New to hunting and have a question.

[JuanC]

[Bigs28]

Can't tell you 18" but i would have no problem taking hogs or deer out to 225 yards with my 12" grendel. I use 110g maker trex.

[Harpoon1]

https://www.hornady.com/ammunition/rifle/6-5-grendel-123-gr-sst#!/

[VASCAR2]

This forum has a wealth of knowledge on hog hunting through a few members here. I suggest you watch Double Naught Spy youtube channel Carpe Sus and Carpe Analysus. You be well entertained and gain a lot of knowledge. There are guys on this forum who have forgot more about hunting than some of us will ever know.

https://www.youtube.com/@carpeanalysusthetraumadiar9401

[rickt300]

Don't worry so much about making the longest shots, work on making the shots you get inside your personal capabilities.

[JASmith]

Don't worry so much about making the longest shots, work on making the shots you get inside your personal capabilities.

+++1 !!!!

Best answer to the OP!!!

[Stinky Coyote]

yeah the rifle, cartridge and bullet combo will almost always exceed the shooters ability to place it properly on an animal in a real hunting situation

I've pushed a 16" barrel grendel with factory hornady black ammo to 420 yards on a whitetail deer so far and no issues. Mature Alberta doe quartering and went through 15" and exited and she died right where she stood. I wouldn't normally go that far but my son and I were doubling up on a couple does at the end of the season to fill the freezer and he took the first one at 355 and I grabbed the rifle to fill one more tag. My other son took a big buck at 300 yards the week before, it went 50 yards. At our elevation that bullet still has 1800 fps impact velocity at 420 yards from that 16" barrel...way more than enough for almost anything we can hunt if you do your part and put it into the middle of the ribs.

[CJW]

rickt300, excellent answer!!!

[Double Naught Spy]

The longest DRT shot I ever made was 365 yards on a running hog with a hail Mary shot that I estimated based on previous misses and their impacts (Hornday SST 123 factory ammo). I am not a long range hunter by any stretch and tend to keep my shots inside 250 yards and on average shoot 105 yards (some guy actually went through my videos and tallied the distances of my kills to get the average).

However, rick is right, stay inside your personal capabilities.

You can get some boutique factory ammo from the likes of Precision Firearms and Druid Hill Armory. You have to monitor their sites for when things are in stock. I believe the prices are a little better with Druid Hill Armory. Both do an excellent job. Otherwise check out ammoseek.com to find a goodly number of Grendel ammo choices.

If you are shopping brick and mortar stores, probably what you are most apt to find is Hornady ELM-M 123 gr. Some people love it. I would rank it as capable, but not the best choice for hogs. Not trying to generate an argument, just expressing my opinion. I have hunted with it and likely will use it again in the future if that is what I have on hand.

Just curious, what optics will you be using for this hunt?

[JuanC]

The longest DRT shot I ever made was 365 yards on a running hog with a hail Mary shot that I estimated based on previous misses and their impacts (Hornday SST 123 factory ammo). I am not a long range hunter by any stretch and tend to keep my shots inside 250 yards and on average shoot 105 yards (some guy actually went through my videos and tallied the distances of my kills to get the average).

However, rick is right, stay inside your personal capabilities.

You can get some boutique factory ammo from the likes of Precision Firearms and Druid Hill Armory. You have to monitor their sites for when things are in stock. I believe the prices are a little better with Druid Hill Armory. Both do an excellent job. Otherwise check out ammoseek.com to find a goodly number of Grendel ammo choices.

If you are shopping brick and mortar stores, probably what you are most apt to find is Hornady ELM-M 123 gr. Some people love it. I would rank it as capable, but not the best choice for hogs. Not trying to generate an argument, just expressing my opinion. I have hunted with it and likely will use it again in the future if that is what I have on hand.

Just curious, what optics will you be using for this hunt?

I currently have a Leupold VX5HD 3-15x44 scope. Right now I have a few boxes of SST, Barnes VOR-Tx, and ELD-M

[Stinky Coyote]

Hey Double Naught, your average is inline with a lot of North American big game hunting averages, usually between 100-150 yards when you see larger polls of 5 plus years of kills by those who've observed those things over time.

JuanC, you'll find the Barnes will likely get blown around in the wind more as you stretch things out past 250 yards but the Hornady stuff will likely impress you beyond that due to it's higher bc, it will retain velocity better for less drop and fight wind better for less drift. Have you group size checked your rifle with those 3 ammo's yet? You will want to see what the accuracy looks like between those 3. Calm morning, not too much coffee, and 100 yard paper targets with the 2" crosses, do several 3-shot groups with each ammo and see if anything stands out, your rifle may like all 3 well enough to hunt with but maybe it only likes 1?, you may as well find out as all 3 will kill just fine to likely beyond your capabilities afield most of the time, but if it really loves one ammo you have your answer what to use because placement trumps all, to a point, if they all shoot under 1.5" then they will all work great, but if you have two that shoot just over 1" and one that shoots under 1" I'd likely lean to the one that shoots under 1" at 100 yards as then you have a set up that if you mess up the shot you know it's 100% your fault lol

[Double Naught Spy]

I currently have a Leupold VX5HD 3-15x44 scope. Right now I have a few boxes of SST, Barnes VOR-Tx, and ELD-M

Okay, so you have good optics for daylight hunting and unless you are really good, your will probably be limited more by your skill than the optics or ammo. Just saying that you probably aren't going to be shooting 500+ yards, probably.

You have 3 types of ammo that do different things. SSTs tend to break up at shorter distances (higher velocity) using inside 150 yards and out past 200 may tend to act more like a soft point, but one that sheds more weight than a typical soft point. This would be my choice if you just wanted to kill hogs, but not necessarily harvest the meat. The SST and the ELD-M will leave a lot of lead bits in the meat surrounding the wound channel.

The ELD-M (123s, I assume) will come apart more readily at longer distances. Lots of people love these, especially for deer hunting, but also hog and coyote. As a match bullet, I found that they tend to be a more inconsistent in how they perform in the animal in terms of when and how they come apart and to what degree, but they always do come apart and do damage as a result. Of the three options, this would be my second choice if your goal is to just kill hogs.

The Barnes VOR-Tx would be my least favorite choice of the three unless your goal is for a bullet that does not open up very much (but they do open), but penetrates very deeply and will commonly overpenetrate on broadside shots, giving you an entry and exit wound, even at longer distances. A lot of people like this for blood trails, for example. Also, the benefit of this bullet over the others is if you are planning on taking the meat. You won't be worrying about a lot of lead bits polluting your meat.

Those are my opinions. Other people may have equally valid and differing opinions and be able to give you reasons that are as good or better for supporting their views. None of these are bad options.

[Koda]

It will depend on the terminal velocity the bullet is advertised for, which is the minimum velocity it needs to properly expand on impact. If you know your muzzle velocity (regardless of barrel length) and the bullets ballistic coefficient you can put that info into any online ballistic calculator and it will tell you the max range you can get the terminal velocity.
My guess with some factory ammo Ive looked at is around 400yds.