142 grain vs 150 grain bullet for deer hunting

For years I used a 150 grain bullet in my 30-06 and about the last three I loaded a 140 grainer in a 6.5x55 Swede, the deer nor I neither one could tell any difference. I've seen some really nice deer go down to a 100 grain .243 bullet.

Put the bullet in the right spot and it won’t matter at all.

If bullets are of like construction and terminal velocity, there will be absolutely no difference in terminal performance.

It will be fine. The 7 mag is higher velocity,so, technically has more power and shoots flatter. However at what most people consider normal ranges the deer will never know. That 142 will shoot all the way thru on broadside shots and will probably just about go end for end.

E rex never seen any deer go down to a 100 gr in the 243 only because no one in the family has one. However , between the wife, dad, and I a ton have dropped to 100 gr slugs out of 250 savage and 257 Roberts!

A 6.5 Creedmoor is pretty close to a 308. Your run of the mill 308 is a 147 gr bullet running at 2800some FPS, and your Creedmoor load is a 142 gr bullet running at 2700some FPS.

If someone asked you "will a 308 kill a deer", you'd probably tell them hell yeah it will. Same deal here.

I shoot corn and bean fed northeastern KS deer with a 75 gr HPBT out of my 243 at 3500 fps. They dont take more than 2 or 3 steps and hit the dirt hard.

142 or 150 will both take any deer with a good shot.

The deer won't know the difference hdbiker

Jack O'Connor said " No deer ever complained about an extra 100 to 200 feet per second."

https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/6.5x55.html

Some good information here regarding 6.5 mm bullet weights on whitetail sized game. The creedmoor and the swede are pretty close in speeds and whatnot.

With the legal center fire calibers for hunting deer in Kansas, which is .224 caliber and larger, deer will fall if you put the bullet through vital tissue. Both your stated bullet weights are perfectly fine for deer. Those loads will hit with enough velocity to get the bullets though the heart-lung area.
A 100 grain bullet from a 243 Winchester and another 100 grain bullet from a 257 Weatherby do the job if you do yours. Heavier bullets hold together better than lighter ones of the same caliber as long as they are the same type: bonded, mono metal, lead core with copper jacket (aka cup and core) or all lead. I use cup and core Sierra and Hornady bullets and bonded bullets from Swift.
No deer has made it more than 15 yards after a hit from a bullet I fired and I know not every hunter has recovered everything they’ve hit. Hunt with the rifle you are most confident with and practice shooting in the same position (prone, kneeling, sitting, etc) you are likely to use while hunting.

stringnut said:

It will be fine. The 7 mag is higher velocity,so, technically has more power and shoots flatter. However at what most people consider normal ranges the deer will never know. That 142 will shoot all the way thru on broadside shots and will probably just about go end for end.

E rex never seen any deer go down to a 100 gr in the 243 only because no one in the family has one. However , between the wife, dad, and I a ton have dropped to 100 gr slugs out of 250 savage and 257 Roberts!

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The only problem with magnums is that if you use a bullet designed for a lower-velocity cartridge, it can blow up on impact and make a real mess of the critter, but if on a shoulder, or on a going-away shot, may not penetrate adequately to incur a quick demise.

Either are arguably overkill for whitetail unless you're talking about long range shots.

As the other's said, either will work well. Since there's "only one degree of dead" I don't sweat overkill, as long as I'm using a well constructed; bonded or partition, bullet in the magnum/HV cartridges.

For whitetails in .260 Rem I started with a "youth load" of a 100grn Nosler BT at 2850 and my son killed 3 deer with it, from 130-200yds.

I then upped it to a 120BT at 2930 and he killed another 2 bucks with it, and I killed 2 more does with the same load, same distances. All of the deer went the normal "double lung" shot distances. I was thinking of upping it to a 140, but the 120s seem to be working well enough so I'm not going to fix what's working.

On Killing Power...

1, One can select figures and dense formulas to bolster about any preconceived notion, and therein lies the major weakness of any of these killing power calculations – they reflect merely the personal opinions and prejudice of their authors.

2, Killing power is a matter of biology, not of math and physics, and is influenced almost totally by shot placement, accompanied by sufficient penetration.

3, Rather than relying on fanciful “killing power” formulas, hunters would do far better to learn field marksmanship and to make some study of animal anatomy, in which subject most of them, including most outdoor writers, are woefully deficient.

4, Given sufficient penetration, what does any additional bullet weight add to killing power? Nothing, absolutely nothing.

- Finn Aagaard -




GR

As I get older Finn Aagaard looks a lot wiser.

@bassjam said it. Both are more than needed. Plenty of whitetail have fallen to 85-100 grain pills in .243. You'll be fine with the 6.5 142s as long as you do your part.

jmr40 said:

As I get older Finn Aagaard looks a lot wiser.

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He made good use of the 6.5x55mm, and loved the .270/150 gr. NP.




GR

I would expect that the impact velocity you would get from a 150 grain 7mm will have a higher likelihood of instant incapacitation than a 140 grain 6.5 creedmore. Its been my experience that when you get up around 2800+ FPS impact velocities that you get a lot of "dead right there" type of kills. Down around 2600 fps they are more likely to run about 50-100 yards and then topple. Just as dead either way.

You have seen a lot of good results with your 7mm Rem Mag. Switching to the 6.5 Creedmoor will be a change.
The 6.5 142 grain bullet will be fine. You are giving up bullet diameter and energy. So I like to say you will lose some hammer effect. Chest shots will produce the same result as a good part of the energy goes out with the exited bullet. Where you will see a little change is heavy bone hits.
People try to use the term overkill. There is no such thing as over dead. There is such a thing as underkill. That is a wounded animal.
Enjoy your 6.5 it will kill deer just fine and you may also enjoy the lower recoil.
As far as comparing it to your magnum you are given up energy and a bigger hole. That is a bigger difference than 8 grans of bullet weight.

I went from 7 MM mag to 7-08. I have no regrets, It kills everything I shoot at. A good aim and proper expanding bullets are the key regardless of what you shoot.. I have killed a number of large deer with a .223.

I favor heavy bullets in any caliber, but don't think you'll see much difference, if any. I like 180's in the '06, and the 7.65 Mauser or .303 Brit, 165's in the .308, (actually I usually load 147 grain FMJ ball ammo for my .308's) 170's over the 150's in the .30WCF, (wish they made a 180 for the thutty-thutty) 250's in the .350RemMag, etc.

Hoppy-tn said:

I don’t do much shooting and don’t know much about ammo statistics.
I have always hunted with a 7 mag shooting 150 grain Winchester ballistic silvertip and almost every deer hit the ground that I shot.
I just bought a 6.5 creedmoor and will be shooting 142 grain Winchester expedition big game.
Since the grains are not that far apart will the knockdown power and internal destruction be comparable?
Thanks for any help or advice.

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To help decide which bullet to use for deer or any other particular game, I try to read up about the bullet as used at the velocity level expected and what types/sizes/relative behaviors that bullets/loads should exhibit to be a good fit for the quarry, expected kill distances and make up my mind which ones I want to test at various mediums and distances. After a while, we figure one or more loads that work and compare results of any new load/product to the ones that work for you.

One medium that works for some folks is wet relatively fine sand in a cardboard box. Shooting a load that has worked in the past into that medium, then set up another one box to compare it against provides a good test. You can then dissect each test box to see how the wound channels compare in diameter, distance from the face for penetration, and diameter of any void. Finally, examine the distance the bullets penetrated and how well they expanded or whether they fragmented.

The more testing you do, the better you get at the setups and in reading the results. Photos can also be a good way to document the results, especially if you document the tests by having a card to describe the test that includes the name of projectile, distance, load and/or brand/bullet weight/style.

Simply put, too fine a hair for me to split.....

What you will learn about the 6.5, any 6.5, is that you can reduce the bullet weight and get the same bullet length, thus increase the velocity and performance. The 140 is what most new 6.5 shooters look at. It might be better to look at the 130s to 120s.