Let me preface this by saying that if your only input is to tell me what a sissy gun the 6.5 cm is, or talk about man buns and any of that other nonsense..... I don't need nor want your input.

Been shooting a 6.5 for probably 5 years now and am pretty happy with it. I had a Tikka T3X with a 24 inch barrel but I got rid of it because it was just too dang heavy. I bought a short barreled Christiansen Ridge with the Titanium receiver last year and have had good success with it. I started shooting Nosler Trophy Grade 140 grain ABLR's out of my Tikka when I first bought it and never had a problem with it so I carried it over to the Christiansen. Always accurate and always put their d**k in the dirt. However since I got the Christiansen with the shorter carbon fiber barrel I've had a few tote them off which never was an issue with the other gun. I'm getting pass throughs, and good penetration, and in most instances a deer laying right where it was standing. My problem is that with the couple that have toted it off they didn't start bleeding until 50 or 100 yards.

Take this doe I shot for my MIL a couple weeks ago for example. 120 yard shot in a wide open spot, solid rest, and everything was perfect. I squeeze off and she whirls like she wasn't even hit and was gone. I gave her a little bit and then climbed down and went and looked and there was no sign that the deer was even hit. No blood, no hair, no nothing. Based off what I was finding at the site I truly believed I missed her upon first glance. She left the old landing and ran through some brush down an old grown up logging road so I just walked the way she ran. About 80 yards down the logging road it dropped straight off the hill into a magnolia thicket and where it dropped off the hill is where I found the first drop of blood. She crested over the hill and really opened up and after that it was a straight 40 yard walk down the hill to her with heavy blood in a solid stream.

Entrance



Exit




Literally that does heart was in three pieces and she still managed to run 100ish yards with a hole on both sides and not bleed until the last half of the track.

So my friend has a theory that it's the velocity that the shorter barrel causes and he's talking about selling his rifle and getting a longer barrel, but I think it has a lot to do with the bullet as well. So I guess the question is have you had this problem and what bullet did you go to that solved the problem for you?