6.5 Grendel TC Contender

[Tan man]

I'm a handgun hunting fan and just recently had SSK industries make me a 14" 6.5 Grendel barrel for my Contender. Anyone out there have any experience with any of the hunting loads Alexander Arms offers in a Contender or a 14.5 AR carbine. I know the 120gr Nosler BT load will work well on deer size game. How about the 120gr Barnes, 130 gr Swift S, 129 gr Hornady loads on heavier game (hogs, exotic sheep & goats etc). I have a buddy who has had great results hunting with a contender in 6.5 TC (120gr NBT), I know the 6.5 Grendel in a contender is faster than the TC round so I expect the performance to be as good or better. I'd love to hear your feedback.

[kcgrendel]

How do you like the contender? I just started thinking about a rifle G2 in the Grendel. Who made your barrel for it? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[Tan man]

I love the contender. In the handgun, I prefer it over the Encore. The contender is a heavy handgun, but it is still a pound lighter than the Encore, balances better and has a better trigger. JD Jones at SSK Industries made my barrel and they are the best custom shop for anything TC.

[fanofflyn]

I also have one of those barrels, and, being a Barnes affectionado I looked for a load that would work in my 16, 18, 20, and 24 inch rifles as well. The 120 grainers didn't work well in the handgun, couldn't get much over 2100 or 2200 fps. I decided to work with the 100gr TTSX. There wasn't enough velocity with 2520 or with leverevolution (which worked well with the heavier bullets in the longer barrels), so I had to go with a faster powder. Currently I worked up a load that worked well with H335, using 31 grains. This looked a little flatter on the headstamp (I mean a trace) with the gas piston rifles, so I backed it up a couple of tenths of grains to 30.8 with new Lapua brass. It shot very accurately in all the guns. The T/C shot nice groups (the best I can do with a handgun anyway) and chronographed at 2600fps, with a very small sd out of the 14 inch handgun, and with the shorter barrel pressure wasn't an issue at all. I cannot tell you what this may do in your gun. I use the old style white box WSR primers ( the silver harder kind, at least until I run out of the next ten thousand), so a different primer could drive up your pressures. I'd start a couple of grains lower and slowly increase to a comfortable level. I load to 2.260 coal so that it will work in the magazines, but did not use the chamber seating coal gauge for the SSK barrel. Barnes says to back off .050 from the lands anyway, and the Weatherby people tell us this gives us more velocity with less pressure. In the Barnes bullets, it improves accuracy also, as I've shot tons of guilding metal from Barnes in calibers up to .500 Jeffery. I'm doing a charity handgun hunt with the Handgun Hunters chapter of SCI next week, and I'll shoot some big things to see how well it does. Last year I shot a scimitar horned oryx with a 110gr Barnes TTSX 6.8 spc II from a 14 inch barrel at 140 yards, and it went through the shoulder, both sides of the rib cage, and heart, and was imbedded in the off side. They didn't save the bullet for me like they promised, but that was a slightly slower load, so I bet the penetration will be good with the Grendel for most NA game at pistol ranges.

BTW, this round does function in all my Grendel rifles too.

[SChunter]

Tan Man,

I shoot the 129gr SST's out of my 6.5/270JDJ SSK barrel with excellent terminal results on deer and hogs - it's no doubt pushing a bit faster than you will achieve out of the 14" Grendel Contender, but it should expand just fine down to impact velocities around 1800 or so fps.

If fanofflynn can take out a scimitar oryx with the Barnes in the 6.8SPC, that should be a go-to bullet for bigger game in the Grendel as well.

[fanofflyn]

Just got back from a handgun hunt with the Grendel. Took out number 7 in the world handgun Addax, a Black Hawaiian Sheep, a Texas Dall Sheep, and my prize, an Aoudad all with the 14 inch SSK Grendel barrel and the 100 Gr TTSX. The shots were all correct, but the bullet did the job in the vitals well every time. I'll try to figure out how to post pictures when I get them all done.

[bwaites]

Just got back from a handgun hunt with the Grendel. Took out number 7 in the world handgun Addax, a Black Hawaiian Sheep, a Texas Dall Sheep, and my prize, an Aoudad all with the 14 inch SSK Grendel barrel and the 100 Gr TTSX. The shots were all correct, but the bullet did the job in the vitals well every time. I'll try to figure out how to post pictures when I get them all done.

Aiiiiiiii!!!! Awesome! However, with stories like this, pictures are required! If you can't figure it out, let me know and I'll post them for you!

[Mutt]

What ever happened to pictures???? LOL

[fanofflyn]

OK, I struggled with this. See if they show up.

[hm2 clark]

Wonderful pictures!!

[Whelenon]

How sweet it is! Very cool, congratulations.

[Tan man]

fanofflyn,
Awesome! How did you feel the Grendel performed with the TTSX compared to the 6.8 SPC?
What other calibers do you hunt & shoot with Contenders?

[bwaites]

OK, I struggled with this. See if they show up.


Awesome, we need more hunt information, how you managed the black and white in the same area, etc.!!

Seriously a great looking quartet!

[LRRPF52]

Fricken awesome man! That is an amazing feat. Congrats big-time, really. I need to go draw blood with mine, but it will never compare to that...

Hat's off to you, sir. Can you tell us more about your optics? The ranges these shots were at? POA/POI for each one? Anything that stuck out in particular that you would like to pass on?

[Larry in SD]

Congrats on some nice animals.

I started hunting with Contender Handguns in 1982, and have used a lot of different cartridges over the years with a few favorites being the 6x45, 6mm T/CU, .250 Savage, 7-30 Waters and .30-30 Ackley Improved.

Larry

[fanofflyn]

For optics, there are limited choices. I currently have a 2.5-8x leupold on the Contender, but I don't need that much magnification, and I'll consider going to just a straight 2x. The Leupolds fit my long arms better than the Burris, which requires me to draw the gun in closer for a higher magnification. The 6.5 100gr TTSX at 2600 performs very similar at handgun ranges to the 6.8 110 gr TTSX at 2500fps. I shot more with the 6.5 this year. Very mild recoil, don't notice it. Extremely accurate. Longest shot this year on game was the Texas Dall sheep at 127 yards, flipped right up onto his back with a heart shot. All the TTSX expanded from the appearance of the bullet tracks, but I unfortunately didn't recover any of my bullets ( which I always try to do. I've got a nice collection of game bullets up to 500 grain that show me what happens.) I did recover a blue plastic tip from the entrance hide last year, right on the surface. I currently only have the 6.8 spcII and the 6.5 Grendel in the G2 contender, but I'm having an Encore Handgun barrel made for next year in 6.5 Creedmoor. I love the Grendel, which may be my favorite overall, but next year I want Mouflon and that will require a little faster somewhat heavier bullet, maybe 120gr TTSX, for a quick 250 yard handgun shot (yes, a very good but fast rest, I'm not that steady at all otherwise).
The hunt was much harder than it appears, with very fast acquisition and shots required or there were no chances at all.
Last year was a Scimitar Horned Oryx, which will be illegal to hunt after December of this year, at 140 yards.
I'm no expert, I just like to have fun.
Thanks for the Kudos everyone

[kcgrendel]

I would live to have a G2 in 6.5 Grendel with a carbine barrel.

[bwaites]

For optics, there are limited choices. I currently have a 2.5-8x leupold on the Contender, but I don't need that much magnification, and I'll consider going to just a straight 2x. The Leupolds fit my long arms better than the Burris, which requires me to draw the gun in closer for a higher magnification. The 6.5 100gr TTSX at 2600 performs very similar at handgun ranges to the 6.8 110 gr TTSX at 2500fps. I shot more with the 6.5 this year. Very mild recoil, don't notice it. Extremely accurate. Longest shot this year on game was the Texas Dall sheep at 127 yards, flipped right up onto his back with a heart shot. All the TTSX expanded from the appearance of the bullet tracks, but I unfortunately didn't recover any of my bullets ( which I always try to do. I've got a nice collection of game bullets up to 500 grain that show me what happens.) I did recover a blue plastic tip from the entrance hide last year, right on the surface. I currently only have the 6.8 spcII and the 6.5 Grendel in the G2 contender, but I'm having an Encore Handgun barrel made for next year in 6.5 Creedmoor. I love the Grendel, which may be my favorite overall, but next year I want Mouflon and that will require a little faster somewhat heavier bullet, maybe 120gr TTSX, for a quick 250 yard handgun shot (yes, a very good but fast rest, I'm not that steady at all otherwise).
The hunt was much harder than it appears, with very fast acquisition and shots required or there were no chances at all.
Last year was a Scimitar Horned Oryx, which will be illegal to hunt after December of this year, at 140 yards.
I'm no expert, I just like to have fun.
Thanks for the Kudos everyone

Great trophies, and I'd like to hear a start to finish hunt story, and how it came about. Guides, outfitter, etc. too.

[PumpActionJackson]

too cool! im jealous. nice bit of meat there.

[dpw4x4]

Very nice pictures !!!!!

[WillD]

Where were you hunting?

[fanofflyn]

YO Ranch. I know ranch hunting sounds a bit cheezy, but with 47 thousand acres, it can be a pretty difficult hunt. We were really lucky to get an Aoudad, and the others weren't easy. It was a handgun charity hunt for the North American Handgun Hunters chapter of SCI. All the meat donated from everyone, and all the funds were for charity. We even sponsored a wounded warrior 100 percent for his hunt, and that was very gratifying. Most hunted Sika and Whitetail, but there were lots of species taken. I had the only Grendel in the bunch, but I think I made a lot of converts. "You got an Aoudad with that little baby cartridge?" was heard more than once.

BTW, I didn't mean to hijak the thread, so we could fix that if it is a problem.

[txgunner00]

I would live to have a G2 in 6.5 Grendel with a carbine barrel.

Where would you find such a thing? Gunsmith or is there one available?

[Whelenon]

Where would you find such a thing? Gunsmith or is there one available?

Here ya go,
http://sskindustries.com/6-5-grendel

[hm2 clark]

As I recall (on the old forem Bill Alaxander posted) that there was a little saftey concern about using a Contender in 6.5 Grendel. Somthing about bolt pressure being higher then he felt safe. You could call him and ask.

[fanofflyn]

When I asked them to make a Creedmoor in a Contender, they wouldn't do it, but recommended an Encore barrel, which is currently being made for me now. I can tell you the Grendel is pretty mild in the Contender, but if you're worried about it, get it made in an Encore.

[akula682]

here is a pic of my TC Grendel from MGM, they did an awesome job on it.

[SChunter]

Nice TC akula! Is that a diamond, hex or octagonal barrel from MGM?

I've got an octagonal barreled 475 JDJ from SSK - other than that, just standard contours.

[JohnOD]

Nice job on the critters :). Those SSK Contender barrels can shoot! Pretty sure my 14", 6.5 JDJ was a Shilen blank. It launched 120 B-Tips at around 2500 FPS... downed a couple of mule deer with it.

[Crushed]

OK, I struggled with this. See if they show up.

Wow ! Beautiful animals. Where were you? My guess is game ranch here in Texas somewhere?

[Whelenon]

Nice job on the critters :). Those SSK Contender barrels can shoot! Pretty sure my 14", 6.5 JDJ was a Shilen blank. It launched 120 B-Tips at around 2500 FPS... downed a couple of mule deer with it.

How does the Grendel case capacity compare with the 6.5 JDJ?

[JohnOD]

I got out of the Contenders so long ago I honestly don't remember what loads I was shooting. If you like I can dig through my records and find out. The parent case is 225 Win which has a rather large rim.

When I first started looking at the 6.5/6.8 AR's my positive experience with the 6.5 JDJ swayed me to the Grendel.

[LRRPF52]

How does the Grendel case capacity compare with the 6.5 JDJ?

The 6.5 JDJ has waaaay more case capacity than the Grendel. It's a 1.90" long case with a .473" rim diameter. It looks like a rimmed case too. Not sure what the parent is, but it looks very similar to .30-30 Win.

[fanofflyn]

The 6.5 JDJ has a case capacity of 43.6 gr of water. The Grendel has a capacity of 36 gr. of water. The Grendel in rifles is designed to hold up to 50,000 CPU, but the Contender supposedly is limited to 42,000, but I can't say that authoritatively. It would seem to be possible to use a lower pressure such as the JDJ, but I've not personally had a problem with my current loads in the Contender with my Grendel. I will limit myself to 100 gr bullets though with that in mind.

[LRRPF52]

The Grendel is actually a high pressure case, but you do have to balance that with the action you're using it in. My buddy with a CZ527 is getting insane velocities (2700fps) with 139gr Scenars, with a 22" barrel and N140, so the case will take the pressure. Not sure I would want to go anywhere near that in a Contender either, since I don't know the limitations of the TC. I just saw a video of guys with Contenders and XP100's ringing steel at 1000yds with .260 Remington. This is a great video of what even a pistol is capable of...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwE70ihOYIk

[Luv269er]

OK, I struggled with this. See if they show up.



Wow great work...Aaahhh, the power & accuracy of the 6.5mm caliber !

[adrenaline junkie]

Since there isnt a case size limitation, I think I'd rather have an encore in a 260 than the grendel. I have one in 7mm08 and its awesome, I bought it before the 260 came out or I would have gotten that.

[Whelenon]

[QUOTE=LRRPF52;22299]I just saw a video of guys with Contenders and XP100's ringing steel at 1000yds with .260 Remington.QUOTE]

Just a point of clarification, they were shooting the .260 with and Encore not the Contender. Big difference between an Encore and Contender and how much pressure they can take. A Contender could never take the pressures of a .260.

[Deezil]

Id love a grendel barrel for my contender

[Nukes]

http://www.eabco.com/InStock.htm