Doctrine and why the Grendel has an uphill battle.

[SHORT-N-SASSY]

Re the .222 Remington family as "Varmint" cartridges. From my personal experiences:

Back in the 1960's, I helped dairy farmers in the Connecticut hinterlands rid their farms of the eastern woodchuck. I initally used the Remington Model 722 in both the .222 Remington and the .222 Remington Magnum cartridges to good effect (read: humane kills), up to approx. 250 yards ---


Unfortunately, with the exception of a one-shot kill (to the head), at just over 400yards, I found that body hits, over 250 yards, often resulted in chucks making it to their dens. I tried the .220 Swift, with some improvement. I then switched to the 6mm Remington, and never looked back: consistent one-shot kills.

In the 1970's, I continued to use the 6mm Remington cartridge in Colorado: A Remington Model 660, in 6mm Remington, for Mule Deer; A Bullpup'ed Remington Model 40-XB, in 6mm Remington, on "Timberline Grizzlies", for one-shot kills to well over 500 yards ---


In retrospect: Today's 6.5mm Grendel would have been my cartridge of choice, for those favorite haunts.