Why I like the 6.5 Grendel vs 6.5 Creedmoor...

blakeyboy said:
https://www.65grendel.com/forum/sho...15-gr-TAC-TX-Gel-results&highlight=115+barnes

I understand the 30 tac tx works well but it's about the only one I've seen that will open up, well I have seen some lighter weight lesser known name ones open up but too light to have adequate sd and I shrugged them off as a varmint bullet at best. They've got a ways to go to figure out copper imo, they are too tough and need to be driven. You'll see in above link the 6.5 tac tx doesn't work too hot, really limiting range. I have the factory load for this but have not chrono it, just an impulse buy and maybe future proof if we're forced lead free some day?, but I do average for 5 shots at 2386 fps out of my 16.1" ruger with hornady black factory eld-m ammo.
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Got ya!

The coppers....yeah, I hear you. I think its a bit less of an issue since I'm not reaching out as far as you do. Taking the 115gr Tac-TX for example, if we say the minimum velocity for GOOD expansion (not what the Barnes ads consider expansion lol) to be 2000 fps, that gets me a bit past 200 yards. Honestly don't think I'd ever shoot game that far out. From a longer barrel like a 20" or 22", starting at 2550 fps that becomes a bit past 250 yards.

Again, I know some people like you do take game like twice as far out lol. But it would serve the needs here.

The same with the 100gr TTSX, which you can get going plenty fast from a Grendel but bleeds speed like throwing a rock.

The 123gr ELD-M is impressive. Its surprising to hear it can handle game, especially big game. With how aerodynamic it is, I can see how starting it from a 16.1" barrel really offers advantage over shorter, stubbier bullets, and how like you said, driven from a longer barrel its nipping at the heels of a Creedmoor with some loads.

When it comes to the lighter copper bullets, even with the low SD, I think the fact they don't lose much weight compared to 25-30% of even a bonded bullet, and have a smaller cross sectional area when expanded mean SD is not as important as otherwise seems, but then, you do suffer some penalties in wounding ability as well, yeah. The little 100gr 6.5mm shoots through a LOT of animal though, and does a pretty frightful amount of damage. Just the above mentioned ballstics like a rock lol
 
Joel said:
I was loving it with a 100gr ttsx and about 41 grains of N150. Kills well. If there was recoil I couldn't tell.

That seems a lot more big game capable than chasing moose with an intermediate.
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A friend of mine uses the 100gr TTSX in his .260Rem. Quite a few deer, one bull moose, and 2 cow elk have been cleanly killed with that combo, and that little bullet is impressive. I would run them in my 6.5x55 but get great accuracy with the 127gr LRX, and have a 6mm CM using 95gr LRX that I am keen to experiment with more. I think that the 6mm 95gr LRX at much the same velocity as the 100gr TTSX from the .260 should be pretty effective. Only one animal to ithe 95gr LRX, but it was a brain shot, so not much learned about the bullet from that.
 
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kayaker1 said:
A friend of mine uses the 100gr TTSX in his .260Rem. Quite a few deer, one bull moose, and 2 cow elk have been cleanly killed with that combo, and that little bullet is impressive. I would run them in my 6.5x55 but get great accuracy with the 127gr LRX, and have a 6mm CM using 95gr LRX that I am keen to experiment with more. I think that tyhe 6mm 95gr LRX at much the same velocity as the 100gr TTSX from the .260 should be pretty effective. One one anmal to ithe 95gr LRX, but it was a brain shot, so not much learned about the bullet from that.
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Oh holy cow yeah that should do a number. Its quite a bit more slippery than the 100gr TTSX as well.
 
Sun_and_Steel_77 said:
We get it blakeyboy...you're rather smitten with the 6.5G and there's no harm in spreading the gospel when that cartridge is working for you.
I've loaded and shot both the 6.5 G and C extensively and while the G is a decent cartridge it aint no C...which aint no PRC.
In the past I've been guilty of "standing on" a cartridge with smaller case capacity at and above max pressure trying to make it something it's not.
Reloder 26 makes my Creed almost a PRC! ;)
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You are Correct Sir ! That " stinky coyote " does LOVE his Grendel as i do mine too ! BUT as you said its NOT a CM or a Swede or a Norma or a PRC or WBee !
BUT again within reason I myself do think a 6.5 G is a 300 YD deer gun and a Max of 200 yd Bear Elk Moose gun - any thing over that i would like more power - so being as i have all the other 6.5 s i mentioned i would move "UP " in Cartridge ! jmo RJ
 
totally fair assessments, I'd prefer to hit the bigger ones with 2000 fps so for elk/moose I'd be looking to get inside 300, most animals will be killed there and in that range there are no flies on the Top G ;), the bigger 6.5's are the most well rounded options, just saying why I chose the G over the CM, it's at the niche end of the spectrum but punches well above it's weight that is often misunderstood or not perspectived accurately

I hear the 6.5mm 100gr ttsx is a very elusive bullet to recover from an animal.
 
blakeyboy said:
totally fair assessments, I'd prefer to hit the bigger ones with 2000 fps so for elk/moose I'd be looking to get inside 300, most animals will be killed there and in that range there are no flies on the Top G ;), the bigger 6.5's are the most well rounded options, just saying why I chose the G over the CM, it's at the niche end of the spectrum but punches well above it's weight that is often misunderstood or not perspectived accurately

I hear the 6.5mm 100gr ttsx is a very elusive bullet to recover from an animal.
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YUP ! I agree with you ! 100 gr TTSX or 120 gr TTSX should both be good Killing Bullets ! they are in my 6.5 CM and 7-08 Rem ! RJ
 
blakeyboy said:
totally fair assessments, I'd prefer to hit the bigger ones with 2000 fps so for elk/moose I'd be looking to get inside 300, most animals will be killed there and in that range there are no flies on the Top G ;), the bigger 6.5's are the most well rounded options, just saying why I chose the G over the CM, it's at the niche end of the spectrum but punches well above it's weight that is often misunderstood or not perspectived accurately

I hear the 6.5mm 100gr ttsx is a very elusive bullet to recover from an animal.
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Its hard to stop one but its not hard to see where one has been

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It actually didn't break the shoulder on the way in! It was just to one side of it lol. It did encounter some bone though. Yeah, the leaded bullets really do make a mess when they run into some calcium too alright lol.

But I sure don't think any leaded 100 grain (and even lots of heavier ones) are coming out the other side and continuing on with that placement.

I mean, in terms of damage, if someone told me "that was a 30-06" I would have believed it lol

Edited to add: Except for the exit. If it was a runner, on a shot placed that high up (although true with anything) there wouldn't be a lot of leakage from the small exit wound it left in the hide. Then again, it wasn't a runner, it went straight down.
 
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yeah, the 123gr eld-m from Grendel makes a mess when you catch the big bones too, hit this years doe a little high, fist size exit there after going in at bottom of spine on downward quartering away angle
 

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far easier on meat loss when you keep it in the ribs broadside like this years buck
 

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I'd have thought the same.

Blakeyboy seems to be taking a lot of deer and a moose with them though. A couple might be coincidence, but...proof in the pudding is in the eating lol
 
Joel said:
I'd have thought the same.

Blakeyboy seems to be taking a lot of deer and a moose with them though. A couple might be coincidence, but...proof in the pudding is in the eating lol
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I wouldn't start with him lol, this goes back a bit on a different forum, where the joke is the Grendel is only good for squirrels, I think he missed me. ;)

Here's a recent quote on the 6.5 Forum from a member while discussing eld-m vs the sst load that you may appreciate.

"I built one for my 7 year old niece about 6 years ago after talking my brother out of a 6.8 for her. She has averaged 4 deer per year with it for the last 6 years. When brother saw how well it did and how easy it was to shoot, he put his 270 down. I built him his own this year as his daughter laid down the law and told him that was her rifle. Recent harvest limits have slowed him to 10/year but there have been years he has tallied 4 times that many plus hogs. He prefers the SST as that’s what his rifles like. Recoveries are generally very short to right in his tracks.
I generally shoot the eldm. It does just fine. I shoot mostly with night vision and by the time I recover from the little bit of flash blindness the animal is usually down."

I'm not a 'one off', there are many guys there stacking deer and hogs at volumes way greater than myself, just a regular working dad with kids so get an average amount of hunt time in the fall to put things in the freezer. We chronicled our experience over 5 seasons and shared. I tend to be enthusiastic on forums so lots of fun happens that derails from the data etc. All part of the game. Deer are not even a test for the 123 gr bullets, they get to strut their stuff a little better in bigger critters, where you'll see damage that can't really be explained by the head stamp...it will be explained only by the sd, construction, and impact velocity (for game intended), when you line up a solid formula the only surprises are pleasant ones.
 
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Some expensive bullets are optimized just for an extremely long and accurate flight, others focus their extra engineering on what they can do when they hit a beastie.

The accuracy to tag a critter right in the off switch should not be underestimated.
 
marky_mark said:
Stinky cooks the facts worse than a liberal mp trying to justify the gun ban
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I missed you too

What if the facts have been misunderstood and gaslighted this whole time? And there's a ton of people the past 19 years whackin n stackin with this (14 years before I could get my hands on one), you get lost if you focus on this messenger rather than the message. It never was about the headstamps. The Grendel doesn't need me one bit. 5 years batting 1000 on 15 head and 6 species so far to 420 yards with 3 shooters. Would I choose it for paid for fly in trophy hunting like you do? Nope, I'd step up to the creedmoor lol. Will it do for majority of regular guys inside majority of ranges? Sure does, well proven. I don't tell it any different so not sure why you came by, just figured things a little slow on the dying communist forum and clearly you missed giving someone the gears? ;)
 
Got ya!

Meh, seen plenty of smaller bullets than what you're hitting them with kill deer too, Blakeyboy lol. Not too surprised at all the ELD-M does as well as it does there either, nor should anyone who has been around shooting them for a while.

The moose is interesting though! Would personally do the utmost to ensure they encounter nothin but broadsides but...you know more about em than I do lol

Lookin at the numbers to see what a longer barrel can do with very good bullets, I can see why its a Bullwinkle getter alright. I did underestimate it some. But I like tougher bullets so would need a pretty long tube. 20-22" barreled 6.5G would be up my alley.
 
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