Is this a hunting round?

[Two Tone]

6.5 Grendel ammo is pretty hard to come by so I figured I better ask here before I buy something in the blind.

Is the ammo linked below a hunting round? Can it be used for hunting? Will it at least expand on a deer?

https://www.hornady.com/ammunition/rifle/6.5-grendel-123-gr-eld-match-black#!/

[sundowner]

There are many posts about this round and yes it can be used for hunting deer , many posts about that .

[Double Naught Spy]

So, NO, it is not a hunting round. It was designed as, and marketed as match ammo. It states right there on the page that this is "Target/Mach" ammunition. It was NOT designed or marketed as hunting ammunition. So obviously, this should never ever be used for hunting because that was not what it was designed for, right?

I am stating purported facts and poking some fun here because I occasionally get given considerable verbal condemnation for testing non-hunting bullets for hunting purposes. People get hung up on "design intent" and marketed parameters of application as if they were handed down by God. So if I have a bullet being tested that does not perform well for hunting that wasn't designed for hunting, folks will often note that obviously it would not work because it wasn't designed for hunting. It is a shallow consideration especially in light of bullets such as Hornady AMAX and ELD-M. While the designers of the bullet may have had one intent in mind, that does not de facto resign the bullet to only that application. There are some target bullets that are fine for hunting, though certainly not all of them. There are some hunting bullets that are not really up to par hunting, despite that being their apparent intent as indicated by the marketing.

As sundowner noted, it can be used for hunting deer (hogs, coyotes, etc.) and some people think very highly of it for the process. Despite some of my videos like this one where I tested the ELD-M 123 gr. factory ammo, it is not one of my favorite rounds, but I think it should be very functional for hunting.

[Double Naught Spy]

I think its performance is not fully consistent in terms of expansion. It will expand and fragment, but when and how much is the variable part, so it may not happen at comparable rates between shots. As such, you might want to be a little more choosy in making your shots. However, I don't think I would hesitate to use it again if I didn't have other options available that I consider to be better options. You could certainly do much worse. Here is another video. Somebody complained about the exposed meat and blood and so you have to watch it on YouTube proper after proving you are 18 - sheesh.

[CJW]

[Two Tone]

Looks pretty effective.

Thanks for the replies.

Want to finish the builds and get some hunting in this year.

[Double Naught Spy]

Everybody is a critic. That is the joy of life in today's world.

Shoot well and kill many hogs!!!

[Stinky Coyote]

Good posts, and agree completely with the consensus that is a fine hunting round. Our house has 12 head of big game in Alberta now, 5 species from deer to moose and from 10 yards to 420 yards and we're batting 1000 with it. Will not change, love the 123 gr eld-m and the factory hornady black is all we shoot.

Ignore 'marketing' for the most part. Any lighter construction with known reliable rapid expansion characteristics are great bullet choices are to be looked at when your velocities are moderate to low which is exactly what the 6.5 Grendel is. They perform great at these moderate to low velocities.

[Fess]

At some point I got a good look at cross-sections of the ELD-M and ELD-X bullets and the big difference is in the jacket design and how the tip initiates expansion. The jackets of the ELD-M are thin and uniform, like most match bullets. The plastic tips have a thin cylinder that fits into the lead core, but is not shaped like a wedge to initiate uniform expansion. It will expand somewhat randomly (not always into a uniform mushroom) and fragment, but not in a consistent manner. The ELD-X on the other hand is specifically designed to mushroom consistently and progressively down the shank. It starts to mushroom at a relatively low velocity, but still works at high velocity. It is designed to penetrate deeply, so to avoid the "parachute effect" that causes reduced penetration by large-diameter expansion, the mushroom stays of moderate size.

Below are a couple of images to compare with the link at the top of the page. The plastic tip acts like a wedge to start expansion and the jacket walls are thin and skived near the tip in order to peel back uniformly into several petals. The jacket thickens significantly farther back to slow expansion if the bullet hits at higher velocity. The front jacket will fold back and shed some of the lead but keep a moderate-sized mushroom shape as the bullet gets shorter and shorter. Near the back of the bullet you can see a lip in the jacket that functions as a mechanical interlock to retain the lead core. The jacket wall thickens noticeably immediately below the interlock section. It is a clever design, but won't give as much of an initial shock as a bullet that expands massively or completely fragments soon after impact. The complicated jacket design makes it more difficult to achieve the extreme accuracy of the simpler ELD-M bullet, though.
Everything-You-Wanted-to-Know-About-Hornady-Precision-Hunter-Ammo-expansion.jpgELD-X-04.jpg

[kmon]

I have killed a few head with the ELD-M and more with the A-Max which I really like . From my limited experience everything has fell quickly from one shot from about 10 Yards to almost 300 yards either on the spot or up to 50 yards recovery.

[Stinky Coyote]

There's a guy on YouTube who gel tested the eld-m and sst, you can find the videos, they both performed similar but the eld-m went 1" deeper, 19" vs 18" vs recollection and similar excellent textbook mushrooms.
I believe you'll also find guys who've tried both tend to migrate to the eld-m for better on game performance also. You'll find more reports that way than the other way...so marketing be danged lol. Less jacket toughness the better at these speeds! There's plenty of SD to go around and maximize penetration with the upset preferred for quick field results on game.

[Stinky Coyote]

So, NO, it is not a hunting round. It was designed as, and marketed as match ammo. It states right there on the page that this is "Target/Mach" ammunition. It was NOT designed or marketed as hunting ammunition. So obviously, this should never ever be used for hunting because that was not what it was designed for, right?

I am stating purported facts and poking some fun here because I occasionally get given considerable verbal condemnation for testing non-hunting bullets for hunting purposes. People get hung up on "design intent" and marketed parameters of application as if they were handed down by God. So if I have a bullet being tested that does not perform well for hunting that wasn't designed for hunting, folks will often note that obviously it would not work because it wasn't designed for hunting. It is a shallow consideration especially in light of bullets such as Hornady AMAX and ELD-M. While the designers of the bullet may have had one intent in mind, that does not de facto resign the bullet to only that application. There are some target bullets that are fine for hunting, though certainly not all of them. There are some hunting bullets that are not really up to par hunting, despite that being their apparent intent as indicated by the marketing.

As sundowner noted, it can be used for hunting deer (hogs, coyotes, etc.) and some people think very highly of it for the process. Despite some of my videos like this one where I tested the ELD-M 123 gr. factory ammo, it is not one of my favorite rounds, but I think it should be very functional for hunting.

Great video, you'll definitely have the edge for dedicated pig round recommendations and typical ranges for them. For those who take on various other big game and varying ranges beyond the hogs the eld-m is working great. I have bone hits on moose femur (destroyed about 4" of it, unnecessary follow ups, shoot till they drop) and skull on same moose went in just under antler at 125 yards and it knocked the antler off with a couple inches of skull plate attached to it, shot a pretty large boar black bear this spring quartering away at 55 yards and broke the rather stout offside front shoulder. I'm seeing very consistent performance with penetration in the 20" range (unless a major bone hit like spine, skull, femer) from 10 yards out to 420 yards and great internal work through that 20"...closer shots leaving less chunks of lead to be found and recovered weight at about 200 yards or 2100 fps impact on mine can expect to recover 100 grains after 18". Which only have so many examples of this to draw from as most of the deer size game broadside have been exits so only some of the quartering shots where 18-20" of animal allowed bullet (fragments etc.) to be recovered. Another observation that's been consistent is the faster the impact speeds the great the expansion/fragmentation and less lead recovered if even recovered, even a 10 yard facing bear went through 14-16" center chest and exited just beside the spine (odd angle, it was taking a poop facing us) and then the further we go it starts to behave more as a controlled delayed expansion bullet but it's penetration depths are similar all the way out with impact velocity dictating the upset and internal work. A guy could do everything he wanted with a Grendel and hornady black from steel to hunting and never need to shop for anything else, just keep a few cases around and stock back up when you get down to the last case or two.

[keystone183]

Its my favorite hunting round out of 12.5" barrels.

20" barrels too......