6.5 Grendel on it's own merits

[rickt300]

I started fooling with the Grendel a good bit back, around the time I started on this forum. I found it easy to load for in both bolt guns and the AR. I have had three different Mini HOWA's and they have been sold. I have my original upper from when Alexander Arms was selling a M4 early style look alike upper. I removed the front sight and put a 1-4 power variable on it. I lugged it everywhere for a couple of years, shot all kinds of stuff with it and shot it a lot, settled on a couple loads. I still have that upper but have now started playing with the 350 Legend and cast bullets in an AR platform. Virtually all of my shooting is inside 150 yards. In my opinion the Grendel is a niche cartridge that does it's job very well which to me is shooting anything that needs shooting inside of 250 yards. I personally have noticed a decline in interest in the Grendel. I think it's next big competitor is going to be the 300 Ham'r. I will be ordering a barrel for the Ham'r soon, next toy on the list.

[BluntForceTrauma]

These are gas gun matches that go out to 900 or so yards. Everyone I see adopting a new small frame AR cartridge is going 6ARC. Within this group, Grendel is generally considered inferior to 6ARC.

With that ammo pretty well gone, 6.8 SPC is arguably better for short range hunting

I'd be interested in hearing you make that "arguably better" argument. What is your reasoning?

[Stinky Coyote]

6mm always wins for the target world over the 6.5, for same powder burned you go further and with less recoil, you're sending less bullet, there are a lot more shooters out there than just long range target shooters or bench rest competitors, and this is where the 6.5 comes in, it always wins in the hunting world. Glad we really hammered that out. For target world I'd take 6 Creed and 6 Arc over both the 6.5 options. I could give a four fisted flying fack about that stuff though, hunting only, I own my own gongs and shoot long to develop a hunting rifle to it's potentials but that's the extent of my target stuff and range time.

[jkingrph]

I'm Canadian so no AR's here, I was all about this cartridge about 2005 when I found out about it and studied ballistics, had to wait until CZ came out with about 12 years later as I only do factory stuff/ammo etc. Have been hunting with it every since (2017/18). 100% this cartridge stands alone without a specific platform...bolt action makes just as much sense as AR imo. It's basically a 3/4 scale .308 running 168's with 55% less recoil, same sd, bc, and impact velocities/trajectory to 500 yards. It hangs with a .243 to a few hundred yards then starts to walk away from the .243 after that (factory to factory) and recoils less. You can't do more with 30 grains of powder than the 6.5g and 123 eld-m combo, overachiever, zero fat, maybe one of the most versatile combo's on the planet when considering all shooters, all disciplines/uses, life, cost etc.

I saw gy first Grendel around that time, an AR and was intrigued. so ended up orderind an upper from Alexander Arms. An Overwatch, tube type free floated arm over a 26" barrel, built a lower for it with a Jewell trigger. I also got the bug for some piston operated guns so built up a similar model as well as a mid length carbine. Somewhere along the line I got to wanting either a bolt action or single shot. I was about ready to get a Ruger #1 and have it rebarreled when CZ came out with it in the little 527, and finally found one, lucked out and got rather nice wood on it. Like most of the CZ bolt actions it was rather rough. A bit of careful stoneing and the cycling with some flitz in the raceways on on lugs slicked it up nicely. Earlier when loaded ammo and brass were almost unobtainable I got a larger quantity of IMI 7.62x39 brass and necked it down to fire form. I did find that lighter fireforming loads would also cycle my AR so had quite a bit of fun while shooting it, of course a zero with full loads hit a lot higher than the fireforming loads, but still shooting paper was fun. For an old man's fun either the AR or bolt action is fun, just enough recoil so you know you have a serious gun, The longest range I have available is 300 yards but it is easy to ring a small steel plate at that range, Never walked down to see the size, but I guess 4 to 6 inches.

[subhuman]

I live in NW Alabama so I have no restrictions on what I can hunt with but there is a grendel among my 3 hunting rifles. My blind looks down a 150 yard power line cut over that I have planted in winter rye there are a couple of mineral blocks that stay out there year round and I feed them during the off season. now with a 150 yard limit the big guns and glass are just overkill , my favorite deer rifle at the moment is my Ruger MPR in 350 legend shoot Hornady American Whitetail with the 170 gr interlock bullet I hammered a 10 point into the ground at about 60 yards with it in Jan. I here people bad mouthing the 350 legend as weak but that 170 gr interlock broke the shoulder I shot ,blew out the heart and lungs on it's way through ,broke the opposite shoulder and was resting under the skin on the off side. Now my Grendel I picked up just a couple months ago it is a Ruger American Ranch, I topped it with a Sig Saur Whiskey 3 2-7x32 scope with a simple duplex retical, muzzle energy between the 6.5G and the 350 legend are very close from muzzle to 100 yards then the Grendal just walks away from the 350 so I;m expecting good things from the Grendal this coming hunting season .I'm playing with 3 rounds for it this summer the Barnes 115 vortex, Hornady ELDm and PPU 120 HPBT . Now my last rifle is of course a 308 I have a Ruger Gunsight Scout 16" Barrel and I use the Hornady 165gr American Whitetail Interlocks it is truly my kill anything anywhere rifle.
Back to the 6.5G I have real high Hopes for it this hunting season and from what I have seen so far I do not expect to be disappointed .

[Hertervillian]

[JASmith]

+1 !!

[Stinky Coyote]

+2

and same with the .243 win 100gr partition combo, know an older fella with 8 rams on the wall who migrated to that combo early in his hunting career and killed everything with it 0-300 yards, not just rams, have read of multiple other old timers who were deadly on everything with .243's and that bullet combo, but agree the 6.5 Grendel is the 21st century interpretation of the 20th century .243/.257 bob options, bullet choice is more critical when playing on the niche end of the horsepower spectrums, that goes for all 3, heavy for cal with ability to open up while still keep enough attached to drive deep enough, they work better than expected with zero fat

[WSAR15]

I still feel the 6.5 Grendel is great round and the best suited (non 5.56) in the standard AR platforms. My world ends at 400yds and it replaces a heavier AR in 308 very nicely,

[Timitus]

[Sammy]

Grendel ammo is expensive and hard to come by. 6.5CM costs about the same and is plentiful. Grendel becomes useful and interesting once you start to reload. Bullets are affordable, case uses almost half the powder of 6.5CM, and, as others mentioned, have almost infinite barrel life. thanks to reloading I don't feel guilty shooting a 20rd string just to settle into the gun.

[Timitus]

+2

and same with the .243 win 100gr partition combo, know an older fella with 8 rams on the wall who migrated to that combo early in his hunting career and killed everything with it 0-300 yards, not just rams, have read of multiple other old timers who were deadly on everything with .243's and that bullet combo, but agree the 6.5 Grendel is the 21st century interpretation of the 20th century .243/.257 bob options, bullet choice is more critical when playing on the niche end of the horsepower spectrums, that goes for all 3, heavy for cal with ability to open up while still keep enough attached to drive deep enough, they work better than expected with zero fat

This is what drew me to the cartridge as well. For reasonable hunting ranges it does a fantastic job with a good bullets selection and multiple powders.

[LRRPF52]

Grendel ammo is expensive and hard to come by. 6.5CM costs about the same and is plentiful. Grendel becomes useful and interesting once you start to reload. Bullets are affordable, case uses almost half the powder of 6.5CM, and, as others mentioned, have almost infinite barrel life. thanks to reloading I don't feel guilty shooting a 20rd string just to settle into the gun.

Not sure if you saw it but there are 124 factory loads for 6.5 Grendel now. I went through and counted every current factory option I could find in December, and the list has grown a lot since 2020 and 2022.

[tracker12]

Popcorn popped.

So did mine😂