HOWA Mini build recommendations 6.5 Grendel or 6mm ARC | 16" or 18" barrel

Hey Team,

Looking to build a nice little lightweight Howa Mini. Tossing up between 6.5 Grendel and 6mm ARC in either 16" or 18" barrel. It'll start life in an EXCL chassis then hopefully move onto one of those nice NZ Made Elude chassis. Rifle will be used out to 350-400m with most work around 250 covering deer, wallaby and rabbits etc.

thought about 300blk and 223 but I like the look of the 6.5 and 6mm. I will be hand loading.


I'd like to hear any advice or recommendations on the barrel length and calibre choice as a general lightweight walkaround rifle.

cheers
Liam

Was pondering the same for a while. Then realized that a Creedmoor or 7mm08 is not much heavier if done right and offers waaayyy better versatility. But still a cool concept, and eludes only come with howa minis, thus you have to go for one of those, if you want to go that way...

As for the choice between 6ARC and Grendel My suggestion would be to get GRT and see what velocities you can get out of the two, with the bullets you would likely want to shoot, and what the energy would be at those ranges you want to reach out to.

@STC currently got a creedmoor in a Howa SA but want to keep that as is with 20" barrel. I like the efficiency of the Grendel and ARC with regards to powder sage. will check out GRT cheers

With 125 partitions I've shot most things in NZ apart from a sambar, only because there's none in the south island. Grendels aren't speed freaks.

My 17 inch 6arc shooting factory 108 eldms is deadly accurate. Haven't put over a chronie but don't imagine they are going too quick.
Neck shots at 500 yards and full shoulder pass through on goats at 450 that paint the background red.

Those excl chassis are crap ! Keep the factory stock
And save the money until you can get the Elude !
Is an awesome piece of kit.
I have a 223 for my son and soon to build an Arc. Both 16 inches
Attachment 251919

@riflegus that's exactly what I want to build! what barrel is that? I've seen reloaders have a 6arc with carbon barrel but its 20" and I want to go shorter

I've had both in 20" barrels but much prefer the 6 ARC, 6mm bullets in the 100gn class kill reliably and in the wee cartridges carry enough energy to do so at a fair distance

I'm shooting a standard howa mini in grendel.
2450 with 123gr eldm so not far but you can put them where you want them. Perform well at range. Have finished a ghost for a mate at 603yds but wouldn't normal shit that far with it. Haven't picked up a bigger calibre since I brought it 4 years ago.
305yds this roar
Attachment 251920
I do hear the arc is good also tho but haven't tried one

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by liam_s

@riflegus that's exactly what I want to build! what barrel is that? I've seen reloaders have a 6arc with carbon barrel but its 20" and I want to go shorter

---

That's the original howa barrel, lightened and with a carbon tension sleve, Rob, the elude chassis.maker, can do all that for you.
Really done an awesome job with mine

Must be one hell of a rifle if it can shoot ghosts @Remmodel7

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Happy Jack

Must be one hell of a rifle if it can shoot ghosts @Remmodel7

---

Must have been a hell of a good curry if he can kill said ghost with shit at 600 yards too...I would say 6 yards would be Japanese flag ring burning level....hate to picture the afterburn with a 600 yard capable vindaloo aftereffects!!!

Haha man I need to watch the auto correct with this thing haha.

It's funny how that learns. I start typing plurry auto correct.and get to the c and phone knows what's next.....

Steer clear of the Tupperware excel chassis. It's shit. The factory stock is far stiffer and not a whole lot heavier. My mate had one on his Grendel. Wandering zero with the amount of flex in it. Recently picked up an Elude for mine. It's night and day. Stiff, light and beautifully made. 6.5 Grendel 12.5 carbon tension sleeve. Happy with it. Haven't shot an ARC sorry

Yeah, the Excel is rubbish.

Just a word of caution. I've seen short barreled 6.5 Grendel in action plenty on reds at ranges past 300m, 350m, further. Enough to make me very cautious. My opinion - just opinion mind, someone will argue against it - is that the Grendel lacks at those ranges if it's low on MV to start.

So my advice is don't shorten the barrel to the current trend of super-short to go into the Elude if you want to shoot bigger animals at the upper end of 350-400m. Keep the barrel at enough of a length to maximise MV, within reason. I get that you don't want a 20" barrel, but going too short and you'll end up with downrange speeds that are very marginal.

The 6mm ARC is the one I'd go for. 18" ideally. The 90gr ELD-X will do 2800 in a 18" without too much stress. 103gr ELD-X, 95gr TMK, 108gr ELD-M, they'll all work. Everything I've seen with slow Grendels on longer shots makes me want lighter / faster every time, and the 6mm projectiles in the ARC are perfect for the barrel length.

Why not go lighter in the grendel

I'm shooting 90gr Speer TNT @2700fps from my 20" Grendel without any stress. Also same projectile from 15.75" barrel at 2650. Could drive both quicker buit not seen the need. ymmv.

thanks all for the feedback. I ran the ballistics and the ARC defffeintly looks like the winer to 350 which is my limit.

Just need to find someone with one instock now

Only ARC's in NZ is the 20" carbon barreled action. Only way is to find a cheap 6.5 grendel or 7.62x39 and rebarrel it.

I'm running 85gn sierras and 90 TNT's in my grendel 85s are doing 2963fps

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by blip

I'm running 85gn sierras and 90 TNT's in my grendel 85s are doing 2963fps

---

Should be able to get well into the 3rss with the 85s, I got 3100 with RL7. Deadly out past 300

The new 100gr ELDVT might give the grendel a boost, very good ballistics for the weight. Higher retained speed. Agree 6mm ARC looks better though.

@riflegus what profile barrel did you start out with?