6.5 Grendel Preferred Loads

[MikeyMosin]

had great luck with 123gr SST - cci 450 - 28.5gr Accurate 2520 - COAL 2.250 - Lapua Brass - .30" 3 shot group at 50 yards, It was my first time grouping handloads and I was having trouble with the chronograph. Next time I go, I plan on only shooting to the 100 yard line, so hopefully I will have better data....pics to follow, I couldnt figure out how to resize mine correctly yet to get them up here...

[Sammy]

You can remove the post that won't offend me. I have shot with CFEBLK in a long barrel as well with 123gr projectiles. ... If you don't believe me try it.

Tried it. It works. I worked up a load w/120gr ELD in Howa 20" bolt gun but could not find any good low-ES nodes. In the end, the best I could get was 1.5 MOA. As you said, this is not an easy powder to work up a Grendel load for. If in a powder drought, CFEBLK will work but don't expect miracles.

For comparison, something like 223CFE, at 29.8 gives me low ES(<10) and easy 3/4" MOA in the same rifle. Pressure signs begin around 31gr but by then, the case is pretty much full.

[Smtimelevi]

130 ELD-M 31.0 gr LeverEvolution Avg Speed. 2432 ES-28, SD-10.7 99* Ambient. 18" Odinworks Barrel Ar Platform. Magneto Speed Sporter. Had some trouble getting the chrono to read these. When accuracy testing was done these grouped just under 1" @ 100 yd

[Hollis]

After reading the last few posts, I decided to give Lever Revolution a try since there was a 1lb jug of it that no one was buying at local Bass Pro Shop. I have 200 129 gr Hornady Soft Point Interlock bullets that I got from Hornady as a rebate when I bought some dies. These are cheap bullets, so I wasn't expecting that much, but I did get sub-MOA for a few of the charges. This is the one I liked best that I'll try out when I reload again.

LVR24gr129SP.png

Shot with 20" Group Buy barrel, Starline annealed brass, COAL 2.28" (started smaller but higher loads were compressed and a bit longer). Velocity measured with Magneto Speed chrono (as well as ProChrono DLX which was consitently 20 or so fps slower since further downrange):
3 shot group: 129gr Hornady SP Interlock, LVR 33gr, average 2660 fps, SD 9.6, ES 18.

[Hollis]

I'm running out of my favorite 6.5 Grendel powder, IMR 8208 XBR, and can't find it anywhere. H335 has been readily available, so I was using that for my 223 loads and saw that this powder gives some top velocities for 123 gr bullets in 6.5 Grendel. So, I took a second mortgage on my house and bought an 8 lbs jug of it. Worse case I would just use it for 223, but I was hoping I can use this also with my 6.5 Grendel. I loaded a bunch up using new Starline brass for lower charges and several times shot and annealed Nosler and Hornady brass. (I was told that you should "break in" new brass at lower charges for longer life.) Despite the variety of brass (each group was shot with same stamped brass), everything shot spectacular. I had 2 sub-1/4" groups with the best at my highest charge tested (29gr) using 123 gr Hornady SST bullets. The COAL was approximately 2.25" (only recorded CBTO using Hornady 350 comparator, but from the notes I took, 2.25" should be close).

HSST123H33529gr.png

3 shot group, 0.21 MOA, 2612 fps (muzzle speed with Magneto Speed), SD 5.6, ES 11.

I'll be fine tuning this load and hopefully forget about having to find IMR 8208 XBR powder.

[Gator08]

Hornady shows a max charge of 26.4 for h335 and hogdgon is max of 28.7. Brass all look good? What barrel length? Bolt action?

[sundowner]

My H335 load with 123SST is 28.7 , works great out of my 20" at 2542fps .

[Hollis]

Hornady shows a max charge of 26.4 for h335 and hogdgon is max of 28.7. Brass all look good? What barrel length? Bolt action?

I saw that same data and slowly worked up to 28.7 and saw no problems. I had 29gr load on hand to try if only no pressure signs at 28.7. All looked good so I went ahead and shot it with no serious signs of overpressure. The primer was not as rounded, but not flat, and there was a very slight mark from the ejector on one of the rounds but not the other two. So, it looks good for me but I DO NOT RECOMMEND this load for anyone who doesn't take all precautions regarding safety in load development procedures.

I have 20" Group Buy barrel in semi-auto AR15 platform.

[Hollis]

My H335 load with 123SST is 28.7 , works great out of my 20" at 2542fps .

My group at 28.7gr was pretty good at 2585 fps muzzle velocity. I probably will try to tune this load instead of the 29gr to extend life of my brass. Nowadays, brass can be very expensive and hard to find in stock.

Glad to hear you are getting similar results. Looks like moving to H335 may be a good move.

[Papaw]

[VASCAR2]

https://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?9720-NEW-IMR-Powders

Google custom search link

https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=016368947416500061353:paqd_0xcu1o&hl=en

[kmon]

I did some with 4166 back then and it worked but it is a little full for some of the other cases I tried it with. I did not experience the length growth that some did in that thread. The velocities I reported on the link posted above were on a hot June day at or very near 100 degrees so velocities were elevated some from the heat. I haven't done much with it since but will use up the rest of the 4166 either in the Grendel or 223 most likely. My loads were more consistent than what I was getting from Hornady factory 123gr SSTs as I saw almost 150fps ES that day with 10 shots over the crono which was much more that I expected.

[Papaw]

[Zeneffect]

130gr Norma GT
29.7gr LVR
Starline brass
Cci #41
1.68cbto
Light crimp

Been an absolute awesome match round for me out of 22" criterion
ES has been 3 to 7 depending on temp, velocity 2470-2500 also depending on temp. Important bit is that SD holds through the swing of a morning match.

[Worstletter]

Tried it. It works. I worked up a load w/120gr ELD in Howa 20" bolt gun but could not find any good low-ES nodes. In the end, the best I could get was 1.5 MOA. As you said, this is not an easy powder to work up a Grendel load for. If in a powder drought, CFEBLK will work but don't expect miracles.

For comparison, something like 223CFE, at 29.8 gives me low ES(<10) and easy 3/4" MOA in the same rifle. Pressure signs begin around 31gr but by then, the case is pretty much full.

Yeah definitely better for short barrels.