Everybody has pointed out that yes, with good shot placement it works. The problem is that you don't always have good shot placement. Maybe your rest slips as you pull the trigger, or the bull suddenly quarters away. In both of those cases, the 6.5 Creedmoor will be less than ideal. Every time one of these discussions come up, you always hear success stories, but no one ever mentions how they took a marginal shot at a couple hundred yards and found a blood trail, but never recovered the animal. I love my 6.5 Creedmoor for Deer and Antelope, but i'll always take my 300 WSM for elk.
Yep, and when somebody says XXX magnum is a better choice or that will work but only to XXX yards. They always without fail never address bullets, they matter far more than what the headstamp says or what the caliber is. Admittedly more so on the lighter for caliber end of the spectrum.
Yep apparently elk are bullet proof. Never mind the pile of them my brother and I killed with a .243 when we were younger or maybe a couple ive seen killed with a .22-250.
I've been shooting a 6.5 almost exclusively (on game) for 3 years now, a modern action Swede & honestly, with the bullets I've used (140 Berger VLDs) I really wouldn't trust it on an elk.
I know that many folks with a lot more experience than I have taken big bulls with 6.5s, but in my mind, if my bullet won't reliably go all the way through a broadside Tennessee whitetail, 2 out of 7 so far, I'm not prepared to trust it on an animal 8-10 times the size.
That's why I own several 30 & bigger calibers.
I fail to see your argument. A crap shot is a crap shot. I fail to see how crippling a critter with a 45/70 is better than crippling it with a 6.5 hipster. Shot placement is the key no matter what you shoot. However, there are the folks that feel that all animals are now bullet proof and nothing short of a 300 win mag will kill it. Because lord knows not a single animal died by the hand of man before the magnum came on the scene.