That's how you find out what ammo *your* rifle likes best. Every gun is different. I just finished building my Howa 16" 6.5 heavy barrel, I'm ready to sight it in. Also building a 16" 6.5 upper for my DB10. I've been buying up a variety of ammo weights for testing. I'm hoping they both favor something similar.
Interesting, Barnes shot high & right in my mod70s. But did group nice. Just goes to show how guns have different personalities. Enjoyed all your vids!
Norma ammo is all I shoot now. Results like you had are pretty common. They are great at longer ranges also. The bullet is a quality cup and core soft point. They have a new bonded, tipped bullet coming called "Bondstrike" with a high bc and 143 gr. Expectations are high. I am not a reloader and it is extremely hard to find loaded accubonds which shoot well from my 6.5 also. Hopefully this load will give me options on a tough bullet.
That's what I have found during my testing at the range also. I tested Norma Whitetail against Browning BXR and Federal Non-Typical in 243 Win. The Norma Whitetail groups really well (.85 moa vs 1.0 moa for the Federal and the Browning BXR was like 2.5-3 moa) better than most of the other brands *but* there is one drawback with using it. The muzzle velocity for Norma ammo is usually (but not always) lower than other offerings. I guess it really depends on whether or not you plan to shoot at long distances. If you hunt in the forests of the Eastern United States then your shots are likely to be within 100 yards in which case Norma Whitetail offers compelling value. If you are hunting in the Western United States where longer distance shots are the norm then it might be worth using something with a higher muzzle velocity even if the groups are slightly larger.
It's all about harmonics. I choose my preferred ammo, 147grn Hornady eld-m, which grouped just a tad over an inch, and placed a stainless shaft collar just behind the muzzle brake. I shot 2 shot groups and moved the collar rearward about 1/16 inch until 2 bullets touch on paper. Then I shoot a 5 shot group to confirm. I now shoot 1/4 inch groups. So, just because a gun does t shoot a load good does t mean it's a bad round. Tune your barrel to your load, not your load to your barrel.
Not surprised one bit at your ranking! We’ve tried a LOT of different cartridges out of my son’s 270 Win, and the Norma and the Win Deer Season XP group the best. I’ve only shot the Norma 140g soft points out of my new Ruger 6.5, but they group so good I won’t try anything else, at least any you tried here. Thanks!
I've had good results with several brands in 6.5. Hornaday, Winchester and Federal. Best results though were Barnes long range ammo. I haven't tried the Norma yet.
@@ReviewThisThing I get sub moa with my 6.5 prc using norma match 143 grain..I was hoping this norma ammo would work with my 6.5 creedmoor after seeing this video I believe I will order a box or two and try it out
New to your page, great review on budget ammo,I would like to see you shoot some upper end ammo in a review. Like the 143 grain ELDX and others. Thank you
Hey, Rich! Thank you for watching! We actually hunt with that round but didn’t include it in the review because we didn’t have any extra 😊 Stay tuned, though, for more!
@@ReviewThisThing yessir that was my concern as well with elk using my 6.5 was the rounds ability on large game. But after buddies of mine dropped a few elk with one shot with 143gr eld x I was sold. There are only a few rounds I would use on elk in 6.5 the eld x, the nosler partition or accubond and the federal terminal ascent. Also it's all shot placement but those 4 loads are devastating out of the 6.5 drops elk in their tracks
Guess I might some Norma. I can actually find in stock online. I had held back because of some early reviews of it in 6.5. Guess they have it figured out from the comments on here.
The very first shot of the day was the worst one. I wonder if that was a “clean bore” flyer. Would be curious to see you group that ammo again. Great video and review btw.
That’s a great point. This was our first effort at these types of videos. I feel like it would be interesting to do it again. Thank you so much for watching!
@@ReviewThisThing Yeah, that rifle will obviously shoot well. I have a 6.5 CM in a CZ American Synthetic. I bought it used although I don’t think it had been fired because the guy that traded it put a new box of Remington corelokt ammo in it. That stuff shot absolutely terrible, like a 4 inch group so I had my son shoot it up just so I could reload it. His groups were the same and I wouldn’t have been comfortable hunting anything with it. Reloads will shoot sub MOA and that’s all it’s fed now.
Confirmed what I've seen for myself. Both the 140-grain Norma Whitetail and 125-grain Winchester XP shoot equal or better than the much more expensive 143-grain Hornaday ELD-X in all my 6.5 CM rifles.
Very nice variety of ammo, keep up the great shooting and showing the results of the rifles preferences. I wonder if you've tried the Hornady Superformance rounds with the SST bullets? I just bought a new Savage 110 Apex Hunter XP and those rounds to try out along with some Nosler 140 tipped ammo. I would love to see either round in your rifle.
@@ReviewThisThing Thank you, I have a channel its just us family grand kids if you like to pass the time. Love the Hunt use my name no one can find it.
My Tikka loves the Norma whitetail 140gr, I can consistently shoot ³/⁴ groups and under at 200yds. It's the only ammo I shoot anymore, big plus is that it's half the price of the other ammo.
@@ReviewThisThing I've had for 3¹/² years now. When I was looking for a new rifle all the reviews I read had on Tikka's was nothing but positive, I originally wanted a Ruger 77 but the tikka was half the price and I definitely made the right decision. I'm 69 and have never owned a leftie rifle the tikka was retailing for $849 but I found mine NIB for $700 on gunbroker. I was shooting Hornaday precision but after losing 2 different deer to no blood trail but have had no issues with the Norma.
@@ReviewThisThing I really like the Tikka, it's light and extremely accurate. It shoots anything 139gr and up very well. Since switching to the Norma I've had no issues with lost deer, I've had 2 drop in there tracks and the farthest run has been under 50yds.
@@ReviewThisThing I've been shooting Fiocchi 129gr, (decent results) Aquila 140gr ( not very good results) I also have some Barnes VOR-TX LR 127gr, that I need to retest. I'm kind of limited in how much much I can or want to spend on ammo. But I may get a few others to try out as well. There is some 6.5 available online as well that I've seen.
Great question. I have to tell you that we hunt with the Hornady Precision Hunters, which are 143 grain, because last year that was the only box of 6.5 we could find. It did an amazing job on the deer, so that’s just what we’ve stuck with. (It’s not in this video). Stay tuned for Part II 😊
That norma white tail ammo is pretty frigging impressive. Have seen in out of every common caliber and it seems great. I personally love the winchester xp in my 270 and 30/06. Buuuuuutttttt. I really want to try the Noma .. cant find it near me in Ontario .
You can find it online, but it'll cost you to get it. With the Norma they damage rate to an animal within 100 yards is impressive. But you can't really knock the Winchester XP either so...
@@JustAGuy781 you’re right on that. I DID find some online for the $44/box. It’s hard to pay that when the boxes I bought were $25 at a random out of town Walmart 🤦🏼♀️
@@ReviewThisThing I found 3 boxes at my nearest Academy and snatched them up and then went and bought 2 Savage Axis XP Youth 6.5 Creedmoor rifles. I started to buy a couple of boxes of the Norma ammo just a few minutes ago, but I didn't wanna pay another $60. Lol. 60 rounds of the Winchester XP that I got originally should do fine for a little while, especially since it only takes me 2 rounds to sight in a rifle.
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Thanks so much for watching!
These no malarkey ammo reviews are a breath of fresh air. Keep up the great work
Thank you, Alex. We really appreciate that! Thank you for watching!
Right to the point, so many could learn from this. Thanks
Thank you so much!!!
That's how you find out what ammo *your* rifle likes best. Every gun is different. I just finished building my Howa 16" 6.5 heavy barrel, I'm ready to sight it in. Also building a 16" 6.5 upper for my DB10. I've been buying up a variety of ammo weights for testing. I'm hoping they both favor something similar.
Oh wow. That sounds great (and fun). It would definitely be nice if they like the same thing!
Interesting, Barnes shot high & right in my mod70s. But did group nice. Just goes to show how guns have different personalities. Enjoyed all your vids!
It 100% depends on the gun. Hopefully we can give people a start, but you have to shoot them yourself! Great point!
Norma ammo is all I shoot now. Results like you had are pretty common. They are great at longer ranges also. The bullet is a quality cup and core soft point. They have a new bonded, tipped bullet coming called "Bondstrike" with a high bc and 143 gr. Expectations are high. I am not a reloader and it is extremely hard to find loaded accubonds which shoot well from my 6.5 also. Hopefully this load will give me options on a tough bullet.
Awesome! Thank you so much for that info!
Bondstrike are available now. My son took a 500 Lb cow Elk recently with 6.5 CM using Norma Bondstrike & it performed great.
Holy smokes. Nice!
That's what I have found during my testing at the range also. I tested Norma Whitetail against Browning BXR and Federal Non-Typical in 243 Win. The Norma Whitetail groups really well (.85 moa vs 1.0 moa for the Federal and the Browning BXR was like 2.5-3 moa) better than most of the other brands *but* there is one drawback with using it. The muzzle velocity for Norma ammo is usually (but not always) lower than other offerings. I guess it really depends on whether or not you plan to shoot at long distances. If you hunt in the forests of the Eastern United States then your shots are likely to be within 100 yards in which case Norma Whitetail offers compelling value. If you are hunting in the Western United States where longer distance shots are the norm then it might be worth using something with a higher muzzle velocity even if the groups are slightly larger.
Excellent point! Thank you!
I dig the Norma whitetail
@slyleprecon5521 have you hunted with them yet?
@@ReviewThisThing just paper at this point. But the groups have been tight
@slyleprecon5521 let us know what you think after you take a deer with it!
It's all about harmonics. I choose my preferred ammo, 147grn Hornady eld-m, which grouped just a tad over an inch, and placed a stainless shaft collar just behind the muzzle brake. I shot 2 shot groups and moved the collar rearward about 1/16 inch until 2 bullets touch on paper. Then I shoot a 5 shot group to confirm. I now shoot 1/4 inch groups. So, just because a gun does t shoot a load good does t mean it's a bad round. Tune your barrel to your load, not your load to your barrel.
Excellent point! That’s definitely on the list.
Norma is some really good hunting ammo, along with Hornady and Barnes.
We’ve found that to be true!
Not surprised one bit at your ranking! We’ve tried a LOT of different cartridges out of my son’s 270 Win, and the Norma and the Win Deer Season XP group the best. I’ve only shot the Norma 140g soft points out of my new Ruger 6.5, but they group so good I won’t try anything else, at least any you tried here. Thanks!
Hey! That’s awesome! We’ve had excellent results with Hornady Precision Hunters, too. They just didn’t make the test. Thanks for letting us know!
That was a great video. I’m right now shopping for a weatherby in 6.5.
Thank you! Let us know what you think.
@@ReviewThisThing will do!
@kurtwilhelm3823 👍🏻👍🏻
I've had good results with several brands in 6.5. Hornaday, Winchester and Federal. Best results though were Barnes long range ammo. I haven't tried the Norma yet.
Nice. Thank you. We have some of that Barnes but haven’t tried it. Thanks for watching!
Hornady*
I had similar results with Norma whitetail out of my ruger American predator. Sub half MOA 5 shot groups. Get about 1.25 moa with S&B 140
It’s crazy. We’ve seen the same with .308 out of the CVA Cascade and the Ruger American Predator. ua-cam.com/video/-1C5gnuMe7w/v-deo.html
@@ReviewThisThing I get sub moa with my 6.5 prc using norma match 143 grain..I was hoping this norma ammo would work with my 6.5 creedmoor after seeing this video I believe I will order a box or two and try it out
Nice! Let us know!
I shoot the Ruger American Hunter with the Magpul stock. The Hornady Whitetail consistently shoots a
Let us know what you find!
Great video guys!
Thanks, Rudy! I appreciate you watching!
Norma whitetail has been great with all my calibers
Great! Thank you. What kind of results have you had of game?
I’m zero’s at 200 and have learned my barrel loves 140g in lots of flavors.
Very nice! Which gun?
New to your page, great review on budget ammo,I would like to see you shoot some upper end ammo in a review. Like the 143 grain ELDX and others. Thank you
Hey, Rich! Thank you for watching! We actually hunt with that round but didn’t include it in the review because we didn’t have any extra 😊 Stay tuned, though, for more!
For deer I've been using the norma whitetail 140gr and it's been performing excellent. For elk I use the federal premium terminal ascent.
I’ve heard really good things about those. Have you had good success in elk with the 6.5 CM?
@@ReviewThisThing yessir that was my concern as well with elk using my 6.5 was the rounds ability on large game. But after buddies of mine dropped a few elk with one shot with 143gr eld x I was sold. There are only a few rounds I would use on elk in 6.5 the eld x, the nosler partition or accubond and the federal terminal ascent. Also it's all shot placement but those 4 loads are devastating out of the 6.5 drops elk in their tracks
That’s awesome! Thank you!
Guess I might some Norma. I can actually find in stock online. I had held back because of some early reviews of it in 6.5. Guess they have it figured out from the comments on here.
Norma seems to be shooting crazy good out of all the rifles we’ve tried. But, you’re right - super hard to find it! Thanks for watching!
The very first shot of the day was the worst one. I wonder if that was a “clean bore” flyer. Would be curious to see you group that ammo again. Great video and review btw.
That’s a great point. This was our first effort at these types of videos. I feel like it would be interesting to do it again. Thank you so much for watching!
@@ReviewThisThing Yeah, that rifle will obviously shoot well. I have a 6.5 CM in a CZ American Synthetic. I bought it used although I don’t think it had been fired because the guy that traded it put a new box of Remington corelokt ammo in it. That stuff shot absolutely terrible, like a 4 inch group so I had my son shoot it up just so I could reload it. His groups were the same and I wouldn’t have been comfortable hunting anything with it. Reloads will shoot sub MOA and that’s all it’s fed now.
Core Lokt’s are not what they used to be! He’s working on a reload for this gun right now.
Confirmed what I've seen for myself. Both the 140-grain Norma Whitetail and 125-grain Winchester XP shoot equal or better than the much more expensive 143-grain Hornaday ELD-X in all my 6.5 CM rifles.
Nice to know we’re not the only ones
Very nice variety of ammo, keep up the great shooting and showing the results of the rifles preferences. I wonder if you've tried the Hornady Superformance rounds with the SST bullets? I just bought a new Savage 110 Apex Hunter XP and those rounds to try out along with some Nosler 140 tipped ammo. I would love to see either round in your rifle.
Thanks so much, John! We haven’t tried those yet, but will have to if we can ever see them again 😬 Thanks for watching! Good luck with your Savage!
@@ReviewThisThing Thank you, I have a channel its just us family grand kids if you like to pass the time. Love the Hunt use my name no one can find it.
I’ll check it out!
Iv shot the same brands and Norma did great out to 500 yards can shoot a 3 and half inch group not bad for ammo that runs 27.99 around here.
Oh wow! That’s great to know. Haven’t taken it past 300. Thanks!
My Tikka loves the Norma whitetail 140gr, I can consistently shoot ³/⁴ groups and under at 200yds. It's the only ammo I shoot anymore, big plus is that it's half the price of the other ammo.
Which Tikka do you have???
@@ReviewThisThing tx3 lite ss.
Niiice. How long have you had it?? What are your thoughts?
@@ReviewThisThing I've had for 3¹/² years now. When I was looking for a new rifle all the reviews I read had on Tikka's was nothing but positive, I originally wanted a Ruger 77 but the tikka was half the price and I definitely made the right decision. I'm 69 and have never owned a leftie rifle the tikka was retailing for $849 but I found mine NIB for $700 on gunbroker. I was shooting Hornaday precision but after losing 2 different deer to no blood trail but have had no issues with the Norma.
@@ReviewThisThing I really like the Tikka, it's light and extremely accurate. It shoots anything 139gr and up very well. Since switching to the Norma I've had no issues with lost deer, I've had 2 drop in there tracks and the farthest run has been under 50yds.
Just wondering if you allowed the barrel to cool in between each group?
It’s been a few years ago, and this was one of our first of these tests, but I don’t think we did unless it felt hot.
Try the Federal Fusion 140gr the next time and let us know what ya think.
Will do!
Not too shabby.
And a lot of fun, too 😊
I just wanna find the 200 round American Gunner cans again...
That would be nice!
I haven't found anything that shoots outside of 3/4 groups. Most of the time I'm shooting one hole group which is what made me like 6.5 creedmoor
That’s awesome! Thank you!
Norma had boxes on Black Friday special for 32.00 Loaded up!
Heck yeah!
Love Norma
Haha yep! Seems to be great every time!
120 grain TTSX, 129 grain lrx , 150 grain ABLR
Haven’t tried the 150 grain!
So far my best results has been with 140gr Nosler RDF. half inch group @100 yards.
Okay! We’re having a really hard time finding 6.5 CM, but if we find those, we may have to snag them!
@@ReviewThisThing thankfully. I have at least 3 different gun stores in my hometown. it's not ALOT !!! but enough of a variety to keep it interesting.
That’s pretty good for sure. Trying out different rounds is definitely fun!
@@ReviewThisThing I've been shooting Fiocchi 129gr, (decent results) Aquila 140gr ( not very good results) I also have some Barnes VOR-TX LR 127gr, that I need to retest. I'm kind of limited in how much much I can or want to spend on ammo. But I may get a few others to try out as well. There is some 6.5 available online as well that I've seen.
@@ReviewThisThing I admit that the 6.5 has really surprised me as to how gentle the recoil is vs the 308 or 30-06. or 7.62x54r.
What compact rifle rest/sled is that? TOA.
It's this one - amzn.to/3AKm5Og
Was the whitetail a cold bore shot?
The Hornady American Whitetail was the only cold bore.
I think you need to try hand loading, that gun don't like any of that stuff at 100 yards anyway
That does look like fun.
Thinking of trying out the Norma WT but do you know where I can find Hornady 143 Precision Hunter? PLEASEEE HELP lol
We’ve just gotten lucky and found them in a few stores here and there. Haven’t ordered them or anything like that.
I wish you would have run those loads through a chronograph...
Yeah. That would have been a good idea!
Just high due to 200 zeros
You got it
Good video
@@BEAVER_MIND thank you! And thank you for watching!
What is better 143 grain or 129 grain
Great question. I have to tell you that we hunt with the Hornady Precision Hunters, which are 143 grain, because last year that was the only box of 6.5 we could find. It did an amazing job on the deer, so that’s just what we’ve stuck with. (It’s not in this video). Stay tuned for Part II 😊
That norma white tail ammo is pretty frigging impressive. Have seen in out of every common caliber and it seems great. I personally love the winchester xp in my 270 and 30/06. Buuuuuutttttt. I really want to try the Noma .. cant find it near me in Ontario .
We’ve definitely been impressed in our .308 and 6.5 CM for sure. Great accuracy. Check out normashooting . Sometimes that have some good deals.
You can find it online, but it'll cost you to get it. With the Norma they damage rate to an animal within 100 yards is impressive. But you can't really knock the Winchester XP either so...
@@JustAGuy781 you’re right on that. I DID find some online for the $44/box. It’s hard to pay that when the boxes I bought were $25 at a random out of town Walmart 🤦🏼♀️
Your first shot is off because it's on a different powder fouling.
Thanks so much!
My sub $300 Savage Axis shoots better than that $1500 Begara.
I’ve seen great things from the Savage for sure. It’s a $900 gun - and less when we bought it 3 years ago, but I totally get your point.
Re-name it the 6.5 man/bun.., LOL.
😂
Best ammo, out of your rifle.
EXACTLY!!!
Still to hight at 100 ,u need to zero that gun in better ,if my 6.5 shot like that I'd sell it
Always a work in progress. Thanks for watching!
Winchester better
Yeah! They did pretty great. We just haven’t been able to find any more!
@@ReviewThisThing I found 3 boxes at my nearest Academy and snatched them up and then went and bought 2 Savage Axis XP Youth 6.5 Creedmoor rifles. I started to buy a couple of boxes of the Norma ammo just a few minutes ago, but I didn't wanna pay another $60. Lol. 60 rounds of the Winchester XP that I got originally should do fine for a little while, especially since it only takes me 2 rounds to sight in a rifle.
And the Norma did better by just a touch than the Winchester, but I was surprised at how well the Winchester XP actually did.
@@JustAGuy781 that’s awesome! We still haven’t been able to find any more. Have fun with those Savages!!!
@@JustAGuy781 they were definitely very close. Great shooting rounds!
I shoot norma 140 out of my tikka 6.5 cm , they shoot 1/2 “ pretty regularly. 👍🏼
We’re so impressed with Norma.