6.5 Grendel school me

[scarecrow]

On bolt action platform...for deer &hogs under 300yds
What does it compare to?
Ammo availability?
Anything?

[kcmarullo]

Ammo is easy to get, I have shot several animals and they were all drt so far !

[westtexducks]

It is basically a mini 6.5 creedmoor. Will load and feed in an AR-15 magazine. Another comparison would be a juiced up .223.

[sierracharlie338]

Look at the Howa mini action it is a perfect action for the G. Ammo is easy to find if you look for it but not as easy as 223/556. Excellent ballistics out the 300 yards and extremely accurate out to 500 (farthest I’ve shot this round for now).

This round will do anything you want in terms of hunting inside 300.


Sierracharlie out…

[scott.str]

for what your wanting to do in a howa mini action would be an amazing little gun. Had an 18" AR and upgraded to 24" to shoot 1000 yards and gun does it well. (still working on it) but within 500 yards thing was stupid accurate. Ammo is usually at academy although you will be limited to a few brands. Seems online availability is alot more.

I reload for mine and the little round is alot more capable than i thought. Running 123 ELDM at about 2580. Could go faster but had a 4 shot group of .288" 4th shot i pulled and 5th back in same hole so made it a 1" 5 shot.

[westtexducks]

Another fantastic option for a bolt gun would be a CZ 527. They are great little guns for the price and everyone I have seen has shot phenomenally

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[RifleBowPistol]

I have thought about what it compares to, a few times in recent years. Other than some wildcat rounds and a couple of rounds not very well known, there really is not much that it compares to. Maybe a low velocity 6.5 Creedmoor loads. It should be fairly close to hand loaded 7X30 Waters with spitzer bullets, but with a little smaller diameter bullets. Similar weight bullets, to some of the lighter choices for a 7X30 Waters.

I would sure like to have one in a Howa 1500 mini or a CZ527, nice little caliber. I still think it is probably the best round for a smaller kid, deer gun.

[txtrophy85]

i think it sucks.


bought the howa mini action in 6.5 Grendel for my son. liked the gun a lot and thought it would have been ballistically similar to a 30-30.

Shot a small mature hill country buck with it at 120 yards...3 times. All of those were kill shots. Very little internal damage ( 120 grain Hornady SST's )

A week later I shot a yearling axis buck with it at about the same distance....right behind the shoulder. No blood, deer didn't act hit, etc. I found the deer after about 30 yards, bullet went right were I thought it did.....again, very little internal damage. had Jacket/core separation in 3 of the 4 rounds.


I would rather shoot a deer in the heart/lungs with a .22-250 and 55 grain V-Max's...much more damage than the 6.5 Grendel.


I traded the gun after the axis deer, got him a 7mm-08 and with reduced recoil loads have had much better success.


IMO this downward trend of shooting deer with smaller and smaller calibers is a bad one. I don't care how much bullet design and technology have improved, we were already way past lead roundballs and cast bullets before bonded bullets got popular.

People need to stick to middle of the round deer calibers to avoid heart ache.

[scarecrow]

Thanks for the information I certainly appreciate it. Hey if you can’t trust the GS BRAIN TRUST who can you trust.

[BLACKFINTURKEY]

I’ve killed buckets of animals and 90% have been down inside 20yards with 120gr eldm. From 200+ pound hogs to yotes the Grendel is awesome in my experience.

[Mike D]

There’s always going to be somebody that has a bad experience regardless of caliber. I’ve been shooting a Grendel since 2007’ish. In that time I’ve lost count of how many animals i’ve killed with mine. Within reasonable distances (300 yards is my farthest with the Grendel), 90% of them have been DRT. High shoulder shot is my preferred. I’ve tried Barnes, SST, NBT and Partitions. I found out quickly that the Barnes doesn’t work as well due to the lower velocity of the Grendel. For hunting the 125 grain Partition is my go to. Not the best for long distance shooting but works well out to 300 for me.

I’m currently load testing the Nosler ABLR and it’s showing decent velocity and accuracy. Haven’t tried it on an animal yet.


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[UltraMax]

The Grendel is a neat little cartridge that is nestled right in between a 7.62x39 and a 5.56x45. What the 7.62x39 lacks in speed and the 5.56 lacks in bullet weight and knockdown power, the Grendel fills those gaps. It’s a give and take from both but fits in an AR. My experience was it was very accurate with reloads but I personally just wanted... more. I have a 6.5x55 and I just really didn’t care to have the Grendel and traded my Grendel to blackfinturkey for his 45-70; I could not be happier with the trade. If you are going with a bolt action my opinion is go 6.5 Creedmoor, but if you like AR platforms and don’t mind their weight for a hunting rifle, the Grendel’s performance is good enough to get the job done. I personally just wasn’t impressed with the cartridge.

I am so happy to see Blackfinturkey getting some great use out of the gun I traded him. He’s busted more animals with it than I ever would have.

[Kenner97]

I am just getting my Grendel dialed in and like it a lot so far. Shooting the Hornady Black 123gr ELDM, im getting well under 1". I also shot 2 javelina at 300 yards back to back about 2 months ago and then shot 2 hogs at 200 back to back 2 weeks ago. All were DRT!!

[KX500]

Wolf makes a FMJ round that can be had for about $5/box of 20. Awesome for cheap plinking and punching paper. I even got a sub 1" group at 100 yards out of it last week.

[cbd10pt]

i think it sucks.


bought the howa mini action in 6.5 Grendel for my son. liked the gun a lot and thought it would have been ballistically similar to a 30-30.

Shot a small mature hill country buck with it at 120 yards...3 times. All of those were kill shots. Very little internal damage ( 120 grain Hornady SST's )

A week later I shot a yearling axis buck with it at about the same distance....right behind the shoulder. No blood, deer didn't act hit, etc. I found the deer after about 30 yards, bullet went right were I thought it did.....again, very little internal damage. had Jacket/core separation in 3 of the 4 rounds.


I would rather shoot a deer in the heart/lungs with a .22-250 and 55 grain V-Max's...much more damage than the 6.5 Grendel.


I traded the gun after the axis deer, got him a 7mm-08 and with reduced recoil loads have had much better success.


IMO this downward trend of shooting deer with smaller and smaller calibers is a bad one. I don't care how much bullet design and technology have improved, we were already way past lead roundballs and cast bullets before bonded bullets got popular.

People need to stick to middle of the round deer calibers to avoid heart ache.

I know people say not to.
But switch to Hornady black 123 grain
The thinner jacket works better at Grendel speed
Makes a nasty mess on the inside and so far I've had exit wounds on everything. 8 critters so far, Buck was pretty large .head shot a hog that was 250 lb or better, head on no exit of course , I don't think anything will penetrate 5' of pig lol