re: .308 or 6.5 creedmoor for deer hunting?

Both the 308 and 6.5 CM are fine rounds. I've hunted extensively w/ both in bolt action handguns (one was actually a 260 Rem, but it's a ballistic twin to the CM). No doubt the CM is a good deer hunting round, but in many circles it has taken on mythical properties. If my shots were inside 150 yards and I could only have one of the two, no doubt it'd be the 308. For what you describe, it's more flexible than the CM and (usually) has easily available ammo that's well developed and has a wide range of useful bullet weights. You'll be well off w/ either. Be sure and practice plenty.

Those american whitetail have softpoints if I'm not mistaken and are probably moving somewhere around 2800-2850 fps. At 150yds they are expanding violently and probably wouldn't have much left to exit.

I load my own ammo so, I'm shooting a little faster than factory.

I've shot 1 deer with 143 eld-x and it was a DRT on a shot that was a little too far back. Bullet left an amazing wound channel and exited.

I've switched to Berger 140gr VLD hunting and will be using them to hunt but also longer range F-class matches. I'm pushing them around 2840-2850 in my gun.
Haven't shot a deer with them yet but for F-class I'm getting around 0.3 moa with them at 600yds

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FIL has a friend with deer tracking dogs. He says he always asks what gun people used when they shot the deer they called him to track. He said more than 50% of the time its the cripplemore

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Pardon the dumb question, but can you be too close to the target for 6.5 Creedmore? What would the negatives be regarding this "issue"? TIA.

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What round are yall using in 6.5CM for deer? I used Hornady 129g American Whitetail last year and was disappointed in performance. I shot two at 130-150 yards both quartering slightly away and didn't get pass through shots. Both deer ran about 75 yards and didn't leave a drop of blood.

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Damn I ordered two boxes of that, might stick with what I have... Remington high performance 140 gr bthp.

The correct answer...
I use to know a guy that hunted deer year around with a 22 rifle,all shot in the eye. He was feeding his family so no one ever told on him.

I load nosler 142gr accubond LR. 32.5gr of IMR 8208 XBR. Only deer I shot ran about 20yds but it was my fault as I pulled the shot. Was aiming at the shoulder at 180yds and made a lung shot. No blood. Just saw the path the deer took and followed the trail.

My post wasn't very clear, UpToPar. I've killed three deer w/ the 260 Remington (ballistically equivalent to the 6.5 Creedmore) in a bolt action handgun w/a 15" barrel. I've also killed 25 deer w/ a 6.5 JD (equivalent too the 6.5 Grendel) in a 14" barrel T/C Contender. Since my muzzle velocity is less in the shorter barrels, I use lighter, 120 gr bullets. Almost all the 6.5 JDJ kills were w/ the 120 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip. The two killed w/ the 260 Rem last year were w/ the 120 gr Speer spire point (now discontinued). I'd think the 130 gr Nosler AccuBond, 125 gr Nosler Partition and 140 Nosler Ballistic tip to also perform well in the 6.5 CM. The Ballistic Studies website has a good breakdown on real world experience w/ various 6.5 bullets in the 6.5x55, also equivalent to the 6.5 CM. A lot of the bullets loaded in the 6.5 CM are fairly new so there's not much mention of them in the link.

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.308 or 6.5 creedmoor for deer hunting?Posted on 9/30/20 at 12:21 pm up vote2down vote0 Wanting a new gun for the season. Can’t decide on the caliber. Farthest shoots I have is at 150 yards.

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IMO only:

If you are hunting deer, pigs, or anything else inside 150 yards what advantage would shooting a 6.5 creedmoor offer over a rifle chambered in .308? The .308 was made to offer more accuracy in long range shots over the 30-06 some 50+ years ago. But you give up some knockdown power for it.

You can find .308 ammo anywhere but risk scarcity when you move into new calibers and cost is often a driving factor as well.

Either will work just fine as many have stated before me but inside 150 I couldn't justify spending more for something I can't gain from unless just owning a 6.5 C gives you that mental confidence and hell nothing wrong with that either.

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You can find .308 ammo anywhere but risk scarcity when you move into new calibers and cost is often a driving factor as well.

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That’s what I thought and hoped but although it s expensive 6.5 seems more readily available