Almost nobody buys a 6.5 Creedmoor to shoot coyotes. They buy one for deer or for paper, and then a coyote steps out and the question becomes what is in the magazine.
There is a real varmint load in this cartridge, and most people who own one have never heard of it.
What this page is, and is not
Every other caliber page on this site lists every factory load. This one cannot and does not try. The 6.5 Creedmoor has dozens of factory offerings from a dozen makers, almost all of them match bullets or controlled-expansion deer bullets, and cataloguing them would be a different page for a different reader.
So this is the predator hunter’s shortlist: the one true varmint load, and the two most common things you might already have in the safe, so you can see what each does.
The loads
| Brand | Load | Grain | Bullet | Application | Test barrel | Muzzle | 300 yd | 500 yd | Muzzle energy | 500 yd energy | Drop at 500 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hornady | Varmint Express | 95 | V-MAX® | Varmint | 24” | 3,300 | 2,520 | 2,068 | 2,297 | 902 | -34.8” |
| Federal | Varmint & Predator † | 95 | Hornady V-MAX | Varmint | — | 3,300 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Hornady | Precision Hunter | 143 | ELD-X® | Hunting | 24” | 2,700 | 2,282 | 2,025 | 2,315 | 1,302 | -44.5” |
| Hornady | Match | 140 | ELD® Match | Match | 24” | 2,710 | 2,285 | 2,023 | 2,283 | 1,273 | -44.4” |
| Hornady | American Gunner † | 140 | BTHP | Match | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
For coyotes
The 95 grain V-MAX is the load, and it is not a compromise. It leaves 600 feet per second faster than the deer loads, shoots ten inches flatter at 500 yards, and is a thin-jacketed varmint bullet that comes apart rather than driving through. Federal loads the same bullet at the same velocity if Hornady is out of stock.
If what you have is a deer load, it will work and it will ruin the hide. A 143 grain ELD-X arrives at 500 yards with 1,302 foot-pounds — more energy than any varmint load on this site carries at any distance. It is built to hold together through a deer’s shoulder, and on a thirty-pound animal it will pass straight through.
Now the part nobody expects. The 6.5 Creedmoor’s varmint load is not the best varmint load in the Creedmoor family:
| At 500 yards | 25 Creedmoor 95gr ELD-VT | 6.5 Creedmoor 95gr V-MAX |
|---|---|---|
| Velocity | 2,225 | 2,068 |
| Energy | 1,044 | 902 |
| Drop | -32.9” | -34.8” |
Same bullet weight, and the smaller bore wins everything downrange despite leaving 50 feet per second slower. The .257 bullet is simply the better shape at that weight — which is the argument for the 25 Creedmoor in one table, and the reason a heavier cartridge is not automatically a better one.
None of that is a reason to sell a 6.5 Creedmoor. It is a superb rifle cartridge and the 95 grain load makes it a genuinely good coyote rifle. It is a reason not to buy one for coyotes when the .243 or the 25 Creedmoor will do the job with less of everything.
Notes on the data
Every figure is the manufacturer’s published one, from 24 inch test barrels at a 200 yard zero. Sources: Hornady 95 gr V-MAX Varmint Express (#81481), 143 gr ELD-X (#81499) and 140 gr ELD Match (#81500).
† Two loads are named without figures. Federal loads the same 95 grain V-MAX bullet at the same 3,300 feet per second and its downrange figures are not yet sourced; Hornady’s 140 grain American Gunner (#81482) is a cheaper match load listed for completeness.
This table is deliberately incomplete — see above. If you want a load added, particularly a light one, tell me and it goes in.
Check your state’s rules before you go.