Thread: 6.5 Grendel Bolt action

I like the idea of loading down the 260. Were you thinking 123gr?

Yeah my mate had the 123 Hornady SST. he's going to check his load when he gets home

A bit of an update on the Grendel scene. I have been mucking around over winter with this project when time allowed.
The whole thing started life as a spare Sako A1 bolt I bought off a forum member, thought it might come in handy one day. Well that one day came when I spied on Tardme a Sako Vixen less a bolt, which I secured for a stupidly small figure of money. Barrel was rooted by rust but the rest was retrievable to make something. I'd also obtained from another forum member a used Stug CF stock, so I had some good ingredients.
The 6.5 Grendel thing popped into my head one day and after a few enquiries I worked out it was capable of being adapted to the Vixen action with an enlargement of the bolt face and a few other mods with the mag to make it feed ok (Sako actually made these in PPC, which is essentially the parent case of the Grendel). I bought a new later model mag box out of the States for the factory PPC Sako made, so at least I had the correct parts to work with. A local friend who's a bit of a genius with the CNC gear milled the action to suit the wider box. Next bit was the barrel, another TM buy and then off to the smith.

This is the assortment before going to the smith.


Action after milling


And the bits assembled in the modified stock ready to go for a test fire


Barrel is an MAB 1:8 cut to 17" and threaded. My chambering is actually known as a .264 LBC, which is really a Grendel with a 0.295 neck and parallel throat, not stepped throat as per later Grendel. I bought the reamer out of the states when I got the mag box, along with dies.
Test rounds proved to shoot ok with CFE223 & 123gr Amax, though I didn't get too tech on it as I just wanted to make sure it worked before sending it out to get Ceracoted, where it is now. So hopefully I'll have it back in a couple of weeks for final assembly and load development.

that looks awesome we will need a full range report

Very nice

Make sure you try Bench Mark 8208

I love my grendel mate cfe223 is the best power
I know you have gone for a slightly different version which is all good
Plenty of good variations of the chambering
Theres a kiwi guy on the 65grendel forum
I think hes on here aswell von gruff who made his own reamer he calls 6.5gm (Grendel-max)
Just gives a little more power capacity and a bit more speed as a result
Just a fire forming from factory grendel brass as I understand could be worng

Look forward to hearing your results

@Mathias, you need to update where your at with the rifle.

Very, very cool

Originally Posted by Seventenths

@Mathias, you need to update where your at with the rifle.

Very, very cool

Ok, here we go then as per request.

The original MAB barrel didn't go so well as it had fault with a slightly tapered bore, so it got redone with a Hardy barrel, which has been excellent. As mentioned in another thread, making these buggers feed is really tricky, especially when the mag and action were designed for a 222. After a lot of fiddling with dummy rounds and various parts I now have it cycling 4 rounds out of the mag well enough to be reliable.
Key points I found were having the correct mag follower and the mag spring in right location on bottom metal to apply correct pressure. Running the wider follower means it won't pass through the opening in the bottom metal when plate is released, so all I do to unload the mag is release the mag floor plate to take the pressure off and turn the rifle upside down and the rounds come out of action opening into my hand, or I can simply cycle them through the action.

Mag spring to rear of floor plate.


Top is the Sako S491 model PPC follower compared to standard L461 222-223


The measured seating length for this baby and 123gr SST was 58.3mm but to be able to eject a loaded round I had to go back to 57mm OAL, which is the SAAMI loaded length. This made zero difference to how it shot.

At 57mm, it just makes it out.


There's plenty of ejector blade length once bolt is on its stop and shorting it will alter the timing and allow me a little more loaded OAL but it shoots well now and feeds well at this length.


Accuracy it great for a hunting rifle. These are 2 groups of 3 shot by my son, one is the hand loaded 123gr SST (2450 fps) and the other is Hornady factory 123 Amax (2505 fps).


Hornady factory 123gr Amax I shot when setting scope up.


This rifle is fun to carry & shoot and has plenty of power for filling the freezer.

Awesome... what did you paint the stug stock with?

I've just bought one of the CZ 527 in 6.5 Grendel, only got a few rounds threw it, before being shut down for Coivid, the few rounds look like I may have a decent shooter, I cut it back to 18-20, but am going to see what sort of performance the 24" barrel gives first.
might build up a few varmint rounds, and see how it performs, on the local snowshoe hare's, and coyotes.
Ive got a couple Sako PPC and was going to rebarrel to a faster twist as the 1-14 on a 6ppc limits the hunting bullets somewhat.
we shall see how this little CZ goes first.

Originally Posted by Seventenths

Awesome... what did you paint the stug stock with?

After remodelling it, I primed it in 2 pack epoxy primer and sanded it back ready for Cerakote. I asked the company that did it not to garnet blast it before coating as this would blow out some if the filled pits, but they didn't listen it seemed and as a result it came out less than perfect, which pissed me off. However the Cerakote OD Green has stood up to it well and remains fully coated despite numerous trips on the quad bike rack and dragged through the matagouri and shit.

Awesome, I always wanted a 7.62X39 on the little Sako Vixen/A1 action, but don't know if they did a PPC on that action or only on the S491 ?

Decided to do a .357 Max rimmless instead but may do a .350 Legend now ?

Thank you for posting your work .

Originally Posted by Scout

Awesome, I always wanted a 7.62X39 on the little Sako Vixen/A1 action, but don't know if they did a PPC on that action or only on the S491 ?

The very first of the PPC's were made on the A1 action, then S491 and 75 after that. A 30ARX (30-6.5 Grendel) would be a squeeze but a nice round also for the Sako.

Scout: Sako did several models of PPC (6mm and 22) on the A1 action for a short time: sporter, heavy barrel with target trigger and single shot with target trigger. They turn up on Trademe now and again wanting silly money. Some internet chat indicates that the S491 will tolerate heavier loads than the smaller A1 action. Be careful to check the interior of the barrel if it is the original chrome moly barrel. I bought the heavy barrel with the target trigger model, second hand, and it would not group any better than 0.75 of an inch for 5 shots at 100m. The borescope showed that the barrel interior had corrosion on one side. The gunsmith who replaced the barrel was not surprised. He told me that a shipment of Sako rifles arrived in NZ with corroded barrel interiors and mine was in that time slot.

Interesting, thanks guys, I think in the past I had seen a A1 in a PPC cartridge but it was a single shot, I will keep my ears open for a A1 PPC repeater then .