I need tried and true data, that will run J words thru a AR, and is a proven performer on hogs. Got a buddy who had joined a lease and wants to try his Grenedl on them. All help appreciated.
I need tried and true data, that will run J words thru a AR, and is a proven performer on hogs. Got a buddy who had joined a lease and wants to try his Grenedl on them. All help appreciated.
A serious hog hunter/cantaloupe farmer the next valley over uses the 123gr. SST bullet over IMR XBR 8208 or H322 in his thermal scoped AR15.
I shot one with his gun and it worked just fine.
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I use AA-1680 and 120 SMKs in my 1-8 16" 6.5 Grendel with an adjustable gas block and sized the fire formed WW 7.62x39, a stronger brass with stronger web and base. Good idea to throat most barrels to allow the bullets to be seated properly, top of BT to bottom of neck, to stay within the AR mag length which can be extended a bit with P mags, nominal OAL is 2.26", you can get up to 2.30"with a proper mag selection and judicious throating, where necessary. I keep my setting at .003 off the lands for sub .25" groups at 100.
I use H-110 with 160grain .267 Cacarno bullets to get AR full function subsonics in my Grendel, same brass, lighter buffer and lighter spring. No reason a cast 160 would not work as well.
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I use 27.0gr of IMR 8208XBR with a 123gr SST. Never shot a hog with it (we don't have them up here Thank God!) but they knock the crap out of Northern Michigan whitetails. 2450fps out of my 20" AR. Just above 2400 in a 16".
Good luck!
John
Both the 120 grain Gold Dot and the 123 grain SST over IMR 8208 work well out of my 20" AR.
not hogs but ive shot probably a dozen deer with 120 bt's and 120 gold dots. but i believe both are discontinued, for sure the bt's are. luckily i bought 5 boxes of each when i could and i dont go out a blast with it. both are great bullet sin the grendel and both do a bit better then moa in my gun. i will say ive got 6 300bo's a 300hmr and my grendel for hunting and would pick the grendel hands down as the best whitetail ar15. if your talking bear or pigs id probably tak the hamr but the grendel would surely get it done
The speer gold dot and 8208 are great, but you can't buy them right now. How about loads with what you can actually buy? I have used the Hornady 123 grain SST on deer at pretty far distances (big doe at 325 yards) and it would work fine for hogs. The ELDM in 123 grain would work fine too. If you can find them, the 129 grain Nosler ABLR are probably the bees' knees. I also shot a damn big beaver with the Barnes 120 grain match burner and it was one and done. Powders that work well and are available are CFE223 (velocity king), TAC, H335, AA2520 and some others. CFE223 is very not temperature stable so I avoid it, but it is well regarded. For hunting I have had the best results with H335, although TAC is very accurate at slightly lower velocities. I just went through a couple of ladders with AA2520 and found it did no better for the more available and cheaper H335. Take a look at the data on Hodgdon's site and start testing. Grendel has a very good reputation for hogs, and puts deer down with authority/.
When you care enough to send the very best, send an ounce of lead.
@Rapier, I didn't see any data for AA1680 for 6.5 Grendel last time I looked - what are your loads, if you don't mind? I will be starting with some 123gr ELDs sometime in the future, and I think I have a pound or so of 1680 left when I lost my last 7.62x39mm rifle.
Thanks all, he is loading the 123SSTs.
Believe it or not, the Speer 90 grain TNT’s work great on hogs! At Grendel velocities they aren’t as explosive as one might think and seem to do a great deal of damage and more often than not pass through.
I load mine up with Alliant Power Pro Varmint but I haven’t seen any in quite some time so I’ll probably switch to H335 when I run out.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |