[iamkris]

My experiences with the 6.5 Grendel was not that good. There is potential in the cartridge but it was a PITA.

I really liked what the cartridge claimed to be. I've always been a 6.5 mm bullet fan...they "hit harder than they should" due to the excellent BC and trajectory and the SD numbers for penetration. I was looking to get a 800-1000 yard gun in an AR15 package.

I bought a 24" AA Overwatch upper. Difficult as heck to find components to reload (even before Obama-mania). Long waits from AA. Bought Wolf Gold to get cases...they wouldn't feed and turned the rifle into a single shot/hand feed. The cases bulged in the AA barrel and were unloadable.

The cartridge was finicky with over 20 loads tried. I finally gave up...the reality didn't live up to the hype for me. Too much trouble trying to get and "accurate" cartridge to be accurate. I've been reloading for 25 years and have crafted extraordinarily accurate rounds for many cartridges...but couldn't make it happen with this rifle.

I built an 18" 6.5 Grendel upper to see if it was just the Overwatch upper I was having trouble with. I had EXACTLY the same issues with this one.

I finally got sick of dinking around with the cartridge and sold both uppers and built a 6.8 SPC upper. It is not an accuracy machine but holds its own (~1.5 MOA) with perfectly adequate accuracy. It has much more punch than the 5.56 and with the comp I have on it the recoil is much less than a .308 in a package that is less weight as well. I am very pleased with it.

Hopefully my experiences were unique and/or things have gotten better. However, if I want a 1000 yard semi auto in the future, I'll get a AR10 sized lower and get a .260 or a 6.5 Creedmore.