Thread: 6.5 grandel

Originally Posted by Kiwi Greg

The other thing to consider with the Grendel case is it is inherently accurate.

The 22, 6.5 & 30 Grendels I have built are stupid accurate, whether bolt guns or AR uppers.

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....-barrel-37192/

Its a fantastic little case, but it is just that a little case, you can't expect miracles from it

Greg,
What actions have you used to build the 6.5G bolt guns on?

Originally Posted by Mathias

Greg,
What actions have you used to build the 6.5G bolt guns on?

A Stolle Panda, single shot benchrest rifle, a Rem 700, mag feeding was frustrating but sorted, mucking around with a 6PPC Tikka at the moment also a Zastava ex 7.62 x 39

The Grendel seems to have been developed sa a candidate military round for use in the AR, to "take back the infantry half kilometer" in response to a specific need somewhere. However in trials it lost out to the 6.8SPC which hasn't turned out good enough to establish a niche between 5.56 and 7.62. For heavy hitting at close range, ther is a 50 Beowulf which also hasn't established yet. (as I read it off the interweb) So, the patent holders demoed its capability as a mid range target round, in competition with the 6mmPPC and you see beautiful bench like creations on the net, shooting special scenar 123gr bullets.

Anyway, the 500m aspiration meant using the highest feasible bullet weight which I believe is around 123gr. The BC of my 120gr 6.5 ballistic tips is almost as good as my 140gr 7mm BT. But the lower velocity places a limit, specially on expansion for hunting which requires good terminal performance. For the infantry, paper and gong shooting it doesn't matter if it arrives at 1500 fps and doesn't expand but for goats and such small deer it does. That's why people are tempted into 100gr bullets I presume, but then you lose the wind capability and you're back to why not get a 6mmPPC with a fast twist (not easy to come by).

Comparing just the wind drift at 5m/s
7mm08 140gr BC G1 0.485 MV 2820fps (22" barrel)
6.5Gren 120gr BC G1 0.458 MV 2200fps (16" bbl light load for unfired brass)
Range ... 6.5 Gr .... 7mm08
100m .... 3.4cm ..... 2.6cm
200m .... 14cm ..... 10cm
300m .... 34cm ..... 24cm
400m .... 63cm ..... 45cm
500m .... 102cm .... 73cm

I got my Grendel for hunting smaller deer like sika but only up to 300m because when I looked back over 5 years with the 7mm08 I had only ever shot a couple beyond that but I wanted a lighter shorter rifle. The loopy trajectory and increased wind drift should be just fine up to 200m and manageable with care out to 300. But to do that, I need to push the envelope of the Grendel's capability: heaviest bullets, most powder, maximum technology and range practice to get accuracy for shot placement. You can stretch the specs of a 308 with 10% or 20% heavier bullets, longer barrel, nuclear powder charge, but with the Grendel you're already there just to get started. I'm thinking it will be a good cartridge, within the limited expectations I've set for it.