New Hoosier and new to Grendel

[Yissnakk]

Morning Ladies and Gents,

Just wanted to post the obligatory new guy thread .

I hail from the furthest corner in Indiana without hitting Michigan or Ohio, am a veteran, firearms enthusiast, and reloader. I come seeking to expand my knowledge from the experts

Am currently piecing together my first Grendel and am new to the cartridge. Once I get a chance to sight it in and test out some loads, I'll post updates but in the mean time, been picking through the forum here for words of wisdom.

The build (for transparency sake) consists of an Anderson lower, Odin Works LPK, Rifle buffer setup and LuthAR MBA1 stock....and a BCA upper (yeah, yeah) ...because I try to be frugal (or cheap, take your pick :P).

I've wanted a Grendel since first learning of the name, then did a paper comparison with the .224 Valkyrie and the ballistics are nearly identical out to about 800 yards but the Grendel delivers significantly more energy at that distance - and I only have 650 or so to play with in any case.

Full disclosure - I am also going to try out some converted 7.62x39 brass, which I have resized and will fire form first. I'm only doing this because I have a large amount of 7.62x39 brass and no real use for it...with Wolf being so cheap.
I do have official Grendel brass as well. I am just waiting on bullets, to check where the lands start in my barrel before working on COAL.

Once I get to fire it, I'll report in on that - and a review of the BCA upper (it does look good though ).

Thanks!
JJ

[VASCAR2]

Welcome to the forum Yissnakk!


I’ve fire formed x39 brass and it works but your first load needs to be near a minimum charge. Remember there is less case volume with x39 brass compared to true 6.5 Grendel brass so you can’t use as much powder with x39 brass. The primer pockets loosen pretty quick on some x39 brass. I’ve found that Sellor & Bellot large rifle primers seem to fit tighter in x39 and PPU brass primer pockets compared to Winchester large rifle primers.

With the price and availability of 6.5 Grendel brass I’m not sure there is significant savings using x39 brass unless you’ve got a cheap source for 6.5/.264 bullets. Graf’s & Son sell PPU 6.5 mm bullets which make decent short range general purpose ammo. Speer 90 grain TNT can be found on sale for decent prices. Shooter’s Pro Shop sell over run and blem Nosler bullets for decent prices.

[Yissnakk]

Welcome to the forum Yissnakk!


I’ve fire formed x39 brass and it works but your first load needs to be near a minimum charge. Remember there is less case volume with x39 brass compared to true 6.5 Grendel brass so you can’t use as much powder with x39 brass. The primer pockets loosen pretty quick on some x39 brass. I’ve found that Sellor & Bellot large rifle primers seem to fit tighter in x39 and PPU brass primer pockets compared to Winchester large rifle primers.

With the price and availability of 6.5 Grendel brass I’m not sure there is significant savings using x39 brass unless you’ve got a cheap source for 6.5/.264 bullets. Graf’s & Son sell PPU 6.5 mm bullets which make decent short range general purpose ammo. Speer 90 grain TNT can be found on sale for decent prices. Shooter’s Pro Shop sell over run and blem Nosler bullets for decent prices.

Thanks for the info! Yeah, I have about 1500 7.62x39 cases just collecting dust which is the only real reason that I'm entertaining the idea. I resized 50 to test out - first to fire-form and then to plink around with. I found once fired 6.5 brass (mixed headstamp) for about $0.39/case but if anyone knows a better price, I'm all in

[Gusmeister]

Welcome to the forum. Please share your results using the formed X39 brass. Especially compared to your factory Grendel brass.

[Bigs28]

Ive seen new hornady brass for 0.40 a round from time to time on sale. Just keep an eye out on the grendel deals thread and it will pop up from time to time. Lapua brass is more expensive at first but if not hot loaded will end up the least expensive per load.

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/0015386283b100/6half-grendel-unprimed-rifle-brass-100-count

[Yissnakk]

I'll keep an eye out for Hornady brass - seems that every place that has it for a decent price has shipping charges that make it quite a bit more expensive (at Midsouth I'd have to buy 500 to get the price down to $0.40 per shipped), unfortunately.

I keep a fairly forensic record of all my experiments in brass conversion and will definitely report my findings. (So far, they formed nicely and I even used a Lee die!). Just found the lands in my barrel with 140gr Speer Hot-Cor Spitzer SP bullets (Max COAL of 2.325) and plan to load my fire forming rounds at 2.320 to make sure I get the pressure necessary to blow the shoulders out to where they should be.