Entering the 6.5 Grendel world

C

Chris.K

New member
I decided to do something a little different with my latest AR build. The 6.5 Grendel has intrigued me since I first heard about it. I'll be heading to the range tomorrow for a function check and to get an idea of what kind of accuracy I can expect with this barrel.

65grendel_zpsswuqhpne.jpg


For those interested, here's what it is composed of:
[*]Aero Precision lower with RRA NM trigger[*]RRA Operator A2 stock[*]20" Black Hole Weaponry barrel[*]UTG Pro FF tube[*]SWFA SS 6x42 scope[/list]

The scope may or may not stay on the rifle. If I use this rifle for coyote hunting I'll probably slap on my Leatherwood 1-4x scope. I'm pleasantly surprised that it weighs in right at 9.5 lbs, just a few ounces more than my stock RRA M4-gery with an Aimpoint.
 
Originally Posted By: ShoesNice lookin rifle! Just took the Grendel plunge myself.

What scope mount is that?

That is an SWFA SSALT mount.

I went to the range today. All in all I'm pretty happy with my Grendel so far. Once I got the gas key adjusted, and discovered that the Wolf Gold/PPU ammo I got is unreliable (won't be getting anymore of that!), I'm seeing a lot of promise with this rifle. The best group today was a 3 shot group into 0.6" using Hornady 123gr AMax ammo.

Regarding the Wolf Gold/PPU ammo, I had a lot of issues with failures to extract and light primer strikes. In fact, 4 rounds of the 20 round box I brought wouldn't fire. Looking at the rounds, the primers appear to be seated too deeply to get a reliable primer strike. In contrast, the Hornady ammo was 100% reliable.
 
My Grendel is my most accurate AR and is in my top 3 most accurate rifles. They all pretty much run neck and neck depending on the day, 25-06 700Sendero, .243 700BDL, Grendel. I can tell you if I had to go to one single rifle, the Grendel would most likely be my pick.
 
I'm just getting the parts together for my Grendel build. I'm going to be using the same barrel you used. I'm excited to get it together and send some lead downrange!
 
Originally Posted By: moonshine44I'm just getting the parts together for my Grendel build. I'm going to be using the same barrel you used. I'm excited to get it together and send some lead downrange!

Nice! I dunno where you are planning on buying the barrel, but I got mine from Surplusammo.com. Great company to deal with, got the barrel within a week of ordering so I didn't have to wait several weeks for BHW to make the barrel.
 
I just bought one used off this site. Shoots the amax extremely well. Anyone interested in a Kies compensator for one in stainless I have one I'd sell.
 
Originally Posted By: bleasI just bought one used off this site. Shoots the amax extremely well. Anyone interested in a Kies compensator for one in stainless I have one I'd sell.

Is it 5/8"-24? Shoot me a PM and let me know how much you want for it.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris.KOriginally Posted By: moonshine44I'm just getting the parts together for my Grendel build. I'm going to be using the same barrel you used. I'm excited to get it together and send some lead downrange!

Nice! I dunno where you are planning on buying the barrel, but I got mine from Surplusammo.com. Great company to deal with, got the barrel within a week of ordering so I didn't have to wait several weeks for BHW to make the barrel.

I ordered it from BHW. Not too worried about the delay 'cause I'm still waiting on the rest of the parts
 
Originally Posted By: Chris.KOriginally Posted By: ShoesNice lookin rifle! Just took the Grendel plunge myself.

What scope mount is that?

That is an SWFA SSALT mount.

I went to the range today. All in all I'm pretty happy with my Grendel so far. Once I got the gas key adjusted, and discovered that the Wolf Gold/PPU ammo I got is unreliable (won't be getting anymore of that!), I'm seeing a lot of promise with this rifle. The best group today was a 3 shot group into 0.6" using Hornady 123gr AMax ammo.

Regarding the Wolf Gold/PPU ammo, I had a lot of issues with failures to extract and light primer strikes. In fact, 4 rounds of the 20 round box I brought wouldn't fire. Looking at the rounds, the primers appear to be seated too deeply to get a reliable primer strike. In contrast, the Hornady ammo was 100% reliable.

Great information about your PPU experience. We recently had a series of rounds showing over pressure. We were running a client through operation of his 6.5 shooting out to 500yds. He was tagging everything he scoped with the Hornady Amax. We switched to the PPU. His confidence was building and his rpm's were picking up. On round #8 we were engulfed in black smoke. The casing had blown out the side and the primer was blown. We examined the other 7 rounds and found another missing primer and 5 cases showing other signs of over pressure. We lost the magazine but the rest of the rifle was intact.

We went back out the next day and verified that the rifle was still functional. It ran 20 rounds od Hornady just fine. We ran handloads just fine. We loaded and fired 3 tounds of PPU. 1st round looked good. #2 showed signs of over pressure. #3 blew out the primer. We changed to a second rifle. Same results.

It seems that at 98 degrees, when the chamber gets heat soaked, the pressures start to climb.

I was plannig on posting the complete findings on another thread with pics, but your experience warranted this response.

Congrats on joining the Grendel Nation. Wonderful cartridge.
 
Sorry for the delayed response SnowmanMo. I ended up sending back the unused ammo to Wolf, and they replaced it with 6 boxes of their steel-cased ammo. Say what you want about their ammo, but their customer service is top notch! It will be interesting to see how the steel-cased stuff runs, and how accurate it is. At the very least, its some cheap plinking ammo to break the rifle in. I'll be heading to the range tomorrow to get my Grendel zeroed at 100 yards. Then I'll play around with some of the steel stuff and see how it shoots.

I've got some reloading components on the way, but this will primarily be a hunting gun, so I'm not planning on running ammo through it like I would my .223 guns. It will be fun to play around with some different loads, but with Hornady A-Max ammo costing just over $1/round I probably won't be investing too much time or effort into trying to find the perfect load -- primarily because with a 1-4x scope on top I'm not really capable of doing much precise shooting beyond 50 yards. Perhaps that's just another excuse to buy another Grendel barrel...
 
Steel case Grendel stuff? There is no way I'd risk any damage to my chamber with steel cases the way mine shoots. Not saying it will screw yours up, I just wouldn't take the chance. Mine shoots incredibly well with 8208 and 123 g. Amax bullets in hornady and laupa brass.
 
Meh, I'm not that paranoid. I also reload steel .223! :p

On a side note, I didn't bother shooting any of the steel stuff today. It was just too dang hot!
 
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