6.5 grendel

[thom]

Thinking about getting into a new caliber to me, where I can still use an AR-15 lower. What are pro and con on this caliber? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Thom

[kenpoprofessor]

Have a great, gun carryin', Kenpo day

Clyde

[DuneShoot]

No Con's, Grendel is amazing. Lots of factory ammo available as well if you don't reload.
At 500 yards it's boringly easy, almost a waste of ammo if you're just target shooting.

[Suck My Glock]

I would say the only con is that to get the ballistic benefits of the 6.5Grendel, you need to have a full length barrel. If you go with a carbine barrel, performance then is barely better than 7.62x39 (in my opinion). But if you are going to have a 6.5 in a full size rifle,...then why not go just a tad heavier and go with a 6.5Creedmore in an AR10 envelope and have so much more?

Or at least that's my take on it.

[mtptwo]

I would say the only con is that to get the ballistic benefits of the 6.5Grendel, you need to have a full length barrel. If you go with a carbine barrel, performance then is barely better than 7.62x39 (in my opinion). But if you are going to have a 6.5 in a full size rifle,...then why not go just a tad heavier and go with a 6.5Creedmore in an AR10 envelope and have so much more?

Or at least that's my take on it.

Long barrels are a meme for grendel. 12 inch barrels routinely shoot at 2500fps.

[Creeker]

I would say the only con is that to get the ballistic benefits of the 6.5Grendel, you need to have a full length barrel. If you go with a carbine barrel, performance then is barely better than 7.62x39 (in my opinion). But if you are going to have a 6.5 in a full size rifle,...then why not go just a tad heavier and go with a 6.5Creedmore in an AR10 envelope and have so much more?

Or at least that's my take on it.

Long barrels are a meme for grendel. 12 inch barrels routinely shoot at 2500fps.

With what bullet?

[Suck My Glock]

With what bullet?

What he said.

[Yellowcarbon]

The nice thing about the 6.5 Grendel is it works in the AR15 platform. So you can build light and small rifles/pistols if you want. When you go to 6.5 Creedmore, you are on the AR10 platform. Unless on a Ruger SFAR (not offered in 6.5 Creedmore yet) or POF Rouge, you are in a heavier platform. Not a big deal on target or range guns, but more of a factor in hunting platforms.

The 6.5 Grendel adds legs to the AR15 platform over 5.56, which is where it shines. Yes, the 6.5 Grendel does better with longer barrels, but it still outperforms 5.56 with shorter barrels as well. So you can get a lot of punch with the pistols AR15s. There are some inexpensive 12.5" hunting rigs in 6.5 Grendel. When the steel case 6.5 Grendel was coming in, it was fairly inexpensive to shoot as well. Now that it has dried up, ammo is about on par with other factory hunting ammo.

[DuneShoot]

During load development:

[mtptwo]

With what bullet?

What he said.

https://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthr ... l+velocity

[Suck My Glock]

With what bullet?

What he said.

https://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthr ... l+velocity

Thank you for back up my statement. I am vindicated.

[Creeker]

With what bullet?

What he said.

https://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthr ... l+velocity

So with 90-95s? Not really what’s “routinely” used in the 6.5’s and beyond a couple hundred yards you’re better off with a 123 running 2250 or so.

[stomp442]

I am not a huge AR guy, I have a couple but I prefer a bolt rifle. I picked up a Howa Mini in 6.5 Grendel and have been pleasantly surprised with how accurate it is. I use it as my primary coyote rifle and I am running the 85gr Sierra HP under 29 grains of H4895 at 2743fps and nearly one hole accuracy. It is surprisingly fur friendly I only get exits about half the time and when they do they are generally not real bad holes.

[Lion Armament LLC]

I am a big fan of the Grendel. I like that it's a round that A) fits a small-AR platform, B) can stay supersonic past 1k yards with "shorter" barrels, and C) has enough energy to hunt deer at reasonable distances. I think it's one of the best all-around cartridges.

I have found it to be picky with brands of magazine though in the AR.

[brandonsmash]

I've been contemplating this round for a while; I have a couple spare populated lowers. Thing is, I don't like having a million different magazines. I already have one AR (and ASC magazines) for 7.62x39. I can't find anything that confirms definitively whether 7.62x39 and 6.5 Grendel will feed out of the same mag. I can find references to an Omni-Mag several years ago, but I assume that flopped.

Anyone with experience?