Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles 6.5 grendel bullets?

what bullets would you use in the 6.5 grendel for deer?

Ed

Right now My Grendel ammo is loaded with 129 grain Hornady spire points.

100 or 120 ballistic tips or 120 Gold dots.

I always thought the 129 LRAB would be the way to go, but I got out of the 6.5 Grendel before I ever had a chance to try it out.

120gr Corelokts

The hunt...
https://youtu.be/AAPH2_bhDTc

The analysis...
https://youtu.be/UTm88Rzv3Xs

100g NBT started at 2600 fps worked very well on two deer this year for my kids. Deer were shot at ~175 and 200 yards.

For the past 7 years or so I have used 100 gr. Nosler Bal-Tips on at least 2 Whitetails a year, farthest one has ran was about 50 yds. most went about 3 feet...straight down. Powder used is CFE223 and Alex brass.

Steve............

The only deer I've lost the last several years was an 8 point whitetail at 420 yards with a 6.5 Grendel and a 123g amax. Trailed it for 1/2 mile before losing the blood trail. Had a decent trail but never recovered it so I can't fully blame the bullet because I could never confirm the placement.

I think I'll try the 129 ablr next time. I prefer a bullet that can open at a bit lower velocity with a Grendel.

I'd like to try a 6mm arc with 108 eldms. I used that bullet at 2900 mv from my 6 Creedmoor to take a buck at about 450 yards this year. It worked well at that range and impact velocity. I think it would do well in the slower arc at closer ranges and still be able to handle longish range.

Bb

I really like the 120 gold dot. I've used the scenar and the sst as well and like them as well. The gold dot is boringly reliable in my experience. Shot deer from handshake distance to just under 500 and everywhere in between. Good performance, and good sized exits if that is important to you. Bonus is when you could find them they were dirt cheap. In this velocity window it seems a lot of bullets work well on this size of game.

129gr interlock. No need to get fancy for the grendel.. Its not a long range cartridge either, nor is it a screamer. A regular ol c&c is all you need..

THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I took a good sized 4 point this season, with the Grendel I picked up at Bi Mart before hunting season...

Handloaded some 140 grain Speers that were cheap at Sportman's Warehouse, before they had bare shelves..

29.5 grains of W 748, and the 140 Speers were right at 2400 fps out of the muzzle...

deer was on a slight rise, 100 yds from me...bullet went in right below the shoulder, and came out the neck...
dropped DRT....deer had stopped to look back.. presenting a Texas heart shot... but there was enough to shoot for that right shoulder
bullet hit right where the cross hairs were placed...

Any bullet from 100 to 129 is what we use.

The 100 grain controlled chaos bullet and the gold dot is what we settled on.

Might be the 110 grain but large hogs don't like them.

Let your rifle tell you what is likes and besides you get to shoot a little more in the process.

It’s only a sample of 1, but I downloaded a 120 Gold Dot out of my daughter’s 6.5 Creed Ruger American. Velo was 2500 FPS, she took a nice 6 point at 50 yards with a behind the shoulder shot. Deer wobbled 20 yards and fell over. Nice pass through, quarter sized exit.

Which means a good Barnes will work even better then.

When I got in the 6.5 Grendel business, there wasn't a lot of data available. I bought a paperback load book for the Grendel off the internet. I settled on the 123 gr Hornady SST with 29.0 gr of Winchester 748 powder. Don't know if this is best powder for Grendel, but I had plenty and it worked really well in my rifle. I can get a C.O.L. of 2.275" in my magazines and 2450 fps out of my AR with it. Killed four deer with it, including a nice 9 point buck this year. Best to stick with cup and core bullets with C.O.L length issues with ARs.

My Grendel shoots the 120 BT better than anything else I've tried, but I haven't tried the 100's. It sounds like I need to...