6.5 grendal

[boltman223]

Hi everyone

I am wanting to build a 6.5 grendal on bolt action and I am wondering of anybody here has experience with this. Any input/info/recomindations on reciever,reamer, or anything else I need to take into consideration would be greatly apreciated.

Also I would love to hear about anybodys experiece with shootig and reloading this cartridge. Thanks in advance

 

[Minesweeper3433]

Try this read.
http://www.accurateshooter.com/cartridge-guides/6-5-grendel-cartridge-guide/
http://www.accurateshooter.com/guns-of-week/6-5-grendel-f-classer-by-speedy/

 

[MrMajestic]

I run a Savage Model 10( originally 7.62X39) with a 22" 8tw Pacnor in what they call 6.5 Grendel Match. This is identical to my .264 LBC AR chamber in my 24" 8tw Les Baer barreled upper. I think the main difference in these designations and the "straight" Grendel is neck size. Couldn't be happier with my Savage, accurate, low recoil, great Whitetail class cartridge with long barrel life!

 

[tonedaddy]

I have a Nesika pistol built by Gre Tan Rifles with a 15" barrel. The gun will shoot almost any load you put in it well. Mine has a .292 no turn neck. I use the AA brass(Lapua). Have fired some cases 5 times, no stretching, splitting at all. A great round. I use 26gr H4895 with a 140SMK. I have also shot the same bullet with 24.5 H322 with great results. Velocity is right at 2140FPS. I use the gun for mettalic silhouette.

 

[spclark]

Of all the 6.5's out there the 6.5 Grendel (original spelling) has about the lowest practical case capacity. Introduced about nine or ten years ago by Bill Alexander (Alexander Arms) as an alternative to the 6.8SPC for defensive shooting and Arne Brennan (Competition Shooting Systems, later sold to Walther) as a competition round, it's gotten a lot of attention since then along with a great deal of development.

If you're not already aware of it there's a dedicated website & forum over at: http://www.65grendel.com/ - you ought to look over for a greater depth of user info.

In rifles, out to 500 - 600 yards & beyond, the 130 grain bullets are about as much as it can effectively handle unless you go with a custom-length throat to squeeze in as much propellant as possible. Remember this is a PPC-based case after all.

I had two CSS-sourced, Walther-barreled 6.5 Grendel spacegun uppers for a few years, and a 30" Broughton 5R 1:8 chambered for it. Sold off pretty much everything by now save for some fired brass, favoring either 6XC, 6HAGAR or 308 for my shooting.

 

[boltman223]

I run a Savage Model 10( originally 7.62X39) with a 22" 8tw Pacnor in what they call 6.5 Grendel Match. This is identical to my .264 LBC AR chamber in my 24" 8tw Les Baer barreled upper. I think the main difference in these designations and the "straight" Grendel is neck size. Couldn't be happier with my Savage, accurate, low recoil, great Whitetail class cartridge with long barrel life!

What bullet and what velocities are you getting?

 

[MrMajestic]

What bullet and what velocities are you getting?

I run Hornady 123 gr. A-Max in front of AA2520 and get 2575 fps from the 22" boltgun and 2625 fps from the 24" AR. Very low ES and 1/2 MOA accuracy.

 

[kentuckytroutbum]

What bullet and what velocities are you getting?

I run Hornady 123 gr. A-Max in front of AA2520 and get 2575 fps from the 22" boltgun and 2625 fps from the 24" AR. Very low ES and 1/2 MOA accuracy.

That is my load for the Grendel exactly. Apparently AA2520 has the burn rate that is very compatible with the Grendel case.

Bill

 

[spclark]

Apparently AA2520 has the burn rate that is very compatible with the Grendel case.

Yep, at least with the heavier bullets. Only issue is it's been known to vary quite a bit lot to lot so be sure to test when you buy a new batch. This was one of the recommended propellants from Alexander Arms early on.

For lighter weight bullets I got similar results from AA2460, another recommended product.

 

[boltman223]

Thanks everyone for the replies and info it was just what i wanted. I think I am going to go with an 8 twist.

This has got to be a great cartridge to shoot, low recoil and from what I can tell similar ballistics to the 308 with 175mk.

 

[flatlander]

One of the derivative wildcat cartridges from the 6.5 Grendel is the 6 RAT, orginally intended for match rifle use out of AR15s. I've owned & loaded for three different RAT uppers, and finally decided the 6 RAT would make a neat little cartridge for a lightweight walking varmint rifle.

Only trouble was finding a reasonably priced Sako L461 action with the PPC boltface - when one does come up for sale on GunBroker, it's typical to see them sell for $1800+. I didn't want to go with a custom bolt in a M700, simply to keep the rifle scaled to fit the cartidge & to keep the weight down by doing so. Finally wound up buying a CZ 527 carbine in 7.62x39 and re-barreling it. I went with a .237" bore Krieger, 1:8tw, in #3 sporter contour, which I finished at 24". Used the same gas gun reamer that I've been using on AR bbls, which I bought from PTG.

As a bonus, the rifle I received has a very nice stock of Turkish walnut, with considerable attractive fiddleback figure. It needed a bedding job, which I did with Devcon steel putty. It also needed a better trigger, as I wasn't at all happy with the OEM single set job. I went with a Rifle Basix replacement, which is easy to install, and has a very crisp, clean break, which I set at just over a pound. Haven't had time to devote to figuring out what I need to do with the magazine lips to get the RAT to feed consistently, but am still quite pleased with the little rig, which weighs 8lbs with a Sightron SII B4.5-14x44 mounted in the OEM steel rings.

Don't know why a 6.5 Grendel bolt project based on a CZ 527 wouldn't work just as well as the RAT rifle turned out....

 

[chuckbuster243]

I have a AA Grendel 24 inch ar15 with a 9 twist. I shoot the 123 class of bullets I use IMR 8208 XBR in Lapua cases and CCI SR primers. I am working on a bolt gun in a savage currently as well. The standard Grendel chamber is a .300 neck. I am going to use a pt&g Grendel reamer with a .295 neck in my boltgun. just because I am not shooting full auto and I think .300 is a bit big. The Lapua brass with the 123 amax's is around .291 loaded and the RP 7.62x39 hdryoformed is .289. I use a little Hornady brass but you must use light loads. It is way to soft and will open up on the second firing. But with Lapua brass cci standard primers 28.0 grain of 8208 seated .015 out of the lands (mag length is longer) velocity is 2600 fps avg. Its not worth it to shoot any bullet past 130 it just lacks enough capacity. My Grendel ar shoots 1/2 MOA to 500 and atleast MOA from 600 to 1000. Matt

 

[ericskennard]

I think you will be happy with it. May I mention that I now have Precision Snap Caps to fit the 6.5 Grendal? go to www.harbourarms.com

just a small plug!

ERIC

 

[brian923]

do you find that being able to load the bullets out further in the case (longer C.O.A.L) allows you an advantage with the grendel? does it give you more fps? allow you to shoot heavier bullets? do you think it makes this cartridge a lot better than with the max O.A.L of 2.260" for ar-15 mag limits?

 

[kentuckytroutbum]

One problem, that I found with the Grendel, was that the origional chamber design used a compound throat/leade. Starts out at 0.5 deg. and transitions to a 1.5 deg angle. I was having difficulty getting a consistant land distance using a Stony Point gauge. Talking with Dave Kitt, of PT&G, his suggestion was to ream the throat using his adjustable .264 throat cutter to set the distance that I wanted using the bullets that I wanted to use. Basically, I cut the throat to achieve a .264 LBC chamber design using Dave's drawing for the LBC. After doing this, I was able to achieve a consistant seating depth/COAL.

Having a good supply of the Hornady 120 gr. AMAX, I use that bullet for the 200 & 300 yard line of the XTC Highpower match. I use the newer Hornady 123 gr. AMAX, loaded longer than magazine length, for the 600 yd. line, since it is single loaded for that stage. I also found that the 107 gr. SMK was very accurate in my rifle.

Bill

 

[ohearchai]

Op, heres a link
http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?426-Cz-527
Brockman arms were converting CZ 527 to 6.5 Grendel several years ago, with the bolt action you can get higher velocities than the gas guns, as much as 2700 with 140 grain bullets, not sure what the barrel lenght was. Thought about going this way for a youth rifle, may still go there.

 

[brian923]

i just posted this in another post, but i just got an email from hornady that they came out with a 123 gr sst in 6.5mm. might work well with the grendel... hope we have a new killer huntinf bullet for the 6.5mm's

 

[madderg]

Anyone use the SMK 107's?

 

[kentuckytroutbum]

Anyone use the SMK 107's?

Yes, 107 SMK was very accurate in my rifle. The 107 has a long ogive, which meant that I loaded the round longer than magazine length to have 0.015" off the lands. A great bullet, I would definitely give it a try. Win 748 and AA 2520 are my powders of choice in that cartridge.

Bill

 

[JASmith]

i just posted this in another post, but i just got an email from hornady that they came out with a 123 gr sst in 6.5mm. might work well with the grendel... hope we have a new killer huntinf bullet for the 6.5mm's

The 123gr SST will shoot very much like the 123gr AMAX but was designed with the hunter in mind.

Interestingly, factory loads for this bullet out of a 14.5 inch barrel (!) will give better wind drift at 500 yards than many, if not most, .243 Winchester commercial loads in 22-24" barrels.

This is illustrated in the newly published 6.5 Grendel Reloading Handbook. You can read the introduction to the chapter discussing this at http://shootersnotes.com/articles/6-5-grendel-reloading-handbook/.