Super Light Varmint Bullets in a 6.5 Creedmoor

I have had the itch to get a varmint rifle lately. The 204 Ruger was going to be what scratched that itch, but I ran across something today that has me going in another direction. I was reading about someone's success with their T/C Compass in 6.5 Creedmoor using 85gr Sierra bullets. They were getting groups of about 1/2" with them out of the Compass' 1:8 twist barrel.

I just so happen to have a Compass, it just so happens to be chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, and I just so happened to have pimped the hell out of that gun with a Boyd's thumbhole stock and an aftermarket trigger that makes the stock one look like a Glock's trigger. You see where I'm going with this?

Over a healthy dose of Reloader 17, I could push that 85gr pill to around 3,300 - 3,400 FPS out of my Compass. I could push a 100gr pill to around 3,200 FPS. That's not quite up to 204 Ruger velocities, but it's also firing a bullet 2-3 times heavier. I'm guessing it would knock yotes over beautifully, and would do a number on prairie dog colonies if I can ever make it up North or West to shoot at one. The only thing the 204 Ruger really has over this set up is the price. I can buy 35gr varmint bullets for around $0.12 per bullet, whereas these 85gr-100gr bullets are closer to $0.30-$0.40 per bullet.

Thoughts?

Have had great luck with the 95gr Vmax on rabbits.


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The extra expense for the .264 bullets compared to the .204 bullets is far less than the expense of a new rifle and scope.

If economics are a concern test the 6.5 CM with the lighter bullets and go from there. The biggest concern would be resetting zero and having two sets of scope adjustments for each load.

That being said, more guns is never a bad thing.

I have never tested lighter bullets in the 6.5 CM so I can offer no insight there.

I always just kept adjusted scope settings for different bullets.

Instead of changing the zero of the scope I would have a zero of “+3” elevation.


This only works on scopes built for it though. Most hunting scopes don’t track well enough to just crank the knobs and go.


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I did a little looking and I found that I can get 90gr Speer TNT bullets for $0.17 per bullet. It's hard to argue with that. From what I've read, these things are absolutely nasty on coyotes. I found some data for this bullet, and it looks like you can push it to 3500 FPS with a heavy and compressed charge of Reloader 17. You can load it up to 50.0 grs...

That'll do some damage.

View attachment 65_Creedmoor_90.pdf

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That 'yote won't know if that bullet is going 3000 or 3500.... I went thru the how fast can I make it go stage years ago. Now it's which is the most accurate.

avvidclif said:

That 'yote won't know if that bullet is going 3000 or 3500.... I went thru the how fast can I make it go stage years ago. Now it's which is the most accurate.

Click to expand...

Speed is definitely not the be all end all of hunting. I generally prefer heavy and slow, or at least moderate. Accuracy is always a priority. From what I've seen on YouTube, the T/C compass seems to like light bullets, and it seems to like pushing them fast and hard. Mine might be different, or it might not.

Speed does have a very real advantage for me. When we see a coyote, they're usually about 300 yards down range, if not more. My preferred hunting round in the 6.5 Creedmoor is a 129gr Hornady Interlock SP. I'm pushing it at pretty moderate velocities, and as a result, it has about 15.5" of drop at 300 yards, and about 35" at 400 yards.

If I can push that 90gr bullet to 3500 FPS, it will only drop about 9" at 300 yards and 21" at 400 yards.

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If you go the reloader 17 route be mindful of its temperament with temp changes. If you work up a hot load in winter it can easily be over pressure in summer.

100-123 work great on critters in my experience.

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Go with the 6.5cm with a lighter bullet. 95g, 80g etc... Test your velocity. Then Plug your numbers in here for you MPBR http://www.shooterscalculator.com/point-blank-range.php. Sight in for that number and should be point and click out to 300yrds+- on a 4" target

Just a couple thoughts.

1.) 3500 FPS with a 1/8 twist is 315,000 rpm. I don’t think vmax’s can handle that without jacket failure.

2.) I can get 3000 FPS out of a 6.5 Grendel. I’m surprised you can only get 3-400 FPS more out of a CM.