110 grain Maker T-Rex has been my go to for my hunting handloads. Starline brass, CCI 450 primers and CFE223. Love to see the T-Rex tested. Shot a nice buck during rifle season and the blood trail was massive! Wish I could've recovered the bullet, but it was a complete pass thru. Jeff/Deerhearse Channel
Love that cavity back 118gr! Wonder what it does at 100 yards along side the Gold dot. Midway carries the gold dots and is more well stocked than most.
This is why I'm building a 25 Grendel bolt gun from a Howa Mini action. the plethora of .257 hunting projectiles in Australia compared to the ridiculous prices and short supply of 6.5 projectiles makes my decision easy for the long run. I fail to understand how Speer can make bulk 87gr and100gr HotCors in .257 but only 140gr HotCors in .264 and don't get me started on 120gr Gold Dot. They are a Unicorn. Never seen them, never heard of anyone using them.
Very interesting! Never thought of a 25 Grendel but makes sense! I was able to get my hands on 1800 of the 120 gold dots just recently. They disappeared a few days after they showed up. A 25 Grendel is an interesting prospect for sure
@@highcountryadventures9606I built a wildcat with Gordon's Reloading Tool, necking up the 6 ARC to 7mm, and loading 150 gr SMKs with LEVERevolution, I got 2500 ft/s out of a 20" barrel. Using a ballistics calc, I got 1750 ft-lbs at 100 yds and 1000 ft-lbs at 400 yds. Seems like a winner for hunting. I used bolt gun pressures.
I run the 107 hpbt Sierra. It’s money for groups. Love to see the expansion. Running at 2750, a little hot but ran with it. The accuracy is money. Under a 1/2 inch group.
Shoot factory hornady black 123 eld match for white tail in middle tn out of my 20 inch BCA upper. Harvested 3 so far with vital shots. All pass through. 2 at 175 and 1 at 70. Also a coyote at 30 pass through. Been deadly for me.
@@diybuildlist9409 it’s been reliable for me. It’s a slick side upper. Shoots Hornady ELD match and the newer Palmeto State Armory Sabre blade black tip ammo really well. Still using the ELD for hunting, but might switch to the Sabre at 14.99 a box verses 29.99.
Cavity Back 115gr MKZ will give you muzzle velocity of 2550 fps (at 80 deg. Fahrenheit) out of 20" barrel, and at 6,000 ft elevation it has energy at 100, 200, 300 and 400 yards of 1503, 1351, 1209 and 1081 ft-lbs. So its good for bull elk to 100 yards, cow elk to 200, mule deer to 300 and white tail all the way to 400! : ) It expands to twice it size at 1500 fps (beyond 700 yards) But it is EXPENSIVE.
I'd love to see how the Maker Bullets 110gr Tipped T-Rex performs. Product ID 6.5G110THV SKU 6.5G-110HV-T-Rex Also, MidwayUSA has the 129gr Nosler ABLR in stock.
I can get sub half inch groups with these out of my Grendel. They are very hard to get a hold of. I was able to stock up about 6 months ago when they showed up for a few days
Excellent review. Have you tested the 110 and 130 Lehigh Controlled Chaos? Not sure there would be enough to show in this type test, but they are devastating.
@@highcountryadventures9606 I have Underwood Ammunition loaded 110gr Lehigh 6.5G. I have a few boxes of 110 and 130 bullets from MidwayUSA. The bullets are extremely nasty and functional to well under 2000fps
I’ve gone almost Solely on the Nosler Hunting Ballistic Tip It’s been doing a great job on white tails all winter long and hogs to A local shop keeps them on the shelf so availability is no problem So I’m not going to fix what ain’t broken 😂 Really was shocked at all this copper ones with zero expansion Reminds me of 7.62x39 Tula hp
This is great! Thanks for a very informative video. What is your hold over at that distance? I'm also kinda curious about your failure of your original upper. Have you done a video on that yet?
I probably will not do a video on the failure of my other upper. I used parts from it to make another rifle. Long story short the barrel came loose from the barrel extension and I could turn my barrel by hand. This should never happen. I didn't notice it until I was grouping my rifle and I noticed the groups were very poor. I contacted Alexander about it and they said I could send it in and they could try to retighten it or I could buy a new barrel. This prompted me to just redo the upper
Hold over at that distance is roughly 6 moa. Although some bullets are a little more and others are a little less. The good thing about the 55 gal barrel is I can shoot multiple different loads at it at 400 and usually hit it.
@@Bshwag Under a 120gr, 28.5gr used to be max load published by Hodgdon's. They have 170 published loads for Grendel now. 30gr of 8208 is up there even for a 100gr bullet.
@@LRRPFco52 that is correct very high. the problem with most all data for the grendel is that it's for an AR-15. They can't handle the higher pressure that a bolt action can. One other thing that you have to remember is that by adding space to the case via a shorter bullet or loading as long as possible you are reducing the peak pressure. That lets you add more powder back up to max pressure, and the little bit of extra powder is huge by volume when you start with such a tiny case.
@@Bshwag Yup. I've done all that in the Howa bolt gun, clipped my mag, loaded 129gr SST out long, increased charge weights, but still hit sticky bolt with charges that weren't that much higher than AR loads. There's about 300fps different muzzle velocity between my 22" 260 Remington and my 22 inch 6.5 Grendels with the exact same bullets. 260 Rem runs 42-44gr of powder at 60ksi. Grendel runs 28-32gr powder at 50ksi. I could increase mv by about 100-150fps and then encountered sticky bolt lift in the Howa. Powder selection seems to beat trying to push the pressure. CFE223 and LVR are kings for velocity, even with lower chamber pressure.
Nice to know that the sst and eld are good for long range. I have a pile of both because they are the most common you find but I don’t use them because inside 150yds they explode into pieces and wasn’t getting any exit wounds
I use the Barnes for hogs and deer at 150yd and under with perfect results. Not trying to screw myself but check out Druid Hill, good prices done well.
@@highcountryadventures9606 what's wrong with the bullet disintegrating? Did it damage the meat of your animal? Was the kill less ethical as a result? I hope I don't sound argumentative. I am honestly curious about the effects of the result you are describing. Thank you.
The 90gn in 224 Valkyrie does good pushing it around 2600fps. I’d imagine from a 6.5 Grendel we could push it over 2700fps given I can push 90gn tnt around 2800fps from an 18” barrel.
@@justa3v619 I found that factor 90gr TNT from Federal does about 2900fps from my 17.6” Lilja, and 2698fps from my 12” Grendel suppressed. Really surprising high speeds with it from the shorter Grendels. Accurate too. Feels like it and the 12” were made for each other.
WOW! That 118gr MKZ looks BEAUTIFUL!!! My 105 MKZs expand at 400, but not near that much. The 120gr Gold Dot, 123gr SST, and ELD also looked really good. I'd love to see the118gr MKZ put through its paces out of something like a 260 Rem or even an old 6.5 Swede. The only thing I'm disappointed about with on the 118gr MKZ is its ballistic coef. The 105 has a BC of .480, so I'd expect to see something noticeably better than .505 from a bullet that's almost 20% heavier. If they could put out a 130gr MKZ with a noticeably better BC, that would be one heck of an elk bullet. Specifically for the Grendel, I will say that I'm going to stay with the 105gr MKZ simply because of the difference in drop. Plugging your numbers in, it looks like with a 200yd zero on an AR, the 118gr bullet is dropping almost 35" at 400 yds where my 105s are only dropping a little over 21". That 118 is still an impressive bullet though.
A guy on the Grendel forum tested those years ago and felt that the 120gr GMX did the best, but he started turning them down to 94gr and even 75gr, sent me a bunch of the 94gr to load up for my hunts. The Cavity Back 118gr is the one to beat in that weight range. Brutal expansion.
I've been trying to find 100 gr Partitions for over two years with no success. I even called Nosler and asked. The guy told me that he didn't have the production schedule handy so I don't know what the deal is!
That was a great test and very nice video but why test this cartridge which I love by the way but it is not a 400 yd deer rifle. So why test these bullets at this distance?
I agree it isn't a 400 yard deer rifle. It's a 300 yard deer rifle in my opinion. If these bullets perform well at 400 out of a 20 inch barrel, it ensures that they will work at 300. Also, some people shoot shorter than 20 inch barrels from their Grendel's. And their 300 yard results may be closer to my 400 yard results. I have found 400 yards with my rifle in this cartridge separates bullets from each other and allows you to see what the more reliable expanders are at longer range
Thank You for these excellent and informative videos! I love that the Hornady ELD-M did so well!
110 grain Maker T-Rex has been my go to for my hunting handloads. Starline brass, CCI 450 primers and CFE223. Love to see the T-Rex tested. Shot a nice buck during rifle season and the blood trail was massive! Wish I could've recovered the bullet, but it was a complete pass thru.
Jeff/Deerhearse Channel
Love these tests! Great job sir!
Thanks for this. I just got a 6.5 Grendel rifle and was planning to shoot the SST and/ or ELDM. Looks like both are good choices. Great job testing!
I've taken deer with both with great success.
Love that cavity back 118gr! Wonder what it does at 100 yards along side the Gold dot.
Midway carries the gold dots and is more well stocked than most.
This is why I'm building a 25 Grendel bolt gun from a Howa Mini action. the plethora of .257 hunting projectiles in Australia compared to the ridiculous prices and short supply of 6.5 projectiles makes my decision easy for the long run.
I fail to understand how Speer can make bulk 87gr and100gr HotCors in .257 but only 140gr HotCors in .264 and don't get me started on 120gr Gold Dot. They are a Unicorn. Never seen them, never heard of anyone using them.
Very interesting! Never thought of a 25 Grendel but makes sense! I was able to get my hands on 1800 of the 120 gold dots just recently. They disappeared a few days after they showed up. A 25 Grendel is an interesting prospect for sure
@@highcountryadventures9606I built a wildcat with Gordon's Reloading Tool, necking up the 6 ARC to 7mm, and loading 150 gr SMKs with LEVERevolution, I got 2500 ft/s out of a 20" barrel. Using a ballistics calc, I got 1750 ft-lbs at 100 yds and 1000 ft-lbs at 400 yds. Seems like a winner for hunting. I used bolt gun pressures.
I run the 107 hpbt Sierra. It’s money for groups. Love to see the expansion. Running at 2750, a little hot but ran with it. The accuracy is money. Under a 1/2 inch group.
Thank you for sharing this information.
Great test!
Have you shot the Sierra pro Hunter 120?
I used the Gold Dot and this Sierra.
Shoot factory hornady black 123 eld match for white tail in middle tn out of my 20 inch BCA upper. Harvested 3 so far with vital shots. All pass through. 2 at 175 and 1 at 70. Also a coyote at 30 pass through. Been deadly for me.
Is that an expanding projectile?
@@Coyote-wm5op Yes. Look at 9:45 in video.
How do you like the BCA upper?
@@diybuildlist9409 it’s been reliable for me. It’s a slick side upper. Shoots Hornady ELD match and the newer Palmeto State Armory Sabre blade black tip ammo really well. Still using the ELD for hunting, but might switch to the Sabre at 14.99 a box verses 29.99.
Cavity Back 115gr MKZ will give you muzzle velocity of 2550 fps (at 80 deg. Fahrenheit) out of 20" barrel,
and at 6,000 ft elevation it has energy at 100, 200, 300 and 400 yards of 1503, 1351, 1209 and 1081 ft-lbs. So its good for bull elk to 100 yards, cow elk to 200, mule deer to 300 and white tail all the way to 400! : )
It expands to twice it size at 1500 fps (beyond 700 yards)
But it is EXPENSIVE.
Great videos. They helped me a lot. Thank you.
Great video. I would love to no more about the 118 grain cavity backed mkz. Accuracy, 100 yard expansion.
I'd love to see how the Maker Bullets 110gr Tipped T-Rex performs.
Product ID 6.5G110THV
SKU 6.5G-110HV-T-Rex
Also, MidwayUSA has the 129gr Nosler ABLR in stock.
Agreed on the Makers. Been a fan of their bullets. Thank you for pointing out the 129 accubond long ranges.ill have to look at that
@@highcountryadventures9606 129gr ABLR is really soft and bonded, expands down to 1300fps. DRT medicine even out of really short barrel Grendels.
Carpe Sus has some good videos of 6.5 grendel on hogs and his trauma diaries have a good detailed overview of their use on hogs.
Very informative! Thankyou...
Those Gold Dots shoot amazing from my Grendel, glad to see they expand too. Unfortunately they seem to be made from unobtanium.
I can get sub half inch groups with these out of my Grendel. They are very hard to get a hold of. I was able to stock up about 6 months ago when they showed up for a few days
Excellent review. Have you tested the 110 and 130 Lehigh Controlled Chaos? Not sure there would be enough to show in this type test, but they are devastating.
I have not. I never knew Lehigh made those bullets in the 6.5 I will have to look into them.
@@highcountryadventures9606
I have Underwood Ammunition loaded 110gr Lehigh 6.5G. I have a few boxes of 110 and 130 bullets from MidwayUSA. The bullets are extremely nasty and functional to well under 2000fps
I tested Hornady black and frontier for grouping comparison. It’s honestly a tie and I need to retest. Wolf was getting about 1.5 moa.
Really good test, thank you greatly
I’ve gone almost Solely on the Nosler Hunting Ballistic Tip
It’s been doing a great job on white tails all winter long and hogs to
A local shop keeps them on the shelf so availability is no problem
So I’m not going to fix what ain’t broken 😂
Really was shocked at all this copper ones with zero expansion
Reminds me of 7.62x39 Tula hp
This is great! Thanks for a very informative video. What is your hold over at that distance? I'm also kinda curious about your failure of your original upper. Have you done a video on that yet?
I probably will not do a video on the failure of my other upper. I used parts from it to make another rifle. Long story short the barrel came loose from the barrel extension and I could turn my barrel by hand. This should never happen. I didn't notice it until I was grouping my rifle and I noticed the groups were very poor. I contacted Alexander about it and they said I could send it in and they could try to retighten it or I could buy a new barrel. This prompted me to just redo the upper
Hold over at that distance is roughly 6 moa. Although some bullets are a little more and others are a little less. The good thing about the 55 gal barrel is I can shoot multiple different loads at it at 400 and usually hit it.
I have about 250 ish 120 gold dots loaded with 8208xbr and out of my bolt gun its going 2820 from a 22 inch barrel.
That’s really fast. What’s your charge weight?
@@LRRPFco52 just over 30 grains. most bullets won't fit with that much powder but the gold dots are very short so it stops inside the shoulder.
@@Bshwag Under a 120gr, 28.5gr used to be max load published by Hodgdon's. They have 170 published loads for Grendel now. 30gr of 8208 is up there even for a 100gr bullet.
@@LRRPFco52 that is correct very high. the problem with most all data for the grendel is that it's for an AR-15. They can't handle the higher pressure that a bolt action can. One other thing that you have to remember is that by adding space to the case via a shorter bullet or loading as long as possible you are reducing the peak pressure. That lets you add more powder back up to max pressure, and the little bit of extra powder is huge by volume when you start with such a tiny case.
@@Bshwag Yup. I've done all that in the Howa bolt gun, clipped my mag, loaded 129gr SST out long, increased charge weights, but still hit sticky bolt with charges that weren't that much higher than AR loads.
There's about 300fps different muzzle velocity between my 22" 260 Remington and my 22 inch 6.5 Grendels with the exact same bullets.
260 Rem runs 42-44gr of powder at 60ksi.
Grendel runs 28-32gr powder at 50ksi. I could increase mv by about 100-150fps and then encountered sticky bolt lift in the Howa.
Powder selection seems to beat trying to push the pressure. CFE223 and LVR are kings for velocity, even with lower chamber pressure.
Nice to know that the sst and eld are good for long range. I have a pile of both because they are the most common you find but I don’t use them because inside 150yds they explode into pieces and wasn’t getting any exit wounds
I've had the same experience with them the sst at about 50 yards on a mule deer and a pronghorn at about 220 with the eld match both bullets grenaded
I use the Barnes for hogs and deer at 150yd and under with perfect results. Not trying to screw myself but check out Druid Hill, good prices done well.
@@highcountryadventures9606 what's wrong with the bullet disintegrating? Did it damage the meat of your animal? Was the kill less ethical as a result? I hope I don't sound argumentative. I am honestly curious about the effects of the result you are describing. Thank you.
What about the Sierra 120gr bthp. Both my bolt and msr love this bullet
Wonder if Speer did a 100 grain gold dot what we'd see?
The 90gn in 224 Valkyrie does good pushing it around 2600fps. I’d imagine from a 6.5 Grendel we could push it over 2700fps given I can push 90gn tnt around 2800fps from an 18” barrel.
@@justa3v619 I found that factor 90gr TNT from Federal does about 2900fps from my 17.6” Lilja, and 2698fps from my 12” Grendel suppressed. Really surprising high speeds with it from the shorter Grendels. Accurate too. Feels like it and the 12” were made for each other.
WOW! That 118gr MKZ looks BEAUTIFUL!!! My 105 MKZs expand at 400, but not near that much. The 120gr Gold Dot, 123gr SST, and ELD also looked really good. I'd love to see the118gr MKZ put through its paces out of something like a 260 Rem or even an old 6.5 Swede. The only thing I'm disappointed about with on the 118gr MKZ is its ballistic coef. The 105 has a BC of .480, so I'd expect to see something noticeably better than .505 from a bullet that's almost 20% heavier. If they could put out a 130gr MKZ with a noticeably better BC, that would be one heck of an elk bullet.
Specifically for the Grendel, I will say that I'm going to stay with the 105gr MKZ simply because of the difference in drop. Plugging your numbers in, it looks like with a 200yd zero on an AR, the 118gr bullet is dropping almost 35" at 400 yds where my 105s are only dropping a little over 21". That 118 is still an impressive bullet though.
Thanks for watching! I would say you probably couldn't go wrong with either. I have been happy with the cavity backs
I fould like to see a battle of the 120gr coppers. 120gr TTSX, 120gr GMX, 120gr Nosler etips
A guy on the Grendel forum tested those years ago and felt that the 120gr GMX did the best, but he started turning them down to 94gr and even 75gr, sent me a bunch of the 94gr to load up for my hunts. The Cavity Back 118gr is the one to beat in that weight range. Brutal expansion.
@@LRRPFco52 I tested them agaist the gmx and determined the 120gr etips were better for the grendwl
I wonder how the BARNS Match Burner 120 HP does at that range.
Good stuff 🫡
I've been trying to find 100 gr Partitions for over two years with no success. I even called Nosler and asked. The guy told me that he didn't have the production schedule handy so I don't know what the deal is!
How about the 129 Hornady Interlock?
If you ever get the chance I’d like to see the 100 grain eld-vt
I will have a video on them shortly
I will have a video on them shortly
Scope mount on backwards ?
I flip-flop my cantilever mounts depending on the rifle and needed eye relief. I've never noticed a difference in performance.....
you have a test of a 129 Hornady interlock?
Did I miss the powder type and weight used?
run it threw gel? the plastic is harder then Hyde?
Curious, I’m currently putting together my first Grendel. What BCG are you using in your setup?
It's an Alexander arms bcg with a jp enterprises high pressure bolt
important what is the twist
1 in 8
Are these factory rounds or hand loads?
You need Wolf 100s as a control group.
Back when wolf was $0.25 sure but now it's about the same as frontier so I think frontier is the new control
lol! Those things are trash..
Hornady sst
Nice
120gr nosler etip
As soon as I saw that your optic mount was backwards and you claiming tuning brakes “ absolutely do work “ I was out ✌️
Hoochie coochie choo choo train 🎉
That was a great test and very nice video but why test this cartridge which I love by the way but it is not a 400 yd deer rifle. So why test these bullets at this distance?
I agree it isn't a 400 yard deer rifle. It's a 300 yard deer rifle in my opinion. If these bullets perform well at 400 out of a 20 inch barrel, it ensures that they will work at 300. Also, some people shoot shorter than 20 inch barrels from their Grendel's. And their 300 yard results may be closer to my 400 yard results. I have found 400 yards with my rifle in this cartridge separates bullets from each other and allows you to see what the more reliable expanders are at longer range