Hello from Baltimore

[SaintEraKilmer]

Hey all, I'm joining up in the 6.5 Grendel community with a lightly used AR upper that I'm thinking about using for long range shooting and general plinking. Maybe it'll go hunting once or twice - but that'd be out of state since Maryland is weird (and bad with firearms laws - I know...). I've done my fair share of reloading, but I'm having a hard time finding good brass at a reasonable price. I'm hoping some stock begins to show up. Just a 100 cases! To start...

[just_john]

Welcome to the clan, SEK, from the great nation of Texas! We've heard a lot of stories about life with firearms in most all the states in your neck of the woods. Cases are starting to become available again. Watch the on-line suppliers.

[lazyengineer]

Neat - and welcome. Didn't know one could so easily do an AR in Baltimor.

Brass can be had, but cheap isn't in the cards this year. Easy button is buying ammo:
https://www.sgammo.com/product/prvi-part...ow-point-a

Other ready option is to just convert 7.62x39 once fired - which are relatively cheap and common. Note you will get a loss rate during the conversion, and thr necks will split faster if not annealed, and you will need to develop milder loads. But it's a sustainable way to get into the game cost effectively.

[DeNinny]

Welcome aboard the Horde!

Also if you are patient and persistent, you could keep checking the Starline website at least weekly. Grendel brass will become available for backorder eventually. Again you have to keep checking on it. And when you see the status indicator go from red to yellow, don't hesitate and buy some!

And if money is no object you can always buy from the scalpers on GunBroker.

[VASCAR2]

Welcome to the forum SaintEraKilmer!

[LRRPF52]

Welcome aboard!

Best bet is to just get 5x 20rd boxes of Hornady or Alexander Arms factory ammo, or 2x 50rd boxes of Precision Firearms ammunition loaded with Lapua brass if you’re having trouble getting virgin brass.

Check the EE here regularly and you’ll see brass pop-up.

Nosler ammunition also has good brass.

Starline makes good brass as well.

PPU new brass has Small Rifle Primers, but PPU has typically been softer. Not sure how many loads people are getting from the newer SRP PPU brass.

Federal also makes a lot of factory ammo, but I only get 2 loads with it before the primer pockets give out in the AR-15. From a bolt gun, it actually lasts a lot longer showing no signs of trouble even when I pushed it well over max with pressure ladders. The Federal factory ammo tends to be accurate and fast, so they have a good powder formulation for 6.5 Grendel.

The most helpful tool you will invest in if you don’t already have it, is a Hornady headspace comparator with .350” bushing.

A lot of people run into issues re-sizing their brass too far in the die. The headspace comparator will really help you avoid that by providing a clear picture of where you unfired and fired datum line is, and then assist in buying your headspace back minimally, preserving your brass life.

[sundowner]

Welcome to the horde from Wisconsin .

[SaintEraKilmer]

The most helpful tool you will invest in if you don’t already have it, is a Hornady headspace comparator with .350” bushing.

A lot of people run into issues re-sizing their brass too far in the die. The headspace comparator will really help you avoid that by providing a clear picture of where you unfired and fired datum line is, and then assist in buying your headspace back minimally, preserving your brass life.

Interesting note about the comparator. I have one, but I have used it sparingly during primarily load development.

From what you are saying, it sounds like I would use a 0.35" bushing to measure at a particular point in the shoulder of the cartridge. I suppose the thought process is that as I use the brass more, the shoulder will move and I can measure that change. But I am not sure what to do with that knowledge in particular. Can you help refine that thought process for me?

[Old Bob]

Comparing case lengths from the base to the datum line between unfired cases & fired cases will tell you how far you need to set back the shoulder when resizing your cases. The SAAMI spec for that length is 1.220"-.007". Can't affirm the Hornady comparator is exactly .350" in diameter but it will be real close. They're mass produced so there could be some differences in individual comparators. They're close enough to give you a good idea what your case lengths are at the datum line.

From an Odin 6.5 Grendel barrel, my my fired cases came out 1.223" - base to datum line. At first I set those cases back to 1.221". That was enough set back to allow for proper feeding into that barrel's chamber. But then I decided to change the barrel to a Wilson Combat barrel, so, I went back & resized them again to a 1.220" headspace dimension before I'd shoot them in the WC barrel. I haven't shot those cases yet. Before I do I still have a boat-load of factory ammo I wanna shoot first.

[mdram]

welcome from a fellow marylander, isnt it fun trying to do this in this state?

[LRRPF52]

Interesting note about the comparator. I have one, but I have used it sparingly during primarily load development.

From what you are saying, it sounds like I would use a 0.35" bushing to measure at a particular point in the shoulder of the cartridge. I suppose the thought process is that as I use the brass more, the shoulder will move and I can measure that change. But I am not sure what to do with that knowledge in particular. Can you help refine that thought process for me?

Factory ammo and virgin brass comes under-sized so it will fit in the largest number of chambers.

When you fire it, the case will blow out to the maximum dimensions of the chamber (and rebound a little).

The biggest measurable location of case growth is from the base to the shoulder (headspace in bottleneck cartridges). The comparator with .350” bushing will show you how much it has grown, and also will help you as you set up your sizing die for optimum/minimal work-hardening of the brass. (In the SAAMI drawings, the datum line midpoint on the shoulder is a .350” diameter, hence the .350” bushing being used for 6.5 Grendel. The other bushings in the set are for different cartridges with larger or smaller datum line diameters.)

A common mistake reloaders make is to not size the brass enough, or size it too much.

With gas guns, we typically see a .003” shoulder datum bump back from the fired dimension.

You will have to figure this out with your chamber though, using the comparator as you adjust your sizing die.

I have a stripped Grendel AR-15 bolt for this purpose, that has the same bolt face depth and lug lengths as my other bolts.

It’s one thing to see if a re-sized case will drop into a chamber and fall out, but another thing to determine if the bolt will actually close on it and allow the lugs to rotate into lock-up.

It’s harder to determine this with an assembled bolt due to the ejector.

[SaintEraKilmer]

This is good information. The back of the Comparator explains the same procedure for adjusting the sizing die. It seems that people tie this same work to an annealer. It looks like I'm on the look-out for a spare 6.5 Grendel bolt now!

[LRRPF52]

This is good information. The back of the Comparator explains the same procedure for adjusting the sizing die. It seems that people tie this same work to an annealer. It looks like I'm on the look-out for a spare 6.5 Grendel bolt now!

You don’t need one, but it’s just something I started doing later. Most people don’t do this.

[SaintEraKilmer]

Given I already have all the tools to do it - I'm going to at least attempt it. I have mostly used a collets to do my brass "re-sizing" for my other calibers. I like this approach in terms of the overall thought process - and the dies I have are definitely full length sizing dies. So no collets here!

Thanks again for the information!