Elk hunting with a grendel

[justinspicher]

[grayfox]

I developed loads for my 20" howa HB and took it out a few years ago to a CO elk hunt. I had some 129 ablr's under CFE that shot ~2440 MV. With that load for a cow elk I felt I could go 300 yds at those elev's, the Ablr opens up down to 1300 ft/s, but I was mindful of the KE needed at impact. You'll want to figure out if there's enough knockdown for your purposes in a 16" barrel. There's a vid of a teenager taking a bull elk at 392 yds, she put 3 bullets in him from a 22" barreled AR frame. Obviously a very good shot for a youngster.

Truth be told I'd look at using a longer barrel to get more ooomph for your bullet.
The recoil is way-y-y less than a 270. I even use a muzzle brake so I can better see my shot downrange.
There are some guys who have taken some elk on here, maybe they will chime in. I did not get a shot off, didn't see anything that trip.

[justinspicher]

[tdbru]

JS,
one of the limiters you need to try and figure out is at what impact velocity is bullet expansion and penetration marginal. and then limit your shots to that distance or less, regardless of whether or not you can hit a fly at twice that distance. this of course will change with different bullet choices. and you also might think about penetration/expansion on less than broad side shot presentations vs distance from target.

when i lived in AZ and was cow elk hunting with my Dad who was visiting, we ran into a husband / wife where wife had a cow tag. he'd asked if we saw a wounded cow come by. i guess the 2nd one she's wounded. she was using a 243 Win because it didn't kick. no idea about shot placement but he held up a chunk of bone that she'd blown off of some part of the elk anatomy.

so,my conclusion from that was, and i thought this to myself, if you are going to shoot tiny calibers for the size of game you're after, you better be able to precisely place the bullet, and be willing to hold your shot if the situation isn't what you consider good enough to recover the animal.

i helped my friend Bill track a cow he'd marginally hit with a 30-06 with 180s for over a mile and a half, and he had to shoot it 2 more times when it would get up and run when we got close.

so caliber is no guarantee either. shot placement rules. that and having enough impact velocity and bullet momentum to do enough damage to vital organs to cause death fast enough that you can recover the game animal.

elk can go a surprisingly long way before they die. i had a cow elk run 3/4 of a mile with two 180 gr. thirty caliber bullets through the forward lungs and major blood vessels. i missed the heart by a few inches. recovered the bullets, they looked like text book advertising copy.

so pick you bullets, and your shots carefully. do both and you'll be good to go.
sorry for the long windedness.
-tdbru

[justinspicher]

[Bigs28]

Mark larue killed an elk at 400 yards to with a grendel. I don't remember his barrel length though.

[FLshooter]

[Bigs28]

100g arrows take down elk np

[grayfox]

100g arrows take down elk np

Because they cut a lot going thru and cause a lot of bleeding/ blood loss.

So for a 129, it needs to be able to do a similar thing since it probably is not going to generate a hydrostatic shock/kill.
In that 129 class, an Ablr above, o say, 2100 so it opens well and/or has 1300 ft-lb of energy (ie, cow elk) so as to do internal damage for blood loss, ok.
Or maybe the 127 lrx although above whatever impact V it would need...
tough penetrating bullets that can cause enough internal damage...

but for this and a cow elk you're looking at maybe a 250 yd shot max.

I think could be sufficient.
My 2 cents'.

[kmon]

I have only killed 5 elk and they were all with larger cartridges. On hunts where I had 6 days to hunt and spending thousands of dollars for those hunts I did not want to not be using enough gun. I have also seen several other elk taken and have a few observations

First shot is very important, make a good shot heart or double lung with a good hunting bullet and elk die fairly easily and quickly. Of my 5 elk I would say only one would not have been as successful with a Grendel and that was taking the offered shot for the only chance I got, 300 Weatherby with Barnes bullet was plenty though. My other elk were heart or double lung shots from 150 to 250 yards and none of them went over 50 yards with 7mmSTW, 350 Remington Mag, 6.5-284 and 257 WBY all using partition or Accubond bullets. Seems the hunts where I used a new to me rifle I got an elk, when I took a rifle for a second elk hunt I got not shots at elk.

Watched one elk shot frontal and btu partition from a 300 win only got the top od one lung, that one was still alive when found 45 minutes later 3/4 mile from where shot. I have watched shots and help track elk shot with 7mm RM, 300 Win, 338 Win Mag, 270 ahd 30-06. Something in common with all the longer tracking jobs had in common were one or more poor poorly placed shots. Give an elk the chance to get the adrenaline going and they can and will go remarkable distances. The 338 Win Mag tracking job first shot gut Swcond back of one lung and guts. That bull went over a mile and thank got for good snow to track and find it still alive but very sic.

Bottom line observation put that first shot in the vitals for hear or both lungs and get ready for the work to begin.

I would have no problem hunting elk with the Grendel and the bullet Greyfox mentioned or some others, but would hunt and if the shot was not right I would not take it. I would be more apt to hunt elk with the Grendel if I was local and had longer than a few days for the hunt. There have been elk posted in the past on here taken with 123gr SST and 125gr partitions that I remember. I would not have a second though about using the 125gr partition but think it or the 129gr LRAB would be better choices than the 123SST.

For me I would hunt and wait for that broadside or quartering slightly away shot for getting double lungs and keep the shots inside 250 yards and enjoy the hunt.

Just my thoughts others may think differently.

[justinspicher]

[FLshooter]

I have only killed 5 elk and they were all with larger cartridges. On hunts where I had 6 days to hunt and spending thousands of dollars for those hunts I did not want to not be using enough gun. I have also seen several other elk taken and have a few observations

First shot is very important, make a good shot heart or double lung with a good hunting bullet and elk die fairly easily and quickly. Of my 5 elk I would say only one would not have been as successful with a Grendel and that was taking the offered shot for the only chance I got, 300 Weatherby with Barnes bullet was plenty though. My other elk were heart or double lung shots from 150 to 250 yards and none of them went over 50 yards with 7mmSTW, 350 Remington Mag, 6.5-284 and 257 WBY all using partition or Accubond bullets. Seems the hunts where I used a new to me rifle I got an elk, when I took a rifle for a second elk hunt I got not shots at elk.

Watched one elk shot frontal and btu partition from a 300 win only got the top od one lung, that one was still alive when found 45 minutes later 3/4 mile from where shot. I have watched shots and help track elk shot with 7mm RM, 300 Win, 338 Win Mag, 270 ahd 30-06. Something in common with all the longer tracking jobs had in common were one or more poor poorly placed shots. Give an elk the chance to get the adrenaline going and they can and will go remarkable distances. The 338 Win Mag tracking job first shot gut Swcond back of one lung and guts. That bull went over a mile and thank got for good snow to track and find it still alive but very sic.

Bottom line observation put that first shot in the vitals for hear or both lungs and get ready for the work to begin.

I would have no problem hunting elk with the Grendel and the bullet Greyfox mentioned or some others, but would hunt and if the shot was not right I would not take it. I would be more apt to hunt elk with the Grendel if I was local and had longer than a few days for the hunt. There have been elk posted in the past on here taken with 123gr SST and 125gr partitions that I remember. I would not have a second though about using the 125gr partition but think it or the 129gr LRAB would be better choices than the 123SST.

For me I would hunt and wait for that broadside or quartering slightly away shot for getting double lungs and keep the shots inside 250 yards and enjoy the hunt.

Just my thoughts others may think differently.

[tdbru]

i think a 22LR has been used on every beast on the planet at one time or other. with various degrees of success. when i have used, in the past, any statements that begin with always or never, i seem to have to eat my words sooner or later.

regardless of cartridge power, of the 5 most important attributes to successfully taking game animals, i think the first three are the same. shot placement. this seems to trump other variables by quite a ways. but it is not the only thing either or we'd all be hunting everything with a 22LR because they are so easy to shoot well, due to low noise, low recoil, and being cheap enough to enable a lot of practicing. obviously over a century of experience tells us there are better choices for big game than a 22LR.

pursuant to shooting elk with the 6.5 Grendel, if you pick a bullet that will reliably destroy the cardiopulmonary system, meaning enough impact velocity to expand and enough bullet integrity to penetrate deeply enough to do that, you should have no issue if you place that bullet in the proper location.

if you're disciplined enough to get to a location (distance) where you know you can meet these requirement with what you have and can place the bullet where it needs to go, then you're good to go.

if i recall, the north american record for grizzly bear was taken by a native indian up in canada with a single shot 22 rifle shooting 22 Longs. she hid until the bear was close enough and she put the bullet in the exact spot it needed to go (through the skull and into the brain behind the eye). not what i'd choose to hunt ursus arctos, but you use what you have available.

we each have to make these decisions and regardless of what i think, or anyone else, in the end, it's up to you. learn what you need to learn and then make your choices.
-tdbru

[bruceleroy]

129 ABLR on elk all day under 400 yards. If you can get 2425 fps and are shooting around 7500 ft asl you still have 1862 fps and 993 ft/lbs at 500. This is more than adequate as long as your placement is too.

[Warlock]

Maybe consider using the Nosler 125gn Partition going as fast as you can get it going accurately.

I believe a partition would be more likely to give you two holes for blood to drain than the LRAB.

I'm guessing about that and have no scientific proof. I loaned my 257Rob to my friends 12y/o son to elk hunt with and the 120grn 25 caliber Partition killed that elk nicely and passed through no problem.