LaRue 6.5 Grendel Rifles

[LRRPF52]

Keep in mind these are all with the Burris on 6x:

[Kswhitetails]

Keep in mind these are all with the Burris on 6x:

Your noob-let-osity is showing Nice groups!


Seriously, we need terminal performance data on that AG stuff. That would make a decent fire and forget woods round if we can get it at the current prices in perpetuity.
Glad to see you getting up and around!

[Sticks]

I got sub MOA out of 3 Howa 20" HB, and 2450 fps (20-25 rounds fired in each). My 18" Barlitien shot sub MOA and 2450 fps as well.

[Kswhitetails]

So, I never got a chance to report the results of the woods weekend, but suffice it to say that success was had!

I was skunked Friday evening, and then again Saturday morning, probably due to the fact that I have very little experience hunting pasture lowlands and never got very well concealed. I'm sure the deer were looking at me laughing at my feeble attempts to locate and design a good shooting position... Oh well, I learned some good lessons about what I should look for in so far as lay of the land is concerned. In my defense I'd never been to this place until about 1PM Friday afternoon, and what scouting I could do in two or so hours would have to do for that night and the next morning's hunts. Needless to say, it wasn't enough time, even with the ride through the lead cowboy offered. It was a perfect ride around the property lines, and across the bluff feeding the cows and heifers he wanted to get to along the way. If it wasn't a 3.5 mile hike, I would have pitched a tent up there and probably had my pick of rather amazing shooting lanes(in any direction). But I am older than I was the last time I walked that far across open terrain, and the 23 degree wind chill that was coming after the sun was down wasn't on my side. The 19 degrees that was coming for the following morning was even more unsettling as I do not at this point have enough good quality gear for that kind of weather. The pack I had would mean I was more limited to the general location of the camper where I was to stay the night. So, not to be deterred - I "hunted" my selected spots.

That evenings hunt spot was a wooded dam containing a stock pond of a pasture that had been freshly liberated of the group of cows calling it home. It was visible from the bluff above and I had decided that given the wind, the terrain, and the ability to conceal in one of several cedar trees I had imagined that the deer would have been moving in for water that evening or even feeding on the grasses down from the bluff. Neither was true. I had placed myself right, with the wind in my face, the trails all on the far side of the pond leading down. It just wasn't to be. I ranged the trees around the pond at 75-125 yards, the foot of the bluff at 270, and the pasture left and right in the 300s. I whipped out my phone, looked up the drops for ELD-M in my Ballistics-AE and decided that anything beyond 250 would get a simple two mill hold. At less than 400, that means 5" target impact zone, if my calculations are correct, and my assumptions are still clean. I went to bed surprised that I hadn't even heard a grunt, much less seeing anything. (I blame it on my bleat call, as it is about 7 years old, and probably has less use than your VCR does in that same span...) Seriously though, I will go back there. There were tracks all over the pond, I looked via headlamp after sunset, still thinking that I'd scare something up. Never happened.

That morning I was up and out of the camper at 4. The moon was out, and it looked like daylight. It was horrendously bright. Bad news. Any moving Mr and Mrs deer were doing was going on whilst the world slept, and would long since be over when the "legal shooting hours" would begin. Here in KS, that is 30 mins prior to sunrise and after sunset. Sunrise was scheduled for somewhere around 0620. At 5 I was climbing the hill in the Sun-Moonlight into a rather stiff oncoming COLD wind that made my eyes water like the fountain free. I could see fine as bright as it was, I even left the headlamp in the camper and took my flashlight along in a pocket just in case I found myself in the shadows of the three trees that were in the area I was headed. I think it's still in my jacket, I need to go get that thing before it gets lost and replaced - again... The sunrise was absolutely amazing, folks. There is something about Kansas sunrises and sunsets - you can see them from left to right as far as the eye can see - at eye level. There are places in western OK, and western TX that I have seen sunrises similar, but none as beautiful as the ones you see when you're at home. There must be something to that I recon. I digress. The wind was good ol' Kansas prairie cleaner wind. Dust bowl wind. Cold, dry, and steady; and gusting - it's always gusty. Not a good way to find yourself on top of a hill, with little cover, and with your belly on a rock that when you laid on it an hour ago was non-existent. I never found that rock, but dang did it eat a hole in my breast bone... The morning hunt was wickedly and immediately interrupted by nature when it came calling at the back door with a hammer at 830. Which was actually fine because I was tired of seeing nothing but leaf-less tree branches move in the wind. Wherever the deer had gone, they were down and out before I arrived.

That meant that after answering nature's morning ritualistic visit, I had some time to really scout. Yeah, right. 5000 acres, and still fairly clueless about the terrain? I need to go back next spring and summer and spend some time with my eldest son crawling around looking for sheds and picking ticks. Anyhoo... I took off with my rifle and a bottle of water and started south. With the wind. I figured if I could scare something up, being pasture ground, I could reach a ways when they stopped to sniff... I sound so overconfident... I stopped about 600 yards south of the camper, bedded myself down, and looked East across the creekbed, and let loose on the doe-P to watch downwind for sign of movement or sounds of earnest bachelors. Neither was to occur. I've never had success "winding" deer into the open. But, I figured that since I didn't have enough time to make a better plan... two hours of this and I was done. Being noon, I was ready to get up and move. I went back to the camper and hopped in the truck, Larue riding shotgun and ready. If I saw a hustler in the open I could dive out, range, and decide. Better yet, if Mr Coyote made the mistake of being out and about... Upon my travels, I stumbled upon a set of round bails, about 200 or so, in three lines at an old homestead that was now more of a "stead". The trees made a rectangle around what was obviously at one time where a house sat, and was being used now as a sickle bar and disc parking lot. Perfect. Bails meant more concealment, and they just so happened to be adjacent to a feed plot of new wheat. I was confident I'd found my evening spot. I don't know why, (the cowboy had told me to try this place if I had no luck anywhere else...) but I was confident it would bear fruit.

This was somewhere in the vicinity of 2 in the afternoon, and the plan was to be back in hiding in ambush by 4. I headed back to the camper to strip some layers as it had warmed considerably and the cold wind was now a rather warm one and had increased in it's gusto. I laid there taking off two outer layers, and became a little comfortable on the couch. Mistake. I woke with a start at 3:45 and was still without boots, and a layer too far stripped if I was going to be tooth-clatter free an hour before sunset. I hurriedly put on my Carhahrt duck bibs, forgot the camo, threw on the heavy coat, and ran out to Larue sitting there in shotgun laughing at me. Shutup I said and got in and tore off down the road to the bails. I got settled, made sure there were no rocks on the ground, cleaned several shooting lanes, and planted myself behind and between several round bails. It was then that I had an idea. "Hey, lets cover these four bails with doe-P and that will cover my scent!" Folks, if you've ever smelled the cat box when it's too full - yea. I made my little wind-free zone between the bails so full of urine odor that my eyes had a new reason to water. I tell you, sometimes I have some REALLY good ideas...

It worked though. At about 5:10, (10 mins before official sunset) two does walked out from behind the hay bales I am hiding behind 20 yards from me. I was caught so off guard that I just had to sit still and watch them take a few steps, bend down, feed a bit, and move on another 10 yards or so. I was flabbergasted, and at some point I decided that it was so amazing that I had to just watch them, who cared about hunting, this was cool! They are beautiful animals. Their coats had a sheen in the sun, amost as if they were part of the prairie themselves. They had absolutely no idea I was there, watching them both with the fear and infatuation of a cave man watching his first woman. Then, when they got to about 50 yards from me, the reason for the hunting season returned, sanity followed, and I was inclined to realize that sunset was quickly approaching and they were headed behind another group of bales! I started inching my way as quietly as I could, (I move as quietly as a dump truck, with the steady thunder of a bull in a china shop) get my knees under me and get into a kneeling position supporting on the bale adjacent to my position. And of course I was made. DAMN! I got up on my knees, they darted behind the bales, and I put the rifle up just in time to see doe number one parade out from behind the obstruction and stop! I shot when the reticle said go, and immediately was surprised that I saw her jump, turn and run away slightly right toward the tree line that made up the perimeter of the equipment lay down.

[Kswhitetails]

My first shot was at 150ish, taking the first doe in the front chest because she was facing me. I don't like frontal shots as that usually results in a gut-hole and that's never ideal, but when that's what you've got, you take what you get. Doe number two ran about 60 yards to the left, and away from me about another 20 yards on the other side of the bales in the pasture, her stopped position resulting in a 170 yard shot of perfection, upper heart broadside, fatal. I watched her run about 15 steps and stop, then lay down. The first doe came back out from behind the hay bales and stood looking at me broadside so I shot her again praising God for the luck of seeing her again as I thought I had missed low with the first round. She now had two holes in her boiler house either of which would have been quickly fatal. She plowed about 10 yards into the tree row and out of my sight. I wasn't worried, I just assumed I'd find her on the other side of the row.

I got up, lit a cigar, and walked the 5 yards to the road, the 70 yards West to the truck, and smoked in the satisfaction of a hunt well done. I called my dad to report, because, well, that's what you do. You call the guy you want most in the world to tell you just got your first double! I am fortunate to still have my dad, as tumultuous as our relationship is I still called him first without even thinking about it. I then called the wife, who had made the arrangements for me to hunt here through her friend who she runs marathons with. These ladies are insane, and I figured if I didn't report the success I'd get run over, literally. After reporting, and about 20 minutes had passed, I set out to cross the road and start finding the carcasses. The deer I shot second I walked straight to, she had an entry and exit just behind both shoulders about 5 inches from the breast bone. The other lady was more of a challenge. I crossed the tree line, and began sweeping with my head lamp as it had long since been dark, and to my dismay I found that inside the tree enclosed lay down, the grass had not been mowed all year. It was a mess. I looked about 10 mins and never found any blood. I was worried at this point and had to say a little prayer as the adrenaline was beginning to rise again. Now what? Shouldn't have worried. Turned out that she had hugged a tree and was probably dead before she even hit it.

Shot one entered the bottom of the sternum, rose and took out the bottom of the heart, exited through the gut, and broke her left rear leg just above the knee. Shot two on deer two was through and through getting the top of the heart, and both lungs involved. It was surprisingly in tact, probably because she never really ran anywhere, and I let her expire without exciting her. The third shot went through and through perforating both lungs of the first deer, though as I stated earlier she was probably already mostly bled out. The spot where she was standing when I shot her the second time was covered in copious amounts of blood spatter, she probably would have laid down right there and expired had I not felt the need to shoot her again.

All in all the Larue 6.5 Grendel was flawless. It functioned, fed, fired, and performed as well as I hoped it would. The only complaint I have is that my optic choice, while completely worthy, is rather heavy, making a mid weight rifle heavier than I was wishing it was by the end of any real trekking in waist high prairie grass and basketball sized rocks. I need to lighten the package, the Harris 9-13 bi-pod and Larue mount are heavier than they should be too probably. I had an E-Lander 10 round mag with 6 rounds of Hornady Black ELD-M at the ready, and at the risk of bragging about it, I probably only needed two.

I am glad to have bought the rifle, the bi-pod mount, the extra magazines, the key-mod QD, the extra 5.56 barrel cartridge and bolt, the Tranquillo 7.62 suppressor, and the targets. I will buy more stuff from Mark. So far, not only am I impressed with this rifle's quality, accuracy, and durability; but as well as with the accessories function and form as a system. From the Scope base to the smooth articulation to the beautiful FDE CeraKote, it is superfluously obvious that much thought and design and time has gone into the process from ideas to enacted reality in the field.

It was too dark to take any real pictures, and as I was alone for the duration of my excursion, taking selfies with deer sticking their tongues out at me isn't my idea of a good time...

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[LRRPF52]

That's a great read.

Update the game knock-down survey if you haven't already.

Congrats!

[dpw4x4]

LRRPF52 any updates on this gun I'm getting ready to retire my sabre defense in 6.5 grendel. They don't make them anymore and I would like not to where it out so I'm thinking of getting one of these and was wondering how it's going after you've had it awhile.

[LRRPF52]

I've only shot it a few times.

I've been buried with work lately, hence the lack of posting as much.

Mark wanted me to see where the zero was at since they shipped the rifle and optics package separately.

No BS, my first group with the Burris 1.5-6x was exactly where his test group was.

I had originally mounted my LaRue LT-112/Vortex Viper HST 3-15x44 combo to do accuracy testing, but then put the LaRue/Burris combo on per Mark's request.

This is when I had the Viper HST on it, which I have yet to shoot in this configuration. He sent some Hornady Black and custom match ammo to me for testing that I still need to shoot for accuracy.

[jonny rotton]

i received my larue uu kit recently. i assembled it and threw it on a lower that i had available. i put on a ior 2x-12x scope. i loaded up everything (almost) and headed to the range. weather was a nice calm sunny 32. i set up and fired one shot at 50 to get on target. i adjusted the scope then went to clean it. oooopppps !!! i forgot my cleaning rod. oh poo. i did shoot three groups of three. i could not resist. first two were horn. sst. 1.5" and 1.25". then one group of horn. blk. 7/8". then the weather turned to sh*t. wind and snow coupled with rapidly falling temperatures. i went home. i am hoping that the more i shoot it the more accurate it will get. is that possible?? my last premium barrel was from x-caliber. after about 60 rounds it started grouping really well. my son with the same barrel shot a 5/8" group at 200 yards. it was almost unreal to see a group of that size with wolf.

[Kswhitetails]

Let me preface this with the caveat that these are the best groups I've ever shot. I do not consider myself a trained marksman, and know that there are many things I still need to learn to consider this the best my rifle will do. I will say though, I am confident in my ability to use what skill I have to good effect. I know the rifle is capable of more, and with time and training I may very well get better.

Here is some ironic grouping that I achieved recently with mine.

120 AE by bosephus, on Flickr

This was with a rushed zero check the weekend before I went hunting. The top hole is one shot as a sighter, I knew I needed to bring my initial zero down. The next two below it are 2-3. The three to the right are 4-6 and more rapid confirmation than trying to be perfect. I know I tend to pull slightly right when excited so I set my zero slightly left to compensate. I don't do it on the bench, but I will take any advantage I can give myself on an intended hunting zero because so far, I don't have the skill to prevent the adrenaline goofs.

It is also the most recent target I took a picture of for posterity. Since I haven't been able to do better with my reloads or BLACK, I haven't felt the need to take pictures. I keep my targets for analysis later. I might dig some out to learn from at a later date. I find I usually shoot better groups if I am focused on the now rather than trying to beat what I did on my last outing.

I have found my rifle really likes the Federal 120 factory loads. Now, if only Fed would sell it at a reasonable price point rather than the premium Grendel shelf price of $1.25/round. Especially with the innexpensive 120SMK.

[bfk4lyfe]

disregard. Brain not working.

[Kswhitetails]

My Larue bolt and pin measure 2.8005 and 3.27 respectively. If your pin is 3.37, I'd question it.

[bfk4lyfe]

disregard

[VASCAR2]

I sent you a PM bfk4lyfe.

[jonny rotton]

i had a chance to get out again today with my ultimate upper from larue. it was a very sunny day with a very blue sky. the temp got up to about 40. it felt great. i shot five groups with it. three with hornady sst, and two with hornady black. the smallest group was 9/16" and the largest was just under 3/4". all were shot at 100 yards. we still have about three feet of snow on the ground here. i am very pleased with the upper. but i am still waiting for my lower to come and my suurg kit. hmmmmmm
i have a 20" mcgowen barrel that is waiting for a handguard to arrive. i will get out and test that asap. this grendel thing sure gets addicting.

edit---those were my last five groups. i left them untaped so i could measure at home. i did have a few other groups, i do not remember exactly what they were. i am in my mid sixty's, a poor excuse but its all i have right now. i do think that they were somewhere around moa. the rifle does shoot very consistently good groups if i do my part. i was having a good day focusing on my shooting.