6.5 Grendel for Pronghorn?

[Jason277]

I hoping to take my family to Wyoming for a Vacation and to hunt pronghorn. I'm just starting to do the research. My son and I built a 6.5 Grendel with a 20" barrel. This gun is a tack driver. My question is, is the Grendel enough to make a clean kill? Has anyone hunted pronghorn with this round? I'm a fairly new hunter so please forgive the dumb questions. Thanks, Jason

 

[david_227]

The 6.5 will do the job!- don’t overthink it and have a great time!


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[robie]

You will be great with the gun.

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[Mt Al]

6.5 G will work fine, shot placement's almost all that matters.

 

[Jason277]

sounds good. Now I need to figure out what area to put in for ??

 

[Downeaster]

Add 110gr Accubond LRs and you are good to go. Mine went maybe 10yds this year. Slightly quartering to, 134 yds, 2" exit.

 

[menhaden_man]

The Hornady SST rounds are 123 grains for the Grendel and still pack almost 1200 ft-lbs of energy at 300 yards. That’s better than the 243 Winchester (a killer of many deer) with much better BC. I’ve killed around a dozen antelope and mule deer with the 117 gr SST from my 25-06.

These guys are right, that Grendel will stack em high. I also built a PSA Grendel with a 20” barrel this year and it’s definitely coming on the next antelope hunt!

https://www.hornady.com/ammunition/rifle/6-5-grendel-123-gr-sst#!/

 

[Jason277]

Thats funny I also built a PSA 20" for my son. Its a tack driver. Are you having good groupings?

 

[amassi]

You can kill pronghorn with a well worded biting insult, dont fret the grendel.

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[Jason277]

So within 300 yards, the Grendel should do the trick ?! I would not feel comfortable past that yardage .

 

[amassi]

So within 300 yards, the Grendel should do the trick ?! I would not feel comfortable past that yardage .

Yes
It will make very dead antelope
They are incredibly light built
Where legal; the 22-250 makes a dandy lope tipper over with 64gr power points.


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[Mtncowboy]

I have seen it kill a handful of antelope and it has been perfect on them!

 

[menhaden_man]

Thats funny I also built a PSA 20" for my son. Its a tack driver. Are you having good groupings?

Never got back on this one... been playing around with handloads on my PSA Grendel the past week and can't seem to get standard sized bullets (eg., 123 ELDM) to shoot well. I picked up some 90 grain Varmageddons at the hardware store on a whim and they are shooting significantly better (~ 1MOA over H335 powder). I'm going to play with that round a bit more since I got two boxes but sure would like to get a bigger bullet to shoot. Counter intuitive since the fast twist would suggest a bigger bullet would do better.

What are you shooting in yours?

 

[Rich M]

Maybe you want to step down to a bow?

Just Givin you a hard time.

Go have fun. Any speed goats inside 500 yds is dead.

 

[JRMiller]

pronghorn are thin skinned and fairly easy to kill.
2017 was my first year hunting with a grendel. Dropped one at 332 yards no problem
same year a 200lb hog at 180 yards, again just dropped
This last season hit a goat at 305 yards. It dropped then struggled up and ran for a tad then dropped, over the edge of a deep ravine unfortunately for me...

 

[id260]

Never got back on this one... been playing around with handloads on my PSA Grendel the past week and can't seem to get standard sized bullets (eg., 123 ELDM) to shoot well. I picked up some 90 grain Varmageddons at the hardware store on a whim and they are shooting significantly better (~ 1MOA over H335 powder). I'm going to play with that round a bit more since I got two boxes but sure would like to get a bigger bullet to shoot. Counter intuitive since the fast twist would suggest a bigger bullet would do better.

What are you shooting in yours?

Never got back on this one... been playing around with handloads on my PSA Grendel the past week and can't seem to get standard sized bullets (eg., 123 ELDM) to shoot well. I picked up some 90 grain Varmageddons at the hardware store on a whim and they are shooting significantly better (~ 1MOA over H335 powder). I'm going to play with that round a bit more since I got two boxes but sure would like to get a bigger bullet to shoot. Counter intuitive since the fast twist would suggest a bigger bullet would do better.

What are you shooting in yours?

I’ve shot 123 Hornady amax over XBR 8208 in my 20” ar style Grendel with fantastic accuracy. I haven’t killed an antelope with it, but shot many with a 260 and 120s. The Grendel is slower, but that seems to be a pro with the match bullets. I’ve killed a coyote, a big Muley, a black bear and my wife shot a large bull...all with the amax/Grendel. All were within 100 yards and were anchored very near where they were shot...except the bear which was waaay out there and not ideal. I see that load being great for medium size game out to 400. As always, Shot placement is key and you want to stay away from major bones (stay off shoulders). It seems like a perfect match for pronghorn. Hopefully I’ll be able to draw one in WY this year to see. Amax are discontinued, but the eld match is the replacement. The eldm’s have the same poi in my Grendel as the amax and are just as accurate fwiw. Hornady loads it in factory in there “black line” I believe. If you aren’t into match stuff, sniff around the Hornady SSTs. I’ve read lots of guys like them.

 

[menhaden_man]

I’ve shot 123 Hornady amax over XBR 8208 in my 20” ar style Grendel with fantastic accuracy. I haven’t killed an antelope with it, but shot many with a 260 and 120s. The Grendel is slower, but that seems to be a pro with the match bullets. I’ve killed a coyote, a big Muley, a black bear and my wife shot a large bull...all with the amax/Grendel. All were within 100 yards and were anchored very near where they were shot...except the bear which was waaay out there and not ideal. I see that load being great for medium size game out to 400. As always, Shot placement is key and you want to stay away from major bones (stay off shoulders). It seems like a perfect match for pronghorn. Hopefully I’ll be able to draw one in WY this year to see. Amax are discontinued, but the eld match is the replacement. The eldm’s have the same poi in my Grendel as the amax and are just as accurate fwiw. Hornady loads it in factory in there “black line” I believe. If you aren’t into match stuff, sniff around the Hornady SSTs. I’ve read lots of guys like them.

I've smoked a dozen or so critters with a 117 grain SST from a 25-06 and it just lays them out... all of them fell where they stood. I'm going to play with a few more rounds maybe this weekend.

Funny thing is I was perusing that ballistics table from Chuck Hawks this morning and who woulda thunk that a 6.5 Grendel with a 120 gr bullet has more energy at 300 yards (1,133 ft-lbs) than a 243, 30-30, 35 Rem, 6 CM, etc. All with an asterisk on bullet size etc., but point being that it's plenty of sauce for reasonable shots and actually better than some deer-killing machines like the 30-30 once you get out a little ways.

Only obsessing over it because I'm pretty sure my middle kid is getting one in a bolt for his 7th birthday next month. That Howa mini action on a shortened stock would be slick and I've got plenty of brass and bullets for him to get in some trigger time.

Rifle Ballistics Table - Improved

 

[id260]

I've smoked a dozen or so critters with a 117 grain SST from a 25-06 and it just lays them out... all of them fell where they stood. I'm going to play with a few more rounds maybe this weekend.

Funny thing is I was perusing that ballistics table from Chuck Hawks this morning and who woulda thunk that a 6.5 Grendel with a 120 gr bullet has more energy at 300 yards (1,133 ft-lbs) than a 243, 30-30, 35 Rem, 6 CM, etc. All with an asterisk on bullet size etc., but point being that it's plenty of sauce for reasonable shots and actually better than some deer-killing machines like the 30-30 once you get out a little ways.

Only obsessing over it because I'm pretty sure my middle kid is getting one in a bolt for his 7th birthday next month. That Howa mini action on a shortened stock would be slick and I've got plenty of brass and bullets for him to get in some trigger time.

Rifle Ballistics Table - Improved

Sounds like a perfect rig for your boy for sure. As you know very little recoil and requires very little powder. 6.5 b.c.’s to boot. If u haven’t tried the xbr with the eldms you might give it a try before you give up on them...not that the other bullets you mentioned wouldn’t also be a good choice. Take care.

 

[menhaden_man]

Sounds like a perfect rig for your boy for sure. As you know very little recoil and requires very little powder. 6.5 b.c.’s to boot. If u haven’t tried the xbr with the eldms you might give it a try before you give up on them...not that the other bullets you mentioned wouldn’t also be a good choice. Take care.

Definitely... it's a real head scratcher how those 90s shoot so damn well and the 120s are all over the place. I've got a few rifles in 6.5 so other places to use them rounds if they don't pan out in the gas gun. I'm definitely going to try a few things before giving up tho!

 

[wayno945]

Smoked 3 does last year with a 223. 6.5 is plenty for antelope.