Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “Winchester Deer Season XP: Best Long-Range Hunting Round?” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/winchester-deer-season-xp-best-long-range-hunting-round/.
Discussion: Winchester Deer Season XP: Best Long-Range Hunting Round?
- Thread starter Mike H.
- Start date
Talyn
Emissary
Decent article, but another misleading title.
First off, I use this round in the 6.5 CM, but not specifically for hunting since my hunting conditions are different than those in the eastern/southern parts of the country.
For those that just hunt deer it's fine. They're thin-skinned and it doesn't take much to kill a deer providing shot placement is correct. This round would be fine for hunting pronghorn's (aka pronghorn antelope) where they occur in the west for the same reasons.
Bullets are designed for a reason. Some are built for thin-skinned game vs. others that are built to penetrate deeper for tougher game. I wouldn't call the XP a deep-penetrating design since the "Extreme Point" bullet has an oversized impact diameter which will open up faster and larger.
My primary big game round is the 6.5CM based on it's performance in my conditions. Since my Big Game season involves both deer & elk at the same time, I use a different bullet design that offers the performance I need for elk since it's a tougher critter. And because of the dual critter season, and for other long-range shooting, I use heavier 135/140/142 gr. 6.5CM loads in my 6.5CM hunting and long-range bolt guns.
Since I said I use this 6.5 CM Winchester XP round but not specifically for hunting it's one of my primary (Major-caliber category) self-defense rounds, along with the very similar 125 gr. Winchester OTM round for my AR-10 type 6.5CM rifles. I consider it my "poor mans" 6.8x51 since it has ~90%+ of the performance of the 6.8x51, but is far more available and cheaper for both rifle ammo selection.
Both the XP and OTM loads fly almost the same, and very well, and fit my area's varied conditions for the reasons in the previous paragraph.
Again, this articles' focus on the 125 gr. 6.5CM XP round is fine for hunting deer, and pronghorn's where they occur in the west.
But I wouldn't call it the "Best Long-Range Hunting Round".
My .02
First off, I use this round in the 6.5 CM, but not specifically for hunting since my hunting conditions are different than those in the eastern/southern parts of the country.
For those that just hunt deer it's fine. They're thin-skinned and it doesn't take much to kill a deer providing shot placement is correct. This round would be fine for hunting pronghorn's (aka pronghorn antelope) where they occur in the west for the same reasons.
Bullets are designed for a reason. Some are built for thin-skinned game vs. others that are built to penetrate deeper for tougher game. I wouldn't call the XP a deep-penetrating design since the "Extreme Point" bullet has an oversized impact diameter which will open up faster and larger.
My primary big game round is the 6.5CM based on it's performance in my conditions. Since my Big Game season involves both deer & elk at the same time, I use a different bullet design that offers the performance I need for elk since it's a tougher critter. And because of the dual critter season, and for other long-range shooting, I use heavier 135/140/142 gr. 6.5CM loads in my 6.5CM hunting and long-range bolt guns.
Since I said I use this 6.5 CM Winchester XP round but not specifically for hunting it's one of my primary (Major-caliber category) self-defense rounds, along with the very similar 125 gr. Winchester OTM round for my AR-10 type 6.5CM rifles. I consider it my "poor mans" 6.8x51 since it has ~90%+ of the performance of the 6.8x51, but is far more available and cheaper for both rifle ammo selection.
Both the XP and OTM loads fly almost the same, and very well, and fit my area's varied conditions for the reasons in the previous paragraph.
Again, this articles' focus on the 125 gr. 6.5CM XP round is fine for hunting deer, and pronghorn's where they occur in the west.
But I wouldn't call it the "Best Long-Range Hunting Round".
My .02
Last edited:
yes on some of those point you raised - calling a 6.5 anything a long range hunting round, never mind "best" will generate discussion. No one in my lifetime or before has won the "best round" arguement for xyz game, and the article title appears to be trying that. Good luck. Many love their 270, 280, 7mm and much more for such game. To many - long range means over 500 yds. Well for that and depending on game type etc, as Talyn discussed, you need to change up the loading of the cartridge.
