Thread: 6.5 grendel for hunting

Does any one have experience with the 6.5 grendel and using it as a hunting round? Any thoughts on the cartridge for a general all round bush and medium range hunting round through a Howa mini action specifically and with a 16 inch barrel. From my digging it sounds like a good round and should still be carrying around 2500 fps out of a 16 inch barrel.

It works just fine to sensible ranges.

Ive shot a few reds and fallow with my howa mini out to 400 yards. I wouldnt push it any further than that. 123gr eldm is the go. Ive been surprised at the damage the eldm does at just 2500 fps.

Yes, it works, go buy one.

I have a mate with a Grendel and i have something very close to one (same calibre and similar velocities) both kill deer well inside 350m. Having said that bigger is always more better

i bought one for the missus after she was forced to hand her sks in, now she has a scoped rifle that will shoot 500m vs the i50 sks, 10 round detachable mag instead of inbuilt 5 and a whole lot more accuracy
i hope nz feels safer

6.5G is a great wee unit to shoot. Shot fallow & goats with mine using 123 SST, never felt under gunned at sensible ranges.

its the new 7mm-08!!

Originally Posted by Huntfisheat

Why 6.5 over 7mm? Similar in recoil especially with 120's in the 7/08, for instance. Easier to find ammo off the shelf and knock down power is enhanced.

wanting a calibre made in the howa mini action as I am going to build a custom rifle based around the new kiwi made howa chassis. Was going to go 223 as a general hunting round for small and medium game , but as mentioned bigger is better so seriously considering the 6.5 as a larger game rifle and perhaps also the .204 ruger barreled action for the pesties and just switch out the actions for whatever I intend to use it for. 450 bushmaster is unessecasry as already have the 45/70. I'm thinking I would rather have something bigger than 223 for piggies and deer. The missus already has her 7.62x39 which appears to have worse ballistics than the 6.5. And I have the 338 for when I know it will involve longer ranges but decided the howa chassis with a short supressed barrel would be a nice lightish bush/doc rifle when out for longer 2+ day walks , rather than the T-rex gun which gets a bit heavy and LOUD in tight bush, and don't know exactly what distances shots will be taken at. figured a calibre capable of shooting 0-250 mtrs accurately for pigs/deer would be the way to go and the 6.5 sounds like it would be ideal but I have no experience with that round.

Originally Posted by Tentman

its the new 7mm-08!!

paint the rifle coffee colour ya reckon.... call it caffeine drab.... or latteflage camo

Originally Posted by Ftx325

paint the rifle coffee colour ya reckon.... call it caffeine drab.... or latteflage camo

soy latte at best

Originally Posted by Huntfisheat

Why 6.5 over 7mm? Similar in recoil especially with 120's in the 7/08, for instance. Easier to find ammo off the shelf and knock down power is enhanced.

There's calculators online for working stuff like this out. With two 6lb rifles...

123gr @ 2500ft/s = 10.4ft/lb force @ 10.5ft/s velocity.
120gr @ 3000ft/s = 18ft/lb force @ 14ft/s velocity.

Grendel has significantly lower recoil. Also, if we go down the same route of using light-for calibre bullets in a Grendel:

90gr @ 2900ft/s = 9ft/lb force @ 9.8ft/s velocity. I.e. pretty much half the 7mm-08.

I would probably lean towards a .260 or a 6.5mememore, you can always load them down to a 6.5G... either way a 123gr ELDM will kill plenty of stuff out to 400m with ease.

Unless you download the 7mm08. Ill be using 145gr@2400 which should Be a bit softer than full house load

Originally Posted by Timmay

I would probably lean towards a .260 or a 6.5mememore, you can always load them down to a 6.5G... either way a 123gr ELDM will kill plenty of stuff out to 400m with ease.

yes, this.

Recoil is not an issue that worries me in the slightest...45/70 and 338lm are my favorite rifles and I imagine a grendel will feel like a 22 in comparison. And I am limited to calibres available in the howa mini line-up anyway.