Power Point @ 2703 fps (SD 33) - factory published velocity of 2820 fps
Federal 130 gr Terminal Ascent @ 2755 fps (SD 43) sighted in and produced a 3 shot 0.420" group at 100 yards - factory published velocity of 2800 fps
Hornady Precision Hunter 143 gr ELD-X @ 2477 fps (SD 17) - factory published velocity of 2700 fps
My rifle:
Winchester XP 129 gr Power Point @ 2810 fps (SD 21) produced a 3 shot 1.251" group at 100 yards
Federal 130 gr Terminal Ascent @ 2843 fps (SD 23) sighted in and produced a 3 shot 0.291" group at 100 yards
Hornady Precision Hunter 143 gr ELD-X @ 2510 fps (SD 25) produced a 3 shot group 0.494" at 100 yards

While Susan's barrel should be slower being 2" shorter, the variance was not the typical 25-30 fps/inch expected. And not even for all 3 loads.
And the Hornady ammo was a lot slower than anticipated in both rifles.

On game performance to date fro my rifle:
Hornady 143 gr ELD-X - moose at 15 yards - bullet lost in the thoracic cavity devastation
Federal 130 gr Terminal Ascent -
red stag at 296 yards complete pass through
fallow buck at 267 yards complete pass through
arapawa rams at 122 & 124 yards complete pass through
caribou bull at 43 yards complete pass through

Congratulations on all these harvests of delicious varieties of game. Seems the Terminal Ascent worked very well for you.
It may be possible that the speed should increase after a couple hundred rounds down the tube for Susan's new rifle. I would not be surprised that the published velocities for the Hornady factory ammo may be incorrect. 2475-2510 fps is slow for a 130 grain bullet, should be running at 2800 ish, maybe the factory ammo is a dud. Reason why I like to reload.

 

[RL338]

Follow up:

So, we finally got to the range to get Susan's new rifle sighted in on Wednesday. We had mounted her VX-3 2.5-8x36 B&C scope on it. Susan's rifle has the factory 22" barrel.
I also had a new to me Leupold VX-3HD 4.5-14x40 B&C scope mounted on my own LH Browning X Bolt in 6.5 CM. My rifle has a Benchmark 24" SS 5R barrel.

Some interesting results when comparing performance of various factory ammunition in the 2 rifles side by side:
Susan's rifle:
Winchester XP 129 gr Power Point @ 2703 fps (SD 33) - factory published velocity of 2820 fps
Federal 130 gr Terminal Ascent @ 2755 fps (SD 43) sighted in and produced a 3 shot 0.420" group at 100 yards - factory published velocity of 2800 fps
Hornady Precision Hunter 143 gr ELD-X @ 2477 fps (SD 17) - factory published velocity of 2700 fps
My rifle:
Winchester XP 129 gr Power Point @ 2810 fps (SD 21) produced a 3 shot 1.251" group at 100 yards
Federal 130 gr Terminal Ascent @ 2843 fps (SD 23) sighted in and produced a 3 shot 0.291" group at 100 yards
Hornady Precision Hunter 143 gr ELD-X @ 2510 fps (SD 25) produced a 3 shot group 0.494" at 100 yards

While Susan's barrel should be slower being 2" shorter, the variance was not the typical 25-30 fps/inch expected. And not even for all 3 loads.
And the Hornady ammo was a lot slower than anticipated in both rifles.

On game performance to date fro my rifle:
Hornady 143 gr ELD-X - moose at 15 yards - bullet lost in the thoracic cavity devastation
Federal 130 gr Terminal Ascent -
red stag at 296 yards complete pass through
fallow buck at 267 yards complete pass through
arapawa rams at 122 & 124 yards complete pass through
caribou bull at 43 yards complete pass through

Well documented results with detail on game

 

[TexasLife]

85gr Sierra's is what I've used for decades until they got discontinued. Those lasers were shot from a pre64 264wm. Probably not the best choice in this case! Great against p-dogs and yotes.

 

[wvbuckbuster]

Good follow up report. Dan.

 

[SJB358]

I have seen enough Hornady stuff lately to wonder how they get their speeds. The 143 ELD stuff in my 6.5 PRC was very slow as well, around 2700'ish, some 7-08 139 grain stuff, also around 2500, many many reports of 7 PRC 175 stuff being 150-200 FPS slow as well.

That Federal load looks darned good though and I really like that bullet. I'd like to see more of them on the market. The 130 Tipped Bear Claws shoot amazing in my 270 Win and the 140's in my brothers 270 as well. Plus, they are darned good hunting bullets.