PSA AAC 6.5 Grendel ammo results

[cb4017]

When this stuff became available I decided to order a few boxes of both the OTM and Sabre Black tip. I got a chance to shoot some today. All was shot through my 20" Lilja barrel.

- AAC 123 gr OTM. Ammo looked good. Average OAL for 5 rounds was 2.228". A little slow. Velocity was 2390 fps with an SD of 12.2 fps. I shot two, 5 rd groups with this. 1.7 MOA and 1.9 MOA. Could be better but not terrible for the price.

- AAC 123 gr Sabre Black Tip. Ammo looked good. Average OAL was 2.232" for 5 rds. Velocity 2432 fps with an SD of 10.5 fps. I shot four, 5 rd groups of 1.262", 1.191", 1.333" and 1.190". A couple would have been much better but for a flyer.

To make sure I wasn't having an off day (quite possible at 70) I shot 5 rds of Hornady ELD Black. This barrel likes that stuff. I shot .687 MOA at 2510 fps and 6.9 SD. Good stuff.

For less that $15 a box I think the AAC ammo is not bad for the price. Good for practice and banging steel. Not to mention you get brass almost for free.

[lazyengineer]

Thanks

[Former Cav]

what is the twist on your lilja barrel?

[cb4017]

what is the twist on your lilja barrel?

The barrel is 3 groove, 1:8 twist.

Quick update. I took this rifle and 100 rounds of the Sabre Black Tip with me on a visit to my son in Montana. His company has a range with steel out to 750 yards. I dialed in my scope using the Shooter app, a .510 BC, the velocity above and managed first a round hit at the 500 yard range. I initially over estimated the range of the 750 yard target, thinking it was at 1K, and shot over it. Once I figured that out it was making easy hits. My son's family shot the rest of the ammo. They thought it was great fun ringing that steel with the Grendel.

I think this ammo is good stuff for the money. I'm going to get a bunch more of it in for SHTF or whenever I don't feel like reloading.

[v4lu3s]

Cool to see others results with this stuff! My Odinworks barrel likes it a little better than your barrel, but I cannot get it to shoot the ELD hornady blackbox worth a damn nor shoot that bullet in a handload either. I agree that the price is really right.

[SuperHeroTypo]

Here are some results I was able to gather from the 123gr. Sabre Black Tip with my Garmin. All in all, they shot really well in my 20" Wilson Combat barrel for my AR build. Will definitely be stocking up on it in the future as a just in case I get tired of reloading. I would feel extremely comfortable hunting with this load here in the south on hogs or whitetail. I shot 80 rounds and recorded all of them. The numbers speak for themselves really.

Rifle Cartridge, 123.0 gr
#	SPEED (FPS)	Δ AVG (FPS)	KE (FT-LB)	POWER FACTOR (KGR⋅FT/S)	TIME
1	2422	-6.6	1601.9	297.9	8:40:56 AM
2	2422.5	-6	1602.5	298	8:41:04 AM
3	2420.8	-7.8	1600.2	297.8	8:41:12 AM
4	2433.6	5.1	1617.3	299.3	8:41:16 AM
5	2420.9	-7.7	1600.3	297.8	8:41:21 AM
6	2423.1	-5.4	1603.4	298	8:43:51 AM
7	2440.3	11.8	1626.2	300.2	8:44:01 AM
8	2428.6	0	1610.6	298.7	8:44:06 AM
9	2432.1	3.5	1615.2	299.1	8:44:10 AM
10	2428.6	0	1610.6	298.7	8:44:14 AM
11	2446.4	17.8	1634.3	300.9	8:46:22 AM
12	2438.1	9.5	1623.2	299.9	8:46:28 AM
13	2416.9	-11.6	1595.2	297.3	8:46:38 AM
14	2436.9	8.3	1621.6	299.7	8:46:42 AM
15	2425.8	-2.8	1606.9	298.4	8:46:46 AM
16	2421.6	-7	1601.3	297.9	8:48:51 AM
17	2421.5	-7.1	1601.1	297.8	8:48:59 AM
18	2424.9	-3.7	1605.7	298.3	8:49:04 AM
19	2413	-15.6	1589.9	296.8	8:49:14 AM
20	2423	-5.6	1603.1	298	8:49:18 AM
21	2432.8	4.2	1616.1	299.2	8:51:18 AM
22	2431.2	2.6	1614	299	8:51:25 AM
23	2436.4	7.8	1620.9	299.7	8:51:30 AM
24	2418.9	-9.7	1597.7	297.5	8:51:36 AM
25	2421.8	-6.8	1601.5	297.9	8:51:57 AM
26	2427.2	-1.4	1608.7	298.5	8:52:12 AM
27	2433.1	4.5	1616.5	299.3	8:52:17 AM
28	2430.8	2.2	1613.5	299	8:52:23 AM
29	2438.5	10	1623.8	299.9	8:53:07 AM
30	2453.5	25	1643.8	301.8	8:53:15 AM
31	2418.2	-10.3	1596.8	297.4	8:57:48 AM
32	2422.9	-5.7	1603	298	8:57:58 AM
33	2418.4	-10.2	1597	297.5	8:58:05 AM
34	2414.1	-14.5	1591.4	296.9	8:58:10 AM
35	2422.1	-6.5	1602	297.9	8:58:14 AM
36	2429.4	0.9	1611.7	298.8	8:58:29 AM
37	2441.6	13	1627.8	300.3	8:58:34 AM
38	2433.4	4.8	1616.9	299.3	8:58:39 AM
39	2416.1	-12.4	1594.1	297.2	8:58:43 AM
40	2420	-8.6	1599.2	297.7	8:58:47 AM
41	2429.6	1.1	1611.9	298.8	9:01:09 AM
42	2421.6	-7	1601.3	297.9	9:01:13 AM
43	2417.2	-11.4	1595.5	297.3	9:01:20 AM
44	2428.1	-0.4	1610	298.7	9:01:24 AM
45	2416.6	-11.9	1594.7	297.2	9:01:27 AM
46	2429.9	1.3	1612.3	298.9	9:01:32 AM
47	2405.8	-22.8	1580.5	295.9	9:01:36 AM
48	2454.6	26.1	1645.3	301.9	9:01:44 AM
49	2448	19.4	1636.4	301.1	9:01:48 AM
50	2434.5	5.9	1618.4	299.4	9:02:02 AM
51	2443	14.4	1629.7	300.5	9:05:02 AM
52	2442.7	14.1	1629.3	300.4	9:05:09 AM
53	2453.1	24.6	1643.3	301.7	9:05:14 AM
54	2442.3	13.8	1628.9	300.4	9:05:22 AM
55	2424.4	-4.1	1605.1	298.2	9:05:28 AM
56	2426.3	-2.3	1607.5	298.4	9:05:34 AM
57	2419.3	-9.2	1598.3	297.6	9:05:40 AM
58	2437	8.4	1621.7	299.7	9:05:44 AM
59	2429.8	1.3	1612.2	298.9	9:05:52 AM
60	2418.4	-10.2	1597.1	297.5	9:05:57 AM
61	2435.3	6.8	1619.5	299.5	9:07:18 AM
62	2407	-21.5	1582.1	296.1	9:07:25 AM
63	2426.9	-1.6	1608.4	298.5	9:07:30 AM
64	2421.1	-7.5	1600.6	297.8	9:07:41 AM
65	2427.6	-0.9	1609.3	298.6	9:07:47 AM
66	2433.1	4.5	1616.5	299.3	9:07:53 AM
67	2432.4	3.9	1615.6	299.2	9:07:58 AM
68	2443.2	14.6	1630	300.5	9:08:04 AM
69	2424.9	-3.7	1605.6	298.3	9:08:10 AM
70	2406.9	-21.6	1582	296.1	9:08:13 AM
71	2454.4	25.8	1644.9	301.9	9:09:37 AM
72	2439.9	11.4	1625.7	300.1	9:09:44 AM
73	2429.8	1.3	1612.2	298.9	9:09:50 AM
74	2433.9	5.4	1617.7	299.4	9:09:56 AM
75	2410.1	-18.5	1586.1	296.4	9:10:00 AM
76	2426.7	-1.9	1608.1	298.5	9:10:03 AM
77	2435.2	6.6	1619.3	299.5	9:10:07 AM
78	2424.2	-4.3	1604.8	298.2	9:10:10 AM
79	2419.3	-9.3	1598.2	297.6	9:10:13 AM
80	2429.8	1.2	1612.1	298.9	9:10:16 AM
-
AVERAGE SPEED	2428.6
STD DEV	10.8
SPREAD	48.8
AVERAGE POWER FACTOR	298.7
PROJECTILE WEIGHT(GRAINS)	123

My accuracy and recoil management still needs a ton of work and I'll be adding a red power spring and make some gas changes soon that should help with my issues, not the ammo's. But all in all I think AAC has a winner here. Even their OTM shot extremely well. I only had one box to try and speeds were a little lower than stated on the box but not by much. The black tip is still the spicier load between the two even though they are the same weight. Hope this helps!

[biodsl]

Here are some results I was able to gather from the 123gr. Sabre Black Tip with my Garmin...Hope this helps!

Wow. Yeah, that helps! Thanks!

[shermanempire]

Adding some of my results from my shooting today. temp was about 85f, around 1500ft with a garmin xero c1
Used 2 rifles;
1. factory howa 1500 22in barrel AAC 123 OTM
10 rnds-2409.1 avg, 46.6 es, 15.1 sd
10 rnds-2426.5 avg, 56 es, 16.3 sd

2. 18in noveske barrel ar (first 20rnds on it) AAC 123 OTM
20 rnds-2370.4 avg, 40.1 es, 10.2sd

Didn't really shoot for accuracy as I was running of time