6.5 bullet performance

O

Old Stony

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I was out hunting the other night for hogs, and ran into a sow that would easily tip the scales at 250 lbs.. I got her broadside through the front shoulder and when working on the carcass found a lump on the off side. The bullet had lodged just under the skin after penetrating through both shoulders...which dropped her on the spot. I recovered the bullet, which was a 123 Hornady SST, fired out of a 6.5 Grendel. I have been pretty impressed with that bullet and have used it for hogs and deer out of a 6.5 Creedmore as well. I weighed the bullet to compare to new weight and it came out as 95.8 grains.
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6.5 grendel with SSTs is my new favorite for deer. I actually used the grendel to put down a domesticated form of bacon, although that one was probably closer to 150 than 250. got a complete through and through from the top of the skull down through the base of the neck... granted it's point blank, but it did the job quite well.
 
I put a 140 grain sst into a 180 pound whitetail at 40 yards and it just short of turned inside out. Only 80 grains was recovered and the deer traveled 13 long jumps without a drop a blood and fell dead. This was out of a 6.5 Arisaka. When we butchered the deer the projectile was also found on the other side of the body just under the hide.

 
rodwhaincamo said:
Very nice performance! I do prefer an exit, but it’s obviously unnecessary if it’s DRT.

Distance to pig?
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It was shot at about 140 yds., and she dropped on the spot. I've shot a bunch of them with this caliber and bullet, but never recovered a bullet before. I don't open them up though and only take the hind legs and backstraps, so the buzzards and coyotes have to deal with the bullets in them I guess.
 
Good post, thank you. I have some 140 SST loaded in the 6.5x55. Not yet hunted them. And long term, want to add a Grindel rifle to the mix. I was thinking the 123 might be too light in the sweed. I think I will get a box of the 123, just to play around.
 
I'm pretty sure the 123 grain SST was designed for the Grendel. I really like the way the SST bullets shoot, but I hate their performance on game if driven too hard. I think if you keep the MV around 2800 FPS with the SST they work fine, if you get over 3000 FPS and the bullets just don't hold up well. I guess I should try them in something other than the .243 Win and .270 Win.
 
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I shoot the 6.5 Creedmore, as well as the Grendel, and the 123 SST does very well in that too. In fact I started into the 6.5's with the Creedmore using the 123 SST's, and was so impressed that I started experimenting with the Grendel as well. I'm very happy with their accuracy and performance in both calibers.
 
Blindstitch said:
I put a 140 grain sst into a 180 pound whitetail at 40 yards and it just short of turned inside out. Only 80 grains was recovered and the deer traveled 13 long jumps without a drop a blood and fell dead. This was out of a 6.5 Arisaka. When we butchered the deer the projectile was also found on the other side of the body just under the hide.

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About what velocity is the Arisaka shooting?
 
I shoot the 6.5 Creedmore, as well as the Grendel, and the 123 SST does very well in that too. In fact I started into the 6.5's with the Creedmore using the 123 SST's, and was so impressed that I started experimenting with the Grendel as well. I'm very happy with their accuracy and performance in both calibers.
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Zen Archery was using 123s last year in his Creedmore and really liked the results. IIRC, he found them to be more accurate than some of the more typical Creedmore offerings out of his gun. https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=585630&highlight=sst
 
the difference between 28 inch barrels and 20 inch is quite a bit. 2200-2300 is what I get out of my arisaka carbine, but the load data for Hornady suggested I should be getting 2600-2700. hornady uses the long barrel.
 
You know I never even though about checking the total gun reference. Hornady #3 and #10 both say Arisaka with 32 inch barrel. Mine are both carbine length. One sporterized one original.
 
Blindstitch said:
You know I never even though about checking the total gun reference. Hornady #3 and #10 both say Arisaka with 32 inch barrel. Mine are both carbine length. One sporterized one original.
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All things considered though, that's enough to answer my question. I have a friend who loves the SST, but he will switch ammo and zero to shoot if he's hunting at closer ranges. He has had similar performance issues when taking game a point blank ranges. So I was wondering if high velocity could be an issue is your case. Clearly I'm not used to Arisakas. 2300-2600 fps is a perfectly reasonable range of velocity for modern bullets to hold together better than that.
 
you would think so, but I've had Nosler Accubonds break in half at 100 yards with the Arisaka carbine(muzzle velocity below 2200). and the accubond is supposed to have a minimum velocity of 1800 to even open.

depending where you hit, bad stuff can happen. back to the grendel with 123gr SSTs, 95 to 100 grains is pretty standard retention for me, and expecting more than 80% weight retention for any small caliber, non-bonded hunting round is kindof unrealistic.
 
I shot this guy early this morning with the 6.5 Grendel 123 SST again. Placement makes a lot of difference with these bullets, but I am very fond of their results. I had to take a quick offhand shot at about 40 yds., with nothing to rest the rifle on and no sling. As a result I hit him a few inches further back than I like to do and ended up putting the bullet through both lungs. Hogs can soak up a lot of punishment, and he went about 25 yds before he gave it up. When I get them through the front shoulder, they normally go right down. He was a pretty fat guy at least 200 lbs.
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