Is 6.5 Grendel enough for deer?

[Stein]

I'm not sure you can find many rounds that are legal to hunt a deer with that aren't capable.  People shoot them successfully with everything between a self built bow and crew served hunting rifles that require two porters, a tripod and calculating the rotation of the earth before firing.

They really aren't hard to kill if you can find them and hit them with any sort of reasonable shot.  If you want to shoot one with a 6.5 AR rifle, go for it.

[Bigshooter]

The 6.5 swede and the 6.5 Grendel have very similar ballistics.  And the 6.5 swede has been used in Europe to kill a ton of moose.  I think the Grendel will do just fine on deer.

[Alchase]

Part of me thinks that in all these comparisons of .308 to 6.5 G being anywhere near each other, they are confusing the 6.5 G with the 6.5 CM.


 

[Karl Blanchard]

Part of me thinks that in all these comparisons of .308 to 6.5 G being anywhere near each other, they are confusing the 6.5 G with the 6.5 CM.

I think often times that is the case. I'd also point out though that using 2,900fps for a .308 to compare the two isn't very realistic either lol.

[headshot5]

 

[carpsniperg2]

I'm gonna end up running 130gr Berger AR hybrids in mine just to annoy Carp 

Hahahaha oh that made me laugh. Good thing it’s in a semi auto so you got lots of back up bullets to send 

[carpsniperg2]

Here is a Japanese sika that met his match with my big game Grendel.
22” barrel 123sst about 100 yards.
Never seen so many chunks of heart and lungs in a blood trail. Tough little deer went about 50 yards.

I don’t leave my pics on here so it will be gone after a bit but figured some Grendel love would help the idea.

[Alchase]

Loven that rifle!

[Goshawk]

The 6.5 swede and the 6.5 Grendel have very similar ballistics.  And the 6.5 swede has been used in Europe to kill a ton of moose.  I think the Grendel will do just fine on deer.

Actually, the 6.5x55, or Swedish Mauser outpaces the Grendel by almost 200fps.

[Goshawk]

Part of me thinks that in all these comparisons of .308 to 6.5 G being anywhere near each other, they are confusing the 6.5 G with the 6.5 CM.

I think often times that is the case. I'd also point out though that using 2,900fps for a .308 to compare the two isn't very realistic either lol.

That's straight out of the Nosler Data, with a 24" barrel which by the way is always on line at no charge. Ditto Barnes Bullets.
A 18" Grendel is going to fare even worse considering the data was with a 24" barrel.

[Goshawk]

Part of me thinks that in all these comparisons of .308 to 6.5 G being anywhere near each other, they are confusing the 6.5 G with the 6.5 CM.

That makes sense.

[Karl Blanchard]

Part of me thinks that in all these comparisons of .308 to 6.5 G being anywhere near each other, they are confusing the 6.5 G with the 6.5 CM.

I think often times that is the case. I'd also point out though that using 2,900fps for a .308 to compare the two isn't very realistic either lol.

That's straight out of the Nosler Data, with a 24" barrel which by the way is always on line at no charge. Ditto Barnes Bullets.
A 18" Grendel is going to fare even worse considering the data was with a 24" barrel.

I'm not disagreeing that the 308 is superior to the grendel in every way, im just saying very few people are loading the 308 to 114% case capacity. Most are running an imr4350 or similar and achieving 2600-2750.  I load for 4 different 308 from 18" barrels to 24". 2500 in the grendel with a 120-123 is a fair velocity. Like I said before, I'm getting 2475 with 27gr of tac and I didnt see pressure till 29 so I could achieve 2500 in my 18" barrel very easily.

[wheels]

first deer rifle was a 6 so i would say yes

[daddyelk]

I'm looking forward to testing mine out. I just finished an aero precision grendel with a faxon barrel for my 9 year old daughter. We shot it last night with factory hornady 123 sst's just enough to get the gas block adjusted and zeroed.

[Cervus]

I’m a late addition to this thread, but I’ll weigh in since I love my Grendel. My husband built mine when I started hunting so that I had a low-recoil, lightweight rifle to learn with. Thus far I’ve spent a small fortune target shooting, and taken a mule deer doe (65 yards), mule deer buck (200 yards), and cow elk (240-265 yards) with it, all using 123 grain Hornady SSTs.

The single-shot damage to the buck’s heart/lungs was devastating at 200 yards---based on that, I have no issues going out to 300 yards for deer with this caliber.

The cow elk at 240-265 yards was a different story. It took 3 well placed shots (1 liver-lung, 1 double lung, and 1 heart) before she went down. I recovered a fully expanded bullet from under her skin on the offside front shoulder (didn’t pass through). Based on that experience, I’m limiting myself to 200 yards on elk, and only then with excellent shot placement opportunities.

Things that stand out for me about the Grendel:
1)   Super customizable on the AR platform which is awesome for small folks like me (hurray for pistol grips and adjustable LOP stocks). Also being able to break it in half and stuff it in a pack for the hike in/out is priceless.
2)   Recoil is minimal, especially w/ a recoil reducing stock and muzzle break. Great for learning and recoil-sensitive shooters--no flinching/or getting walloped.
3)   Shot placement is critical, especially past 200 yards. But shooting accurately is really helped by the mellow recoil.

Full disclosure: I’m building a second rifle (6.5 CM or 7mm08, TBD) for elk as I want something that shoots bigger bullets faster out to 350 yards. But for deer, I will bring my Grendel. Every time.