Semi-auto 6.5 Grendel perfect SHTF setup?

[Rickc]

If you are the winner there will be plenty of.guns and ammo laying around to choose from

But how many times do you think you can be the winner

[NugginFutz]

Brother if your scenarios ever come to light, it will happen so fast you will not have time to pick and choice your weapon. You'll grab whatever is closest to you and fight or you'll be dead.
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The Grendel is an incredibly capable weapon. However, logistics out weighs performance. If you're in a predetermined location where you have a cache of ammo stored it's a great option.

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Stay safe brother!

I have to go with Cory on this one. I've yet to hear of a perfect SHTF scenario which allows me to call a "time-out" while I adjust my BOB for the threat at hand. I especially have a hard time with the "scavenge off the land" mindset which dictates we pick up whatever arms and ammo we come across. I'm pretty certain the LGS's and gun superstores will be long picked clean before rovers show up. I also doubt house to house re-supply searches for arms will be very effective, considering how most of the people with the ammo stashes will either be on the move with them or hunkered down defending their stuff.

If SHTF ever happens in our lifetimes, I really doubt we will see anything resembling Red Dawn or any other Hollywood-esque view of such an event. It will be brutal, ugly and unforgiving. I would also submit that most of those who think they are prepared will be in the afterlife before they know what hit them (myself included). If you're not out there keeping up a fitness and training regiment (hey - it's good for you, no matter what!), you're going to be easy pickings for those that did.

[jonny rotton]

If you are the winner there will be plenty of.guns and ammo laying around to choose from

But how many times do you think you can be the winner

i do not know how many confrontations i can win but i know if i train often and keep myself in shape will surely give me better odds of surviving. it also helps to keep the company of quality people too. small skilled well equipped groups will mostly prevail over others. HOPEFULLY
BETTER WEAPONS AND AMMO WILL NOT HURT YOUR ODDS. I PICK THE BEST I CAN AND TRAIN OFTEN

[Rickc]

Crawl in a hole in the least populated County in the least populated state in the country with plenty of.food.and.water and weapons.enough to defend yourself if you are unlucky enough to be discovered.

Stay there for a year and by then the population will be greatly reduced.

At that point.if you prepared adequately you can start a new life

Staying in a city would be suicide

[jonny rotton]

Crawl in a hole in the least populated County in the least populated state in the country with plenty of.food.and.water and weapons.enough to defend yourself if you are unlucky enough to be discovered.

Stay there for a year and by then the population will be greatly reduced.

At that point.if you prepared adequately you can start a new life

Staying in a city would be suicide

+1

[biodsl]

I've yet to hear of a perfect SHTF scenario which allows me to call a "time-out" while I adjust my BOB for the threat at hand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLK2CKUWEn0

[Christopher67]

If you're not out there keeping up a fitness and training regiment (hey - it's good for you, no matter what!), you're going to be easy pickings for those that did.

+1 This ^^^

[ahillock]

Crawl in a hole in the least populated County in the least populated state in the country with plenty of.food.and.water and weapons.enough to defend yourself if you are unlucky enough to be discovered.

Stay there for a year and by then the population will be greatly reduced.

At that point.if you prepared adequately you can start a new life

Staying in a city would be suicide

That is all good and what not, but this thread is not for advice for a SHTF scenario or ROE. This thread is talking about a 6.5 Grendel weapon system and whether guys here would feel comfortable using the 6.5 Grendel in a AR-15 setup as their SHTF setup. Please don't take the thread off topic talking about strategy for an event. I'd like to keep this to talking about a 6.5 Grendel weapon setup.

[Rickc]

Well I think the grendel and it's offshoots are the best that can be accomplished out of the ar15 platform. I love mine.

I still.have a 5.56 and 12 loaded mags as my truck gun but since I firmly believe that avoiding.firefight is the.best.path for.survival and you really don't need thousands of rounds of.ammo I think the grendel is a very good choice.

It fills the niche as a viable hunting caliber too! Put meat on the table which just might be more.important than personal defense.

[montana]

These type of questions crack me up as if there is a universal playbook for a fantasy survival scenario. Do you live in a high density city, low density rural area, in a high rise, in the middle of the Taiga, etc. Are you old, young, male, female, other? The people who live in Syria, Iraq, Israel would be a good place to look if a person needs to look at a real SHTF scenario. The best caliber would depend on what type of emergency you think is going to happen and where you live. Start with the basic questions and go from there.

[Texas]

For SHTF, my Grendel will probably go in the safe and the M21 would come out backed up by my 50 BMG, I am not leaving the farm.

[stanc]

Now we are getting somewhere with this discussion. Not going with extremes at all. munchie3409 is the one that brought up the .50 BMG into this discussion and I was specifically referring to that. .22 LR was brought up in the discussion as it is one of the top 5 most common rifle rounds bought in the USA. However, I agree that the .22 LR is inadequate if one has other options. So if we are agreeing to that, then caliber does come into play since .22LR wouldn't be our first choice if other options are available.

Yes, caliber does "come into play" -- but only insofar as selecting a range of suitable calibers.

We can both agree that there are certain calibers that are better to fit the SHTF scenario. Calibers that are multipurpose and that are potential jack of all trades.

Concur.

7.62x51/.308 has significantly more recoil than the 6.5 Grendel, is a heavier system, doesn't have as good distance ballistics and several other factors against it. In many cases, the 6.5 Grendel is the superior round than the 7.62x51 other than availability. However, if one is able to stash away x,xxx or xx,xxx number of rounds + reloading supplies, would that matter in a SHTF scenario?

No. But, if you have a stash of xx,xxx number of rounds, you're in a fixed location where the extra weight of a 7.62x51 rifle and ammo wouldn't matter. Plus, with 7.62x51 you have the availability of military loadings (such as AP, Tracer, Incendiary) that would give you capabilities which 6.5 Grendel currently lacks.

.300 BLK is nice if you want to run suppressed sub sonic ammo and only care about <300 yards, but that seems to be quite the specific setup. Especially if you might need to have the range to go out to 800-1000 yards in a scenario. I'd rather have a 6.5 Grendel that will stay supersonic out to 1000 yards to have that option and potential. If only care about CQB/urban environment, then yes a .300 BLK with subsonic ammo and a suppressor would be hard to beat. But this setup severely limits one to that specific outcome.

5.56 is nice due to availability but I wouldn't trust it past 300-400 yards. But this wouldn't even be an issue as you could run both in a SHTF scenario as I mentioned; just have a 5.56 upper + magazines and you could run both. Other than availability of ammo, not sure there is any feature of the 5.56 round that I like better than the 6.5 Grendel. The 6.5 Grendel isn't perfect in everything, but in the AR-15 platform it is as close to a general purpose combat cartridge as one can get with the limitations.

7.62x39, if in an urban combat situation with range being limited to 200 yards or less (maybe up to 300) then yes that would be a worthwhile consideration. But if you need to hit something further out to say 700-900 yards? You are severely limiting yourself.

6.8 SPC, this topic has been discussed a lot, but I'm on the side that the 6.5 Grendel is superior to the 6.8 SPC is just about every way.

I agree that all of these calibers are useful in a SHTF scenario. But are they as close to "perfect" as the 6.5 Grendel? I would argue no...

I agree that in the AR-15 platform 6.5 Grendel is "as close to a general purpose combat cartridge as one can get." However, my view is that the difference is more theoretical than practical.

In the overwhelming majority of SHTF scenarios, I just don't see any advantage to 6.5 Grendel over the other calibers.

[otter]

If SHTF is "Society stays together, but for some reason you only get to own one centerfire rifle" - than yes. It would be nice for a 'jack of all trades' rifle.

In 'Society breaks down" scenario....there are many items that are as or more important than an ar-type rifle, but I'd take .223 over 6.5G. Cheaper to store in bulk, more likely to find ammo, magazines, etc. .223 can kill a deer for hunting. In SHTF i'm not worried about 'ethical deer hunting'.

[henschman]

Let's see... an accurate but lightweight and compact rifle with the ballistics to reach out and do serious damage at distances beyond that of most other intermediate power cartridges... semi auto and low recoiling for the quick follow-up shot... possibly suppressed so as to be harder to locate... yeah, I'd say it has a definite role to fill in a "Second Amendment situation." Ideal for stopping the theft of oxygen (or liberty) from a distance.