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Good folks,
I was lucky enough to harvest a caribou over the weekend in interior AK today. I shot him twice using a 6.5 Grendel (AA upper with 16inch barrel). Range was about 75 yards. Ammo was AA factory ammo (120 grain TSX). Both shots were too far forward into the shoulder. Both bullets impacted on the right shoulder blade and passed completely through the animal. The animal did not react to the first shot. The animal collapsed upon impact of the second shot. Both shots impacted the shoulder but were to far forward to damage the heart or lungs. Both shoulders were broken. I finished him off with a 9mm 115 grain Speer Gold Dot to the brain pan. I am pleased with cartridge and bullet performance but disappointed in my marksmanship. I was holding two inch groups at 200 yards last summer. I'm going to reconfirm my zero ASAP. I guesstimate the bull weighed around 250lbs.
Afterthought: I think the Grendel is a fine hunting cartridge. I would like to see how the 120 grain class projectiles perform out of 16 barrel on game at the 300 to 400 yard mark. I was truly surprised to get complete pass throughs on each shot, to include passing through both shoulder blades. Last fall I watched a friend poke a similar sized caribou with a .338 win mag (225 grain accubond bullet/factory ammo). The accubond did not achieve complete pass through on that caribou at a range of 150/175 yards.
My M4gery type Grendel is light and packs well while bouncing up frozen rivers or across the tundra on a snow machine. I'd love to upgrade to a 7.62 gun, but I'm not certain the extra power is worth trade off on rifle weight.
Regardless, this rifle/cartridge combo works as long as you place the bullet into the vitals.
P.S. This was posted on another forum. Apologies to those who have seen this already. Thanks.
I was lucky enough to harvest a caribou over the weekend in interior AK today. I shot him twice using a 6.5 Grendel (AA upper with 16inch barrel). Range was about 75 yards. Ammo was AA factory ammo (120 grain TSX). Both shots were too far forward into the shoulder. Both bullets impacted on the right shoulder blade and passed completely through the animal. The animal did not react to the first shot. The animal collapsed upon impact of the second shot. Both shots impacted the shoulder but were to far forward to damage the heart or lungs. Both shoulders were broken. I finished him off with a 9mm 115 grain Speer Gold Dot to the brain pan. I am pleased with cartridge and bullet performance but disappointed in my marksmanship. I was holding two inch groups at 200 yards last summer. I'm going to reconfirm my zero ASAP. I guesstimate the bull weighed around 250lbs.
Afterthought: I think the Grendel is a fine hunting cartridge. I would like to see how the 120 grain class projectiles perform out of 16 barrel on game at the 300 to 400 yard mark. I was truly surprised to get complete pass throughs on each shot, to include passing through both shoulder blades. Last fall I watched a friend poke a similar sized caribou with a .338 win mag (225 grain accubond bullet/factory ammo). The accubond did not achieve complete pass through on that caribou at a range of 150/175 yards.
My M4gery type Grendel is light and packs well while bouncing up frozen rivers or across the tundra on a snow machine. I'd love to upgrade to a 7.62 gun, but I'm not certain the extra power is worth trade off on rifle weight.
Regardless, this rifle/cartridge combo works as long as you place the bullet into the vitals.
P.S. This was posted on another forum. Apologies to those who have seen this already. Thanks.
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