What happened? 6.5 grendel vs deer.

Dildobaggins

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  • Jun 26, 2020
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    So this picture is kinda graphic. I was going to post in the semi auto forum, but I figured you fellas lurking here might have a better idea of what happened. Shot this whitetail buck about 70 yards away with a 6.5 grendel, using Hornady American Gunner 123gr BTHP. Straight on shot to the chest. The entrance is larger than a soft ball. when I was processing it, the bullet was right under the skin in its hind end. There is literally no expansion. The bullet is just missing the tip and it's kinda flattened. What happened?
     

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    Last year I was using OTM ammo and it mushroomed and had great expansion on 3 deer. Probably luck. I know that OTM or the American Gunner is not the best hunting round, I just wasent expecting to see that I guess. Makes sense though. Thanks man!
     
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    I've shot quite a few bucks with target bullets out of my 260, but never a straight on through the chest shot.. I haven't lost one yet,, knock on wood.. Problem is you didn't get in perfect alignment with the chest and asshole to get an entry and an exit, those weak ass Grendels need a little help getting all the way through.. Lol :ROFLMAO:
     
    I bet there's been more than a few hunting bullets that have failed like that....although not sure id call it a fail since you got the meat. Id like to know what the velocity was.
    Me too. Its a criterion 22" Hbar. Charts are saying between 2500 and 2400 FPS at that yardage, but I believe that's out of a 24" barrel.
     
    I've shot quite a few bucks with target bullets out of my 260, but never a straight on through the chest shot.. I haven't lost one yet,, knock on wood.. Problem is you didn't get in perfect alignment with the chest and asshole to get an entry and an exit, those weak ass Grendels need a little help getting all the way through.. Lol :ROFLMAO:
    Lol, I was trying so hard to get my .308 up and running, but didn't have the funds. Next year...maybe.
     
    Why were you expecting it to expand? Was the bullet designed to expand? And is the bullet marketed towards hunting with "expansion" in its description? Seriously though, if you're going to hunt with match bullets, who cares if they expand or not? Put it in the right place, the vitals, and watch them die.

    Now on another note, I use the 140 BTHP and it works wonders for me on deer. I've had them expand decently.
     
    The entrance hole larger than a softball is the elephant in the room.

    Was this deer wearing some type of explosive device? Possibly a terrorist deer? Just spitballing...
    That was the main question I was hoping to have answered. I'm not surprised the bullet didn't expand, even though every other one I have shot has, I'm just curious what happened to this things chest. I feel like for a 6.5 Grendel even an exit wound that large is pretty crazy
     
    That was the main question I was hoping to have answered. I'm not surprised the bullet didn't expand, even though every other one I have shot has, I'm just curious what happened to this things chest. I feel like for a 6.5 Grendel even an exit wound that large is pretty crazy
    I may have missed it but what was your distance? I've killed a few deer in Kansas with grendel. Never had massive exits or entrances. 300 yards is about the max I've Shot on our land ( easy shots but we have hills and trees that make longer shots near impossible)
     
    I may have missed it but what was your distance? I've killed a few deer in Kansas with grendel. Never had massive exits or entrances. 300 yards is about the max I've Shot on our land ( easy shots but we have hills and trees that make longer shots near impossible)
    I'd say he was about 70 or 80 yards away.i shot one last year as well have had an exit would the size of about a tennis ball
     
    I'd say he was about 70 or 80 yards away.i shot one last year as well have had an exit would the size of about a size of a tennis ball
    Mine have been slightly smaller than a tennis ball but typically that's the general size of an exit. Never seen anything bigger personally. Only thing I could think of if the round hit a bone or large meaty mass that blew outwards causing a larger hole.

    Either way good kill.
     
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    So this picture is kinda graphic. I was going to post in the semi auto forum, but I figured you fellas lurking here might have a better idea of what happened. Shot this whitetail buck about 70 yards away with a 6.5 grendel, using Hornady American Gunner 123gr BTHP. Straight on shot to the chest. The entrance is larger than a soft ball. when I was processing it, the bullet was right under the skin in its hind end. There is literally no expansion. The bullet is just missing the tip and it's kinda flattened. What happened?
    Old thread I know, but interesting because I use Grendel’s a lot but shoot eldm or sst 123. I haven’t seen that type of performance with either but that particular bullet, the hollow point, is known for doing some weird stuff. Blows up sometimes, other times it stays together and either pencils thru or tumbles. Yes, weird stuff does happen. I have seen some Sierra hollow point match kings act like that as well. Little story here. A friend of mine was cutting soybeans and asked me to come to the field and pick up a buck he just shot. He kept his 300 win mag on the combine with him and used 150 grain corelokts. A lot of speed, light bullet. He said he had shot it broadside but I could smell gutshot and there was no exit. I went ahead and skinned the deer As it was warm out and the guts really needed to come out if he was gutshot. The bullet had gone into and thru the onside shoulder, then hit the offside shoulder, Just like a broadside shot should do. Normal right? Well It didn’t end there. I found the perfectly mushroomed but battered bullet just under the skin. Two inches from his anus, in the onside hindquarter. The deer was a gutshot, bloodshot, mess. But he was DRT.
     
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    Old thread I know, but interesting because I use Grendel’s a lot but shoot eldm or sst 123. I haven’t seen that type of performance with either but that particular bullet, the hollow point, is known for doing some weird stuff. Blows up sometimes, other times it stays together and either pencils thru or tumbles. Yes, weird stuff does happen. I have seen some Sierra hollow point match kings act like that as well. Little story here. A friend of mine was cutting soybeans and asked me to come to the field and pick up a buck he just shot. He kept his 300 win mag on the combine with him and used 150 grain corelokts. A lot of speed, light bullet. He said he had shot it broadside but I could smell gutshot and there was no exit. I went ahead and skinned the deer As it was warm out and the guts really needed to come out if he was gutshot. The bullet had gone into and thru the onside shoulder, then hit the offside shoulder, Just like a broadside shot should do. Normal right? Well It didn’t end there. I found the perfectly mushroomed but battered bullet just under the skin. Two inches from his anus, in the onside hindquarter. The deer was a gutshot, bloodshot, mess. But he was DRT.
    That story makes my shot not seem as bad haha. Im in upstate NY, my area has an antlerless season. This year my wife and I both shot a doe with ammo I loaded for the 6.5G. used 120grain ELDM. Hers went in and out broadside, double lunged and still ran about 150 yards. Mine was a straight on chest shot. DRT. I hit it's right shoulder. Bullet tunneled through the shoulder bone wrecked a lung and part of the heart. Never recovered bullet though. Have you ever recovered an SST or an ELDM? Did they mushroom well?
     
    That story makes my shot not seem as bad haha. Im in upstate NY, my area has an antlerless season. This year my wife and I both shot a doe with ammo I loaded for the 6.5G. used 120grain ELDM. Hers went in and out broadside, double lunged and still ran about 150 yards. Mine was a straight on chest shot. DRT. I hit it's right shoulder. Bullet tunneled through the shoulder bone wrecked a lung and part of the heart. Never recovered bullet though. Have you ever recovered an SST or an ELDM? Did they mushroom well?
    I've recovered 123 gr ELDM - mushroomed well.
     
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    First, I would sincerely like to thank you for your polite response. Even though I responded to an old thread. ELDm yes. They seem maybe a little tougher than the old AMax. It doesn’t seem to be as violent. The ones recovered are mushrooms, not necessarily blowups from the Grendel. We are only using 123s though. We have recovered SSTs. They flat out kill. Most of the depredation hog hunters around here use the factory SSTs out of 12.5 inch barrels with suppressors. They do quite a lot of damage. But they will have the jacket separate from the core occasionally.
     
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    How big was the exit on your wife’s doe? Quarter sized?
    About exactly a quarter. Entrance on the first lung was about a nickel, and the other lung was just jelly. I think I'll probably continue to use the eldM this year. I feel a lot more confident with it that I do the target bullet. Haha
     
    That’s pretty much what we’ve seen if no bone is hit with the eldm from the Grendel. Caliber sized hole going in, quarter sized hole going out. I generally shoot shoulder or just a tad lower. We can’t always retrieve carcasses doing depredation because it’ll tear up the crops we are trying to save. So I don’t get to examine every kill. At one time it was illegal to move the carcass other than to tag it in place. We do save as much of the meat as we can now since the laws have changed.
    With night vision it’s tough to see a deers reaction to the shot. Video from the scope helps somewhat, if I can remember to cut it on. If we are in a place that we can recover them, we really need for them to go down quick or finding them is tough. Generally with the shoulder shots from the 123 eldm, or 168 Amax from my AR 10, by the time I recover from recoil and flash blinding, the deer is usually down.
     
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    Full of shit for asking him to weigh the bullet and explore a possibility?

    I'll bet you have red hair, or maybe you're just really short.

    Or just clueless and rude.

    It's Haney; he's well known on the forum for generally not having a clue and for spending more time harassing other members than trying to contribute anything. Just ignore him, it's not worth your time trying to engage. Logic is ineffective against his weirdness.