6.5 Grendel versus 6mm ARC for whitetail

[tdbru]

one thing that I think doesn't get mentioned enough is bullet placement and running in parallel to that understanding game anatomy. I remember reading, though I don't remember the author so can't give proper credit here, that there were 5 items to successful killing of game animals. the first three were bullet placement. 4th and 5th were using the right bullet for the job and using enough cartridge for the job. deer, elk, antelope, caribou, coyotes, hogs, etc. have been shot at with a huge variety of cartridge/bullet combinations, all with varying degrees of results. What rarely gets mentioned in the scenario where the game animal runs off after the shot is "where did the bullet hit?"

one thing I have found, that goes with bullet placement, is rifle/shooter accuracy capability. If you and your rifle can only shoot to 4 MOA, then getting bullet placement where you want it is going to be tough much past powder burn on the hide ranges. So always work for a load, either factory or handload, that you can shoot with accuracy and precision. Your ability to do the shot placement where it'll count will go way up. And if you can put the bullet exactly where you want it to go, and know where on the critter that should be, you can get away with killing all sorts of game with pretty small calibers/cartridges. Conversely hitting a bull in the butt with a 338 WM will likely result in unrecovered game.

all you folks who continue to report game harvests with the Grendel can put the bullet in the right spot. well done.

-tdbru