Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Need help choosing a 6.5 mm deer bullet

bt will be my choice.

I load 140 Hornady SSTs.....129 would work great too

Big time my choice as well!

By the way guys, remind this old perro, what on earth is a 6.5 Grendal anywho?

Thx

Dober

Dober,

6.5 PPC

Al

I have killed a pile of antelope with 140 gr Game Kings in my 6.5 at about 2650 fps. I have found most of them on the off side with a perfect mushroom,all still intact. Distances are usally 50-250 yds. Double lungers usually are complete past throughs.I would think either Hornady or Speers would work indentically. I wouldn't go to the lighter weights as you state distances are 125 yds or so,therefor maybe requiring a tougher bullet at the higher speeds

I use the 130 AB in my 6.5X55, 2700 at the muzzle, varmint rifle accuracy and flawless terminal performance from real close to way out there (close to 400 yards.)

gmsemel- what cartridge? If using a 260 do you have a load using H4831sc? The Sierra 140s are crazy accurate so I have no idea why I would tinker but .....

No I don't shoot a 260, thou I would like to. I shoot a 6.5 x 55 in a Sako Hunter that I bought some 17 or so years ago. As for load well just dump RL-22 in a case and that is about it. In my rifle 48 gr of RL-22 works very well. The Speer SP's are some of my favorite deer size game bullets. And they are fairly cheap too. So you can shoot a lot, the same load will shoot Barne's X's into groups under a nickel but I never saw the need for those in the White Tail woods of East Haddam, CT, On the other hand they do work well on the game I have shot with them, one of my favorites for the 6.5 along with 125 gr Nosler Partitions. My other favorite 6.5 bullet is the 160gr Sierra SMP that they stopped making. Pretty much any bullet is going to work and work well out of a 260 or 6.5 x 55. Just the nature of those cartridges.

My go to bullet for a 6.5mm Rem Mag has been the Plain Jane Hornady 129gr SP. It has accounted for a couple of deer per year for some time now. I have zero complaints about performance to date on deer sized game.

I do agree with the posters suggesting that premiums are not needed on deer sized game until velocity gets well up there.

I have a 6.5 X 55 Swede in a Rem 700 Classic that shoots 125 gr partitions more accurrately than 120 gr ballistic tips at about 2875 fps.Both shoot well under MOA but the partition groups are about half as big as the ballistic tips. The 129 gr Hornady also is very good. Haven't tried Sierra's in this gun but they work well on deer and antelope in my .270 and should work also. No need for premium bullets at those velocities and ranges. Good luck.

which ever shoots best in your gun

anyone you choose should do fine. i would post in the classifieds for a 5 pack or a ten pack of each.... if i had some i would certainly toss some your way.....

i would vote the xxx...

woofer

Bearing in mind that this bullet is for the Grendel and therefore probably an AR. I would therefore go with the Sierra 120 GK, that's what I got for mine anyway. The Grendel starts losing too much velocity after that with heavier bullets. I use the gameking in my 308, 7mm RM, 243 and they have always delivered in those calibers.
I am looking forward to my first deer with the Grendel this season.

ANY 6.5 bullet will work out of your Grendel at 2500 fps and the distance you speak of... heck even an 85 grain Sierra HP or a 90 grain TNT would both be great deer bullets, as would the 95 grain VMAX and the 100 grain Hornady SP, the 100 grain HP Sierra, and the 100 grain Ballistic Tip...

ANY 120 grain Bullet and up will work great...

none of this in 6.5 bore is rocket science...

they all work just fine, especially at 2500 fps..

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?t=840&page=1&pp=25

What Seafire said......ALL the way.......for YOUR application using a small case i.e. Grendel. Lighter bullets will give you more positive expansion IMHO esp. as the distance grows...100-120's will ALL work fine, with IMHO the Barnes as I'd want more speed for an all copper slug. The 123 MK you have may well do just great on lung/broadside shots.

I would try any of the 120 grain bullets out there. At your velocity they should perform very well.

+1 one the Hornaday 129 soft point.

Hornady 129 SP

Follow up shot on mule deer going nearly straight away. Broke right rear, upper leg bone going in. Broke left front shoulder going out. 6.5-06

what is the twist rate in that grendel ?

For the Grendel, I don't think a 140 grain would be the best because that encroaches too much on powder capacity. I would think any cup and core bullet in the 100-125 grain range should work just fine.

I've heard from people and read on the Grendel forums that the 120gr Speer Hot-Cor and 120gr Rem Core-Lokt are the best bang for one's buck if you ever start to reload. Or if AA ever offers those. I agree anything over 120gr encroaches heavily on the powder capacity too much.

~$.30/bullet makes for cheaper practice.

Also if anyone is intersted in a factory bolt gun, the way this poll is going I could see CZ making a 527 mini-Mauser chambered for it (please vote for the Grendel if you go there):
http://www.cz-usa.com/