Thread: 6.5 Grendel sst vs eldm

I'm after some experiences and opinions regarding the 123gr sst and 123gr eldms performance on game. I bought a neat wee howa mini grendel off a fellow forum member a few years ago, it came with a few different projectiles of which the sst shot tight little groups infront of w748.

I've been able to shoot half a dozen reds and a few dozen goats and pigs with pretty acceptable results. Only one deer has gotten away wounded due to a poorly placed liver shot which was my doing not the projectiles.


I'm almost to the end of my stash of the 123gr sst so before I commit to another couple of hundred I'm interested to hear if the eldms may be possibly better constructed for my needs?

The purpose of the little rifle is meat animals (reds and fallow) goats and the odd chamois soo far all but 2 shots have been 200m or less but I do worry the sst is too stout to work properly out to 3-350m at grendel velocities?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, stick with your SST's.

Whilst many of us (myself included) do use ELD-M's for hunting, they are not meant for it (and I have had them perform poorly) and so I struggle to recommend them.

My understanding is that 123gn SST are designed for Grendel velocities. I push them at 3000fps from a creedmore and find them pretty splody but good for fallow and great for wallabies. I've got 120gn nosler BT for the odd time I see reds. I reckon just stay with the SST and keep it simple

I have used both sst (for a short while) and the 123 eldm, had better results with the eldms so I stuck with them. Shot mainly pigs and hinds at 120y and under, one large stag chest shot DRT. My shot placement on running pigs isn’t the greatest but only lost one out of 5 or 6 pigs, shot it mid body spine shot from above and it ran into cutty grass never to be found. Bout the same number of deer and never lost one. Sold the rifle and will be buying a howa mini in Grendel as soon as I pay off Christmas holidays lol. The deer I shot with the sst was a front on head shot, bullet exploded on impact in the brigade of its nose and deer ran off with a headache. I threw a PPU in and finished it off before it go to the bush edge

As for eldm in general, I hunt with them in 3other calibres and have had good success from close up out to 800y. I guess about 40deer and 10pigs and 30 odd goats with a 224and 2 other 6.5’s

Yes the voice of reason is to stick to the accurate proven load but there's always the little voice saying the grass is greener elsewhere. I'm thinking I'll grab another pack of sst and maybe pick up a sample pack of eldm from gunworks just to check them out. They do seem to be favored by a lot of grendel users that's for sure.

The last yearling red I shot was 260m and I centre punched it I the shoulder but it made it uphill another 50m before it got groggy and tumbled over. That was the main reason I started to wonder if a different projectile might be better.

What is softer, the sst or eldm?

125 gr partitions and good for anything in NZ, apart from Sambar I've shot the rest of ungalates in NZ,

Is that from a grendel SmokeyJason? I do have a part box of 100gr partitions that I figured might be decent medicine for our typically scungy marlborough stags up close in the bush.

Any partition will do the job (I've shot a lot of stuff with the 125s) but they only seem to "like" a very few barrels, I'd say I've shot them from at least 5 different rifles over the years and only one has produced decent accuracy . . .

Originally Posted by Hook_Grass

Is that from a grendel SmokeyJason? I do have a part box of 100gr partitions that I figured might be decent medicine for our typically scungy marlborough stags up close in the bush.

More or less, a 6.5 from a 204 case, about the same lot of powder. Can I ask about bush hunting in Marlborough, The bit I've done there it was all fairly open or across Gully's.

Originally Posted by Hook_Grass

The last yearling red I shot was 260m and I centre punched it I the shoulder but it made it uphill another 50m before it got groggy and tumbled over. That was the main reason I started to wonder if a different projectile might be better.

What is softer, the sst or eldm?

The running 50m is normal with a chest shot for any bullet/calibre depending on the situation, especially if you dont break bones or hit CNS. Changing bullets likely won't make any difference on that shot at grendel velocities.

The ELDM will be softer as it has a thinner jacket.

The amax would of been good in a grendel

I've had pretty devestating results from both the ELDM and SST factory hornady offerings. Most shots within 200m with generally large wound channels. Had a high shoulder hit on a goat at about 100m with the SST that passed though with a thumb sized exit hole. No exits with the ELDM, they were frangible enough to drop pigs with frontal chest shots and turn the lungs to a mush.
The barrel is about to have a cut down to 14" and trial some lighter 90gr noslers to make up for the velocity loss

Originally Posted by SmokeyJason

More or less, a 6.5 from a 204 case, about the same lot of powder. Can I ask about bush hunting in Marlborough, The bit I've done there it was all fairly open or across Gully's.

Interesting, what was your range limit with the partitions? As for the bush hunting, you've got to seek it out. Marlborough sounds can be good in the right spots or down home towards Kaikoura you've got the sawcut gorge and the lower Clarence doc stuff. A dog makes things a bit more successful because it's mostly tight but the newish block down there has some nice mature beech with an eaten out understory.

Sounds good in theory taking_the_gun_for_a_walk, let's us know how it goes. What are you planning to mostly target using the 90gr Nosler?

I noticed Luke from nz hunter shared a story about using the 95gr vmax on a sika stag and it very nearly went pear shaped on him.