Hello from Alaska

[Snow_Nigerian]

Hey everyone,

I'm a brand new owner of a 6.5 grendel Howa Mini Action as of 2 days ago. I live in southeast alaska, and i'm a reloader thankfully to be able to toy around with the far and wide variety of 6.5 bullets to try and down a deer or more around here. So far my project is typical, a lightweight deer rifle with the capability of bear if need be. So far, I've got the Howa in a carbon fiber stockey's stock, and at ~5lbs without a scope. Waiting on a Leupold 2-7x33, although that SWFA 2.5-10x is looking really nice at 9.5oz. Heard the top end of the magnification isn't so good though. I'm looking at chopping down the barrel to a cool 14.5" or 16" and sticking my suppressor on there, but I've got a ton of questions, hence my joining the forum! I'll probably be asking in the appropriate forum later but here's a couple icebreaker questions.

Through a 14.5"-16" barrel, I'm looking to down deer up to 300yd max. I need a reliable expanding bullet out to 300yd. Factory ammo is nearly out of the question out here. What bullets do you all suggest for Sitka Blacktail Deer out to 300yd for a 14.5" barrel? If not 14.5", 16"? 22"?

Thanks for letting me join. Now to go browse and see if there's any mini action magazines for sale... seem to unobtanium!

Cheers,
Snow

[sundowner]

Welcome to the horde from Wisconsin .

[LRRPF52]

Hey everyone,

I'm a brand new owner of a 6.5 grendel Howa Mini Action as of 2 days ago. I live in southeast alaska, and i'm a reloader thankfully to be able to toy around with the far and wide variety of 6.5 bullets to try and down a deer or more around here. So far my project is typical, a lightweight deer rifle with the capability of bear if need be. So far, I've got the Howa in a carbon fiber stockey's stock, and at ~5lbs without a scope. Waiting on a Leupold 2-7x33, although that SWFA 2.5-10x is looking really nice at 9.5oz. Heard the top end of the magnification isn't so good though. I'm looking at chopping down the barrel to a cool 14.5" or 16" and sticking my suppressor on there, but I've got a ton of questions, hence my joining the forum! I'll probably be asking in the appropriate forum later but here's a couple icebreaker questions.

Through a 14.5"-16" barrel, I'm looking to down deer up to 300yd max. I need a reliable expanding bullet out to 300yd. Factory ammo is nearly out of the question out here. What bullets do you all suggest for Sitka Blacktail Deer out to 300yd for a 14.5" barrel? If not 14.5", 16"? 22"?

Thanks for letting me join. Now to go browse and see if there's any mini action magazines for sale... seem to unobtanium!

Cheers,
Snow

[kmon]

Another lead free bullet I would expect to work is https://lehighdefense.com/264-diamet...-50-count.html it was designed with the Grendel in mind and expansion threshold of 1500fps.

The old A-Max was my preferred bullet and still have a hundred or so so good for a bit just using them for hunting mostly. One of my Favorites is the 129gr LRAB that LRRPF52 mentioned.

[VASCAR2]

Welcome to the forum Snow_Nigerian!

[just_john]

Welcome to the clan, SN, from the great nation of Texas! You'll be real happy with the Grendel for your purposes. And, by all means, get the books.

[stef1274]

Hi there! Dig your style with the 2-7. Where you can't see with 7x magnification, you probably should stop shooting anyway. I have a 2-7x33 and 3-9x40, and the compactness of the 2-7 is something that truly goes with a lightweight mini action - don't depart from your original plan. It is not just scope weight that counts, but also the physical size.