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6.5 GRENDEL WTH!

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rifle02

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Several years ago I used a 6.5 Grendel with Factory ammo shooting 123 grain SST. Put the whammy on a good eight point. Great exit wound Blood Trail but didn't need it cuz the only went 40 ft and piled up. So I'm hunting with the 6.5 Grendel again this year using hand loads with 120 grain ballistic tip. Yesterday afternoon I see a big chunky nine-point dogging a doe. Easy shot. Broadside. 75 or 80 yards Maybe tops. Crosshairs right behind the shoulder he does the mule kick and heads into an overgrown clear cut. I was really happy to see he headed down a trail that I had Bush hogged through the Briars and saplings. I take my time getting out of the blind, go to where he was standing and no sign of a hit, no blood no hair nothing. I start up the trail through the Briars and I find one tiny droplet of blood. After about 35 yards I'm not finding any more but I expect to see a lot. I find a second tiny droplet of blood so small I almost missed it. It's 75 yd to wear that trail comes out into big wide open Hardwoods and there was a third droplet of blood. I scan the woods several, log roads, spent half an hour looking all over his logical path never found another trace of blood and I'm thinking I must have deflected off a twig and made a non fatal hit. I decided to go back to the last droplet of blood that I found and what do you know there is laying right beside the Trail . I had walked within feet of him and missed him. I was so intent at staring at the ground. Anyway no blood trail to speak of and a very tiny exit wound as well. I have always had devastating results using ballistic tips and several calibers. What's up with this. Maybe the Grendel wasn't pushing it fast enough? Just a fluke? Any theories? The true blessing is that I found the buck. And he's actually a good one.
 

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I'm curious how the insides were. It obviously done the job but the lack of blood trails is what makes me nervous on smaller and slower calibers. My only experience with a 6.5 Grendel was my daughter shooting a spike at 60 yards with an eldm. Deer was dead before it hit the ground.
 
I had similar experience with 30.06 , 270 and my 308 with factory ballistic tips. They blow up on impact delivering all the energy to the deer. I stopped using them since I never had a blood trail. I must admit I hadn't needed one up to that point. But I felt it was a matter of time before I lost one with that ammo.
 
I've used the 120's a bunch but from a 260 rem.


Where did you hit him and what is your velocity?
 
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Be interesting to know the speed. Not my favorite for the Grendel but the 120 BT has performed well on hogs for me. Of course I also know a lot people really like the 129 NABLR in the Grendel but I wasn't pushing those fast enough and was getting zero expansion.
 
Jcalder said:
It's funny how opinions change. I like the rapid expansion of the BT more than an accubond. I personally would go in a different direction than a nosler bullet
Click to expand...
The trade off with rapid expansion is you lose penetration. The accubond is a compromise between the two and with it being a bonded bullet, weight retention will be higher allowing for more penetration.
 
Jcalder said:
I'll take rapid expansion over delayed expansion, especially on a whitetail
Click to expand...


Agreed


Here is a great thread, long read, comparing tons of bullets. You can see right off the bat where a 168 ballistic tip penetrates to within 1/2" of a 200gr Accubond and retains a similar weight percentage. If shot at a lower velocity the 168 would have probably equaled the Accubond at 1/2 the cost, lol.


30 cal bullet test, cow femurs and newspaper part 1

I went to the range today. -25C, sunshine, and nobody else there. Can't ask for a better day. This is a follow up, if you will, to the other test I did a while ago. Test: I ordered 50lbs of cow leg bones from a butcher I know. All shots were through the joint (thickest part of the bone) ...
www.24hourcampfire.com www.24hourcampfire.com


Test:
I ordered 50lbs of cow leg bones from a butcher I know. All shots were through the joint (thickest part of the bone) portion. I also put a 2" thick piece of neck trim (muscle, silver skin and connective tissue) in front of the bone and behind it to simulate meat on the way in and on the way out. All measurements are of the depth of penetration into the newspaper ONLY. For total penetration add 4" of meat and another 5-6" for the bone to the numbers I will post for each bullet. Soaked newspaper over night and taped them together in stacks of ~5" with ductape.
These bones were all shot at 5m to simulate an absolute worst case scenario for a bullet. Max impact speed as well as the animal taking a step prior to the shot which turns a easy broadside shot into something else since there is a big elk/moose leg in the way now.

This is not scientific, valid, don't throw out the bullets you've been using for 30 years etc. I did this to satisfy my own curiosity and as much as it sucks to haul a bathtub full of wet heavy newspaper around, it's also fun.

Bullet: .308 200gr Nosler Accubond
Penetration: 10"
Weight retention: 127.6gr (63.8%)
Expansion diameter: .697"
Impact speed: ~2825fps


Bullet: .308 168gr Nosler Ballistic Tip
Penetration: 9.5"
Weight retention: 98.6gr (58.7%)
Expansion diameter: .641"
Impact speed: 3100fps
 

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