I just picked up my son a Savage Axis II Heavy Barrel 6.5 and would like to know if the Hornady Hunter Precision is a good round for it? This is his first rifle larger then a .22! He is 13 years old and was gifted a Deer Hunt for Christmas so since I have never played with the 6.5 creedmore myself, I am unsure on best ammo for it. This is truly his first big gun and first ever Deer Hunt so I want to make it special. Anything helps and thank you for those who reply.

143 gr eld-x from Hornady.

What he said

I used the hornady precision hunter in my 6.5 before I started rolling my own.

This!

I use Hornady 143 ELD X as well. Shoots less than an inch with a Howa 1500. I’d be interested to see how it performs in the Savage. It’s ridiculously accurate with my gun. Two bucks with it this year.

143 ELD-X it is!!! Thanks to all who responded.

A cheaper option and a solid hunting bullet is the Federal Fusion 140gr

My gun shot these very nicely

This. The Fusions are very accurate in my Ruger American Predator. And performed well on a buck last weekend.

I have a 6.5 Creedmoor Savage Axis II that loves Precision Hunter. It will do 0.5 MOA when the shooter does his/her part.

Best bet is to pick up 2-3 different types of ammo to see which one your son's rifle prefers. Assuming the "least liked" rounds will chamber, you can still use them to work the fundamentals.

If your son's rifle really likes a specific round, look at the lot number and buy several boxes.

I’ve always been a fan of hornady interlocks in their custom ( now American whitetail) line

I have two 6.5 Creeds. Ruger American Predator and a Savage Model 11. Both shoot the Hornady 143 grain ELD-X ammo well under MOA. The two rifles (both recent purchases) have accounted for two Axis does, one Blackbuck doe, two Pronghorn does, and one Pronghorn buck. All were lung shots with the animals falling within sight. Substantial internal damage on all. 10/10 would recommend this ammo.

I'm nearing the 20-animal mark with the 143gr ELD-X and have been very happy with the results. The Precision Hunter ammo shot extremely well in my Tikka, under .5".

Precison Hunter, American Whitetail and Superformance SST should all do the job well.

Those Howas are really accurate guns. Will def. surprise you

I shoot under 1 inch groups with the eld-x 143s out of a ruger American predator.

The ammoyour asking about shoots about 1.5” in my tc compass.
I’m sure I’m part of the problem though.

I've shot 140 grain Hornady, Remington, Winchester, and Federal loads in my Savage Model 110 and it likes them all.

For what it's worth, I tried 130 grain Federal Fusion just for grins and the results were not near as good. I suspect 130 grain bullets in other brands might yield the same results.

I haven't shot it enough to know for sure but the Creedmoor may have a more narrow sweet spot for bullet weight than other calibers. After all, it would make sense you have to pay the price somewhere for long range accuracy.

He will definitely be playing with a few different rounds after the Hunt to see what is best and for further fundamentals of Marksmanship growth. He is a small 13 year old and this is my ditch effort to get his a** of the video games that his Mom lets him live on when not with me. My best friend who’s I grew up with and been there since my son was born, told me “Buy him the gun and I will let him come shoot a Big Buck for Christmas”. We shall see how it goes.

Good luck for sure with that and stay safe.

Well he got it done first thing this morning for his first hunt ever. 143 gr was a little bit much for him during zero so we picked up a box of 125 gr Winchester Deer Season XP. Double Lung shot and dropped on the spot. He will be ready for the 143 gr during summer when he will shoot more and be ready. Oh by the way. Big 8 comes in and he asked if he could take the spike instead so the 8 could grow bigger. For the first hunt and only being 13, this little hunter has a great mind set.

Great job, and congrats to the new hunter!

Nice and great start to many hunts to come.

If 125 grain loads are providing good accuracy and provide a more comfortable shot, I would definitely stay with them. I've never lost one to 100 grain loads in both my .243 and 25-06.