The 6mm Creedmoor From Hornady

Every now and then a new cartridge comes along that turns my head and gets me itching to shoot it. There is no secret, I’ve never been a .243 Winchester fan, always preferring the much hotter 6mm Remington. However, with the virtual obsolescence of the 6mm Remmington in both firearms and factory ammo I was stoked to try the new 6mm Creedmoor with its Hornady Precision Hunter loads. Falling neatly between the above mentioned rounds in performance and ballistics put this new chambering on deck for both my Wyoming pronghorn and whitetail hunts.

But first, a bit of range time… I was not disappointed and found the 6 Creed to be equally effective at both short and long distances. In fact, fun is the exact word that comes to mind and I burned up the better part of a case of Hornady Precision Hunter just smacking steel with it. Extremely mild mannered yet carrying enough oomph out to around 500 yards to get the job done on medium game such as pronghorns. I was growing very impatient waiting for my chance to litmus test this new cartridge in the field.

Long story short, the 6mm Creedmoor and I were able to collect two wonderful animals; my best pronghorn to date and a great 5×5 whitetail. Coupled with the 103 grain ELD-X in Hornady’s Precision Hunter the middle six emphatically let the air out of both animals. Because of the light recoil of the round I was able to watch both bullet impacts through the scope and can say that each displayed the impressive energy transfer I expected.

The pronghorn was hit slightly quartering away at a hair over 200 yards and the bullet entered mid-chest angling into the muscles forward of the off shoulder where it came to rest having imparted all of its 1651 ft. lbs of KE into the buck. He snow plowed forward on his nose for about twenty yards and toppled over, stone dead.

My Wyoming whitetail was equally impressive. A broadside shot at a shade under 400 yards with a 15 mph crosswind was no match for the 6 Creed. Instead of taking the time to dial the turret I simply held on the buck’s spine, (remember all those practice rounds?) as I had the turret dialed to 300, used the first windage hash on my reticle, steadied my breathing, squeezed and sent that slippery little pill dowrange where it hit home, still cranking along at roughly 2400 feet per second. The buck lurched forward, smacking into the tree in front of him, bounced off and tumbled down the steep slope below him for about thirty yards. The 6mm ELD-X bullet left an incredible exit without damaging much meat and the blood trail was clearly visible, through binos, from 400 yards away in the snow.

I can honestly say that the day I have to give her back there will be a void in my safe that’s more than just an empty space where the 6mm Creedmoor used to live. In fact, I aim to purchase another rifle in this chambering and I am looking forward to the day when my daughters grow large enough to learn how to use it. Give the 6mm Creedmoor a very hard look if you are in the marker for a varmint/medium game rifle, you will not be disappointed.

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