Disappointed

[Leadfarmer]

I am extremely disappointed at the performance of my Grendel this hunting season!!! I took four whitetail deer in SC this year with my Grendel. Should have been five but he got up after knocking him down and he ran off!!!.

All four deer shot ran off with little or no blood trail to follow. One small 90lb deer shot at less than 100 yards I found the bullet sticking out its hide on the opposite side of the POI I cut the bullet out with my knife. No other deer had a pass thru wound. One 120 lb five point ran 50 yards after popping him in the front shoulder and did not drop one drip of blood.

I loaded 123g Hornady Amax rounds and I want to say 27.7g of powder (not sure of amount or brand of powder recipe was from this site though, info is at home). The rifle is a nail driver but I don’t believe has the velocity to be a good hunting rifle.

Keep in mind I am new to this and have tried to find loading information for this rifle. I am not an avid shooter and do not have a chrono and do not work up loads. I like to just find a load that is good accurate and deadly and stick with it to save a little cash. I wanted to use a lighter hunting bullet this year and do less damage to my meat instead of my 300 Win Mag with 180 field point.

Any suggestions?? I am willing to give it another try if not I am selling it and going with a 260 Remington I think. One real negative is you can’t find the bullets for the damn thing, they are always sold out and on backorder.

As always, all help is certainly appreciated.

[JASmith]

Please check your notes for the load -- 18.8 grains sounds about 10 grains too low.

Also, in spite of much excitement about the 123 A-MAX in medium game circles, Hornady does not recommend it for this role. One of the reasons you did not get pass-throughs is that the copper walls are very thin relative to hunting bullets. That means they tend to open very quickly -- the one that got away may have been hit in a spot where a fair bit of meat covers a substantial bone.

If you like Hornady, try the new 123gr SST or their 129 Interlok or SST. Other easy-on-pocket choices would be the 120 gr Speer HotCor and Sierra Equivalents. Premium bullets are fine too, but the Grendel velocities are generally low enough that one doesn't gain a lot in bullet reliability to justify the expense. The new 129 gr Nosler Accubond LR, however, may be an exception, since the Nosler announcement indicates as low as 1300 ft/sec and velocities well above those reachable by the Grendel.

[montana]

I had a similar result with A max bullets. They seem to under penetrate at close range depending on the shot placement. To be fair I have had the same results with all of my larger calibers 3006, 300 Weatherby, and 338 Win mag depending on bullet type. I prefer an entrance exit type wound and favor the Barnes triple or Nosler partition bullets. For my Grendel I have had good luck with Barnes bullets but any bullet can fail if shot placement isn't correct. I have shot a lot of deer with large calibers and had them run for 100 yards or more after being shot threw the lungs or the heart. It has been my experience if the bullet has a entrance and exit wound they seem to bleed out faster. To be fair I was with my friend who's 16 year old son shot a 6 point Elk with his Grendel at 40 yards and dropped it with one shot with an Amax bullet hitting it in the neck. You will get a million opinions on hunting rounds, calibers etc when asking. Try different loads and experience can be your best guide. The Grendel is not the hammer of Thor but it is a good hunting caliber when all things are considered. It is the only caliber my 14 year old daughter and I have used for the last few years and we have not been disappointed at all.

[longdayjake]

The amax is not a hunting bullet. I took an elk with the 100 grain TTSX. If you want a blood trail, you need penetration. If you want penetration, go Barnes. Don't blame the cartridge if you use the wrong bullet for the application. Furthermore, my experience is that if you don't get a DRT with a smaller cartridge, you likely wouldn't have gotten one with a larger one. A larger one may have resulted in a pass through shot and more blood trail, but it probably would have ran just as far. I have seen a deer shot 3 times with a 7 mag that ran 300 yards and the only blood to be found came from the rear leg having been blown off. If you don't use the right bullet, you won't get penetration. Use the right bullet for the job and hit it in the right place. Shooting faster won't make up for using the wrong bullet.

[Leadfarmer]

I will try the Barnes, I see that MidwayUSA has them. At the time Amax from Hornady was all I could get. Everything was sold out.

Anybody have any load data for the Barnes 120g Triple Shock X Bullets?

[Leadfarmer]

I have had a few run off shot clean thru the shoulder with my 300 Win Mag with 180gr soft tip, so I understand this. However, every deer ran and no pass thru shots even if I shot at the crease behind the shoulder. I do blame the bullet!! I will try the 120gr Barnes.

[Kikn]

I have a load for barts TSX (Not tipped) I was using 28.0 Gr. on TAC, with WSR primers. Bullet needs to be seated deeper than the A-max round or you could have it jam in the lands. I forget what I had its depth set at and don't have time to dig it out right now to give you that information. I'd check AA website i think they have a load worked up for 120 Barnes as well.

[invisiman]

You may try buying from Alexander Arms website. They have a couple of hunting loads. Hornady 129 SST's and Nosler Balistic Tips 120's and more.

[BluntForceTrauma]

Leadfarmer, Mark LaRue of LaRue Tactical shot a bull elk at about 400 yards with a Barnes 120 TSX in his 6.5 Grendel. Having said that, I think you'll be happier with the higher velocities of the Barnes 6.5 100gr TTSX.

John

[hobbesgunner]

+1....Barnes if you want a blood trail

[parallax]

I guess my results are the exception but I had a nice pass through on both shoulders of a 135 lb buck at 45 yards with my hand load of 27.7 gr of 8208 under a 123 gr A Max just last weekend. The exit wound was 3/4" in diameter. I will use that load again unless my results get much worse.

[LRRPF52]

Can I ask where the shots were placed? This is important info for those using the 123gr AMAX.

[Leadfarmer]

This was my load data... 123gr. Hornady A-MAX
29gr. CFE223 BRass
CCI #450 Primer
OAL - 2.292"

Shot one was at the crease just behind the shoulder. I heard bullet hit and saw deer jump in scope. Deer ran apx 30 yards and fell. Next was a doe at 60 yards shot in front sholder quartering to me and exited behind opposite shoulder, ran apx 60 yards, a small blood trail started about ten yards from POI. Next a buck at 89 yards hit square in front shoulder no exit wound no blood trail, looked liked it died of natural causes ( no blood from nose or mouth) ran 50 yards had to use my dog. Small buck shot at 45 yards quartered away from me, POI behind right shoulder bullet was turned around and had just broken skin on opposite shoulder, no blood trail, deer ran 20 yards.

I know this is a small bullet and with anything shot placement is key, except for my 300 Win Mag with 180gr filed tips, I have shot them in the ass before and found them following the blood trail. ( Not on purpose of course ).

Again, I will try the barnes bullets, not tipped. I cannot find the 100g in 6.5mm. That is the major issue. I dont get it, I can buy .260 rounds all day from several manufactures, why not Grendel. Even berger bullets didnt have 6.5 to load. Every where is sold out of the hunting rounds. I think Midway USA has Barnes but they are heavier than 100gr, which isnt bad I guess.

[longdayjake]

I tried the 120 TTSX and found that I couldn't get it fast enough to reliably expand. That said, Larue's Elk was at 400 yards and he had a complete pass through and a dead Elk. Try 28 grains of 2230 and a 100 grain TTSX. That is a much better bullet for the Grendel casing.

[Schwag173]

Anecdotal evidence is no reason to disqualify a cartridge. When I was a kid, I watched my dad drop a whitetail buck with his .30/'06. It flopped around for 2 seconds and ran more than a mile where we eventually found it for a final shot. Despite his fifty years (at the time) of experience shooting deer, this was 'just one of those things' that happened. Choose a better hunting bullet and keep hunting with the Grendel.