6.5 Grendel Moose & Whitetail

[Stinky Coyote]

6.5 Grendel Moose & Whitetail, Alberta, Nov 2018

Bull Moose
CZ 527 American
Hornady Black Factory Ammo rated 2580 fps
(123 gr ELD-M, .506 BC, .252 SD @ actual 2550 fps)
125 yards, shoot till they drop philosophy used.

Shot 1: Standing on far edge of a stand of trees, position to see most of middle. Moose went maybe 15 yards after shot and stopped, turned and came back a couple steps, unsteady. Shot angle was quartering towards slightly, hit tail of near lung, full center of liver 10” hamburger section through middle of liver, no exit I could tell. Field gutless method done, did not pay attention to offside hide or guts although saw at least one hole into the paunch area beyond the liver, liver was saved for the farm cats, went in for it last…it was a mess and worst damage I’ve seen to a liver ever, my guess is bullet was in the guts somewhere past centerline and nearer the offside?

Shot 2: Had to move several feet to see through trees, quartering towards a bit, good impact. Hit rear quarter, center of femur (dammit, blame deflection but could be hurried shooting at this point, I can take ownership), did not know placement until doing gutless method lifting rear leg it was clear where shot two ended up. In butchering found approx. 4” section of the femur destroyed, no obvious exit, no fragments found yet. Extensive damage around the destroyed section of femur, maybe cantaloupe sized ball of destruction. Meat is currently in deboned state ready for final trimming and vac sealing, two helpers butchering, we didn’t get very forensic, will update if any fragments or a bullet is found in final processing.

Shot 3: Bull looked to be going down, may have been down, on front end perhaps?, things were happening fast at this point, could still see the top 1/8th of him, aimed for hump but again, hurried up, possible deflection, entered under antler directly into brain and blew antler off with good chunk of skull plate with it. No exit, brains and guck exiting places…yes, bull down, did not know placement until walked up and seen antler laying alongside head.

So for one moose we got to experience 3 different shot placements so in my mind it’s important to share the data accurately, so anyone can make up their own mind of it’s lethality potential. Shot 1 was fatal and the other two not necessary, bull was going down within 15 yards regardless of shots 2 and 3 which just sped up the process.

At 125 yards that moose was hit with approx. 2430 fps. For curiosity sake 2000 fps will come at about 375 yards out of my particular set-up, 8.0 ft/lbs recoil energy in my set up also, gun all up with sling and ammo is 7 lb 6 oz. I’m happy with performance, no surprises, maybe a little better than anticipated. The cartridge does seem to have a reputation of unusually high ratio of either drt to sub 30 yrd recoveries (multi-year knock down survey on the Grendel forum), my experience so far is echoing that.

Have pics, will need to send to someone for help in posting, any volunteers?

By all accounts from my searching, this may be the first moose taken with the 6.5 Grendel?

Later same day I shot a small 4x4 whitetail buck slight quartering away liver and tail of lungs, down in 15 yards again. Smaller damage cone than I saw with the moose, easy pass through, normal looking holes/damage through liver, maybe closing in on tennis ball to baseball diameter size of lung tip missing on offside before exiting, 1.5-2” exit. Not much of a test. I passed a 380 yard opportunity on that buck in order to get across valley and above and hope he came into view below and half hour later it worked out that way for the 125 yrd shot.

[260 Rem]

No flies on the Grendel. Put a bullet into the boiler room and the cartridge it left is moot.

[JD848]

delete.waste of time.

[marky_mark]

I’m going to try the 147 eld m’s, it’s good to know that they penetrate pretty well

[Stinky Coyote]

Originally Posted by marky_mark

I’m going to try the 147 eld m’s, it’s good to know that they penetrate pretty well

that’s what I’d shoot in a creedmoor or bigger too

[Positrac]

Originally Posted by Kurt505

You guys are crazy. I would never try that with a Creedmoor.

Oh no, you just had to go there...

[mattthegorby]

Originally Posted by Kurt505

You guys are crazy. I would never try that with a Creedmoor.

Would you, could you, with a Swede?

[Kurt505]

Originally Posted by mattthegorby

Would you, could you, with a Swede?

Of course a Swede would do it.

[Norwest Alta]

Originally Posted by Kurt505

Of course a Swede would do it.

Shot a coyote once with a 26 nosler. Would it work for mooses?

[pikergolf]

Originally Posted by Norwest Alta

Shot a coyote once with a 26 nosler. Would it work for mooses?

Moosen, the word is Moosen.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by pikergolf

Moosen, the word is Moosen.

Nope I disagree , moosai is the correct plural of moose!
Cat

[Norwest Alta]

Originally Posted by pikergolf

Moosen, the word is Moosen.

That's only one moosen. 2 or more equals mooseses. I figure with my 26 nosler i should be able to line up 2 moosen and shoot thru both mooseses at the same time. Better yet. If I put one doe deer, one elks and a moosen side by each would my 26 nosler have the sectional density to be a one shot wonder? Things to ponder for sure.

[Norwest Alta]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

Nope I disagree , moosai is the correct plural of moose!
Cat

That's only one moose eye b'y.

[Huntsman]

[marky_mark]

(Inside voice)

I’m glad stinky gave an honest description of what happened. How the bullets performed. And a accurate summary of the entire situation. I think this kind of honest information is invaluable! Thanks

(Outside voice)

These bullets are exactly what I’m looking for! I can put them in a magnum, shoot a moose in the leg or the guts and it’s going down for the count. Magnum shooters across the world rejoice... we have found the ultimate bullet
Hahaha

Cheers man. Honestly thanks for being honest
Glad you filled those 2 tags

[Norwest Alta]

Originally Posted by Huntsman

If you used a bigger gun the other horn might of fallen off. Could use a cow then maybe? Just kidding. Congrats on the moosen. Looks like the moosai is a little bloody and good luck on your future hunting mooseses.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Norwest Alta

That's only one moose eye b'y.

HAHA!!
Cat

[Kurt505]

Originally Posted by Norwest Alta

Shot a coyote once with a 26 nosler. Would it work for mooses?

I would say no if I didn’t see it happen with my own eyes once.

[Kurt505]

And it’s meese for cryin out loud!!!

[Stinky Coyote]

Originally Posted by marky_mark

(Inside voice)

I’m glad stinky gave an honest description of what happened. How the bullets performed. And a accurate summary of the entire situation. I think this kind of honest information is invaluable! Thanks

(Outside voice)

These bullets are exactly what I’m looking for! I can put them in a magnum, shoot a moose in the leg or the guts and it’s going down for the count. Magnum shooters across the world rejoice... we have found the ultimate bullet
Hahaha

Cheers man. Honestly thanks for being honest
Glad you filled those 2 tags

Thanks and things went well. I placed them ok and doesn’t always go that way, have already heard about sevaeral kills this nov mostly with magnums that didn’t go this well, not even close actually but more liberties taken on distances and or one big moose that took a couple magnums in the liver that ended up getting further than anticipated so there’s not always a rule. Dead is dead, cartidge is such a tiny part of it. Place it well and sometimes it’s instant and other times not, doesn’t matter the headstamp.

[Stinky Coyote]

Originally Posted by Norwest Alta

If you used a bigger gun the other horn might of fallen off. Could use a cow then maybe? Just kidding. Congrats on the moosen. Looks like the moosai is a little bloody and good luck on your future hunting mooseses.

Ya I wonder what my 270 and accubonds would have done but actually thinking back I executed a small whitetail buck that jumped up from a bruised heart brisket shot with a 270 a 300, walked up with a buddies 300 wm with hand loaded 180 accubonds and swung through at about 10 yards...it only blew off one antler with a chunk of skull bone also when by all rights it should have vaporized its whole head. The antler was 65 yards away mind you and the moose was hanging by a thread. Slightly different size animals though and also the Grendel shot was about 115 yards further away lol, but that’s just more evidence to me that there’s a lot more to it than headstamp, caliber and ft/lbs. sd, impact velocity and construction appropriate for game intended is where it’s at...oh and placement above all else

My cow moose years ago at 200 with a 270 perfect shot laid down in I think about 40, it’s a long while ago, have seen good results with a 243 on one and a 270 short mag although spined with that one...seems the smaller stuff does get shot better by most now that I look back on so many kills including my own

[Stinky Coyote]

The whitetail hanging is just showing exit, very typical exit from my experience.

[Norwest Alta]

Originally Posted by Stinky Coyote

Ya I wonder what my 270 and accubonds would have done but actually thinking back I executed a small whitetail buck that jumped up from a bruised heart brisket shot with a 270 a 300, walked up with a buddies 300 wm with hand loaded 180 accubonds and swung through at about 10 yards...it only blew off one antler with a chunk of skull bone also when by all rights it should have vaporized its whole head. The antler was 65 yards away mind you and the moose was hanging by a thread. Slightly different size animals though and also the Grendel shot was about 115 yards further away lol, but that’s just more evidence to me that there’s a lot more to it than headstamp, caliber and ft/lbs. sd, impact velocity and construction appropriate for game intended is where it’s at...oh and placement above all else

My cow moose years ago at 200 with a 270 perfect shot laid down in I think about 40, it’s a long while ago, have seen good results with a 243 on one and a 270 short mag although spined with that one...seems the smaller stuff does get shot better by most now that I look back on so many kills including my own

Maybe you just shoot the smaller stuff better. My experience with 243's, 25-06 and 257 wby on most animals has been the same as my 30-06, numerous 30 cal mags and 338 wm. I say most because my elk hunting experiences have taught me to shoot the biggest gun that I can accurately shoot but I have killed elk with 25-06 and 30-06. Much prefer my 338's for the elk.

[tullfan]

Cow moose yesterday. 193 ranged yards, base of neck 165gr Nosler partition factory load. Knew where the bullet was haded,Drt. No fuss no muss, minimal meat damaged. Think I wrecked a bit om meat when I cut in half to get it out of small coulee. Hole in neck was large. Maybe I got lucky. Lol.
Thanks for the honesty. Its tough sometimes.l’d like to be at a butchers to actually see some of the shots, or maybe not.

Tullfan

[Don_Parsons]

Good job SC, glad to see the Grandad pulled it off, I knew it could be done so long as you got those bullets into the magic zone.

Yum Yum

[Pathfinder76]

Originally Posted by Norwest Alta

Maybe you just shoot the smaller stuff better. My experience with 243's, 25-06 and 257 wby on most animals has been the same as my 30-06, numerous 30 cal mags and 338 wm. I say most because my elk hunting experiences have taught me to shoot the biggest gun that I can accurately shoot but I have killed elk with 25-06 and 30-06. Much prefer my 338's for the elk.

Oh come one. You can BS the fans, not the players.

[Norwest Alta]

Originally Posted by chuck

Oh come one. You can BS the fans, not the players.

You saying it’s not true? Hmmmm don’t recall ever hunting with you so how would you know my hunting experiences with which gun?

[Norwest Alta]

Originally Posted by marky_mark

Pretty simple
He has 3 times the amount of posts as you
Means he’s got 3 times the experience

Ahhh I was figuring it had something to do with graduating from Winifred Stewart with honours.

[Kurt505]

No wonder people don’t want to post pictures of their success on this forum. You two have me doubting I’ll ever post pics on here again, I’ll be surprised if Stinky does either.

It’s one thing not to like the guys choice of cartridge but you guys are beyond that.

[Norwest Alta]

I remember reading on the forum here about all the benefits of the 6.5 cm. One of the much bragged about benefits was how much cheaper it was to shoot which in turn was going to make the shooter much more accurate. Apparently that is all bunk.

Another was the manageable recoil which in turn would make the shooter shoot more and be more accurate. This is another myth busted imo. For some minute of moose might be accurate. My thoughts are that it is not.