[Stinky Coyote]

Thanks, and ya, i guess another way to look at it would be from a coyote perspective. Where most guys after fur are very specific about trying to match the sd and bullet construction and impact velocities such that they don't ever get exits and completely explode inside without splashing on the surface.

I just think similar for big game. I want a little more penetration than the coyote hunters of course but like the coyote hunters i also want to dump plenty of energy inside as well for those drt's or ultra short recoveries. I'd rather not have the bullet doing most of it's work in the hill side. I'm not interested in shooting game end to end or trying to go through both femurs...one is plenty, 1.5-2' through the soft stuff after thick rib cage is plenty.

I've seen plenty of kills with tough delayed controlled expansion bullets and they just haven't impressed me internally or even recovered distances as much as more rapid expansion offerings that still penetrate adequately for game intended. And many people much prefer the opposite, i don't think either option is wrong, dead is dead, it's just preference for a variety of reasons, risk acceptability etc.

So hopefully that adds some perspective to this. These long for caliber bullets with softer construction offer that penetration capability for bigger game while doing that sort of internal carnage expected from softer bullets. It's just a combo that i prefer. When you work with that you can get a lot more from the powder you burn imo. Just more efficient as you're actually doing more work inside the critter then some much higher recoiling options running much tougher bullets.

When people get to wondering why something so small can do lightning kills while some magnum flinging the toughest bullets gives underwhelming performance....that's what's going on. There is a relationship of bullet construction, sd appropriate for game, and impact velocities to match.

A heavy magnum example with a delayed controlled bullet may land with 2500 ft/lbs ke, open 1.75x, but dumped only 600 ft/lbs inside the critter with at 2" diam. wound channel and leave all the rest in the hillside. Where this Grendel whitetail example landed with 1047 ft/lbs and dumped every bit of it over 18" with awesome boiler room damage, while easily doing triple size expansion.

Shoot a coyote with it and it's simply too much so most of the work is done in the hillside. It's all relative. It's hard to believe when you hold the cartridge in your hand and look at the damage on a larger class 2 game(class 3 really showed as well)...that it's possible.

The magnum example here isn't even going to get tested until you have a heavy 3rd class animal that you need to end to end and get 4' of penetration. If that's the insurance you want by all mean shoot that. If you're ok with taking appropriate shots for what you're carrying then you can burn a ton less powder and see awesome results and more people will shoot it well too.

We aren't trophy hunting, we don't chase elk full time, we don't need to hammer them up the whazzoo on the run, we like to take the right shot opportunities and do our part. We get rewarded with quick harvests, low recovery distances (if at all), and for very little recoil and noise to boot.

We have so many choices, this is just one of them. Start with the bullet you like, and work it back from there, it will tell you what cartridges will drive it to your asks etc. This 6.5 Grendel the whole fam dam can shoot all day, targets, plinking, predator calling, and double down for our big game needs as well.