The 6.5 Creedmoor has taken the hunting world by storm in recent years, and it's an excellent precision shooting cartridge and an excellent hunting cartridge. Well, the 6.5 Precision Rifle Cartridge is the big brother to the 6.5 Creedmoor. Some hunters think it's a better choice for big game or hunting at a more extended range.
The 6.5 PRC fires a very aerodynamic bullet at a higher velocity. The cartridge has a flatter trajectory, more resistance to wind drift, and more retained energy at a more extended range than the 6.5 Creedmoor. This feature certainly gives the newer cartridge a few advantages when taking a longer-range shot.
As these things sometimes go, the suitability of both of the 6.5 cartridges for hunting various game species is a pretty contentious subject. Most hunters agree that the 6.5 Creedmoor and the 6.5 PRC are perfect for deer and similarly sized game (like chamois).
However, using the 6.5 PRC on big game like moose or elk is not a universally accepted practice. Watch the video below to see how the 6.5 Precision Rifle cartridge performed on a few moose up in Canada, and decide whether it's big enough for the task.
If you've never seen one in person before, moose are massive animals. So it's easy to understand why many hunters lean towards more powerful cartridges like the .280 Ackley Improved, 7mm Remington Magnum, .300 Winchester Magnum, or the .338 Winchester Magnum for hunting moose.
The conventional wisdom says hunters should be using bigger cartridges like those. Nobody would blink an eye if you brought one of them on a moose hunt. This video demonstrates that the 6.5 PRC can quickly and cleanly take down a moose with good shot placement. That shouldn't be earth-shattering news. Hunters have been taking moose with the .270 Winchester (and similar ones) for years with good results. Well, the 6.5 PRC shoots bullets of a similar size and with comparable amounts of kinetic energy compared to the venerable .270.
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It doesn't necessarily mean it will work for you because it worked for the guy in the video. His shot placement was excellent on both moose, and he made a good follow-up shot on the second one to close the deal.
Things could have turned out differently if he had muffed his shot on that hunt. A bad shot on a moose from a 7mm Rem. Mag or a .300 Win. Mag will probably result in a long day. Should you hunt moose with a 6.5 PRC? That's for you to decide, but it clearly will work for that task.
If you were wondering, the hunter in these videos was using a Browning X-Bolt Max Long Range firing Hornady's 147-grain ELD Match bullet pushed at about 2,910 fps.
This article was originally published on December 22, 2020.
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