Poll: Best hunting bullet for the Grendel?

[Clabdor]

I completly agree with lrrp's statement about having a 1.5 moa average is more than acceptable for hunting out to 300 yards or so. I strive for sub moa, but at what cost? My hunting buddy isn't a stickler for supreme accuracy. But no matter what loads he uses, critters hit the dirt. I've seen time and time again his targets with 3 or 4 different bullets in the same group at 1.5 moa or less at 100 yards. He basically just grabs a handful of ammo and shoots it. It's not that he is careless. He has fired enough rounds, to be comfortable knowing he will be successful at the distances he is willing to shoot at game. No matter what load happens to be in the magazine. His barrel is a 20" lilja, chambered by Mark at Precision.

+1 to the above comments about relative accuracy. Your experience may be and might end up being different than mine, but I am moving away from Ballistic Tips (BT's) and yes, I've hand loaded all the major manf with various grains. While I have killed quite a few deer (and pigs) with ballistic tips, my experience is the fragmentation of the ballistic tips doesn't achieve the results I am looking for. Too much run out and not enough DRT. I have gotten more DRT with bonded bullets and if I don't get a DRT, the blood trail is significant enough to allow for easier tracking. I hunt in heavy vegetation and having red to follow is way better than an educated guess and plowing through a bunch of Cholla and Prickly Pear, not to mention Rattlers. The bonded bullets(still looking for the right pill for my rig) I have hand loaded so far are not as "accurate" as the ballistic tips I have hand loaded (my rig loves Nosler BT's 100gr @ 28.7gr of 8208) but have still been well within the kill zone area on a deer. In fact, if I can't hit the a dinner plate size kill zone on a deer I shouldn't be shooting at deer anyway. IMO, the relative "inaccuracy" is more than offset by the results I get with bonded bullets. Good luck with the journey. As you know, 1/2 the fun is in the journey.

[tomc]

^^^ Thanks for resurrecting this discussion. I will be interested to hear up to date comments.

[bj139]

I don't know how I missed this post the first time around.
DNS, great mouse hunt. This brought back thoughts from the past when I was hunting where I just wanted to shoot at something. I shot a quarter on a tree one time with a 30-06. I still have the quarter somewhere.

I took the Grendel out hunting for deer with the 123 SST only because Hornady says it is their hunting bullet. Didn't fire a shot at a deer yet with the Grendel.

[Swampfox]

Well I can say the ELD Match out of the Grendel worked great on the doe yesterday at 100-125 yards.

[Redomen]

I use factory 123 SST for hunting. It has been flawless on deer and hogs so far. I am in the process of working up some 129 ABLR and am looking forward to testing them on some critters. Until then I will stick with the SST.

[Cowdog]

I use factory 123 SST for hunting. It has been flawless on deer and hogs so far. I am in the process of working up some 129 ABLR and am looking forward to testing them on some critters. Until then I will stick with the SST.

I would be very interested in how the 129 ABLR works out for you. I bought 200 of the 123 ELD-M for break in on my Grendel. I went through 40 of the ELD-M on my first range session with my Grendel and I was not worried about accuracy, just function of the new build. Was staying under 2 inches which was all I could ask at this point. Will shoot the rest of the 123 ELD-M ( and save the brass) and then test the 123 SST after that. But I bought 100 of the 129 ABLR to reload after break in and I am hoping I come across a good load with them. If not hopefully the 123 SST shoots accurate enough for Deer and Hogs.

[CaptnC]

DNS...that mouse hunt was awsome!

I'm in the 123 SST crowd. I just built my Grendel's mid 2018, but have put down 2 Doe and one hog the bullet. I'm super pleased with those bullets. All pass through, 2 were at 100yds...one at 75yds. Nice wound channel too.

[slip357]

I have been loading the speer 120 grain gold dot , getting under an inch at 200 yds.

[Lazermule]

Well I can say the ELD Match out of the Grendel worked great on the doe yesterday at 100-125 yards.

Good to know, It was my understanding that these were designed for punching paper only. Did you recover the bullet? It would be interesting to see how it expanded.

LM

[RMiller]

There are a couple decent YouTube videos showing the expansion of the ELD M in the Grendel.

[GREYBUFF]

I am hoping the 120 grain prohunter will be a good pig bullet. I am loading 27.6 grains of 8208 at 2480 fps.

Where do you find 1000 in bulk at a good price.(just retired yesterday and am now on a budget!)

[SDguy]

Hornady 129 gr SP #2620

Inside of 200 yards I would give the Hornady 129 gr SP #2620 a serious look, https://www.powdervalleyinc.com/prod...129-gr-sp-100/

Ill have a hard time limiting myself to 1 bullet. If I had to I would not feel to compromised with this simple flat base hunting bullet that has had an outstanding reputation for years. They shoot well out of my CZ-527 rifles with a wide wide array of propellants LVR giving top velocity!

[pajasonc]

I have been loading the speer 120 grain gold dot , getting under an inch at 200 yds.

If I was loading the grendel for hunting deer sized animals I would start with the speers. To me from 2000 to 2600 impact velocity its hard to beat a traditional cup and core bullet. They seem more consistent than the ballistic tip types of bullets and the barnes types. Of course my typical response to anyone asking about bullets is you can never go wrong with a nosler partition. Soft front for rapid expansion, partition guarantees the bullet can't fail, reasonably high bc for bullet weight etc etc etc. But I have zero experience in the partition in this cartridge.

[CaptnC]

After this past weekend, I'm totally convicted the Hornady 123 SST is the bullet for the Grendel.

This fall I took two Doe from north central Texas and one Doe from the hill country (Texas)...plus one 100ish lb. hog. Bullet performance was prefect. One Doe ran about 75 yards but was dumping blood everywhere, the rest where bang flop or super close to bang flop.

They all 4 passed through, all 4 had decent size exit holes with nearly tennis ball size wound channels. The heaviest bones hit were ribs, but I feel things would have worked just as good if a bone was hit.

Got a nice double exit hole on my Doe this past weekend...according to teeth wear, she was 6.5yo

[grendelnubi]

For me I'm going to use the Nosler 129 ABLR. It is a very, very accurate, is very coefficient, with an advertised min velocity of 1300 fps it should perform very well in the Grendel. Took two deer this year, both neck shots, hitting the spine in the process and at very close range. Minimal fragmentation with both having a complete pass thru.

I have also taken a deer at close range with the 123 SST the year before hitting it in the boiler room, it did exit but did show considerable fragmentation. To be fair, the 123 gr SST was a little over 2300fps from a 16" barrel and the 129 ABLR was running at 2193 fps out of a 12.7" barrel.

I did just receive from Hornady 500 free 129 gr SP that SD made reference to and will be doing some accuratcy testing with it. The min velocity is a little high at 1950 fps and I suspect I will be pushing it right at 2200 fps so if I will be limited on range. Will be testing it on hogs.