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?

I don’t think you are going to get the same result every time with any setup…..I see deer do a lot of different things after being shot……Sometimes its just a matter of how it passes through that individual deer at that specific angle, etc and if the exit get clogged up with material……I commonly see holes in them clog up and leave very little trace of blood for long distances with all varieties of guns and bullets

That being said……I do hear folks say the same thing a lot……”It’s a 6.5 and you know they don’t leave a good blood trail”…….I always want to ask folks when they say something like that….”Then why do you keep shooting it?”……Same goes for .243’s…….To each his own though

Hard to tell without a chrono, but you’re probably under 2600fps muzzle velocity now with that load in a 20” barrel. If she was at 120yds you were around 2400fps at impact or 1790 ft/lb.

Also with the ABLR I always see the most damage on entry with the exit being the small hole when I shot them out of my 308 pushing a 168g around 2850fps.

Anyway looks like the bullet performed as designed. A 6.5CM is already on the ragged edge for me velocity wise with a 24”. If you’re wanting more consistent knock down you’re going to need high shoulder shots or a larger caliber.

I’ve hit does with a 270 and 308. Both 150 grain federal fusion. They will run for some reason. The buck usually drop with in 10 ‘.

What are you calling short barrel? I've got one of the limited run Christiansen ridgelines in 6.5 with a 16 inch barrel. The next year the made a few changes to the stock and it's now called the scout. I absolutely love it. Before this one my short suppressed rifle was a model 7 with an 18 inch barrel in .260 rem which is ballistically the same as the 6.5, just can't shoot some of the super long bullets. Shot that rifle from early 2000s til 3 years ago. Shot alot with the 260 and 10 or 12 with the 6.5. Shooting 143 eldx in the 6.5. Velocity drops from 2700+ in my 24 inch rifles to 2425 in my 16 inch. That means that to compare to you're old rifle what performance would you have expected from it if that doe had been at 400 to 420 yards, assuming 16 inch barrel, about 340 yards or so with 18 inch barrel, etc.

I agree with CNC. Sometimes, those deer just have a will to live.

Only thing I do different, is I shoot them directly in the shoulder and a little higher. Get both lungs and break down their running gear. Sure, you mess up the meat on the shoulder, but honestly isn't much there to begin with. If they do run, they are having to bulldoze since that running gear is trashed. But, most drop in their tracks. I don't have a 6.5 but shoot a 7-08 most of the time. Ballistics are soo close, you are splitting hairs. I use Barnes TTX and love them. Never ran it through a chrono, but I believe I am close to 3,000 fps right out of the barrel

16 inches (with a 6 inch suppressor).




I fully understand and agree. I'm not looking for advice on a bullet that will anchor them where they stand..... I know that doesn't exist. What I'm looking for is bullets that leave better blood trails. My 140 grain ABLR's have not been doing a good job of that.

Pm to you

Good blood trails come from good exit holes…..The bigger hole you can blow out of the opposite side of the deer the better the blood trail will be…..I mean, that’s pretty much all there is to it…..

Take out the blood pump and blood trails can be sparse until the body cavity fills with blood to the bullet hole.

CNC may be on to something. My 270 has blown huge holes with a bullet then the next time with same bullet - not so much

I just shot a bobcat at maybe 90 yards with 270 and a corlock. Not much of a hole - but he folded up right in his tracks

I’ve always said this. Heart shot deer sometimes don’t leave much blood They usually don’t go very far either

That may have been the problem because her pump was turned to mush. Y’all saw the exit hole in the pic. With that said I’ve had one or two others do the same and not leave blood.

That may have been the problem because her pump was turned to mush. Y’all saw the exit hole in the pic. With that said I’ve had one or two others do the same and not leave blood.

I've always had better blood trails with a lung shot deer than a heart shot deer.

Those ABLR are 142 grains, not 140. The regular ABs are 140 grain. If you want to anchor them, shoot a 130 grain tipped matchking(TMK).

I’ve shot three deer with my 6.5 CM and 142 grain ABLR this season and two of them have had great bloodtrails from the shot site and the third was neck shot and dropped at the site.

If you want good bloodtrails inside 400 yards, a 140 grain Partition or Accound would be my choice. The ABLR are really designed for longer distances.

over 1500lbs of kinetic energy, i don’t think much changes with increased speeds. as long as you’re above that, it comes down to the bullet in my opinion. gotta chose a camp, destruction or 2 holes.

i don’t think any bullet is more destructive than a ballistic tip 3-4” behind the shoulder but it’s short comings occurs when that shot isn’t offered.

option 2, a monolithic bullet that will not stop BUT if shot placement doesn’t include something major to make it expand, the bullet doesn’t expand reliably. i don’t think there’s a better bullet on the market for whitetails in alabama , inside whatever range keeps your kinetic energy above 1500 ft lbs, than a barnes. killed a 205 lb deer this past weekend with a 62 gr barnes out of a 22-250, 120 yards, quartering to me, busted /broke his shoulder and the bullet left a 3/4” hole behind the offside shoulder. he made it 15 yards. my kids and i kill 5+ deer with it a year , half of those between 200-250 yards shot in the shoulders on purpose. i may lose every deer from here on out but it has not been a issue over the last 20 years since i started shooting them.

The ablr is a pretty soft bullet. Fast expansion, moderate penetration. I have been shooting Accubond in my 30-06 for a while. It does a good job killing them, but much like your experience. There is not much exit and very little blood. Most of the deer I shot no trailing needed. But still sometimes, they are going to run, and when they do I want to be able to find it. If you want a big hole out the back go to something a bit harder. In my 30-06 I changed from 165 Accubond to 180 Fusion this year. last deer I shot looked like a seen from a horror movie. Blood everywhere. I am happy with this change so far.

Check velocity on a chrono. That is the only way to know what you are getting. That is a really short barrel especially for small bore like a 6.5. Might need to enlist the help from a handloading friend to see if you can get the velocities up.

If you want them to go down fast. Shoot more towards shoulder. That is a safe shot, but they are usually going to run a bit hit back like that.

This ^^^

Barnes have provided the best blood trials I’ve seen recently. Even some of those didn’t start bleeding right away. It’s just like no two deer are the same like CNC noted.

I’ve noticed that if I am elevated, I typically get getter blood as the exit hole is lower and the gravity helps do its part.