Top 6.5 G deer rifle bullet options

[bmash]

[Harpoon1]

[BL2551]

You can add one more 123 gr ELD-m to the list. On 11/11/2023 I shot a good sized buck almost perfectly broadside. The bullet entered through the ribs about 3-4 inches behind the near shoulder, went through the far side ribs, and the jacket was found between the ribs and far shoulder. The lungs were destroyed. I did not find any lead, but did find the jacket. Is jacket separation like this a good thing? It was definitely effective when hit in that spot, but I am wondering what performance might be like if it hit the near shoulder blade. Here are the pics of the jacket in case you are interested.

jacket top 1.jpgjacket side 1.jpg

[VASCAR2]

[ported45]

That's not a traditional cup and core. The Gold Dot line is bonded according to Speer "one molecule at a time".

[gldprimr]

I have successfully used Hornady 123 gr. SST, 100 gr. Nosler Partition, 120 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip, 125 gr. Nosler Partition and 129 gr. Nosler Accubond Long Range - of all of them I like the performance of the 129 gr. ABLR the best. As I do have enough on hand for the seasons I expect I have left that is now my 6.5 Grendel deer load. I will not be looking for another. In truth all the bullets worked well, I just find that the 129 gr. ABLR gives the fast expansion of the more frangible bullets while giving me the penetration of the Partition while also oddly enough giving me the most consistent load in my rifle.

[bmash]

I have successfully used Hornady 123 gr. SST, 100 gr. Nosler Partition, 120 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip, 125 gr. Nosler Partition and 129 gr. Nosler Accubond Long Range - of all of them I like the performance of the 129 gr. ABLR the best. As I do have enough on hand for the seasons I expect I have left that is now my 6.5 Grendel deer load. I will not be looking for another. In truth all the bullets worked well, I just find that the 129 gr. ABLR gives the fast expansion of the more frangible bullets while giving me the penetration of the Partition while also oddly enough giving me the most consistent load in my rifle.

[rickt300]

My bullet for this year will be the 120 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip. Just loaded 18 up and they are next in the line up. They have never given me a reason not to be happy with their performance.

[trubulator]

I've now shot 4 does with the grendel, 2 with SST (175 and 325 yards) and 2 with 129 ABLR (250 and 250 yards). All of them died rapidly after impact, so I suppose there isn't a bad choice here. That said, I got pass throughs with the ABLR and not with the SST. I like both bullets, although I think I would prefer the ABLR if elk are a possibility. Next season I am planning to work up a load with the 100 grain TTSX out of an American Predator. I suspect it will work great too.

[kmon]

I have used A-Max, SST and Nosler ABLR and of the 3 never had any issues killing deer, hogs and coyotes but of the 3 my preference is the Nosler. Could just be the deer had exhaled mostly before the shot but the lungs have been basically liquid with a few jell like clumps when using the ABLR. N Plus not long after they came out I bought 500 of them on a great deal so that will last me a while. Since then acquired a few hundred more.

[Kurtis]

I've had good deer hunting success with the Hornady 123 SST. They dropped on the spot or within feet.
I tried the Barnes 120 TTSX on a few deer. Complete pass through with caliber size exit. Minimal blood trail. They seem to need more velocity to expand.
This year I tried 99g Hammer Hunter bullets. Two large-bodied deer at 210 and 240 yards. Excellent performance from lead-free projectiles.

Side note not Grendel related...I loaded HH bullets in the wife's '06. She had similar impressive results.