6.5 Grendel Rem 700

[austinwft]

Had a 40+ year old Rem. 700 action lying around in need of a bolt and a new life.

• Action Trued (Smithing by Charles Crowley-Crowley Machine-Taylor, TX)
• PTG One-Piece Bolt, ROBAR NP3 Plated, PTG Firing Pin Assy., Tubbs CS Duo Firing Pin Spring
• 24" Bartlein 6.5mm/.264 5R 1:8.5, Rem Varmint Contour
• Jewell Trigger
• B&C BDL Light Tactical Stock Hydro "Double-Dipped" Shadow Barbed Wire over Two-Tone Ash, PTG BDL Bottom Metal

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?12800-6.5-Grendel-Bolt-Action

First range outing to evaluate and find a load.

• 123 Gr. Lapua Scenar
• Hodgdon CFE 223

Ran first and last loadings across the chrono.

• 30.4 Gr. CFE 223 avg. velocity 2567 ft./s
• 31.6 Gr. CFE 223 avg. velocity 2648 ft./s

I think I've got something here I can work with.

[austinwft]

Also gave the new Federal American Eagle rounds a go and was pleased with the results.

[Drift]

Nice groups. The Grendel in a bolt action really shines.

[Rebels010]

Well done sir. thats a great set up and I long for a tack driving Grendel in a bolt gun. Thanks for sharing.

[Flyguy11]

Love the rifle; what kind of glass is that?

[austinwft]

Love the rifle; what kind of glass is that?

It's a Leupold 8.5-25 Mark 4 that like the old 700 action I used needed a home.

[Kilco]

Wow I like the rifle, and I like the project! Doing something similar wit an old action, and considered the Grendel, but for some reason I've had a .17 fireball itch lately. .

[JASmith]

17 Fireball?

A thread about that cartridge just popped up on ammoguide.com: http://ammoguide.com/cgi-bin/aiforum...tid=1472523340

While you're there, check out some of the 600-plus Grendel loads there.

[biodsl]

I think I've got something here I can work with.

This gets my vote for understatement of the year. Again, congratulations. I suspect you're going to have many, many hours of fun and satisfaction with this rifle.

[austinwft]

I've been asked a few times, including by a member here, if I had any feeding issues which I did but also found them easily resolved.

With a standard Remington 700 BDL Short Action .308 Magazine Box, Short Action .308 Follower and .308 Spring I found that depending on where the short 6.5 Grendel rounds positioned themselves front to back in the box that the feed lips would loose control of some rounds and some rounds would nose dive into the bottom of the feed ramp when being stripped out of the magazine by the bolt.

Before attacking the box feed lips with a pair of pliers I decided to replace the .308 spring with the shorter .223 magazine spring which felt as if it had some amount less upward force. This resoled the majority of the issues though I still had the occasional nose dive. The remaining problem was solved with a 3/8" Delrin spacer in the back of the box and cutting 3/8" off the back of the follower.

Now it loads and feeds wonderfully!

I did try the .223 follower, which fit with the 3/8" spacer, but it felt as if it loaded smoother with the cut down .308 follower. And with the spacer there still enough room in the magazine to load rounds out to as long as 2.450 long.

[Klem]

I've been asked a few times, including by a member here, if I had any feeding issues which I did but also found them easily resolved.

With a standard Remington 700 BDL Short Action .308 Magazine Box, Short Action .308 Follower and .308 Spring I found that depending on where the short 6.5 Grendel rounds positioned themselves front to back in the box that the feed lips would loose control of some rounds and some rounds would nose dive into the bottom of the feed ramp when being stripped out of the magazine by the bolt.

Before attacking the box feed lips with a pair of pliers I decided to replace the .308 spring with the shorter .223 magazine spring which felt as if it had some amount less upward force. This resoled the majority of the issues though I still had the occasional nose dive. The remaining problem was solved with a 3/8" Delrin spacer in the back of the box and cutting 3/8" off the back of the follower.

Now it loads and feeds wonderfully!

I did try the .223 follower, which fit with the 3/8" spacer, but it felt as if it loaded smoother with the cut down .308 follower. And with the spacer there still enough room in the magazine to load rounds out to as long as 2.450 long.

Excellent info and fix - Well done.

[Jburke]

Thanks for the pictures for a reference. I'll give that a try here this weekend probably.

[LRRPF52]

That's a beautiful rifle with amazing initial accuracy performance and speed.

123gr Scenar at 2650fps is a really good load for 1000yds and farther. You're supersonic to 1200yds at sea level.

One thing I do like about the Rem 700 SA is that the action is really short, which seems ideal for the Grendel COL. Thanks for passing on the tips about the magazine solution that worked for you.

Looking forward to the results at distance. For target work, you will be hard-pressed to find a better bullet.

[Jburke]

Excellent info and fix - Well done.

The 308 follower with the 223 spring seems to work for me as well after his advice. I have not added the spacer and cut down the back of the follower yet. I may do that when I have the time but for now it will work and I'll get it out soon to get the rifle sighted in and start experimenting with it.

[James Gray]

Love the rifle I'm a huge rem 700 fan just seen the post on the amtac suppressor I think a match made in heaven right there