6.5 Grendel

[PRR1957]

Between Hornady, Starline, Nosler, Lapua, and Norma, which has a large or small primer pocket ?
Also. Any opinions about the quality of Starline. I have read some bad things about Harnady brass not being very durable with neck splitting.
The 6.5 Grendel is to be shot from an AR clone.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Lapua is small primer and small flash hole. Excellent brass!

 

[hawkeyeshoooer]

Starline Brass quality? Absolutely outstanding. They're awesome.

I'm not good at "gushing," but really Starline is a go-to source for brass for a reason.

Somebody who thinks of Starline as "second tier" needs to rethink that. Or they invested heavily in a bunch of brass from someone else and now they need to justify it to themselves

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Starline brass overall is real good. But it would be useful in competition if they made the grendel case with small flash holes. Until then its on par with blasting ammo and lapua is the only choice imo.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Starline Brass quality? Absolutely outstanding. They're awesome.

I'm not good at "gushing," but really Starline is a go-to source for brass for a reason.

Somebody who thinks of Starline as "second tier" needs to rethink that. Or they invested heavily in a bunch of brass from someone else and now they need to justify it to themselves

I hope you didn't take my post as putting any brass down. I have no experience with starline. It may be as good as any. In all seriousness though, at standard ar15 pressures(before bolt lugs shear off), I suspect most brass is acceptable in terms of handling the pressure it will(or should be) exposed to in that platform.
I use Lapua Grendel brass for a couple of wildcats in a bolt bench rifle with very good results and excellent brass life at very high pressures. I've not found any other options to be viable at those pressures but as I said, I haven't tried Starline. If it's anywhere near Lapua, I'd like to try it to see how it compares. For reference, I can get 40+ reloads out of Lapua with a load that kills the old Remington small rifle 7.62x39 brass on the first firing. I need about 400 pieces and am fixing to order Lapua. Save me some money!

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I hope you didn't take my post as putting any brass down. I have no experience with starline. It may be as good as any. In all seriousness though, at standard ar15 pressures(before bolt lugs shear off), I suspect most brass is acceptable in terms of handling the pressure it will(or should be) exposed to in that platform.
I use Lapua Grendel brass for a couple of wildcats in a bolt bench rifle with very good results and excellent brass life at very high pressures. I've not found any other options to be viable at those pressures but as I said, I haven't tried Starline. If it's anywhere near Lapua, I'd like to try it to see how it compares. For reference, I can get 40+ reloads out of Lapua with a load that kills the old Remington small rifle 7.62x39 brass on the first firing. I need about 400 pieces and am fixing to order Lapua. Save me some money!

Go ahead and spend it- no savings here

 

[PRR1957]

gunsandgunsmithing;

A good friend of mine who had an AR15/10 custom build company, told me that the AR 15 bolts for the 6.5 Grendel/7.62 x 39 Russian/PPC's made from 9310 dose not have the bolt shear problem. CMMG offers bolts made of that alloy.

To every one else. Aside from the Lapua, and Starline, any opinions on the other three brands. The Nosler looks like they mite be a good choose in that Nosler claim that they sort their cases by weight, and they also deburr the flash hole and chamfer the case mouth at the factory, which I always do myself plus ream the primer pockets and turn the necks.

I looked at Nosler's web site for 6.5 Grendel load data, and they used Rem. 7 1/2 primers, and that a SRP.

 

[Richard Coody]

i have a grendel AR15. great little.cartridge for an AR15. mine shoots the hornady factory stuff just fine for me. i went through a stage of building precision AR's and learned a lot. best shooting one was a necked down 6mm grendel with a 40 degree shoulder. used lapua brass and benchrest reloading tecniques. after a couple of years i grew out of the AR's. heavy barrel AR's just aren't practical and they beat up brass unmercifully.

my grendel has an 18" lightweight JP barrel and will hold MOA groups with factory ammo. light enough to carry all day long. Good enough for my pig shooter. i just let the brass lie. don't even reload for it. don't waste your money on quality brass. bent necks and ripped/bent rims are part of the game.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

gunsandgunsmithing;

A good friend of mine who had an AR15/10 custom build company, told me that the AR 15 bolts for the 6.5 Grendel/7.62 x 39 Russian/PPC's made from 9310 dose not have the bolt shear problem. CMMG offers bolts made of that alloy.

Your friend is right...they no longer break AT AR15 PRESSURES. I have tested both new and old design AR bolts, to failure. So yes, the 9310 bolts do fail, just not at the SAAMI 52000PSI pressure that was established so low due to, wait for it....the AR15.

I'm not loading a SAAMI cartridge. It's not for an AR and I'm way above those pressures.