Mr WhelanLad, what have your fav hunting bullets been for the old x39mm so far?
Just ordered two boxes of Nosler's 123gr e-tip. Curious about how they shake out. If they open as reliably as the Barnes TSX that should be quite nice.
Why I like the 6.5 Grendel vs 6.5 Creedmoor...
- Thread starter blakeyboy
- Start date
Mr WhelanLad, what have your fav hunting bullets been for the old x39mm so far?
Just ordered two boxes of Nosler's 123gr e-tip. Curious about how they shake out. If they open as reliably as the Barnes TSX that should be quite nice.
That’s it?
Sorry I took so long to reply
I’m actually reply from the airport in Istanbul
Heading to Pakistan for a little hunting trip
You know that does and cows die a lot easier than bulls and bucks
Not to mention their difference in size
The Grendel will always be a great round for shooting animals you don’t care about recovering
Would be good for coyotes and wolves
Let those buggers just die in the bush
Anytime you want to compare real world experiences let me know
Sorry I took so long to reply
I’m actually reply from the airport in Istanbul
Heading to Pakistan for a little hunting trip
You know that does and cows die a lot easier than bulls and bucks
Not to mention their difference in size
The Grendel will always be a great round for shooting animals you don’t care about recovering
Would be good for coyotes and wolves
Let those buggers just die in the bush
Anytime you want to compare real world experiences let me know
Anyone curious, I'm sure I've posted before but instagram @65grendelhunters can see bucks and bulls we've shot, decent size boar bear as well. 5 seasons, 15 animals, 3 shooters, average shot distance 163, average recovery distance 13 yards, walked up to everything right after. It's not the headstamp as all the check boxes of adequate were checked off, the ability to place it has been the bigger key factor. And as always, would agree the 6.5 Creedmoor would be the more well rounded choice, and I have caveated many times we generally meat hunt, not trophy hunt in distant lands, have caveated this as a niche end cartridge for the light hitter end like the .243 or 30-30. In most respects you can't do more with 30 grains of powder, not stating it as anything it's not. Happy Bill?
And, as said, there's many many accounts out there from this cartridge. The first bighorn ram taken with it was a guy south of the borders kid, zero drama affair on a solid ram, I got the second bighorn (a ewe) by all accounts shortly after, a spectacular 170 yard tip over backwards drt. I do have the first moose with the cartridge which was a young bull. We have couple huge body mature bucks at 200/300 as well, one drt one went 50. But here's a quick one showing few elk, couple bulls, one at 405 yards https://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?26024-Grendel-loading-for-elk-at-moderate-ranges There's also a multi year success thread on 6.5 Grendel Forum where hundreds of animals from all sorts of sizes were logged, not hard to find. The end of day it punches above it's weight, same formula as the 6.5 Creedmoor and PRC etc. and compete with 20th century options while burning 10-15 grains less powder. Marky has beef, and is trophy guy with money on the line, he doesn't caveat the same as myself his needs so don't worry Marky...now all the information is available here for people to get the appropriate perspective.
Good luck on your hunts.edit: more good reading
multi-year log of kills, hundreds of kills https://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?10955-Grendel-quot-knock-down-quot-survey/page21&highlight=talley
a 752 yard antelope https://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?4378-752-yard-speedgoat&highlight=752+yard+antelope
a daughter dumps a nice muley buck at 658 yards https://www.facebook.com/grendelhunter/
Last edited:
are you any good at splitting c-hairs?
sd is good on 103-108's, impact velocities give 150-170 yard advantages, which are beyond where hunting occurs (beyond 500), you're under 120 grains of bullet weight...
basically like the 6.5 CM will get the nod for hunting over the 6 CM...apply exact same logic to the 6arc vs 6.5g, like all 6mms they tend to get the nod for more steel/paper/varmints but the 6.5g more for big game hunting
the 6arc is really just a 6 grendel, great cartridge choice if 6mm is what you like or if you want that extra distance for similar impact velocities
overall balance of all options is with the 6.5g, where the 6mm general trade off a couple of balance points to the negative to gain on a couple more on the positive...the 6.5g does not, it is the most balanced and well round option of all factors combined in choosing between both hunting, target, barrel life etc. etc.
also, read a comment even from a target guy who may not stretch as far as possible but prefers the audibles and visuals of the 6.5g 123's on steel (and misses spotting splashes) vs the lighter 6mm's much harder to spot for and harder to hear the impacts also...so there's that, and that guy is all about range time and mass volume shooting
you can't go wrong either way, they're both better option than .223's with 77gr tmk's imo
if you have 10 points of criteria, 2 of them will be higher marks and 2 of them will be lower marks than the norm with the 6mm, those same 10 points of criteria with the 6.5 will have an even line down the middle is what I mean by better balanced, more versatile, more efficient overall...6mm's have some trade offs in all the things we like to do here with our centerfires powder burners
6arc is the first off the self short fat 6 that runs with dasher/br/ppc performance levels though, which is pretty cool for those who like 6mms
I like it a lot, it's big game legal, it's got great efficiency and versatility, it can do nearly as much for the powder burned as a 6.5g overall...so close but splitting hairs really.
I'm sort of like that guy who prefers the 123's of the 6.5g for impact audibles and seeing miss splashes at the range....except in hunting, which is all I care about, I've just come to prefer bullets weighing 120 grains or more on my minimum end so all 6mms are out for me.
Last edited:
yeah I didn't make any comments regarding mono's, which can run lighter...for me as big game hunting primary driver if I have to consider mono's then due to losses of sd/bc means a jump up to next powder levels or standard short action cartridges off the 308 type cases, the grendel/arc are niche end cartridges that have to have the best numbers on the bullets to get most from the 29.6 grains of powder they burn...that means 103-108's from the arc and 123's from the grendel...cup/core match shaped lead filled etc.
the same formula applies though considering mono's vs regular stuff....I still want 4-500 yard performance, so gotta start burning 41+ gr powder with mono's imo, the 6.5 CM with 120 cx would be my minimum as I still want 120 gr going down range on game minimum regardless of materials
the same formula applies though considering mono's vs regular stuff....I still want 4-500 yard performance, so gotta start burning 41+ gr powder with mono's imo, the 6.5 CM with 120 cx would be my minimum as I still want 120 gr going down range on game minimum regardless of materials
I got ya!
Big difference there for sure than with the 123gr SST and how well it performs at those distances and the monos. Was thinking, with the .436 advertised BC of the 95gr LRX, if its still doing 2290 fps at 300 yards thats pretty cool with me. 350 would be 2198 fps. Probably still well within its performance window.
Definitely not a 500 yarder tho, IMO! So I hear ya.
Hadn’t killed one yet and all priorities high, planning trophies with buds wasn’t lining up so pulled the non-trophy to get on the board but was dying to try one as heard you love or hate them and I hate gamey meat so boned and on ice right then and there. Great eating imo, marinated tenders on bbq while buttering were great. 3 day season for the non-trophy. Did a bit of scouting the past year. Turned into a 10 minute hunt which was a good thing as just got back with a couple deer from up north and still had to get kids off to moms and thought I had one day before speed goat season to finish butchering the deer. Looked up the season and had to clear a yeti out and get ready for up to a few days. A 490 km round trip and under 9 hours was home just after lunch with a nice dry mature non-trophy on ice then butchered 3 in a row. Other than it being maybe one of my shortest hunts not much to tell, 200 yards prone and down on the spot. Watch impact in scope don’t even lift bolt handle.
Give Clay a call at prophet river firearms and ask how many Grendels he’s sold. Then do same for a few other players that move lots of rifles. There’s a bunch running around this country now. We use other cartridges designed for other types of rifles and uses. What they may or may not have been designed for doesn’t matter, if they have the right numbers for hunting, which they often do, then they become winners based on that. The reason it does better than you think is it’s the most modern interpretation of burning 30 grains of powder and it’s a good class to be in. Triple the effective range of the 30-30 while still maintaining more than 120 gr billet with high sd enough for bigger than deer size game. Makes as much sense in niche end cartridges as a 243, maybe even more sense.
bearkilr
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nowhere, ......just past the middle
Yawn. The same thing the 222 Rem guys have been preaching to 22-250 and 220 Swift shooters for years lol.
Can you hunt big game with those?
Not the same thing. This is a max versatility option and also nothing gets more from 30 grains of powder, people don’t ignore those things. It’s been out a long time and it’s going nowhere, being an ar cartridge is a good thing lol, it will always be popular just because of our 330 million friends down south. Probably doing better than the wsm’s. It’s been around 4 years longer than the Creedmoor...just a bit longer than wsm, doing great and will. Guys have had daughters kill big muleys at 658 yards, guys have bull elk at 405 yards, antelope at 752. It’s not just a varmint round. You can’t do more with 30 grains. Even range guys are preferring it to 6mm short fats as they get better audibles on steel and see better splashes when spotting misses. It’s going nowhere.
Is it legal everywhere to do it? How does it handle moose and elk? .22 lr took out world record grizzly...let’s keep it a little more real
Is it legal everywhere to do it? How does it handle moose and elk? .22 lr took out world record grizzly...let’s keep it a little more real
Is the 6.5 legal everywhere?
In culling Elk in Wyoming it was determined that the 220 Swift was the fastest slayer of Elk. I know a guy that killed a Grizzly circa 1990 with a 22-250. Jack O'Connor also wrote about seeing a Grizzly dropped in it's track with the 22-250.
Aren't you always touting the 77 SGK in the 223 ?
