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- Sep 14, 2020
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Congrats to your son and you. Pretty exciting when you share your passion and time together with your kids.
I’m hesitant to talk guns as there are so many who have way more experience and knowledge than I when it comes to them, but I do happen to own rifles in your listed calibers, albeit not in AR platforms. Specifically, 7mm-08 and 6.5 Creedmoor, both great whitetail cartridges. I would recommend either cartridge, but believe all of the listed cartridges provide plenty of lethality within normal hunting ranges on mid-size game.
However, to be up front, I think the 6.5 Grendel is a very strong candidate here, if you can source ammo, as well as the 350 legend.
Here is why:
You seem to have two priorities:
1. Recoil for a young shooter
2. Destructive terminal bullet performance
To me, with proper loads, you can achieve #2 with any of these cartridges at normal whitetail distances. So I’d emphasize priority #1. And while as an adult I don’t even feel my 7mm-08s or 6.5 Creedmoor kick, the free energy recoil of 6.5 Grendel and 350 legend measure out to something like 30%-40% less.
Between the two, I like that the Grendel shoots flatter and retains more energy, but the Legend pushes heavier bullets slower which generally equates to low noise and muzzleblast at the shot, and often big wound channels.
The Legend gives straight wall legal versatility, but the 6.5 is more versatile as a general hunting cartridge for small-mid size game and would be my choice, with a preference to 130ish grain ammo for deer.
Either of these should be soft on kids shoulders at the range, which I think is super important.
I suppose your kids could train on the .300BLK and hunt with one of the harder kicking, faster cartridges too.
As an adult, there is no question that 7mm-08 has been exceptional for me. I‘ve had knock downs or massive blood trails from everything I’ve shot with my 7mm-08 rifles which is why I own a few of them. As mentioned, the 6.5 x 55 Swede is another awesome round that I’d highly recommend we’re in not for the AR platform.
Certainly, as others suggest, bullet selection can impact terminal performance a ton, and should be carefully considered, but that’s another wormhole.
Best.
I’m hesitant to talk guns as there are so many who have way more experience and knowledge than I when it comes to them, but I do happen to own rifles in your listed calibers, albeit not in AR platforms. Specifically, 7mm-08 and 6.5 Creedmoor, both great whitetail cartridges. I would recommend either cartridge, but believe all of the listed cartridges provide plenty of lethality within normal hunting ranges on mid-size game.
However, to be up front, I think the 6.5 Grendel is a very strong candidate here, if you can source ammo, as well as the 350 legend.
Here is why:
You seem to have two priorities:
1. Recoil for a young shooter
2. Destructive terminal bullet performance
To me, with proper loads, you can achieve #2 with any of these cartridges at normal whitetail distances. So I’d emphasize priority #1. And while as an adult I don’t even feel my 7mm-08s or 6.5 Creedmoor kick, the free energy recoil of 6.5 Grendel and 350 legend measure out to something like 30%-40% less.
Between the two, I like that the Grendel shoots flatter and retains more energy, but the Legend pushes heavier bullets slower which generally equates to low noise and muzzleblast at the shot, and often big wound channels.
The Legend gives straight wall legal versatility, but the 6.5 is more versatile as a general hunting cartridge for small-mid size game and would be my choice, with a preference to 130ish grain ammo for deer.
Either of these should be soft on kids shoulders at the range, which I think is super important.
I suppose your kids could train on the .300BLK and hunt with one of the harder kicking, faster cartridges too.
As an adult, there is no question that 7mm-08 has been exceptional for me. I‘ve had knock downs or massive blood trails from everything I’ve shot with my 7mm-08 rifles which is why I own a few of them. As mentioned, the 6.5 x 55 Swede is another awesome round that I’d highly recommend we’re in not for the AR platform.
Certainly, as others suggest, bullet selection can impact terminal performance a ton, and should be carefully considered, but that’s another wormhole.
Best.
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