6.5 grendel question

[Jburke]

I have been reading up on swapping out my 5.56 for a bigger caliber for deer.  The 6.5 seems to be a great choice ofr this task.  My first question is the ammo readily available locally, or will it be something that I need to order online?  I do not reload so that is not currently an option.  Also is there another caliber option that would be a better choice in an AR-15 platform?  It would be preferable to be able to get ammo locally but it won't be a deal breaker either way.  I want to use it for deer, and maybe occasionally some yotes. 

[FALFire]

Also look into the 6.8SPC, there is several brands of commercial ammo available.

[Huntbear]

Have you looked at the WSSM chamberings?  I know Olympic Arms and I think one or two other companies make them.  I have one in .243 WSSM...  I love it.  Good deer round, no recoil, and I can not wait to see what it does with yotes...  I would love to find an upper in 25 wssm as well.  There is also a 300 wssm/ossm for the .308 caliber guys. 

OH, the 243wssm and 25 wssm are both available here in Ellensburg off the shelf at Bi Mart or one of the gun shops.

[Biggerhammer]

You can get the 6.5 Grendel ammo pretty much anywhere. Hornady is one of the ammo industries standards. You can have any firearms/Ammo dealer or retailer order it in for you if they don't have it on the shelf. Comparing the 6.5 Grendel to the 6.8 SPC is like comparing apples to oranges. Both cartridges were not designed to compete for the same purpose. The Grendel was designed for point blank to semi extended ranges. Bill Alexander submitted it for military testing under the pretense of 800 meter capability for soft target interdiction in the 24-26" barrel length. The 6.8 SPC was offered as one shot stop capability for Operaters clearing caves and kicking doors in the sandbox and caves of Afganistan. There were concerns with the performance of the issue 5.56 not having the stoping power they preferred, guys constantly had to shoot tango's into the group. Multiple shots were required more often than not.

In the end with the differences in use and expactains of each cartridges application. If you were to run them side by side out to 800 meters. The Grendel would be fishing and the 6.8 SPC would still be digging for worms.

[Jburke]

I haven't really thought much about the short mags.  Guess that's something worth looking into as well. 

[Biggerhammer]

I haven't really thought much about the short mags.  Guess that's something worth looking into as well.

The 6.5 Grendel you can do yourself. Bolt, barrel and magazine and it's a done deal. The WSSM cartridges required machining to the ejection port or they need to be purchased as a complete upper or rifle.

[scottcrb]

im interested in this caliber as well for yotes and some deer hunting/plinkiing. love to hear more. see some builds maybe.

[FALFire]

I haven't really thought much about the short mags.  Guess that's something worth looking into as well.

The 6.5 Grendel you can do yourself. Bolt, barrel and magazine and it's a done deal. The WSSM cartridges required machining to the ejection port or they need to be purchased as a complete upper or rifle.

  Not only that but as far as I know, there are only a couple of gunsmiths allowed to make the WSSM calibers. Oly Arms, last I heard was not selling any of the WSSM specific parts to anyone for a home build job. This may have changed in the recent year or two  So it is something you will need to check into.

AR15Performance.com also has plans to build a 6BR and  a 6BRX shoulder change which would be great options to the AR platform.

Keep in mind too that Oly Arms is now offering a 22-250 that has turned out to be pretty impressive. Black Hole Weaponry makes 22-250 barrels for the AR10 platform if that is something that interests you guys.

[Biggerhammer]

This Grendel has smoked a bunch of Rockchucks and Yotes.





The same Grendel above before I changed out the hand guard, went to a Rainer Arms upper reciver and ditched the JP adjustable gas block. Bad chuck medicine .











One of it's better  300 yards groups, using factory Hornady 123gr A-Max. It's a solid 1/2 MOA or better upper if I do my part.




This is one of my younger brothers bucks, shot with a 6.5 Grendel carbine at 493 yards. This was his first AR Build. Alexander 16" M4 carbine barrel. In the pic you can see the gas tube. He ordered the wrong hand guard(Carbine length) we didn't have time before the season to reorder and install a mid length but as you can see, it got the job done. The glass is a Vortex 2-7x with BDC. Which matched our 120gr Ballistic Tip loads perfectly for drop out to 500 yards. The glass has since been replaced.

[carpsniperg2]

I have really got into the 6.5 grendel as well. For what you are looking at it is a perfect fit. Hammer and FAL both said what I would have posted

[JohnVH]

I built my 6.5Grendel last year, shot a bunch of coyotes with it all over 200yds away. I reload for mine. I went for the 16" barrel because its manueverable, and the longer barrels dont make the bullet go much faster. Hope to shoot a deer with mine, maybe a bear or something also.

http://www.65grendel.com/

[carpsniperg2]

Well since we are showing off our grendels

Here is mine.

Sabre Defence Competition Special 6.5 Grendel 20" fluted
Spikes lower
RRA 2 stage kit
ergo grip
spikes buffer and spring
MAGPUL PRS stock
spikes trigger gaurd

She has a leupold mount on it right now and I am going back on fourth on what scope would be best on her

[Jburke]

Well I think to do this I am considering selling my trusty old 06 and replacing it with the 6.5.  Since most of my rifle hunting is for deer or bear I'm not worried about being limited on anything bigger really.  A gunsmith friend of mine did however mention that most of the builds he has done for hunters have been 6.8 spc and the 6.5 he built was for competition use.  He also recomended doing the complete upper as to make it an easy swap anytime I wanted to change it up.  What is the cost difference between swapping the required parts vs the entire upper?

[Jburke]

Also I see that I can order the barrel from BHW with threaded barrel or target crown.  Which is recomended?  Benefit of one versus the other?

[Jim the Plumber]

You should seriously reconsider using the 6.5 Grendel on bear. It has less muzzle energy than the 30-30 Win.
The 6.8SPC at least has slightly more muzzle energy than a 30-30 Win.
I wouldn't consider using any of the above 3 rounds on bear.