Originally Posted by UncleHuck

Energy is not everything, but the finest bullet on the planet with insufficient energy won't kill your target.

My personal minimum is about 1000 ft/lbs at distance, because a lot of bullets won't expand at lower velocities/energy levels. Way too much that can go wrong and takes too long to get there if/when it does.

25 yards? Shoot'em with whatever you like. .357 mag, 10 mm auto, .44 mag, .30 Carbine, makes no difference. Question wasn't about those though, it was about an effective caliber for hunting deer at 700-1000 yards. And 6.5 creed ain't it.

If you wouldn't shoot a deer at 250 yards with a .30-30, then you shouldn't shoot one at 1000 with a creed. Same energy, and the .30-30 has only dropped about 12-14 inches in 250 yards. At 1000 yards, the creed has dropped 24.6 feet. Just because the bullet is pointier doesn't mean it will still humanely kill a deer.

I really like a .25-06, but 450 yards is as far as I would ever think about using it

I understand what you're saying but velocity at impact, not kinetic energy is what creates expansion. If a bullet impacts at 1500 FPS, there will be very little expansion and will pass through with little fragmentation and energy transfer to the animal. Bullets will kill in the same manner as an arrow by fragments severing blood vessels which carry oxygen to the body and brain. That's how you kill animals is by cutting off the oxygen and fragmenting bullets can do this in impressive fashion.

"Knockdown power" is generally a myth. If you've ever seen prairie dogs exploding after being shot with small varmint bullets at hyper velocity, that may be described as knockdown power. I once read that to get the equivalent results on deer sized animals you would have to use a 20 mm cannon. I've shot plenty of deer with big guns, and amazingly some of them run off even with a good shot. These are guns which some would call 'overkill' but I've yet to see anything beyond dead.

Dying ain't much of a living boy...Josey Wales

Molon Labe