AR 15 pistol 300 BO no good

[CaptnC]

Forgot to give my take on thr boollet selection in the Grendel.

I have great respect for everything Mud has to say on most subject ts, but I feel in the AR platform 130's are a little to long. Most max powder charges compressed. The magazine limits how much bullet is outside the case...which means more bullet inside with an already compressed load.

I know the OP has already stated he doesn't roll his own, but just throwing it out there for others reading the thread.

IMO the 123gr would be a max bullet in the Grendel. With a 20" barrel I'm running 123's and 120's at 2500+ fps

 

[MudRunner2005]

I agree, 123 is the perfect weight/length combo for the Grendel...I shoot Nosler 123 Custom Comps in my handloads. That bullet was actually designed specifically for the 6.5 Grendel in the AR platform. I don't know of many hunting bullets in the 123 class, but there are quite a few 120 and 130 grain, which is why I mentioned up to 130. Like you said, the downside, is that it will dip into the case pretty far in the AR platform, taking up case capacity, and velocity will suffer to some degree.

I would be interested in trying some 130 and 140 grain RDF bullets in the Grendel. Johnny did some testing with the 140 Hornady BTHP Match bullets, and had some good results, despite the slower velocities.

 

[snox801]

300 Bo is not your issue, sometimes they don't bleed with any rifle. But yes try the nosler 125 or hornady Vmax 110. I hunt almost exclusively with my 300 with 100gr raptors or 1125 nosler. Over 50 deer and well over 100 hogs have gone down to it with exit holes. I am a firm believer in lighter bullets for that round.
And I have a 6.5 grendel so I'm not biased. Also shoot 8.5" barrel

 

[snox801]

I like your idea of the grendel. Nosler loads the 125 factory round for the blk and it's put down lots of deer and hogs. I think you just had some that won't bleed. Like stated it happens. Hell I shot one with my .458 socom and it made it over 100 yards with just a few specs of blood. Inside was mush fat from the deer plugged exit and entry wounds that were a bit high and the chest was full of blood. Just makes tracking rough.
I run a 16" and 8.5 blk. My grendel is an 18" which is helpful for speed.

 

[RT2506]

I have had many that did not bleed even with exits and I have shot them with about everything from a sharp stick through a 45-70. If you destroy the pump there is no pressure to push the blood out. The best example of no blood and a HUGE exit was the first time I shot a deer with a 155 Berger VLD. I was shooting my 30x47 rifle pushing the bullet 2600 fps. Deer was a 120ish LB doe at 111 yards standing almost broad side in the main crossing of the shooting lane between two cut overs I was hunting on. I placed the bullet in the center of the shoulder but the deer squatted and took off like a race horse into the THICK jungle of a cut over. I went to where the deer was standing at the shot and on what was the off side it looked like you had put some lung tissue and blood in a blender and filled a quart jar and just slung it down the path. From that spot on there was not a drop of blood to be found. The cut over was so thick that the only way into it would have been a deer trail. I had to get down on my hands and knees and crawl up that trail all the time looking for any blood and there was not a drop. I crawled between 50 and 60 yards up the trail and found the deer dead. There was blood where it fell because there was an exit hole so large that I could have dropped a baseball into it and it would not have even touched the hide. The chest cavity sloshed. It looked like everything had been put in a blender. The exit hole was just at the back edge of the off side shoulder and was facing up but some of the blood had splashed out when it fell. I have heart shot lots of deer with numerous calibers and bullets and had exits and they left no blood trail and I have lost some of them because it is just so thick where I hunt that you would have to step on them to find them. That is the reason that most of the time I carefully take a high shoulder shot to drop them in their tracks. There is not that much real meat on the front shoulders after you get through all that plastic like stuff anyway. Rather have the hams and back strap than nothing. As for bullets for a Grendel pistol the Nosler 129 long range accubond is probably the best bullet out there but again it is a hand loading deal. Probably best short barrel factory ammo would be one of the Hornady 123 gr either the SST or ELD-M. I have not shot any of the ELD-M in my rifles but I could not get the 123 SST factory or any hand load with this bullet to shoot better than 1 1/2" in either of my rifles that shoot sub MOA with other bullets. But for a sneaking around the swamp 50 yards or so shot that accuracy would be fine. I have killed lots of deer with 6.5 cal rifles but they have been 6.5x55 up through 264 Win mag. The only kill with a 6.5 Grendel is because this season was the first time I ever used one and I only saw one deer in 2 1/2 weeks. I discovered after making the 300 mile trip and hunting for about a week that there were NO DEER. Black tongue disease had hit my area HARD. That one deer was a doe that I shot for the meat on about the 3rd day before I discovered there were hardly any other deer left. 120 Speer Gold Dot at 2550 fps to the chest at 111 yards as the deer was facing me DRT. Looked like a hand grenade was set off in it's chest from the hydrostatic effect but bullet held together traveling on through the gut and exiting with a thumb size hole out the belly about 6 inches in front of the crotch. I could not believe the hydrostatic effect of this bullet. It pulped the heart and lungs and broke the first 2 or 3 ribs on both sides and also broke the left scapula in half, left leg just flapped. I have seen gel test with the 62 and 77 gr .224 bullets and it seems that this 120 .264 acts the same way. Bullet expands completely with 5 peddles upon impact and blows a HUGE hydrostatic effect for 6 or 7 inches but bullet holds together and penetrates 16 to 18 inches. Seems like that is exactly what it did in my deer.

 

[Nuclear Worker]

Thanks

300 Bo is not your issue, sometimes they don't bleed with any rifle. But yes try the nosler 125 or hornady Vmax 110. I hunt almost exclusively with my 300 with 100gr raptors or 1125 nosler. Over 50 deer and well over 100 hogs have gone down to it with exit holes. I am a firm believer in lighter bullets for that round.
And I have a 6.5 grendel so I'm not biased. Also shoot 8.5" barrel

Thanks
for the reply and staying on the on the original post. I understand not always have blood trail. Over the years have had that with much larger calibers also because of shot placement. And had a cavity full of blood but exit wound was to high. As I have said multiple times now I just have a hard time swallowing at 40-50 yards no exit wound with no major bone being struck. Also as I have said I obviously used the wrong bullet. But if a round is that particular at that short of range I just can't swallow that.There's enough people who have said they have killed a lot of animals with the 110s . If he won't take the 300 back and let me buy the 6.5 which no one can deny has more energy then I will have to keep it and wait till she can hunt something with the 110s and see what the results are. Like I already said also is the gun was designed for basically running deer so perfect shot placement is not a for sure thing. Maybe my idea was not thought through correctly. That is why I wanted the 6.5 originally I felt the extra energy would have been better for the use intended.

 

[snox801]

I think the 110 will work great no doubt the 6.( is a better round. Not to mention people tend to upsell the 300 as a do all everything and that it is not. I think what you built it for is perfect. I've had lots of imperfect shots with mine that work out great. You could even just buy a 6.5 upper and two pins make that swap. I do that when I travel so I can have extra uppers but not have to bring the whole extra rifle.

 

[Nuclear Worker]

I think the 110 will work great no doubt the 6.( is a better round. Not to mention people tend to upsell the 300 as a do all everything and that it is not. I think what you built it for is perfect. I've had lots of imperfect shots with mine that work out great. You could even just buy a 6.5 upper and two pins make that swap. I do that when I travel so I can have extra uppers but not have to bring the whole extra rifle.

Thanks for the response. Hopefully during the holidays hunt we will find out. The only reason I didn't want to do that is I really don't want to keep putting rounds down it and still exspect him to take it back.

 

[CaptnC]

I pulled off a 7.62x39 bolt and barrel to replace it with 6.5 bolt and barrel...

Personally I'd have a 7.62x39 before I'd have a Black Out. Even though bullet selection is a lot better for the BO...

I just like a little more velocity and the 6.5 Grendel rules in a AR platform!

 

[Nuclear Worker]

I went quickly through this as it got off topic a bunch but was this with full power loads or subsonics?

Full power loads. They were 150 Winchester deer season special I believe is the name. Don't have the box in front of me.

 

[cohunt]

Full power loads. They were 150 Winchester deer season special I believe is the name. Don't have the box in front of me.

deer season xp
Check out post #69

 

[Nuclear Worker]

deer season xp
Check out post #69

Thanks yes that is the one.

 

[snox801]

Good luck on your late season with that. Nosler 125 factory is also very good. I have not used it but many guys that pig hunt with me use them and they work great. Got my 4rth deer with my blk this year and it's not even late season when I do my best. Haven't used anything but the blk in years but have some new toys to try so I'll be using those.

 

[snox801]

On a side note I shot my last one with the hornady sub x ammo. I've had no luck with any subs before they just pencil through and either don't expand or barely expand.
These sub x actually work I shot behind shoulder and had a very nice 1.5" exit wound and lungs were in rough shape. Very nice blood trail on that one.
Might be worth a try for your limited distance shooting.