Thread: Real world ranges for 6.5 creedmoor

Shoot within your comfort zone distance wise and gradually creep up. Flyblown is pretty much right on the money. But if you want to set an absolute limit the often quoted 1000 ft lbs at the business end might be a good start.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Shoot within your comfort zone distance wise and gradually creep up. Flyblown is pretty much right on the money. But if you want to set an absolute limit the often quoted 1000 ft lbs at the business end might be a good start.

for that - according to shooters calculator - factory loads of 143g ELDX are good to 700y, 147ELDM are good to 725y. That said energy on target isn't the be all end all - projectile expansion, energy transfer into the target instead of punching through, sectional density, shot placement are all vital.

Originally Posted by Shadowsol

for that - according to shooters calculator - factory loads of 143g ELDX are good to 700y, 147ELDM are good to 725y. That said energy on target isn't the be all end all - projectile expansion, energy transfer into the target instead of punching through, sectional density, shot placement are all vital.

Whilst it’s a good idea to have a sense of minimum thresholds, I reckon one of the biggest influences on whether I’m happy to take the shot or not is the nature of the shooting position. I’ve got to be 100% comfortable, setup right. I really don’t like shooting uphill for example, unfortunately my old body doesn’t do too well trying to flex the back and neck in the prone position, and I don’t much like having the bipod fully extended. I also hate being on sloping ground across the line of sight.

Me and @Wingman had one properly insightful experience where we were shooting pest goats side by side from a small knoll on top of bluffs. He was on flat ground, with a good lie, I was next to him with my body at a poor angle to the line of sight, with my legs falling away. He made three or four clean kills, I missed two or three in successive shots. I’d been shooting goats from that exact spot for a long time, so was (a) embarrassed and (b) pissed off. So we swapped positions, and waited for the goats. Bingo, I knocked them over, he missed. The influence of our respective lies was massive.

I’ve always known how important the shooting position is, and that time I broke the rules, and we were able to clearly demonstrate the effect of a poor lie by swapping.

So for all the talk of internal / external ballistics, which rifles, wind, BC, bullet construction and so on, there’s also some Shooting 101 to remember. If there are any sub-standard “setup” variables, then you’re much more likely to get a bad outcome, and yet frequently that gets blamed on something firearm or projectile related, and totally skews the analysis of what a particular rig is capable of.

Originally Posted by Flyblown

Whilst it’s a good idea to have a sense of minimum thresholds, I reckon one of the biggest influences on whether I’m happy to take the shot or not is the nature of the shooting position. I’ve got to be 100% comfortable, setup right. I really don’t like shooting uphill for example, unfortunately my old body doesn’t do too well trying to flex the back and neck in the prone position, and I don’t much like having the bipod fully extended. I also hate being on sloping ground across the line of sight.

Me and @Wingman had one properly insightful experience where we were shooting pest goats side by side from a small knoll on top of bluffs. He was on flat ground, with a good lie, I was next to him with my body at a poor angle to the line of sight, with my legs falling away. He made three or four clean kills, I missed two or three in successive shots. I’d been shooting goats from that exact spot for a long time, so was (a) embarrassed and (b) pissed off. So we swapped positions, and waited for the goats. Bingo, I knocked them over, he missed. The influence of our respective lies was massive.

I’ve always known how important the shooting position is, and that time I broke the rules, and we were able to clearly demonstrate the effect of a poor lie by swapping.

So for all the talk of internal / external ballistics, which rifles, wind, BC, bullet construction and so on, there’s also some Shooting 101 to remember. If there are any sub-standard “setup” variables, then you’re much more likely to get a bad outcome, and yet frequently that gets blamed on something firearm or projectile related, and totally skews the analysis of what a particular rig is capable of.

Yes absolutely this. Ive made some terrible shots and missed animals completely due to very poor setup position. Sometimes its just very tricky to get into a suitable position but if you have the time you should take the time to find a good comfortable spot to shoot from.