6.5CM, 140 -vs- 143? When did this happen?

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CANNONMAN

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I was one of the first guys on my block to get a 6.5CM. A Bergara. Really nice. It seemed all the rage to reload this with Berger's 140 or Hornady ELD's 140. Then a lot of life happened. Retirement, Moving, Building a new home. Just recently getting caught back up with the shooting world. Not that I know but it seems like the new kid on the block is now a 143. I don't think that was even an option some three years ago. There's a retired guy who used to be on this site a bit. Awesome military pedigree. Had an AI and reloaded a lot. I copied his posted recipes and was just getting my own twist on things when it all changed. Anyway, What's the difference? And am I right in that the 143 is the new king?
 
Sorry about where I posted this. I don't know how to move it to re-loading. A little help please. Thanks
 
The ELD-X is the hunting bullet and has always been 143 gr. There were other bullets that were 140 gr in the past. At one time bullet manufacturers built bullets to a certain weight and tried to get the shape they wanted. Today the goal is on the most aerodynamic shape and just let bullet weight fall where ever that shape goes.

For target shooting the ELD-M is 147 gr and is the aerodynamic king. And a lot of folks have hunted with that bullet and claim it is a better hunting bullet than the 143 ELD-X
 
Sierra came out with a new 142 Matchking, I'm going to say 10 years ago, maybe a little more. One of the vendors at camp Perry had the 140's on sale and I bought a few boxes, wish I had bought more. They still make the 140's BTW. I think that the 142's have a better BC. Now I see they came out with a 144 last year.

There is a lot of interest in 6.5 cartridges today and the bullet guys are building better mousetraps.
 
Sierra came out with a new 142 Matchking, I'm going to say 10 years ago, maybe a little more. One of the vendors at camp Perry had the 140's on sale and I bought a few boxes, wish I had bought more. They still make the 140's BTW. I think that the 142's have a better BC. Now I see they came out with a 144 last year.

There is a lot of interest in 6.5 cartridges today and the bullet guys are building better mousetraps.
Sierra even had a 150 smk for a while, but it failed pretty miserably in comparison to the lighter vld types.

I for the CM I still prefer the 140 eldms, I've used the 147s and eldxs. I have seen very little difference on the game I hunt, they cost less, and can be driven slightly faster
 
Unless you plan on lobbing your rounds out past 500 yards there are several weights that work great on deer. I played with 3 different rifles and have shot 120gr, 129 gr, 130gr, 140gr and 143gr. The Ruger American Predator liked anything but was absolutely awesome with 120gr Speer, 120gr Barnes and 130gr Accubonds. I took several deer between 200-300 yards with the Accubond. My Bergara shoots the 143 ELD-X pretty good but will keep the 129gr Accubond LR in a 6" plate at 500 yards. What is really nice is that the Vortex reticle is dead-on out to 500 yards. No need to get hung up on the heavy weights unless you want to go long.
 
am I right in that the 143 is the new king?

The 143 has “been a thing” for a few years. I think efforts to get rifles working with 147’s is more of a thing than the 143’s at this point...

As to the “new king,” well... by regular measures, the 6.5 creed as a whole hasn’t been “King” for a few years in its own game. Only 3 of the Top 125 shooters in the PRS used a 6.5 creed at all last season. Only 2 of the top 50 shooters in the NRL used 6.5 creed.
So if there’s a castle to be king of, the 6.5 creed isn’t and hasn’t been the king for a handful of years, so no, the 143’s or 147’s aren’t the king either.

Be happy with your 140grn loads, they’ll do what you built them to do. If you want to try something new, you’re only out $50 to pursue the pleasure of exploring something new.
 
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