Grendel Game Animal and Varmints Kill Tote Thread

[NugginFutz]

To all who are still anxious and willing to record their kills for posterity and to enlighten those who wish to see how others "Got 'er done", I invite you to post your deeds with your Grendels here within.

No tallying or number crunching - just a straight forward record of kills. In order for this thread to give future readers (Hello, future readers!) the greatest amount of usable information, I suggest using a format, similar to that used in the now defunct Knock Down Survey:

A couple examples might be as follows:

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Animal #1

Bullet:	123 SST
Barrel Length:	16"
Animal Shot:	Cotton Tail Rabbit
Distance Shot:	140 yds
Shot Placement:	Shoulder
Distance Travelled after shot:	DRT
Optional Notes:	Results were devastating. Rabbit stew went everywhere! Mercy killing - it turns out that I saved it from a strange, noisy predator, which I shot at, next.

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Animal #2

Bullet:	123 SST
Barrel Length:	16"
Animal Shot:	Tasmanian Devil
Distance Shot:	150, 100, 75, 50, 5 yds
Shot Placement:	Head, Neck, Chest, Legs, Feet
Distance Travelled after shot:	151+ yards
Optional Notes	Was unable to dispatch it, despite putting 5 rounds into it. Made a horrible screeching/spitting noise while spinning like a cyclone. Uttered something about "Rabbit Season" as it tore me up. Doc says I will soon be able to sit without a pillow.

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As a courtesy to those who have PM'd me about making the chart set from the Knock Down Survey thread into a sticky, I am including a copy of the final set of charts in the next post. I cannot make this thread a sticky, but at least the charts will remain at the top of this thread.

[NugginFutz]

As promised.

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Well, I've tallied all the entries, to date, and have come up with what I will submit as my final repost of the charts, plus a couple more that I'd promised to a couple of board members.

First, the charts to bring the series up to date, adding a new game animal (Ram Sheep).


Slide1.jpg


As seen above, the 123 still remains King of the Hill when it comes to sheer popularity and efficacy. We can also see that the majority of the shots are within 300 yards, and the vast majority of shots result in the animals expiring in under 50 yards, with most of those DRT.

Next, the Bullet selection by animal.

Slide2.jpg



Feel free to see what others are using on what animals, and in what numbers. Remember, these are all kills.


Finally, I've added a couple of new charts at the request of a couple of members, illustrating shot distribution by animal and by barrel selection. I was surprised to see just how many people had actually provided barrel lengths and, at 100+ barrels, I feel the sample is now statistically significant. From the looks of the data, the 18" barrel wins the popularity contest. Interestingly, though, the 16's and the 12's have virtually the same reports, but the 12 and under barrels are fairly new. Perhaps revisiting this in the future, we could see just how effective the shorties are, as they become more prevalent.

Slide3.jpg

The distribution by animal chart is presented to show just how effective the Grendel is on various animals, over the reported ranges. It becomes clear to the reader that, while the majority of the shots fall within 300 yards, a very significant number of clean kills are made well beyond.

Conclusion:

At this point, I think that the original purpose of this thread has been well served, and proves the OP's point quite effectively; that the Grendel has "Knock Down" capabilities in abundance.

Thanks to all of you hunters and varminters who've contributed to this survey. Your efforts have enabled us to show that the Grendel is, without question, vastly more than a simple paper-punching, target cartridge.

I don't anticipate providing any further updates and, unless the OP desires to resume caretaker-ship of this survey, any further contributions will likely be uncompiled.

Enjoy!

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The original thread, where these charts originated, can be found here: Knock Down Survey

[Popeye212]

When is the next Taz encounter maybe a 10rd mag this time....if that doesn't work we will try 17rd....... Might consider wearing butt armor this time. Strap on a boat cushion or something. I will add data when I get some hope to go hog hunting soon.

[NugginFutz]

At the urging of some, I have generated a chart based on shot placement. While the request was also made to include missed attempts, neither the OP of the original thread or I intended for this to be a judge of marksmanship. For that reason, as well as the obvious absence of contributions for same, I will not attempt to illustrate missed shots in any chart.

Instead, I have recompiled the information to illustrate the effectiveness of the Grendel, based on reported shot placement. The data set does not include any reports which omitted either shot placement or distance (for obvious reasons).

ShotPlacement.jpg
The order of placement is based on the number of reported animals taken. This means that Chest shots were the predominate shot taken, followed by shoulders, and so on. The greatest distance any game animal reportedly ran was 700 yards, a whitetail deer, which was shot in the chest with a Gold Dot at 75 yards..

Given time, I might assemble another series of charts which factor distance and placement in an attempt to illustrate energy potential at distance, but that becomes more and more an academic exercise. Same goes for choice of bullet.

[Jeepster18_88]

Thanks for taking the time to put this together. IMO, this is the most useful chart and shows that the Grendel performance is very much in line with the other more popular and well documented hunting rounds such as 30-30, 270, and 30'06. Shots in the chest, shoulder and lungs generally result in a short tracking job if any and rarely over 50 yards. I know that it takes a lot of time to go through the thread and extract the information so again, thank you for doing that.

[Jimla]

Thanks for taking the time to put this together. IMO, this is the most useful chart and shows that the Grendel performance is very much in line with the other more popular and well documented hunting rounds such as 30-30, 270, and 30'06. Shots in the chest, shoulder and lungs generally result in a short tracking job if any and rarely over 50 yards. I know that it takes a lot of time to go through the thread and extract the information so again, thank you for doing that.

http://www.dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/deer/articlegad.html

One study data shows low diameter .25 doing much better than larger diameter .30 bullets. No Grendel Hunters in study, but it might show why Grendel may work as well as 30-30, 270, and 30'06.

.243 (6mm) Yards Traveled average 40 (Too low diameter to be effective)
.25 Yards Traveled average 14 (Sweet Spot)
.264 No SC data [Using the data from this Forum: Yards Traveled average 11]
.270 Yards Traveled average 31
.284 Yards Traveled average 26
.30 Yards Traveled average 33

The SC study had an average range shot 127 yards, this forum study 121 yards

[gnumadic]

Bounced over to this thread after looking for last year's knock down survey in which I'd previously shared my first whitetail Grendel kill. Last night I recorded my second.

Bullet: 123 SST (Hornady factory load)
Barrel Length: 18"
Animal Shot: Whitetail deer, male, 4 pt, 2 y/o
Distance Shot: 104 yds
Shot Placement: Shoulder
Distance Traveled After Shot: DRT
Optional Notes: Shot penetrated both lungs, but was high (top 1/3 of chest). Dropped immediately and did not move again. Bullet exited far side about 6" to the rear from the entry wound. I was very thankful for the knock-down, as it was raining and blood tracking would have been difficult.

[1Shot]

Animal #1

Bullet: 120 Speer Gold Dot handload 2550 fps

Barrel: 20" BCA

Animal shot: Deer 120ish lb on the hoof doe

Distance shot: 111 yards

Shot placement: Center of chest as the deer faced me

Distance traveled
after shot: Straight down DRT

Optional notes: The chest cavity looked like a weed eater had been turned loose in it. Tremendous hydrostatic effect.
No sign of any bullet fragmentation. Two ribs on one side and three on the other were broken with tissue between
shredded. Scapula on right side broken into horizontally allowing leg of flop. Bullet penetrated about 20 inches and exited
the belly with a thumb size hole.

Animal #2

Bullet: 120 Sierra Pro Hunter hand load 2550 fps

Barrel: 18" Oden Works

Animal shot: Deer 120ish lb doe

Distance shot: 60 yards

Shot placement: Top 1/4 of center of front shoulder.

Distance traveled
after shot: Straight down DRT

Optional notes: Bullet penetrated scapula and destroyed two vertebra of spine and penetrated offside scapula but did not exit the
hide. I did not explore wound or go into the chest because I was in a hurry, did a gutless butchering.

[Stinky Coyote]

Sept 2020
Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep - non-trophy tag (ewe)
Ruger American Ranch 16.1" barrel
Hornady Black 123gr eld-m
8300' elevation
170 yards
Impact velocity 2130 fps (muzzle is 2386 fps)
Broadside, tip over backwards DRT, offside shoulder mostly unsalvageable. Small entrance/exit.
Just not much of a test, easy pass through.

My 12 yr old son took his first Nov 2019
4x4 alberta whitetail buck
20" howa lightweight
Hornady Black (2480-2500 fps muzzle velocity)
238 yards, high shoulder
DRT
Another easy pass through

[MarkS]

September 2020

Bullet: 100gn Barnes TTSX, hand load
Barrel Length: 12.5"
Animal Shot: Axis deer, male, 200 lbs
Distance Shot: 115 yds
Shot Placement: mid-chest, quartering away
Distance Traveled After Shot: DRT
Optional Notes: Recovered bullet in skin of opposite shoulder. Perfect petaling and weighed 99.7gn. Heart and lungs were the consistency of soup. Also, this deer was very tasty.

[6.5 Grendel]

August 2020
Animal #1
Bullet: 120 PPU BTHP
Barrel Length: 20" BHW
Animal Shot: Black bear
Distance Shot: 151 yds
Shot Placement: High shoulder
Distance Travelled after shot: DRT
Optional Notes: Results complete pass through with great blood loss.



Animal #2
Bullet: 120 PPU BTHP
Barrel Length: 20" BHW
Animal Shot: Black bear
Distance Shot: 15yds
Shot Placement: Center of chests bear was standing up
Distance Travelled after shot: DRT
Optional Notes: Complete pass through devising the insides. Packing out a bear by yourself with a broken collarbone was not fun.

[doofus65]

Oct. 2020
Pronghorn buck
300 yards by laser range
18" barrel GrendelHunter upper.
Underwood Ammo
110g Lehigh controlled Chaos
Buck was facing me when shot. Hit in the neck. Fell on the spot. No bullet reovered.

[runner gunner]

Oct 13 2020
Whitetail buck estimated 140#
92 yards
12.5" Monster barrel
110 Controlled Chaos handloads
Quartering away, shot placed about 6" behind onside shoulder. Full pass through, broke off side shoulder, deer ran 20 yards.

[SCRhino]

October 15, 2020
Whitetail doe 81#
100yds approximately
16.5 monster barrel (psa upper and lower)
Hornady black 123 eld-m
Broadside tight and low to the front shoulder she kicked the back legs high ran 4 bounds and piled up 20 yards max. It was a full passthrough and no necrosopy due to the butcher shop being busy.

[Texcl2]