Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 6.5 90gr. TNT

Ordered 400 of these to use as coyote bullets in my 260. The name suggests explosive detonation? TNT? Good I don't care about the pelts down here but supposedly in Wyoming they got up to $100. a piece for them last year. Think I will use a different bullet if I get up there this year. How do they shoot?

How they shoot depends on your gun. Throat length and throat condition, etc. The TNTs can shoot quarter inch groups in guns that like them but any bullet can suck bad in a gun that doesn't like them. You'll have to work up a load and see what happens. Can't make you any promises.

Tom

It is a pretty short bullet.

My personal experience , I would highly recommend the Sierra 100 gr HP. I have shot this bullet in my 6.5's from 3200 fps to over 3700 in my 264 mag. Have always held together & delivered exceptional accuracy from 1/8 or 1/9 twist barrels. This bullet has never blow up between the rifle & the target . I have had the TNT disintegrate when pushed too fast. Probably not a problem with the 260.

Well testing has begun. First test was to find out if the 90 gr. TNT had a similar impact point when the rifle is sighted in for the Nosler Partion 100 gr. bullet. I used the same powder charge and did not change my bullet seating die setting. Answer yes virtually exactly the same POI. Accuracy still excellent. I did some some water filled jug testing. Well I did two velocity ranges, 3240 fps and 2880 fps shot at water filled gallon jugs in front of my 100 yard berm from the shooting bench (so at 100 yards). The 3240 fps bullets destroyed the first jug and ripped into the second destroying it to the point no parts of the bullet were to be found except one tiny lead fragment in the second jug. Third jug was knocked off the stand with no damage. The second test using the TNT pushed to 2880 fps destroyed the first jug, left lead fragments in the second jug and the base of the bullet expanded with some lead still left in the jacket was found in the third jug. The second jug though almost ripped in half was not as damaged as jug #2 in the first test. Accuracy is excellent at both velocity levels. Testing done with my 260 Remington rifle. Seems at speeds of around 2800 fps the 90 gr. TNT works pretty good and could be used on deer or feral hogs if a lot of penetration is not required. At 3200 fps it makes a good varmint bullet.

I haven't used the 90 grain 0.264" Speer TNT, but have shot a pile of 87 grain 0.257" Speer TNTs from a variety of rifles chambered for a variety of different cartridges with good success. They are not fur friendly.

I have shot a few dozen coyotes and a few whitetail does with the 95 grain VMax from a few different rifles chambered in 260 and 6.5-284. It is my go to 6.5mm varmint bullet. 42 grains of H4895 produces approximately 3,400 fps from a 24" barrel, a little faster in my 700 CDL-SF and a little shower in a Marlin XS7 with an old A&B Savage specs barrel from MidwayUSA.

My Grendel loves them!

As soon as I am done hunting the Oklahoma deer gun season (will use the 100 gr. Partitions) I am thinking about using the 90 gr. TNT at the lower velocity as a general purpose bullet in the 260. Too bad the lower speed round hits exactly 2 inches to the left but vertical is dead center with the faster load hitting 2 inches high at a hundred yards. Still it is no real problem to run 8 clicks counter clockwise on the horizontal knob. This load is 35.0 grains of 3031 and it is not super loud.

your 3031 load is a good choice with the 90 TNT....

I've noticed most varmint bullets, slowed down below 2700 fps MV, often start performing like a SP bullet on most light skin game like deer....

And for Ghostman... I am finding it is great in a bolt action Grendal....especially slowing it down in the 2000 to 2200 fps MV range.., closer range stuff of course...

since my Grendal dropped a deer for the season... I'm going to place with it over the next few weeks with Blue Dot, Steel, SR 4759, 2400, 1680, low doses of 4198..... with the 90 gr TNT, the 100 HP Sierra, and the 95 V Max....

I'm liking this Grendal round after starting to play with it.... bolt action once again...

I’ve posted a couple times about it but shot this 250 # plus pig last year with the Factory Federal TnT 90gr 6.5 Grendel. She was close maybe 30 yards, but bullet seemed to work. I couldn’t convince myself to “try” on a deer so switched to Hornady Black with good result on one I shot. May have to try the 90 grain this year as it shoots well out the Howa.

We use them in the 6.5 Grendel and they do a number on hogs and coyotes.

I have found them to be very accurate in all of 6.5's. Out of my 260's and 260 AI's they are explosive for deer in ,my opinion. Out of my 6.5 Grendel I would think they would work with proper shot placement. Velocity is 2850 out of the Grendel. At 3400 and above they are very destructive on coyotes. IMR 4064 in the 260's and AI's. Benchmark in the Grendels.

Seafire, I recently got a CZ 527 in a 6.5 Grendel. Have you ever used that cartridge for deer hunting or developed any Blue Dot loads for it. As I have gotten older I don't like recoil as much. I also have a 260 Rem but have not shot it much. I have always enjoyed your posts on low recoil loads and have tried Blue Dot and IMR 4198 loads in 30-06 and 270 Win.

I shot a 180" mule deer buck with a 50, or 55 grain tnt out of my 222 when I was a kid. It was a frontal shot at about 130 yds. It hit the buck so hard that he just fell over with his feet sticking strait up in the air. He looked like a spider on his back. I don't know what the velocity was, but it was likely 3000 fps or a little under. That bullet went in about 20" and destroyed everything in its path. I would agree that lower velocities will help this bullet hold together better, and give better penetration on bigger critters.

II also use a 264WM with a 30" Shilen barrel. Sierra 85gr HP at 3820fps holds together also I like the Sierra 100gr HP. They work well on ground hogs also.

Cobra,

I took a blacktail this year with a Ruger American Predator in 6.5 Grendel, shooting a 140 grain Speer, @ 2400 fps MV..
charge was 29.5 grains of W 748.. only 100 yds away, but bullet hit exactly where the cross hairs were aimed at.

Post season and post election now...

Starting my Blue Dot testing now.. just loaded up some Blue Dot loads tonight... first bullet weight will be a 100 grain Hornady SP...

full case of Blue Dot to the rim, was 27.3 grains.... so I loaded up bullets at 35% of that figure, 40%, 45 % and 50 %..
Step one is to make sure they are safe.....after that I have 120 grain Sierra bullets on deck, to use with the same loads..

100 grain bullets are going to be no problem, or lighter bullet weights...

I'm anxious to see if the 120s, 123s, 129, 130 and 140, 142 gr BULLETS are going to work....for more than punching holes in paper.

Ive done Blue Dot data on the 260 Rem also, and am looking to run updates substituting data for the Creedmoor Bolt Action crowd..
picked up a Creedmoor in a T/C Compass set up