I think I was 13 on my favorite cow pony deep in elk country pushing a group of 30 or 40 cattle

When I heard shots ring out in the Quaky forest nearby. The cattle were gathering around a

watering hole. It was the middle of the day and I figured they would be there for a

while so I rode toward the shots and I found a hunter standing over a nice 4 by 5 bull elk that he just shot.

Now I was already something of a cartridge geek and I of course asked him what he shot it with and it was a 264 Winchester Magnum.

He'd made a pretty good shot.

It came out of the woods some other hunters had bumped it and was passing him I think at about 120 yards and he took

a shot at it walking or trotting and hit it in the high lungs a little behind you know ideal center of the vitals but killed it cleanly.

It trotted 60 or 80 yards and tipped over, right? I believe that was the first bull elk that I saw that had been shot with a 6.5 cartridge.

And at the time it was pretty much the main one.

There just weren't many other options in 6.5. That has changed. Today we have a

plethora of various 6.5 millimeter cartridges.

It's certainly the most popular bore diameter, the most trendy bore diameter

available currently, led by the 6.5 Creedmoor, which is an extraordinary

cartridge that's really opened the eyes of American shooters to whole new realms of capability, specifically at

hitting targets at extreme ranges, with factory ammo and factory rifles.

It's extraordinary within its realm of performance.

Now I'm going to ruffle some feathers with this episode.

I'm going to beard the lying dragon in its cave and teach it the truth.

We'll make an honest dragon out of it.

We're going to have a candid discussion about whether the 6.5 millimeter cartridges are good for elk.

Not just adequate for elk, but good for elk.

...