Fur friendly factory rounds

[Xj-jake]

Hoard members, I've finally got out and zeroed my Grendel for the season, for the most part. My rig will mainly be used for coyotes and am looking for a fairly decent fur friendly round. Rifle is currently zeroed to 100yds with Hornady Black, my dad was able to pick the rifle up with his cheater glasses on and shoot a clothes pin off the board at that distance standing with the rifle on a rest. I know, not important and now I'm rambling.

American Eagle 90 gr with the Speer TNT is about the only thing I've found in a factory load that may work. Does anyone have any recommendations beyond that? I'd like to be able to keep and use the fur, my family has long been trappers and hunters.

I don't have the equipment or time to load my own at this point. Thanks in advance for the input!

[Dead Center Miss]

I think the Federla with the Speer TNT is the only factory offering with a varmint type bullet. If I was gonna handload, that 85gn Sierra looks promising, as well as the 90gn TNT and the 95gn Vmax.

[Double Naught Spy]

Federal American Eagle Speer TNT is not what I would call fur-friendly. This one shot at 85 yards, shot only 1 time.

Male Coyote 85 yards (5).jpg

[VASCAR2]

Other than Hornady Factory ELD-M and SST the Federal 90 grain TNT, AE 120 grain SMK, 130 grain Berger Gold Metal Match and Federal 120 grain Fusion the only other commercial ammo available is from PF, AA, Night Ops and Underwood.

Precision Firearms have ammo using 100 grain Nosler BT and 100, 108 Lapua Scenar. Night Ops has ammo using Sierra 100 grain Varmint and 100 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip. Alexander Arms has several hunting bullet loads plus several target bullets.

In my opinion the 6.5 Grendel is not the most fur friendly cartridge. I say this because of the moderate velocity and fairly heavy varmint bullets. The amount of pelt damage is going to be dependent on shot placement. The 204 Ruger, 223, 22-250 and 243 are better varmint cartridges if your concerned about pelt damage. The high velocity with light varmint bullet are more pelt friendly than a 85 grain Sierra varmint at 2600 FPS. In a 264 Win Mag at over 3000 FPS the 85 SV smokes critters but is not nearly as explosive at velocities under 2700 FPS where typical 6.5 Grendel chronograph.

I have been curious how 107 grain SMK or 107 grain Tipped Match Kings work on varmints. One forum member tried 107 grain SMK and was not impressed.

Below are links to PF, AA and Night Ops 6.5 Grendel ammo.

https://www.nightops.com/ammunition/6-5-grendel

https://www.precisionfirearms.com/48.html?m8:search%5Bkeyword%5D=6.5%20Grendel%20ammo;search%5BkeywordSearchType%5D=phrase;search%5BmatchWholeWords%5D=0;search%5BkeywordFields%5D=code:string0:text0;search%5Bnested%5D=1;search%5Bgroup%5D=749304;search%5Bfuzzy_sku%5D=1&i2231563:page=2

https://www.shopalexanderarms.com/6_5_Grendel-Ammunition.html

[A5BLASTER]

Wolf fmj, don't expanded and shoot leave a small hole going in and hopefully coming out.

Yes I said hopefully because I don't have first hand knowledge that it wouldn't blow a fist size hole on exit.

But my gut tells me if you want a fur friendly bullet you want a hard non expanding bullet.

[Xj-jake]

Vascar, thank you for the links! The Precision rounds with the 100g Nosler bullets look somewhat promising. I realize it's probably not going to be the most fur friendly puppy poker out there but I want the ability to reach out and touch them once. Every swinging d in the county will be out soon, I'll probably tote the 223 in the earlier part of the season but late is where I'd like to switch to the Grendel.

Those Noslers are coming out of a 24" barrel at 2600 fps according to their site. My rig with a 20" would be a little slower, one would think it'd help a little.

IMG_7694.JPG

[Dead Center Miss]

Wolf fmj, don't expanded and shoot leave a small hole going in and hopefully coming out.

Yes I said hopefully because I don't have first hand knowledge that it wouldn't blow a fist size hole on exit.

But my gut tells me if you want a fur friendly bullet you want a hard non expanding bullet.

Problem with hard, non expanding bullets is that they leave a small wound channel and coyotes are pretty tough. I shot one with a 308 FMJ and it was a solid hit and I could see he had a broken shoulder as he ran off and I never did find him.

[JASmith]

I think at least one source has a load with mono-metal (brass or copper) expanding bullets. These tend to hold together and leave what I think are manageable exit holes.

If you don’t find one that works for you, try the heaviest commercial offering in a classic expanding bullet. Their velocities are low enough that the bullet, while expanding, remains largely intact, causing less meat and fur damage than that caused the 90 gr TNT.