6.5 Grendel Bolt rifle

[457ciSBC]

As one who has spent bunches of time with the Grendel, including a fair bit of Pressure Trace work, I can say it is a great cartridge — for what Bill Alexander designed it to do.

For the velocity freaks: Go to your ballistics calculatators and see what adding even a 100 fps to the muzzle velocity will do at 600 yards. Remember that drop is readily corrected when using a good range finder. Drift is the item that we find more challenging to correct for.

Then, compare drift with the same bullet for the Creedmoor or large case.

’Tis a lot better to use the bigger cartridge at comfortable pressures than to squeeze a few extra fps and risk your rifle, your face, and your hands from a KABOOM!

I 100% agree, my first Grendel from 2005 was a bolt gun that I had built when Grendel bolt guns were like almost like hens teeth. I was one that was enamored with the PPC and the BR cartridges and got caught in the emotions and figured it was a good practical idea.I should have stayed on the porch.

 

[Laurie]

’Tis a lot better to use the bigger cartridge at comfortable pressures than to squeeze a few extra fps and risk your rifle, your face, and your hands from a KABOOM!

I'd broadly agree, but a high-performance 'tiddler' in a small action has many attractions. This is a bolt-gun 'topic', so why should a 21st Century cartridge using known tough brass be limited to 19th century pressures when the rifle action doesn't demand it?

Not many KABOOMs occur with the PPCs using the same basic case in 100/200-yard BR, and these individuals run some seriously warm loads. Also, the CIP MAP for the Grendel is 4,050 bar / 58,740 psi, not unreasonable in bolt-actions.

It's obviously the AR-15 action being adapted to a much larger area case-head design than it was ever intended for that has led to the SAAMI 52,000 psi ceiling. Eminently sensible for users of this type, but not necessarily for others with much more robust actions.

 

[flatlander]

I've enjoyed shooting the Howa Mini 6 RAT (original chamber, not the later FAT RAT) quite a bit over the past few years since I posted my 1st reply on this thread. I sold the McMillan Sako Varmint stock & replaced it with a Game Scout, which is more suitable for prone shooting off a bipod. It's a pleasant little round to shoot, though I'm limited to single loading anything loaded longer than a Sierra 95MK. Bought some of the newer tipped 95s, but have yet to load any of them, so don't yet know whether they'll shoot well when seated slightly deeper to compensate for the longer tipped bullet. I typically run them in the 2790-2800fps speed range with either RL15 or H4895, out of the Lapua-made AA brass. I haven't done any side-by-side comparison shooting on the same day of the 95s to Berger 105 VLDs at 600, so don't know how the accuracy & wind-drift of the 105s at 2700fps compares to that of the 95s. Seems like a good enough reason to get this little rifle out of the closet and take it down to the range...the crazy weather so far this spring has limited my shooting. It was over 90*F here a few days ago, but was 34*F this morning.

 

[ASbobcat]

I'd broadly agree, but a high-performance 'tiddler' in a small action has many attractions. This is a bolt-gun 'topic', so why should a 21st Century cartridge using known tough brass be limited to 19th century pressures when the rifle action doesn't demand it?

Not many KABOOMs occur with the PPCs using the same basic case in 100/200-yard BR, and these individuals run some seriously warm loads. Also, the CIP MAP for the Grendel is 4,050 bar / 58,740 psi, not unreasonable in bolt-actions.

It's obviously the AR-15 action being adapted to a much larger area case-head design than it was ever intended for that has led to the SAAMI 52,000 psi ceiling. Eminently sensible for users of this type, but not necessarily for others with much more robust actions.

Well said. Higher working pressure, coupled with longer barrels, make Grendel based cartridges a very attractive option in bolt guns.
I'm in the process of moving from BR based to Grendel based for greater ballistic efficiency.