Elk with the Grendel

[Ed janowicz]

One of my buddies in Utah said he saw a guy last year take a Cow Elk at 300 yds with a Grendel. Seems on the light side anyone else have a experience with Elk with this cartridge. ED

[Variable]

Mark Larue took a Bull Elk at over 400 yards with one.

[JohnOD]

I don't have any Elk hunting experience with the Grendel but with good shot placement it would do the job. So would a 223 Rem with the right bullet. IMHO its hard to justify the Grendel as an Elk hunting cartridge .

[mongoosesnipe]

Shooting animals at great distances relative to a given cartridge and game animal requires shot placement over anything else as often the energy shokwave generated at impact is so much less that said if you punch a 1/4-1/2 inch hole in an animals heart or lungs and it will die but as range increases hitting that shot window becomes more difficult

[bwaites]

Ethical hunting practices are an individual issue. The Grendel at 400 yards has a significantly greater energy delivery than any bow does, but bow hunters take thousands of animals ethically every year. Elk, Bison, and hogs are all taken with air guns every year, and they have significantly less energy than the Grendel does, too. Heck, air guns have taken Cape buffalo as well.

Of course, shot placement is critical, but todays bullets, if properly chosen, will drop animals. Properly chosen bullets won't blow up on contact, they will penetrate and do tremendous damage.

[mongoosesnipe]

The archery example is only partially analogous as many bows when shooting broad heads will out penitrate a 30-06 at the muzzle my bow has less kinetic energy than a 22 lr but I have yet to not fully penitrate and pass through a white tail though when hunting with a rifle at extended ranges the technique of shot placement becomes the same yo have to cause direct damage to a vital organ or blood vessel in order to insure a clean kill

[fanofflyn]

I know in Africa they throw kinetic energy (weight of projectile x velocity squared) out the window, and better utilize momentum (weight of projectile x velocity) which better correlates with penetration, which is what is important there. Bullet construction of course is critical and can make or break the difference. For example, you can take a .22 LR and theoretically run it at 6000 fps, and it will have the same kinetic energy as a .500 Jeffery shooting a 530 grain bullet. Which one would you want to shoot the elephant with? Bullet weight x velocity changes the character of the argument significantly hence the effectiveness of the bow where the projectile weight times the velocity is a significant value. With the Grendel, and a good bullet that retains all of its weight, and a good velocity, it can get the job done, but just as in the bow, shot placement is critical. So it boils down to, how good of a shot can you make at distance, with the wind on this side of the valley different from the wind on the other side of the valley. If you can make a killing shot, go for it. If you're not sure, wait for a better opportunity.
The genius of Weatherby was magnificent, but the philosopy of "velocity is what kills" is not absolute, and requires consideration commensurate with the task at hand.

[Ed janowicz]

Ethical hunting practices are an individual issue. The Grendel at 400 yards has a significantly greater energy delivery than any bow does, but bow hunters take thousands of animals ethically every year. Elk, Bison, and hogs are all taken with air guns every year, and they have significantly less energy than the Grendel does, too. Heck, air guns have taken Cape buffalo as well.

Of course, shot placement is critical, but todays bullets, if properly chosen, will drop animals. Properly chosen bullets won't blow up on contact, they will penetrate and do tremendous damage.

Yes good point I have taken over 75 hogs with a bow 12 blacktail out to 71 yds but a arrow makes a heck of a hole completley different wound channel and the bleeding is UFR. As always thanks for input. ED

[LRRPF52]

There are threads with pics here in the hunting section of forum members who have dropped a few elk without issue.

[MKN574]

It worked for me. Just use a quality bullet and know your capabilities. Shot placement is everything. Don't try and reach the lungs or heart through the butt and you will be fine! I personally felt my gun and myself were capable out to the 200 to 300 yard range.

[Tikka]

To bwaites point:

What's more lethal a hole in the heart caused by an arrow or a hole in the heart caused by a bullet. Pick the shot that allows you to put a hole in the heart.

[stokesrj]

Is the Grendel the ideal elk cartridge, no, will it do the job, certainly, and with room to spare. I've posted this video on this site before, it is bull elk shot at 600 yards with a 129 grain Hornady SST. In this case it is fired from a 6.5 Creedmoor which would be the same impact velocity of the Grendel firing the same bullet at 450 yards. The elk doesn't go down right there, but it goes down quickly, I've seen lung shot elk behave the same way when shot with a .375 H&H. It is typical that they run, but as their blood pressure drops they loose orientation and begin to turn into a J shaped path or even circle. We call that running the J and know they are going down very soon.
Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2COAcHZRlI

Bob

[LRRPF52]

I love that video. With some of the velocities guys are getting with CFE223 and the 129gr SST out of the Grendel, like Bwild97's data shows, we're extending the effective range of the Grendel a bit, but that is from a 24" rifle too.

I'm going to load up some 129 SST's on top of CFE223 when I get back, and see what it does out of my little 16" Grendel. Combined with a PRI 6.8 mag, I think we're looking at a winner.

Update: When I measured my max COAL in my existing Grendel mags, I found that I can load to over 2.300", so no need for 6.8 mags from PRI. No need for the 129gr SST either now that we have the 123gr SST on the way.

[Schwag173]

The bull I took with a lung shot would have just as easily been taken with a Grendel. I waited 5 minutes as he showed me his back, grazing vertically up a hillside across from me. Though I was prepared, equipped and capable for a spine-shot, I chose to wait for a better shot. When he finally turned, I put a Sierra 165 through his lungs at 361 yards with a 7mm Weatherby Mag. For me, here lies the Grendel question: If I'm a conservative shot-taker anyway, why not carry a Grendel? My answer so far is 'comfort zone.' Now, if I'm out deer hunting with a Grendel ... see a decent shot on a beautiful bull ... and have an elk tag ... yes.

[Colorado]

With the right bullet, I would not hesitate to harvest a cow elk inside of 300m (my comfort zone for hunting). I might think twice before trying it on a big bull though.