The 6.5 Grendel is becoming a more popular caliber. With the new popularity of the cartridge, there are a lot of questions as to what it can take down. One of the bigger questions, however, is how well does it fair against coyotes.
Here is the short answer:
The 6.5 Grendel is a great coyote hunting cartridge. It has plenty of energy and a flat trajectory making it one of the best coyote hunting cartridges out there. The 6.5 Grendel has identical energy to that of a 22-250 and trajectory to that of a 308 Winchester. All in all this round is practically made for coyote hunting.
With the short answer out of the way, we can look at the trajectory, energy, practicality, and why this cartridge is so good at killing coyotes.
Ballistics
The 6.5 Grendel has very good ballistics for its size. The 6.5 Grendel has more or as much energy as a 22-250 at any range within 500 yards. Because of its good trajectory and high energy, the 6.5 Grendel is a great coyote hunting cartridge.
The trajectory of the 6.5 Grendel is very similar to a 308. A 123-grain 6.5 Grendel has 52 inches of drop at 500 yards which is only 4 more inches of drop than a 150-grain 308. Because of this trajectory, you can get the most out of your setup because the bullet won’t drop too much before your energy gets too low to kill a coyote.
Practicality
Practicality includes things like availability, versatility, and gun platforms.
The 6.5 Grendel is becoming a more and more popular round. 6.5 Grendel can be found in almost all sporting stores. You usually can find a box (20 rounds) of 6.5 Grendel for as little as 5 dollars (at least that was before ammo prices when up).
The 6.5 Grendel can be used to hunt not only coyotes but also deer, feral hogs, and pronghorn. It works great for all medium-sized game animals and varmints. But not only is the 6.5 Grendel good for coyotes and other game animals it works great for target shooting.
The 6.5 Grendel is usually in the AR-15 platform but It is growing in the bolt action platform. The great part of the AR-15 platform is that it allows fast follow-up shots so you can take out multiple coyotes at once.
My experience with the 6.5 Grendel
We know that the 6.5 Grendel is a good coyote kill cartridge paper, but how is it in the real world?
I have personally seen two coyotes shot with a 6.5 Grendel. One coyote was shot at 200 yards and the other 50 yards. The coyote shot at 200 yards was hit in the spine and dropped dead instantly. The coyote shot at 50 yards was hit in the lungs and went 30 yards before dying. Both coyotes were shot by an Aero precision AR-15 with an 18-inch barrel.
What I have found is that the 6.5 Grendel is great for coyote hunting. It is proven to be very effective at killing coyotes within 400 yards.
Downsides to the 6.5 Grendel
All that said, the 6.5 Grendel still has its downfalls which are worth consideration.
Limited range. The 6.5 Grendel, while great within 500 yards, loses most of its energy outside of 500 yards. At 600 yards your bullet will drop below 700-foot pounds. This limited range means that if you were wanting to shoot past that 500-yard distance you will have to look at different cartridges.
Expensive ammo. The 6.5 Grendel, unless you buy a steel case, will run about $1 per round. Now in an ammo shortage like now, you can’t find 6.5 Grendel without it costing 2-3 Dollars per round.
Limited rifle selection. Outside of AR-15s, the 6.5 Grendel can be hard to find in rifles. Other than one Howa rifle, there are not many bolt action or semi-auto rifles in 6.5 Grendel. However, as mentioned earlier, it is growing in other rifle platforms.
Conclusion
The 6.5 Grendel is a great coyote hunting cartridge. It has plenty of energy and a good trajectory. If you want a new coyote hunting rifle in an AR-15 platform then you will want to look at the 6.5 Grendel.
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