6.5 Grendel

AdamT

AdamT

Well-known member
I have a few bare uppers that need to be completed, so I ordered a 6.5 Grendel barrel on a whim for one. The barrel is a 22” Wilson Combat, stainless fluted, rifle gas, with 1:8 twist. This is a new caliber for me as well as my first endeavor with Wilson Combat.

Any type of odd particularities with the Grendel cartridge?
Anybody have any experience with Wilson Combat barrels?

Thinking about trying the 90 grain Varmageddon loads in it first. No real solid plans for the rifle, possibly an alternative calling rifle and groundhogs, maybe a deer rifle for my son and daughter, maybe just paper???
 
SnowmanMo is the man to talk with when it comes to Grendels. Excellent all around round. Varmageddons are fantastic bullets. I run them in 62 grains out of my .223. I think you'll love that round. Have fun with your build.
 
Probably would have been better off at 18" vs. 22" if a carry rifle.

I've been using the Hornady 123gr SST with 28.0grs 8208XRB... accurate and very deadly on hogs, deer, and coyote.

Have not had a need to play with other bullets or powders, 8208XBR is one of the top powders for the Grendel.
 
Probably would have been better off at 18" vs. 22" if a carry rifle.

I've been using the Hornady 123gr SST with 28.0grs 8208XRB... accurate and very deadly on hogs, deer, and coyote.

Have not had a need to play with other bullets or powders, 8208XBR is one of the top powders for the Grendel.
 
Thanks fellas.

I almost went with an 18”, but I’m happy with the feel of my others that have 22” barrels, and the few extra fps won’t be a bad thing. Most of my AR hunting is done at night, off a tripod, not so far from the truck/atv so won’t be carrying it very far. Kids also deer hunt off the tripod out of a blind, but I get to hump it in and out, so that’ll likely be the most it gets carried.

I use the SST bullets in my .270 on deer and the results have always been very lethal, I’ll definitely go that route if we end up using it in the deer woods.
 
I HAD two Grendels. One in an AR platform and the other a Howa Mini in a chassis. The Howa shot circles around the AR so I kept the Howa and sent the AR down the road. Since 8208 is impossible to find in my area, I've been using H335 and a 95 grain V-Max. So far its a very accurate load and I can find both powder and bullets.
 
We have killed a truckloads of deer and antelope with our grendel using the 123 amax and got along great. All 4 of my daughters like it really well. Only issue I have had is reloading 95 vmax. Gotta watch COAL or might stick the bullet in the lands in my gun loaded to the length that some of my manuals state. The ogive on that bullet is a little different from what I understand.
 
I may be mistaken, but I think YELLOWHAMMER has been shooting a 6.5G for a while now. He might also have some insight for you. If he doesn't see this you might want to shoot him a message.
 
The Nosler 129gn ABLR is an excellent deer bullet in the Grendel bc it upsets down to 1,300fps. 8208, Tac, Benchmark and CFE are all great powders for the Grendel. The new Sierra 105gn Blitzking is showing good promise as an all around bullet. I still need to wring out some more testing on it.

Also, PSA is talking about bringing out a 123gn load in the fall at a very affordable price like their Sabre Blade Black Tip.
 
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Finally got the rifle together. Still need to get it lined up. Got some factory Hornady Black ammo to start with and have some Hornady Custom with the SSTs on the way.

I got a couple ASC magazine to use with it, but was wondering about using my PRI 6.8 mags also. The Grendel ammo loads in good and cycles manually without issue. The PRIs are 15 round capacity and I loaded 8 in them and manually cycled through them without a problem. I guess live fire testing will tell the whole story but was curious if anyone had used them before. This testing was done without swapping followers for what it’s worth.
 
I've had good results with hornady 123 sst and revaluation powder ,in my BHW 20 in barrel, closest I could get to hornady factory loads ,for some reason I couldn't get the fps I wanted with 8208 .
 
I've been shooting a grendel for almost 15 years (or more) I've used it on antelope, deer, hogs, coyotes, bobcats, fox and more.
My preferred load right now for all purpose is the 100gr nosler Ballistic tip, but I've also loaded it with barnes ttsx, 95gr vmax, 90gr varmageddon and 123gr amax/eld.
And used all of those loads on game.
Preferred powder is 8208xbr, mags asc or cproducts.
 
I have 2 Grendel's. Its a good cartridge as long as you don't try to hot rod it. I've broken 2 bolts and went from an 18" to a 20" trying to get more speed. It's just not there. That being said it's a great cartridge if used within it's limits. I like shooting the 105 Blitz Kings and 90 gr Varmageddons. For any kind of hunting I just prefer another cartridge but that's for a different thread.
 
Originally Posted By: Coyote-conquestI have 2 Grendel's. Its a good cartridge as long as you don't try to hot rod it. I've broken 2 bolts and went from an 18" to a 20" trying to get more speed. It's just not there. That being said it's a great cartridge if used within it's limits. I like shooting the 105 Blitz Kings and 90 gr Varmageddons. For any kind of hunting I just prefer another cartridge but that's for a different thread.

What powder are you running with the 105 BK's? I have 500 to play with.
 
pyscodog said:
I HAD two Grendels. One in an AR platform and the other a Howa Mini in a chassis. The Howa shot circles around the AR so I kept the Howa and sent the AR down the road. Since 8208 is impossible to find in my area, I've been using H335 and a 95 grain V-Max. So far its a very accurate load and I can find both powder and bullets.
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Mind sharing load specifics?
 
pyscodog said:
I HAD two Grendels. One in an AR platform and the other a Howa Mini in a chassis. The Howa shot circles around the AR so I kept the Howa and sent the AR down the road. Since 8208 is impossible to find in my area, I've been using H335 and a 95 grain V-Max. So far its a very accurate load and I can find both powder and bullets.
Click to expand...
I've been working on that same combination. H335 is all I was able to find as well, what grain of powder do you use?
 
Sprinkman said:
I've been working on that same combination. H335 is all I was able to find as well, what grain of powder do you use?
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Im at 30.3 gr of h335 & a 95 vmax producing 2750 fps outa a 20" bear creek. Grouping about an inch in heavy wind. Not done testing either. My rifle seems oal sensitive wanting max mag oal.
 
AdamT said:
.... was wondering about using my PRI 6.8 mags also...
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Not much experience here, but I started with 6.8 mags and had unreliable feed of 2nd or 3rd round.
It cleared up when using proper Grendel mags, think the plunger geometry is a bit different and spring is softer on G mags.
Interested to hear if your 6.8 mags do any better.
 
coyotekilla83 said:
Im at 30.3 gr of h335 & a 95 vmax producing 2750 fps outa a 20" bear creek. Grouping about an inch in heavy wind. Not done testing either. My rifle seems oal sensitive wanting max mag oal.
Click to expand...
Awesome, I've worked up to 29.7 so far. Im gonna try your 30.3 and see what happens. As far as oal, I've been using 2.251" with no issues. Thanks for the info.
 
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