I'm going to be handgun hunting big bodied Mule deer & hogs with a 14" 6.5 Grendel barrel on my contender. I know the 120gr Nosler BT will work fine on deer out to 300 yrds (I've seen a big Mulie dropped in its tracks from a 6.5 TCU in a contender at 267 yrds). Has anyone used the heavier bullets on bigger game in their 14.5" AR carbines? Specifically I'm looking for how the 130 Swift Sc, 120gr Barnes, 129gr Hornady loads (as loaded by Alexander Arms) perform at the lower velocities obtained from the stubby AR's. My 6.5 contender will duplicate the velocity from these short barreled AR's. Also, what about max effective range with the shorter barrels using the heavier bullets?
Thank you - yeah, I've practically memorized all the data on AA's website. I wish they would add the Swift & Barnes loads to their ballistic data chart.
Tan man: Just a suggestion but you might want to call Bill A. at AA and talk to him about it.
He's done so much testing he may have the numbers even though they aren't published.
He's always been very willing to talk any time I've called and he's been there.
You might want to give it a try.
Good Luck.
Lee
A couple of years ago I shot 2 small (maybe 110 lbs) does with the AR Grendel with the 14" (plus flash hider) barrel. Load was 129gr Hornady SPIRE POINT and if remember right about 29.6 gr of BLC (2). I have no idea of velocity but range was 150-175 yards. Chest shots they went right down. Did the same with a 135 lb buck. A frontal chest shot 175-200 yards and a Swift 130gr Scilrroco. bullet did pentrate through heart.The buck ran 50-60 yards and the bullet recovered from flank skin. It had opened up and if memory serve weighed between 90 and 100 grains. Please keep us informed of your work with the 14" encore.
So if I am reading all that right there really is not a whole lot of difference between 16" and 19.5. Not enough anyways to warrant the extra length hunting, the 16 will be easier in the brush. Anything over 400 is just not a good idea in my book, I like to stay in 300.
