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6.5 Grendel variants?

C.E.Smith043

I'm late to the Grendel game and just now starting to research the cartridge and it's offspring.

Is the 6mm ARC just a 6.5 Grendel necked down?

Is there a .257 caliber neck down version of the 6.5 Grendel?

I'm interested in shooting bullet weights in the 70 to 90gr weights.
 
The 6mm ARC is the bastardized Hornady version of the 6mm AR/Predator/Grendel all of which are various names for the necked down 6.5 Grendel and had been wildcats for a number of years. For some (marketing?) reason Hornady decided to bump the shoulder back by 0.030" and introduce a new wonder cartridge for the AR platform. My 6mm AR/Predator/Grendel is a <.5 MOA , 1000 yard cartridge with 112 grain Barnes bullets. What's to improve? Go to 65grendel.com and look at their history.
 
Herzo said:
The 6mm ARC is the bastardized Hornady version of the 6mm AR/Predator/Grendel all of which are various names for the necked down 6.5 Grendel and had been wildcats for a number of years. For some (marketing?) reason Hornady decided to bump the shoulder back by 0.030" and introduce a new wonder cartridge for the AR platform. My 6mm AR/Predator/Grendel is a <.5 MOA , 1000 yard cartridge with 112 grain Barnes bullets. What's to improve? Go to 65grendel.com and look at their history.
Click to expand...
Ty for the info, I'll check that out
 
Mine is a 28" 1:7 twist barrel from X-Caliber. They no longer list the original wildcat on their website, rather they (and everyone else) offer the ARC.
 
C.E.Smith043 said:
I'm late to the Grendel game and just now starting to research the cartridge and it's offspring.

Is the 6mm ARC just a 6.5 Grendel necked down?

Is there a .257 caliber neck down version of the 6.5 Grendel?

I'm interested in shooting bullet weights in the 70 to 90gr weights.
Click to expand...
I have a straight neck down 6.5 grendel to .25"..
Custom reamer with a 0.0950 leade/freebore.
Shoots really good. Very economical and efficient. Shoots 90's to 120's with no problems.
Kreiger 7.7 twist.
And yes the ARC is a bastardized 6mmAR stolen from Robert Whitley"..
 
Last edited:
there are tons of them. 243lbc. 6mm turbo. 6mm turbo 40 imp. 6mm rat. 6mm fat rat. 6 grinch. etc. the 6mm arc has less case capacity than the 243lbc which is just a necked down 6.5 grendel case. the arc has a shortened shoulder. The 6arcs only popular in my opinion because hornady got it Sammi Spec d and they advertise it out the bum like they did with the 6.5 creed.
 
They all shoot well, and it just depends, somewhat, on how much you want too form brass, if you can not find original or ready too go brass.
Also depends on what caliber you want, when neck formed. Take you pick, obtain the proper dies and go have fun.
The Grendel case is a good base case to begin with.
 
... and put the body taper back and you've got all the PPC variants as well.

Early in the grendel game, i picked up a bunch of cheap 7.62x39 brass and formed it.

I think as others have mentioned, it's a wonder design that can be modded to your heart's content.

-Mac
 
Hornady shortened the 6MM ARC some so you can't chamber the 6.5 Grendel in it. That would lead to too much heartburn. Lots of pretty good chamberings come out of the 7.62X39. It has almost as many offspring as the .308 does. The 220 Beggs is a great chambering if you don't want to go through the case forming that the PPC takes. Same for the 6MM Beggs. They all shoot good and are easy to load for. They also are light recoiling and perform above their class.
 
No manches said:
And yes the ARC is a bastardized 6mmAR stolen from Robert Whitley"..
Click to expand...

'stolen'? As of course with many other factory SAAMI registered numbers going back to the last century. 22-250, 260, 7mm-08 are just three Remington adoptions that are 'stolen bastardized' versions of other people's designs. The .30-40 Krag is a stolen 303 British copy that in turn took a lot from Rubin's work in Switzerland and the 30-06 'stole' Mauser's work on the 7X57mm. It's impossible to stop this happening. Even when the Grendel was a 'proprietary' Alexander Arms design, people simply ordered reamers with a one-degree shoulder angle change or some other minor change and called it a wildcat. There can be many reasons for the 'bastardization' changes too, not all of them bad.

What intrigues me a little is why Hornady pushed the shoulder back that amount - presumably to ensure a 6.5 Grendel cartridge cannot be chambered in a 6ARC. It seems a lot when you start with such a small low capacity case though.
 
Laurie said:
What intrigues me a little is why Hornady pushed the shoulder back that amount - presumably to ensure a 6.5 Grendel cartridge cannot be chambered in a 6ARC. It seems a lot when you start with such a small low capacity case though.
Click to expand...
Uhmm"..beats me!
 
Laurie said:
'stolen'? As of course with many other factory SAAMI registered numbers going back to the last century. 22-250, 260, 7mm-08 are just three Remington adoptions that are 'stolen bastardized' versions of other people's designs. The .30-40 Krag is a stolen 303 British copy that in turn took a lot from Rubin's work in Switzerland and the 30-06 'stole' Mauser's work on the 7X57mm. It's impossible to stop this happening. Even when the Grendel was a 'proprietary' Alexander Arms design, people simply ordered reamers with a one-degree shoulder angle change or some other minor change and called it a wildcat. There can be many reasons for the 'bastardization' changes too, not all of them bad.
Click to expand...
Those where different times"..
And I see your point!..don't know if Robert Whitley patented the 6mmAR. But it was his proprietary case.
And Hornady would have been smart to have purchased the case design for Robert.
Just my two cents.
 
Herzo said:
The 6mm ARC is the bastardized Hornady version of the 6mm AR/Predator/Grendel all of which are various names for the necked down 6.5 Grendel and had been wildcats for a number of years. For some (marketing?) reason Hornady decided to bump the shoulder back by 0.030" and introduce a new wonder cartridge for the AR platform. My 6mm AR/Predator/Grendel is a <.5 MOA , 1000 yard cartridge with 112 grain Barnes bullets. What's to improve? Go to 65grendel.com and look at their history.
Click to expand...
They probably shortened the case so you don't get a 6.5 grendel mixed in and false head spaced. This can happen with some 300 blk in 223.

Scary Stuff — .300 Blackout Fired in a .223 Rem Barrel « Daily Bulletin

Photos and Facebook post by Tactical Rifle Shooters Yet another .300 Blackout disaster. Unfortunately, that .300 Blackout cartridge can fit in a .223 Rem chamber. Shooting a .308-caliber bullet in .223 bore is a recipe for disaster. <img src=https://accurateshooter.net/pix/blk3002.jpg alt=.
bulletin.accurateshooter.com bulletin.accurateshooter.com

This way you probably won't get lockup with a 6.5 grendel in a 6 arc. You can do the reverse (6 arc in a 6.5 grendel) but that's a much less harmful scenario.
 
darkangel_r2 said:
They probably shortened the case so you don't get a 6.5 grendel mixed in and false head spaced. This can happen with some 300 blk in 223.

Scary Stuff — .300 Blackout Fired in a .223 Rem Barrel « Daily Bulletin

Photos and Facebook post by Tactical Rifle Shooters Yet another .300 Blackout disaster. Unfortunately, that .300 Blackout cartridge can fit in a .223 Rem chamber. Shooting a .308-caliber bullet in .223 bore is a recipe for disaster. <img src=https://accurateshooter.net/pix/blk3002.jpg alt=.
bulletin.accurateshooter.com bulletin.accurateshooter.com

This way you probably won't get lockup with a 6.5 grendel in a 6 arc. You can do the reverse (6 arc in a 6.5 grendel) but that's a much less harmful scenario.
Click to expand...
Holy crap! it would be a sudden surprise*
 
I've been using ..Hornady and starline...
Haven't seen lapua 6.5 grendel in a long time"..
But you can also use 220 Russian lapua and fire form.
 
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