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Old July 14, 2017, 11:06 PM   #1
FloridaGuy
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6.5 Grendel Build or Buy

I am thinking of getting into a 6.5 Grendel chambered rifle. Anyone have any experience with that caliber? If so what is your option on it. I have been doing some reasearch and I have not found many places that sell the parts needed to build an Upper. I have found several places that sell complete uppers. I am not sure which way to go on this. Any comments would be great.
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Old July 14, 2017, 11:20 PM   #2
wbbh
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I got a 6.5 Grendel AR upper from Model 1 and more recently a Howa bolt action 1500 mini barreled action from Brownells. They are currently on sale there for $350!

http://www.brownells.com/rifle-parts...prod84752.aspx
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Old July 15, 2017, 12:47 AM   #3
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Brownells has the Satern barrels that come with a bolt in stock. What else are you not readily locating as far as parts in your area?

http://www.brownells.com/rifle-parts...zzx5%2bGrendel
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Old July 15, 2017, 02:03 AM   #4
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MSR Hunt has a lot of information on the Grendel. Especially when it comes to barrels and reloading. Satern or AR15 Performance would be my choice for a decent Grendel barrel. AR15 Performance also sells a more stout bolt.

http://www.msrhunt.com/post/grendel-...-tiers-8625533
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Old July 15, 2017, 03:05 AM   #5
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Grendel/264 lbc is a great cartridge--but also one of the most finicky in an AR IMO. So paying extra money for a well-matched bolt and barrel is worth it. And the magazines--they too can easily cause frustrating issues with reliable feeding. My personal opinion is that much of this "finickiness" is due to an inherently problematic design of the case with a set-back shoulder not getting enough pitch lift on the way in to the chamber by typical M4 ramps with long pointy bullets. If you buy hornady's excellent 123 sst ammo, you'll find it operates very well in most builds. Last box I had I measured the COL as significantly under the max (which I've found is a sort of band aid solution)--so there's a point of diminishing returns if you have to make the cartridge shorter (less powder, longer jump to lands). It's a good "OCD build" if you like tweaking things and trying to figure out what works best. It can also drive you nuts.

I often see on-line discussions about the grendel being an ideal replacement for the 5.56 for the military--I bet that would never happen in a select-fire high volume firing weapon.
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Old July 15, 2017, 12:28 PM   #6
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I would also look to www.65grendelforum.com for information. Very well informed folks there

Grendel is a neat intermediate round. I really like it for hunting. It is my primary caliber and I currently own 3, soon to be 4 Grendels. Number 4 is going to be a sponsored upper from a small shop out of Minnesota.

I document my Grendel hunts here...
https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange

I don't consider the Grendel to be particularly fickle when it comes to feeding. I have no issues with factory loads going into chamber or rounds resized to proper Grendel specs. I have had issues with people providing reloaded ammo for me to test that isn't sized to Grendel specs. Either they size it to .264 LBC specs or they size it to what they have decided is optimal for some reason. Rounds that would not feed properly for me also would not fit properly in the case guage for 6.5 Grendel. Go Figure. Stick to proper sizing and you should not have problems.

Magazines, well when they are made correctly they work great. Several folks have had an issue with rounds hanging up in the magazine, though several folks thought it was a chambering issue until they adjusted their mags. The front of the mag case, if too high, or if the feed lips are angled too low, will catch on the lip of the case mouth and hang up. Removing excess metal from the front of the magazine or opening the front of the feed lips slightly to change the angle of the cartridge as it feeds will resolve the issue. I have had mags that require no changes and others that do.

Plenty of folks build them. I don't have the time or the tools to do it correctly (or any other AR for that matter). So I buy mine or have them built. I typically just buy the upper and buy the lower separately, saving on the excise tax (which applies to the lower or to complete guns).
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Last edited by Double Naught Spy; July 15, 2017 at 03:30 PM.
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Old July 15, 2017, 02:42 PM   #7
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I bought an 18" upper off of grendelhunter.com. It's 1 MOA which is probably better than I'll ever hit again...

edit: I was shooting Hornady SST120g. I've not tried any other ammo types.

The customer service is A+ as well
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Old July 17, 2017, 11:39 AM   #8
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I bought an AA Overwatch upper from Midway and trimmed the barrel to 20". Added a trigger and it is, hands down, my most accurate rifle (out of 9). 3 shots into .250 and 5 into .330. Have 100 rounds through mine with no exceptions. Load is Hornady case, WSR, 30gr of CFE223, under a 123SST for 2450. The Overwatch has a heavy barrel, so I'll look to a light one next.
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Old August 5, 2017, 12:47 PM   #9
ed308
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Not sure if you planning to build and have purchased a barrel. If building a Grendel, AR15 Performance has 20" Grendel barrels on sale for $155.00. The barrels are marked .264/6.5 Grendel and use a .135-.136 bolt recess. Every ARP barrel I've owned shoots 1/2" groups at 100 yards. I've come close to pulling the trigger on one those barrels but have held off since I already have three 6.8. If you want one with one his Grendel bolts, just write it in the comments section. I may do the TAC 6 (6mm cat on 6.8 case) when they come in. Also thinking of converting my .308 AR10 to 6.5 Creedmoor.

http://www.ar15performance.com/inc/sdetail/38016/41933
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Old August 6, 2017, 06:40 AM   #10
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There seems to be this constant bolt breakage argument with the 6.5G

Has that been 100% solved?

The 6.5 has an awesome BC bullets to load
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