Tale of 3 Grendel rifles and 3 doe pronghorn

[PA_Allen]

Last week I was fortunate enough to get to travel to Wyoming to hunt pronghorn with my 6.5 Grendel. My neighbor and his brother-in-law also hunted with me, and they had 6.5 Grendel rifles as well. We all had doe tags to fill. A friend without tags also went along and took the photos (and helped with the dragging!)


The rifles:
Mine: 20” LW CSS barrel, 100 gr TTSX , H335 handload.
Neighbor: 18” AA Grendel barrel, 120 NBT, TAC handload
Neighbor’s brother-in-law: 20” LW CSS barrel, 123 Hornady A-Max factory loads.

The first morning it was cold and very windy with winds gusting from 20 to 60 mph. I had hiked about a mile from the nearest road to get away from the road riders, and hunkered down in a large rock formation before daylight.





About an hour after daylight I spotted a group of 10 does and a buck about 400 yds away. They were not going to move my way any time soon, so I left my hidey hole and put a stalk on them. I was able to crawl and get a large group of rocks between us. I then quickly closed the distance, and peeked around the last available cover. I saw one doe quartering away and feeding calmly, and figured she had volunteered to go home with me. The shot was not spectacular…80 yds through the boiler room. Not the biggest nanny, but I was happy to get her.








The next day I was able to conduct a stalk with my neighbor. We hiked far from the roads, and spotted a group of 20 or so in a bowl a couple of ridges over. We crawled to the top of the ridge above them, and he put a great shot on a large doe at 185 yds. This was his second big game animal, and his first with the Grendel. It was smiles all around!

Both of our rifles with Camp far in the distance


His brother-in-law was able to drop a nice doe from about 300 yds with his Grendel as well. Overall it was a fun couple of days and a successful Grendel “field test.”
Good luck to all of you in your hunting this fall.

Best,
PA

[LRRPF52]

No No No No, this can't be true! I've been reading internet threads that say the Grendel is only a paper-killer!

Beautiful pics and write-up sir. Top-notch, really, with breath-taking background imagery. Any projectiles recovered...results..besides the obvious?

Also, did you guys ever dial for the 185yd shot, and what technique did you use to deal with the wind...wait for calm, reticle holds, windage dial...?

Did I mention these pics are stunningly beautiful?

[YutYut]

Yes great job on the pictures. I actually had an arguement with my Sgt because he said the grendel has no stopping power and can't be used to hunt......ill be showing him this thread
How far did they go once shot? Or did they just drop on the spot?

[PA_Allen]

A big thanks goes to my buddy who took the photos. It's nice to have a great photographer along!

No bullets were recovered; all were complete pass throughs. I don't really have much info on the 123 amax that my neighbor's brother in law used. He lives local, went home, and so I didn't get a good look at his pronghorn. I know that he hit it twice from about 300 yds. I think the wind may have bit him some on the first shot.

My neighbor's doe was quarting toward us slightly 185 yds away. The wind was almost directly in our face, so I told him to ignore wind drift. We had zeroed his rifle at 200 yds, so he held dead on and made a great shot. The 120 NBT went in at the front of the shoulder and exited middle of the ribs on the opposite side, breaking 3 ribs on the way out. She just took a few steps and rolled down the hill.

My shot was really easy at 80 yds. The biggest challenge was timing the shot between wind gusts because the strong gusts would blow the cross hairs from the vitals to the guts as I braced my hand against the side of a boulder. At the shot my doe turned 180 deg and I could see the exit wound in a good spot. I learned early in my hunting carrer to "shoot again" if the animalnis still standing, so I immediately shot again. The second shot went through the onside shoulder, severed the spine, and broke the offside shoulder and exited.

YutYut tell your Sgt that I have shot about 20 big game animals (mainly whitetail) with my Grendel, and none of them have lived to complain about it!

-PA

[StoneTower]

PA_ALLEN...how do they taste? My dad shot some back in the early 1960's and he said that the worst part was cleaning them.

Did you notice any difference in the exit wound with the different bullets? I realize that they were a different ranges, but I was just curious. That hog that I shot with your load had 2 nice exit wounds that really impressed me for a 100g bullet.

Thanks,

David

[BluntForceTrauma]

No No No No, this can't be true! I've been reading internet threads that say the Grendel is only a paper-killer!

Funny that. Been reading the same and amazing how determindedly petty some are. They WISH they could pigeon-hole it as only a paper-killer. . . . And when the Rooski War Machine starts cranking out gazillions of steel-case 65G with FMJs for us, they'll still be comforting themselves that 6.5mm bullets harmlessly bounce off anything thicker than cardboard.

Anyway, PA, thanks for the photos, and, a little off topic, but the sky in that shot of the guns is like a painting!

John

[LRRPF52]

PA_Allen,

Do you know what velocities you're getting out of each of those rifles with the loads you listed?

Mine: 20” LW CSS barrel, 100 gr TTSX , H335 handload:
Neighbor: 18” AA Grendel barrel, 120 NBT, TAC handload:
Neighbor’s brother-in-law: 20” LW CSS barrel, 123 Hornady A-Max factory loads:

Thanks again for a great report.

[bwaites]

I think its great that 3 different bullets were all equally effective!!

Congrats, great pictures!! You have raised the expected quality of the photography on the board!!

[PA_Allen]

Some answers:

StoneTower,
They clean just like a deer, same process. The meat is wonderful; it even passes the "wife test!" I was honestly surprised how good it was the first time I had pronghorn. I could see no big difference in the exit wounds. The Grendel is a killer with any good bullet put in the right place.

LRRPF52,
I do not have any data on the fellow's 123 Amax factory load. Here is the data for the other two:
Hornady Brass and Rem 7.5 primers for both

Mine: 20” LW CSS barrel, 100 gr TTSX , 30 gr H335 handload, 2775 fps (impact velocity approx. 2600 fps. at 80 yds)

Neighbor: 18” AA Grendel barrel, 120 NBT, 28 gr TAC handload: 2380 fps (impact velocity about 2050 fps at 185 yds)

Here is another pic showing evidence that Grendel bullets indeed do not "bounce off game."

My 7 yr old last year with one of his two Grendelized does (100 TTSX)


Thanks all for the kind remarks.

Best,
PA

[RangerRick]

Some answers:


LRRPF52,
I do not have any data on the fellow's 123 Amax factory load. Here is the data for the other two:
Hornady Brass and Rem 7.5 primers for both

Mine: 20” LW CSS barrel, 100 gr TTSX , 30 gr H335 handload, 2775 fps (impact velocity approx. 2600 fps. at 80 yds)

PA,

Do you see any pressure signs with that load? Alexander Arms lists a max load of 29.4 grains of H335 out of a 24 inch barrel. Maybe the shorter barrel keeps the pressure down?

Thanks,

RR

[PA_Allen]

PA,

Do you see any pressure signs with that load? Alexander Arms lists a max load of 29.4 grains of H335 out of a 24 inch barrel. Maybe the shorter barrel keeps the pressure down?

Thanks,

RR

RR,
No visible pressure signs. The load definitely appears safe in my rifle, and others on the Board have reported good success with the load as well.

As you stated, AA list a max of 29.4 gr of H335 with the 100 gr Lapua Secnar.
Hodgdon lists a max of 30.7gr of H335 with the 100 gr Nosler BT. I have loaded many rounds with 30.5 gr of H335 under the 100 NBT with great results. I stopped at 30 gr with the 100 TTSX because the velocity and accuracy were already great...no reason to push things.

More info is posted here:
http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthrea...hrono-data

Best,
PA

[txgunner00]

Very cool pictures.

[Variable]

Cool pics indeed. I missed this thread somehow. Thanks for sharing PA!