Best bullet on hand for whitetail deer with a grendel

[Dt219]

100gr Nosler ballistic tip, 120gr Sierra pro hunter, 123gr sst, or a 123gr eldm. Who would recommend what ? Killled a buck yesterday using 123sst at 40yds. The bullet did not exit he ran only 20yds.

[HKGuns]

I've used SST's on deer with tremendous effectiveness in other calibers. My choice of those would be SST 1st, ELDm 2nd.

[grayfox]

It's more of a bullet+powder combination for what you seek.
Any of those with appropriate powder and load development, will do the trick.
I must admit that this last hunt I was on, I used a 123 sst on a spike buck, slight quartering away, 120 yds, and hit him but lost in the woods due to poor blood trail (single hole, no exit). Just me, b/c others have used it successfully. But I'm leaning away from the sst for me, for now.

[keystone183]

I have killed countless deer with the 123eldm, and the amax before it out of 12.5" barrels. I use that bullet because 95% of them i shoot in the neck, and need something that fragments quickly and dumps energy. The SST does not do that, at least in my experience in that length barrel. The few that have been body shots have almost all been very effective as well. Most have been pass through, or near pass thru. Most distances on all shots have been under 150 yards.

This is to say nothing of the scores of pigs i have taken with same combo. This has been on all manner of shots and sizes. Rarely does one get out of sight that has been hit with a well placed (not on the run or thu heavy brush) shot.

Just my .02!

[ported45]

120 ProHunter

[Stinky Coyote]

eld-m fan here, haven't tried anything else to compare in a Grendel, I like frangible (match) construction on low to moderate velocity rigs, things seem to go down quicker, these 123's have SD for days so penetration depths not an issue for class 2 size game, so I like it when they dump lots of good inside as they go

I'm getting shorter recoveries with the Grendel eld-m combo than .270 win with 140 gr accubonds or 270 ism with 140 gr accubonds, I've been way overkill for a long time I think.

[Dt219]

It was a well placed shot. And the bullet did stop just beneath the skin on opposite side. But I was expecting it to pile on through

[CavityBackBullets]

We still have not seen a bullet for the Grendel that outperforms a Cavity Back Bullets MKZ.
Double Naught Spy can contest to their effectiveness over the SST.
An ELD-M cant compete with it either.
A 2.5x caliber expansion monolithic that will dump its energy and give you a blood trail.
Both the 105 grain and 118 grain are very popular in the Grendel outside this forum.
They are the only bullet your own milk jug challenge master will use on game from his Grendel.

[keystone183]

We still have not seen a bullet for the Grendel that outperforms a Cavity Back Bullets MKZ.
Double Naught Spy can contest to their effectiveness over the SST.
An ELD-M cant compete with it either.
A 2.5x caliber expansion monolithic that will dump its energy and give you a blood trail.
Both the 105 grain and 118 grain are very popular in the Grendel outside this forum.
They are the only bullet your own milk jug challenge master will use on game from his Grendel.

Had two boxes show up about a week ago. Looking forward to seeing results. Slightly concerned about how they will preform in neck shots that don't catch a bone, but we shall see!

[Kosh65]

Anxiously awaiting for the 118’s I ordered to come. I believe that they are gonna be the ticket.

[Stinky Coyote]

We still have not seen a bullet for the Grendel that outperforms a Cavity Back Bullets MKZ.
Double Naught Spy can contest to their effectiveness over the SST.
An ELD-M cant compete with it either.
A 2.5x caliber expansion monolithic that will dump its energy and give you a blood trail.
Both the 105 grain and 118 grain are very popular in the Grendel outside this forum.
They are the only bullet your own milk jug challenge master will use on game from his Grendel.

barnes has a 115 gr ttsx tac-tx supposedly opens down to 1400, appeals as mono and for reloaders even though you can get the factory ammo I find it's too slow, crimped, bullet seated short as compared to the Hornady so it seems like they really worried about semi-auto set-up, reloaders should be able to push the 115 faster than the factory and seat it further out a bit, anyway I digress, I've been watching for reports and tests on the 115 which is not to be confused with the other barnes 6.5 offerings which are way tougher design for the typical high speed cartridges...only the 115 is supposed to be for the short barrel AR style speeds, so I am imagining it will compete with your bullets once we see some recovered slugs and gel tests

for those of us who don't reload you can get the barnes mono 115's in factory ammo for the lead free places or if that's your choice, it's tough to beat the factory hornady black ammo, the high bc/sd lets it stretch it's legs where the bullets with lesser legs lose that efficiency, with only 30 grains of powder to play with there's something to be said for those 123's and maximizing range potentials, for 300 yard or less hunters then copper away, I just dialled up a fat Alberta Whitetail Doe at 420 yards with a 16" barrel bolt action and on quartering away shot entered mid ribs and after 15" penetration exited with a 1.5" hole out the opposite inside front shoulder/neck and destroyed everything above the heart, not sure I'd be dialing up a copper that far?, I still had 1800 fps with a 2386 fps launch, she went down right there, I have a hard time going backwards on sd/bc with this cartridge, brain doesn't want to accept giving up any inches on the 123's, the 118gr you have looks pretty good, long though, I'd likely have a look if I reloaded

[grendelnubi]

You can expect the 123 sst to fragment at the range you shot your deer. FPS will determine how much. Out of those you listed I would look at the 120 pro hunter. I believe it is a bonded projectile which should limit fragmentation and give you better odds of an exit wound. Any of them should work however. We would really need a lot more details like MV and distances you would expect a shot to occur to give a more precise recommendation.

[Dt219]

I hate my chronograph, although it does well to give velocity, it’s a low charge but I was running out of time to get a load ready for season. 28.7gr of Shooters world match rifle Grouped them 3/4 several times so I went with it. 20in barrel.

[Stugotz]

You won't go wrong with the Hornady 123gr SST.

[CavityBackBullets]

barnes has a 115 gr ttsx tac-tx supposedly opens down to 1400, appeals as mono and for reloaders even though you can get the factory ammo I find it's too slow, crimped, bullet seated short as compared to the Hornady so it seems like they really worried about semi-auto set-up, reloaders should be able to push the 115 faster than the factory and seat it further out a bit, anyway I digress, I've been watching for reports and tests on the 115 which is not to be confused with the other barnes 6.5 offerings which are way tougher design for the typical high speed cartridges...only the 115 is supposed to be for the short barrel AR style speeds, so I am imagining it will compete with your bullets once we see some recovered slugs and gel tests

for those of us who don't reload you can get the barnes mono 115's in factory ammo for the lead free places or if that's your choice, it's tough to beat the factory hornady black ammo, the high bc/sd lets it stretch it's legs where the bullets with lesser legs lose that efficiency, with only 30 grains of powder to play with there's something to be said for those 123's and maximizing range potentials, for 300 yard or less hunters then copper away, I just dialled up a fat Alberta Whitetail Doe at 420 yards with a 16" barrel bolt action and on quartering away shot entered mid ribs and after 15" penetration exited with a 1.5" hole out the opposite inside front shoulder/neck and destroyed everything above the heart, not sure I'd be dialing up a copper that far?, I still had 1800 fps with a 2386 fps launch, she went down right there, I have a hard time going backwards on sd/bc with this cartridge, brain doesn't want to accept giving up any inches on the 123's, the 118gr you have looks pretty good, long though, I'd likely have a look if I reloaded

We make loaded ammo in both the 118 grain and 105 grain.
Both out of stock currently however in production right now.
Barnes TTSX bullets do not open as reliably or as big as the CBB's do.
CBB is a CNC milled bullet. A Barnes is a swaged into a mold.
The length of the 118 isnt an issue. It has to do with how the cavity effects both pressure and initial movement of the projectile.
As well the cavity also changes how the projectile does not need as fast a twist rate as it would seem.
Lastly with the cavity they do not tend to reverse themselves like many monolithic bullets do when expanding.

[VASCAR2]

The Sierra 120 grain Pro Hunter bullets I have are not bonded core but the Speer 120 grain Gold Dot has a bonded core. The 120 grain Pro Hunter does pretty well at the 6.5 Grendel velocities but has a lower BC coefficient compared to newer bullet designs.

[ErikS]

I have shot two SC 100# does with SSTs this season, one bang flop and one went 60 feet. It is mostly about shot placement. The last few seasons I have heart shot deer trying to save meat but they will run and always will, no matter the bullet or cartridge. I switched back to a high shoulder shot and they are going right down, even with the tiny Grendel. Place any of the bullets you mentioned in the high shoulder and they will be down within sight of the shot.

Carpe Sus on YouTube (pretty sure he is a member here) shoots tons of hogs with SSTs, it seems to work well on them. He recovers some of the bullets and they seem to open well.

[grayfox]

CBB, would you be willing to let us know on the forum when the 6.5 ammo comes back into stock?
Thanks.

[Old Bob]

Lots of Wolf 6.5 Grendel ammo can be found on Ammoseek. There's some Hornady Black 123gr. ELD-M available as well along with some 120gr Federal OTM at way too high prices.

https://ammoseek.com/ammo/6.5mm-grendel

[MISportsman]

I had great results with using the Hornady black 123gr eldm on a good sized doe