He gained control of the steppe nomads, put his brother on the throne of Kazan and was killed after taking Astrakhan.

As his father's kalga or designated successor and co-ruler, he participated in a number of raids northward.

He intrigued with Moscow and sent his eldest son Gemmet to Istanbul to request military aid against Mehmed.

In the spring of 1519 Mehmed sent his sons Alp and Bakhadyr against Akhmed, who was killed in the steppe beyond Perekop.

(Howorth (1880), following Nikolay Karamzin (1818) speaks of intrigues and bribes involving Akhmed, Mehmed, Vasili III of Russia and Sigismund the Old of Poland).

A major problem of his reign was gaining control of the Nogai nomads to the north who had become fragmented after the fall of the Golden Horde in 1502.

The local mirzas asked Mehmed to send one of his family to replace Shah Ali.

In the spring of 1521 Mehmed's brother Sahib I Giray arrived at Kazan and easily expelled Shah Ali with local help.

At the same time 100,000 Crimeans, Nogais and Lithuanians moved north and crossed the Oka River in July.

On the approach of Vasili's army they drew back and looted the regions of Kolomna, Bobrovsk, Kashira and Ryazan.

Mehmed appointed his eldest son Kalga Bakhadyr as khan of Astrakhan and unwisely disbanded most of his army.