What changes in bullets/loads to help with accuracy, ELD-M versus SST

[andrewtac]

I recently got an upper from grendelhunter. So far I happy, no malfunctions and seems to shoot straight with some ammo. I started with the 123 SST hornady. The groups were a bit random, sometime 1" sometimes 2" during break in at 100 yards. I thought I had a bad barrel. I bought some of the 123 ELD-M hornady to try something different. I have had several really nice 5 shot groups. Today I had one that was under 1/2" at 100 yards, all 5 touching. The SST same day was throwing about 1.5-2" groups. I bought the upper with the intent to hunt with it, I'd like 1" at 100, to have hopefully no more than 3" at 300. I am going to get some dies for it soon. Almost all of my re-loading has been for pistol (USPSA, so not so much precision but more reliability).

What makes a rifle chamber shoot a certain round better?

I'd prefer the SST to hunt with, I'll load my own; but is there anything I'll be able to vary that might improve the SST groups?

[Bearcat74]

Seating depth, powder charge, type of powder, type of primer can change how a rifle groups.


Concentricity of the rounds can change group size. Straight ammo tends to group better consistently.

[andrewtac]

Thanks, so there still might be hope for the SST. I see there are several other hunting options as well.

[grayfox]

The factory Hornady custom, 123 sst loads, have been finicky of late, many barrels don't like that factory load but shoot the Hornady Black (123 eldm) well.
If you roll your own you can tailor the load, and find a combo that shoots well for you with the sst's.
For medium game in the grendel many have said that the eldm bullet will work ok for hunting, the sst is probably a better one but eldm does the trick if you need to.
The length of the barrel will also affect how well a particular load will shoot, but again, you can adjust so your gun shoots them.

[andrewtac]

Thanks, good to know. I can use the ELDMs this season if I don't get setup. They have been shooting really well. Didn't want to start reloading until my can got of jail (should be next summer); but wanted to hunt with it this season.

[rabiddawg]

Iirc, gh uses liberty barrels that do not have the compound throat like a saami chambered 6.5 Grendel. Supposedly the saami chamber is more forgiving.

You may be able to search around and find which bullets the straight cut chambers like 264lbc prefer.

[1Shot]

A number of people have had a hard time getting the Hornady 123 SST bullet to shoot no matter what you do. I have two different ARs and I could not get this bullet to shoot consistently under 1 1/2 inch with a number of powders and loads. Factory loads were in the 2 to 2 1/2 inch range. Same rifles LOVE 120 Sierra Pro Hunter soft points and 120 Speer Gold Dots with IMR 8208 powder. Well under MOA accuracy.

[SightedIn]

[Jimla]

Maybe it is time to contact Grendelhunter customer service and see if they would be willing to do anything, a hunting rifle that can’t shoot the Grendel most popular hunting round should be a problem. Grendelhunter does not have a 1 MOA guarantee, my guess is they won't fix a 2 MOA problem but you can give them a try. Maybe they can give you advise on other hunting bullets that will work in it.

[andrewtac]

I figured it would be hard to complain about 0.5" moa with one bullet. Sounds like it is not something specific to my rifle either.

[Keef]

I like edl m as a hunting round.

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?15450-Interesting-first-dear-of-season

[andrewtac]

Looks like it works

[Jimla]

I figured it would be hard to complain about 0.5" moa with one bullet. Sounds like it is not something specific to my rifle either.

SST ammo works well in 95% of rifles(4.75 Star Rating on Midway) and Black ELD works well in 90%(4.5 Star Rating on Midway.)

I think most Grendelhunter have problems with SST, I almost bought a Grendelhunter,.but chose not too because they would not guaranty 123 SST would work in their rifle, so I went with another, it got .5-.6 MOA with SST and 1 MOA Black ELD.

There are 40 reviews Hornady Black, you can also get info on hunting effectiveness on he link below.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/656370/hornady-black-ammunition-65-grendel-123-grain-eld-match-box-of-20

[munchie3409]

Do you think Hornady did something different with the 123gr SST? I always thought they were the go to bullets for 6.5 Grendel.

The Black ammo works well in my BCA. I haven't shot my new upper yet since it's been too hot.

I was going to order a bunch of 123gr SSTs, but I'm debating with the mixed results I'm reading.

[CaptnC]

Oddly enough many people claim the 6.5 Grendel to be a very accurate cartridge but as you can see it can be a bit finicky.

I've gone way against the grain for those on this site. I refuse force this cartridge into a pistol platform, it was designed for max bullet weights under 120 (yes I do shoot 123gr bullets out of mine) so I don't even bother to open a thread suggesting anything over the 123 bullet class, forget about seating depth in an AR because magazine length is as long as you can go unless you plan to shoot it as a single shot and lastly I have had great success with the most budget priced barrels out there. I have 5 - 6.5 barrels and one 7.62x39 that shoot fantastic.

I did some load development (2630av. fps) over the last two weeks in my shortest 6.5 Grendel 16" SS M4 contour (I prefer heavy barrels, but needed the short gas system for a piston kit) plans were to make it a short range, night vision hog gun. But I just shot it out to 600yds with a pet load of 90gr TNT's. It was shooting right with my buddies 6.5 Creedmoor Bargera (sp).

Now for the part you will be most interested in...I'm all about velocity. Most all rifle bullets perform best at rifle velocities not pistol so I decided to see just how fast the 2630fps loads would shoot out of my 24" barreled AR. Those little sweeties were zipping along well over 200fps with a better SD and ES than I had from the gun the loads were developed for. Shooting nice little 1" groups at 200yds.

But, I had found 7 Federal cases the week before so I sized, trimmed and loaded them all at the same time. The Fedeal cases group opened up to a hair over 2" (still MOA) average velocity was the same, but the SD and ES were over double the Hornady cases...with the exact same everything while loading those cases.

I don't know recall off the top of my head what the powder charge was (I loaded 6.5 Creedmoor and 6.5x284 the day before I went to the range) but I did use Benchmark powder and CCI BR primers...at magazine length. The Benchmark powder has seemed to make the 6.5 Grendel very easy to load for. It's not real popular but I feel if a few more tired it...it would come to life for many Grendel shooters.