11-01-2011, 05:02 AM
I would think about how you like to hunt and would not rule out other bolt gun calibers if you dont already own the rifle. The 243 is probably the greatest long range varmit / deer/ pronghorn round out there in terms of popularity. If you love to varmit hunt and shoot smallish deer at long ranges with little recoil the 243 is a great gun, your odds of a wounded animal that may or may not be recoevered are higher with a 243 than another hunting bolt gun round like the 270 win, 270wsm, 7mm remington mag and other flat shooting calibers. I think 243 is the minimum calber i would hunt deer with, I would prefer more diameter in my bullets for a primary deer gun, some may disagree, but when i see a monster buck, I want at least 6.5 caliber....
If you do alot of long range varmiting then a grendel or an ar in 223 or 204 would be good for fast follow up shots, but i would only shoot deer with the 6.5 grendel.
bolt guns are lighter. if you spend alot of the hunt on the foot the extra couple pounds of an ar can add up, but if you have a heavy barrel bolt gun they weight about the same as an ar.
ar offers faster follow up shots, anytime I shoot a trophy animal I always shoot it twice. I lost one nice deer that went down to a 308 and i started to celebrate and it ran 500 yards off fast! you only have to have that happen to you once to always rember to shoot trophies twice, wether you use a bolt, a single shot or a semi auto.
If you use a laser range finder and a mil dot scope you wont find much difference in the trajectories of the two calibers once you get past the longer point blank range of the 243. the nice thing about the 243 is you can get about a 350 yard point blank range with a deer bullet, where you sight it 3 inches high at 100 and it is still less than 8 inches low at 380 or so. the grendel is going to give you less point blank range perhaps or 325 yards.
think about what you will do the most with the gun and get the one that fits your nees the best, and dont be stuck on either caliber 243 or 6.5 grendel, get the right caliber in the right gun for the right job.
If you do alot of long range varmiting then a grendel or an ar in 223 or 204 would be good for fast follow up shots, but i would only shoot deer with the 6.5 grendel.
bolt guns are lighter. if you spend alot of the hunt on the foot the extra couple pounds of an ar can add up, but if you have a heavy barrel bolt gun they weight about the same as an ar.
ar offers faster follow up shots, anytime I shoot a trophy animal I always shoot it twice. I lost one nice deer that went down to a 308 and i started to celebrate and it ran 500 yards off fast! you only have to have that happen to you once to always rember to shoot trophies twice, wether you use a bolt, a single shot or a semi auto.
If you use a laser range finder and a mil dot scope you wont find much difference in the trajectories of the two calibers once you get past the longer point blank range of the 243. the nice thing about the 243 is you can get about a 350 yard point blank range with a deer bullet, where you sight it 3 inches high at 100 and it is still less than 8 inches low at 380 or so. the grendel is going to give you less point blank range perhaps or 325 yards.
think about what you will do the most with the gun and get the one that fits your nees the best, and dont be stuck on either caliber 243 or 6.5 grendel, get the right caliber in the right gun for the right job.