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It has been a bit in coming. In winter/spring of 2018 I bought a 20" BCA upper in 6.5 Grendel and had problems with it needless to say. While playing phone and UPS tag with BCA I decided to take the plunge and build me a 6.5 Grendel from scratch. Just so happened that I found a deal on Anderson lowers if you bought 3. Basically it was by two at a good price and get one free.
I went with an Anderson upper and got the 18" Oden Works package of barrel, gas block and tube with bolt and carrier. Used a STNGR handguard and good quality lower parts with a POF 3.5 lb trigger. Off the top of my head I can not remember the maker of the muzzle device I used but it is one that projects the muzzle blast down range and man does it work. I have put them on the other Grendel and a 5.56 AR. Eventually I got the 20" BCA fixed and got it to shoot sub MOA with 120 Gold Dots and did kill a deer with it last year.
I swapped hunting off and on with the two rifles last year but never saw anything to shoot with the 18" Oden.
This year I have solely hunted with it. I hunted in east NC for 30+ years but things have changed and now I am hunting close to home in east TN. The deer are not as plentiful and it is illegal to bate in TN and the terrain is basically straight up or straight down and average shots are inside 75 yards.
I am just learning the land where I am hunting. It is a 460 acre tract of land that borders national forest. It has an old apple orchard on it but years ago the Oak trees were logged off so that really hurts things. Me and another fellow planted some small food plots in August but only one grew well because it got rain for two weeks but by the time we got the other couple plots planted it stopped raining for 6 weeks and was very HOT. The plot that grew has been eaten down now. Hunting has been hard this season due to the weather. Bow season was way too hot and deer did not move during day light. When muzzle loading season came in I only got to hunt three days because of a prior commitment being out of town. I did get a doe the last day of muzzle loading I got to hunt.
When rifle season came in it has rained quite a bit and snowed some but mostly it has been the wind. This property is between 3800 and 4100 feet above sea level and because of the way the terrain is the wind really blows hard and deer go down into the laurel thickets and bed down and do not move much. I have only had a few days because of work or family commitments to hunt when the weather was good.
Today I got to go for an afternoon hunt. It was in the upper 50s with just a hint of SW wind so I decided to go on the west side of the property down an old logging road about a mile and a half pretty rugged at times because of the steep terrain 4 wheeler ride so the wind would be in my face and work for the area. There are a couple ladder stands on this road but where I wanted to go there is no stand. I positioned my 4 wheeler in the road to where I could see the convergence of 4 old logging paths and where a small ridge gently falls off into this juncture which was about 70 yards away.
In this position I could also see a ways down a wooded hollow that has a laurel thicket below it. I got there at 1 p.m. and it was beautiful. The wood peckers were doing their thing. I watched some squirrels play. About 4:15 the sun went behind the little ridge and I had to put my coat on because it felt like the temp dropped 20* as soon as the sun was off me. Then at 4:50 my eye catches a flash of movement just beyond where the 4 logging trails merge. I freeze any movement and concentrate on that spot. I see movement again and this time I can make out it is a deer walking facing me. I am holding my rifle across my lap and I carefully turn the power ring on the 1-8 Primary Arms scope up to 8 and ease the rifle slowly up to my shoulder. It is a doe in the 120 lb range and I need some meat. See stops broadside at about 60 yards and I try holding the ACSS pyramid tip steady in the center of her shoulder as I squeeze the trigger. Boom and off goes a 120 Sierra Pro Hunter propelled by 28.5 grs IMR8208 fired by a CCI450 out of a Hornady case and the deer hits the ground like a ton of brick has fallen on it. She does a little leg twitch and lays still.
I watch her for a few minutes just to make sure she is down for sure and then fire up the 4 wheeler and go down to load her up. I keep forgetting that I have a camera on my phone or I would have taken a picture. I was in a hurry because by the time I could get her tied on the 4 wheeler and get back to my truck and trailer it would be after dark and then I had to load and tie down the 4 wheeler and then it is a 35 minute drive home.
When home I did a gutless butchering so did not get into the chest cavity but I did hit the shoulder just about 1 1/2" higher than I wanted. The bullet centered the thickest part of the scapula and then destroyed about 2 inches of vertebra but did not exit the other side. I lost about 2" of back strap tips also. I did not see any bullet pieces but I was in a hurry. I am satisfied with bullet performance, dead deer in it's tracks. I will put the meat in the freezer in the morning after is soaks all night. Then I have to wash my 4 wheeler, trailer and truck bed because there is blood all over. Hope to get to go hunt again tomorrow afternoon. Wish me luck.
I went with an Anderson upper and got the 18" Oden Works package of barrel, gas block and tube with bolt and carrier. Used a STNGR handguard and good quality lower parts with a POF 3.5 lb trigger. Off the top of my head I can not remember the maker of the muzzle device I used but it is one that projects the muzzle blast down range and man does it work. I have put them on the other Grendel and a 5.56 AR. Eventually I got the 20" BCA fixed and got it to shoot sub MOA with 120 Gold Dots and did kill a deer with it last year.
I swapped hunting off and on with the two rifles last year but never saw anything to shoot with the 18" Oden.
This year I have solely hunted with it. I hunted in east NC for 30+ years but things have changed and now I am hunting close to home in east TN. The deer are not as plentiful and it is illegal to bate in TN and the terrain is basically straight up or straight down and average shots are inside 75 yards.
I am just learning the land where I am hunting. It is a 460 acre tract of land that borders national forest. It has an old apple orchard on it but years ago the Oak trees were logged off so that really hurts things. Me and another fellow planted some small food plots in August but only one grew well because it got rain for two weeks but by the time we got the other couple plots planted it stopped raining for 6 weeks and was very HOT. The plot that grew has been eaten down now. Hunting has been hard this season due to the weather. Bow season was way too hot and deer did not move during day light. When muzzle loading season came in I only got to hunt three days because of a prior commitment being out of town. I did get a doe the last day of muzzle loading I got to hunt.
When rifle season came in it has rained quite a bit and snowed some but mostly it has been the wind. This property is between 3800 and 4100 feet above sea level and because of the way the terrain is the wind really blows hard and deer go down into the laurel thickets and bed down and do not move much. I have only had a few days because of work or family commitments to hunt when the weather was good.
Today I got to go for an afternoon hunt. It was in the upper 50s with just a hint of SW wind so I decided to go on the west side of the property down an old logging road about a mile and a half pretty rugged at times because of the steep terrain 4 wheeler ride so the wind would be in my face and work for the area. There are a couple ladder stands on this road but where I wanted to go there is no stand. I positioned my 4 wheeler in the road to where I could see the convergence of 4 old logging paths and where a small ridge gently falls off into this juncture which was about 70 yards away.
In this position I could also see a ways down a wooded hollow that has a laurel thicket below it. I got there at 1 p.m. and it was beautiful. The wood peckers were doing their thing. I watched some squirrels play. About 4:15 the sun went behind the little ridge and I had to put my coat on because it felt like the temp dropped 20* as soon as the sun was off me. Then at 4:50 my eye catches a flash of movement just beyond where the 4 logging trails merge. I freeze any movement and concentrate on that spot. I see movement again and this time I can make out it is a deer walking facing me. I am holding my rifle across my lap and I carefully turn the power ring on the 1-8 Primary Arms scope up to 8 and ease the rifle slowly up to my shoulder. It is a doe in the 120 lb range and I need some meat. See stops broadside at about 60 yards and I try holding the ACSS pyramid tip steady in the center of her shoulder as I squeeze the trigger. Boom and off goes a 120 Sierra Pro Hunter propelled by 28.5 grs IMR8208 fired by a CCI450 out of a Hornady case and the deer hits the ground like a ton of brick has fallen on it. She does a little leg twitch and lays still.
I watch her for a few minutes just to make sure she is down for sure and then fire up the 4 wheeler and go down to load her up. I keep forgetting that I have a camera on my phone or I would have taken a picture. I was in a hurry because by the time I could get her tied on the 4 wheeler and get back to my truck and trailer it would be after dark and then I had to load and tie down the 4 wheeler and then it is a 35 minute drive home.
When home I did a gutless butchering so did not get into the chest cavity but I did hit the shoulder just about 1 1/2" higher than I wanted. The bullet centered the thickest part of the scapula and then destroyed about 2 inches of vertebra but did not exit the other side. I lost about 2" of back strap tips also. I did not see any bullet pieces but I was in a hurry. I am satisfied with bullet performance, dead deer in it's tracks. I will put the meat in the freezer in the morning after is soaks all night. Then I have to wash my 4 wheeler, trailer and truck bed because there is blood all over. Hope to get to go hunt again tomorrow afternoon. Wish me luck.
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