14.5" Grendel

[Drift]

^^^^ What he said.
The 14.5 inch barrel is enough for 95% of my shooting. Going shorter is more handy but louder..

[pajasonc]

The 16" data on Hornady's site is in fact a 14.5" AA Grendel with a pinned muzzle device, confirmed by Hornady tech support.

Use .462 G1 BC for your 123gr SST calculations within 600yds.

If you hand load for the 14.5", you can probably get 2450fps easily with CFE223.

You can also load the 129gr ABLR.

As pajasonc stated, 18" Grendel with a 123gr has typically been in the 2457-2511fps range for me using several different factory 120-123gr loads.

You will still get expansion on soft tissue down to 1800fps with the 123gr SST, especially with Grendel twist rates.

those pictures at 1800 are not showing much expansion. The 2000 fps one showed good expansion.

Which basically means that a 14.5 " grendel using the 123 sst is good out to 300, where you can expect the bullet would look like the picture with decent espansion. Any further and there is a very real chance that you won't get a quick clean kill. So to take the 14.5 " further you would either need to boost speed(handload hotter) or use a softer bullet(which at close range runs the risk of over expanding and not penetrating enough) I would like to see how much the amax's expand at 1600 fps.

[65Whelen]

I love my 14.5 Grendel, best 5-shot group at 200 was under an MOA. So I'm very confident with it to 200 and I'm sure the gun is good well beyond. But for now it's my 200 yr gun. Got a 20" barrel coming from the group buy. Load development should be interesting with that.

[pajasonc]

Basically with the 123 grain hornady bullets every 75 fps gets you 50 yards. So a 18" would give you 75 to 100 yards over the 14.5"

[jcjarmon]

This is the only barrel I'd consider using for your purpose.

https://www.bearcreekarsenal.com/barrels/b6-5cm41618-m-695

Its 55.78, plus shipping for Forum members, and at that price, if 16 inches just isn't short enough, you can have it cut down to any length you want. I have seen this barrel cut down to 10.5 inches with the carbine gas length.

[js8588]

Woah, what?

This is the only barrel I'd consider using for your purpose.

https://www.bearcreekarsenal.com/barrels/b6-5cm41618-m-695

Its 55.78, plus shipping for Forum members, and at that price, if 16 inches just isn't short enough, you can have it cut down to any length you want. I have seen this barrel cut down to 10.5 inches with the carbine gas length.

65Grendel forum members get BCA discounts?

Also, it's nice to see a forum where someone can school me on ballistics. They're a hobby of mine (I like numbers and they're a nice vacation from the voter data I normally crunch) but I'm still learning.

[Chrazy-Chris]

This is the only barrel I'd consider using for your purpose.

https://www.bearcreekarsenal.com/barrels/b6-5cm41618-m-695

Its 55.78, plus shipping for Forum members, and at that price, if 16 inches just isn't short enough, you can have it cut down to any length you want. I have seen this barrel cut down to 10.5 inches with the carbine gas length.

But is the barrel worth a damn? I exclusively handload 6.5G and my time is worth too much to me to skimp on shooting my reloads through a bottom-of-the-bucket barrel. I've learned this lesson the hard way with barrels, bullets, optics, etc etc etc....

ETA: Nevermind, it has an M4 cut. Just can't bring myself to buy anything with the M4 cut. Makes no damn sense.

[LRRPF52]

those pictures at 1800 are not showing much expansion. The 2000 fps one showed good expansion.

Which basically means that a 14.5 " grendel using the 123 sst is good out to 300, where you can expect the bullet would look like the picture with decent espansion. Any further and there is a very real chance that you won't get a quick clean kill. So to take the 14.5 " further you would either need to boost speed(handload hotter) or use a softer bullet(which at close range runs the risk of over expanding and not penetrating enough) I would like to see how much the amax's expand at 1600 fps.

One mistake I used to make was imagining the bullet pushing through the tissue in the shape that we see represented by different recovered projectiles from gel.

After watching high-speed photography of gel shots, I started to see that the things are spinning at very high RPM, and that they maintain a lot of that RPM in the tissue.

For Grendel using 1/7.5" twist, you're at 240,000 RPM. I had a talk with Hornady's engineers about this at SHOT, and they said that they notice a repeatable result of higher RPM causing more wound cavity effects than a slower twist.

In Volume II, we have a table showing barrel length effective hunting range and point blank range with barrels from 10.5" to 24" using the 123gr SST.

14.5" at 2350fps will expand out to at least 325yds, if not 350yds.

14.5" at 2420fps will expand out to 360-400yds with 123gr SST.

For those that are worried about getting expansion at these distances, I would use the 129gr ABLR and toss those concerns. Most people hunting with an SBR are doing so in pretty tight terrain and vegetation.

If anyone has questions about their expansion thresholds, chrono your rifle and record the temps so you can enter those into your ballistics program.

For those without access to a chronograph, keeping it 300yds and in is sound logic with a 14.5" Grendel and factory 123gr SST if you are counting on expansion for your intended on-target results, especially in the cold.

[dreadpirate]

I think a 14 or 16" barrel makes for a handy rifle. I don't get why so many guys think you have to have a 20 to 24" barrel if you are going to shoot 6.5 Grendel.

[65Whelen]

I think a 14 or 16" barrel makes for a handy rifle. I don't get why so many guys think you have to have a 20 to 24" barrel if you are going to shoot 6.5 Grendel.

You don't have to have a 20 but why not have both. A 20 & a14.5. As I said in an earlier post I have a 20 coming from the group buy, soon real soon. I built my 14.5 for the big woods of northern WI. 50 yrs is a long shot up there. But the last couple years I find myself the last half of the season sitting on a 400 plus yds field in central WI. Last year a nice buck came out at 400 plus yds and I'm sitting there with the 14.5. So it a case of the right tool for the job.

[din]

This is the only barrel I'd consider using for your purpose.

https://www.bearcreekarsenal.com/barrels/b6-5cm41618-m-695

Its 55.78, plus shipping for Forum members, and at that price, if 16 inches just isn't short enough, you can have it cut down to any length you want. I have seen this barrel cut down to 10.5 inches with the carbine gas length.

It also isn't a SAAMI chamber, no? And the barrel profile is terrible.