6.5G vs .243win for Deer?

[hm2 clark]

I will do some range work this weekend and see what works. My fear is that the casting materal fills my r palm so "going south paw" will prevent me from gripping the forstock with my casted hand.Maybe just ballancingeye will work. We will see,

[Grizzz]

The last 4 years i took 4 deer with my 19.5" 6.5 Grendel. The first year i used the 6.5 Grendel i took a 4X5 blacktail at 165yds. 129gr. SST Hornaday. / 2nd. deer 3X3 blacktail at 35yds. same bullit. / 3rd. deer forked horn mule deer at 20yds. same bullit. / This year forked horn mule deer, running at 45yds. using 123gr. Hornaday V-Max. All shots were in & out with lots of blood. I have had good luck with my 6.5 Grendel & love this rifle even if a little heavy. Haven't shot any of my other rifle's since i got my Grendel.

[Brodady]

I just recently built a Grendel that I plan on using for hunting wt here in Oklahoma. I used to be in love with .243 because of velocity and BC. That was until I realized there were so many more rounds that outperformed .243. The other reason being about 10 yrs ago I decided to hunt with one. It was a nice rem (model eludes me). Any ways I'm sitting in my blind and out comes a nice 11pt. He quarters away and I fire. The buck never flinched. He did however flag me and run. Looked like an injured run so I waited a bit and then comensed to tracking. This was all done by track tracking due to no blood trail. About 300yds into tracking I find him grazing. I fire again at the same spot I thought my first shot was. He merely looks at me like I'm stupid, and continues to graze. I fire again and this time he runs again. Still no blood trail. After about another hr of tracking I find him dead against a blackjack. At this point I am utterly confused. As soon as I get him field dressed lo and behold there are 3 entry wounds just behind shoulder and 3 exits. Heart and lungs both had been shot but were completely intact. The buck died from internal hemoraging. He was not shot with fmjs either before anyone asks. All I ever shot out of it was soft points. I know people who use nothing but .243 for wt but from that year one I have forever sworn off .243 to hunt with.
Sorry for this being so long but I wanted to get my horror story out there for you.

Wow, that's a very interesting story. A good reason to go with the Grendel

-Brodady

[smokey27]

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.

[six_five]

Killed a really nice 200lb 8pt this morning in northern Minnesota at 123yrds. 16" barrel with Barnes 120gr TTSX leaving at about 2400fps. DRT. Bullet choice is huge and a 243Win with the right bullet could do the same but with zero style and no one would care. Go Grendel dude!

[six_five]

Oh and its awesome for wild hog! Light, quick, lethal, perfect.

[dpw4x4]

I have a t/c Encore that is a 6.5 grendel.The barrel made by mgm and it works great on deer short light and handles quick

[Smoke]

There have been numerous deer fall to my 6MM, a 243, and in the last 2 years a grendel ....
The biggest reason I switched from the 6MM or the 243 was the 120 Gr bullet from the 6.5, I felt, gave me a better chance of dropping a deer in its tracks if I had a angle shot and hit the front shoulder ( more energy). Plus the flatter trajectory is a bonus in missed judged distances..
Another bonus is the boom is not as ear piercing so now I hear the hit on the deer as well (200+ yd shots) ..
Have been extremely pleased in the switch and dont see me ever going back..
Thanks
Smoke

[JASmith]

Smoke,

What barrel length are you using in your Grendel?

[Smoke]

I have an 18" AA barrel
using 30.0 grns of 748 pushing a Nosler 120 ballistic tip ..
So far not one deer has run off Other than a 20 MPH 90 degree wind shot ( i forgot to compensate like a BIG dummy) and she only went about 40-50 yds ..
Thanks

[JASmith]

Thanks about the info -- I'm trying to get a read on how low a velocity some of the deer bullets will actually perform as intended. Nosler indicates 1800 ft/sec as the lowest recommended impact velocity and it would be interesting to see if that is consistent with folks' experience in the Grendel and the .243 Winchester.

What was the longest range you used? Were you able to recover the bullet?

[Smoke]

437 yds (laser range finder confirmed) 120 grn BT performed beautifully ..30.0 grns of 748 so its not a hot load at all
several at 200 to 250 yds again all performed well
197 yds up the tail pipe .. bullet stopped in skin under the neck 74% retained weight

Thanks
Smoke

[JASmith]

Good info, thanks!

Was the 437 shot a through and through?

[Smoke]

yes All the way thru.. deer did not go 10 feet .. actually went down got up ..loped about 2 to 3 steps and hit the ground again

Thanks

Smoke

[JASmith]

Darn! No bullet to look at. I was hoping to see how much it might have expanded.

How large was the exit wound? Was it regular or elongated?

[Smoke]

I would say close to dime size round hole..

[Smoke]

Putting it another way .. After seeing the damage I would try that shot again with a good front rest..My only concern would be do i have enough energy to break a front shoulder if I was off a little in shot placement

Thanks
Smoke

[JASmith]

I used the Alexander Arms load of 30.0 gr Win 748 and the 120 gr Berger Match Tactical (V=2525 ft/sec) to estimate your muzzle velocity with the 120 gr Nosler Partition and 30.8 gr of W748 and an 18" barrel to be right at 2470 ft/sec. JBM calculations indicate that we get just above 1700 ft/sec at 437 yards.

That is very close to Nosler's recommended 1800 ft/sec for reliable expansion. Your observation of a round dime-size exit wound indicates that there was still some expansion and that Nosler (probably wisely) may a bit conservative in their guidles. Hard to tell with just one shot, however.

The Hornady HITS score is just a bit above 501 at this velocity, indicating that it just meets their suggested criterion for standard construction bullets in non-dangerous game weighing up to 300 lbs. This would indicate that the penetration potential is still pretty good.

The effects on the deer speak for the effectiveness in this event.