Now, why no 1/10 twist on a 6.8? I thought about going 6.8 on the LMT MRP, but am nuts deep in .223 and 6.5 mags, and don't want to start down that trail again. But I have 1/7 on my 5.66 barrels and it shoots lighter bullets fine (55grain), and always liked to be able to shoot longer bullets. Whats the scoop?

AKMAN

Barrel life is shorter.

As some of you probable have noticed I'm working a my first AR-15. Been reading up on 6.8, 6.5 and the 5.56. Should I stay with the 5.56 because of the ammo availability or get one of the other for the better ballistics they offer? Thx.

I'm more or less at this point with my AR, but after a couple of years of reading and watching the progress of the 6.5 Grendel I've fixed on it as my caliber of choice.

I'll be using both factory loaded rounds and handloads, since I have a 6.5 Remington Magnum (a Remington model 673) as my long range rifle, that encouraged my choice of the Grendel too. I have some really interesting bullets I want to shoot in an AR, the Barnes 110 grain banded solid being one of them.

I've read some negatives about the 6.5 Grendel and its functionality, but based on my 40+ years of loading for and shooting rifles, all of it that I've seen is mythology. If the AR was only available in 5.56 I wouldn't be building one.

I'm really looking forward to completing my AR.

Is 6.5 ammo common or is it going to be a pain to find?

Since you handload, Mike Milli aka Dtech makes a 6.5mm/243WSSM wildcat so you can take advantage of the 6.5 bullets with a lot more umph than the Grendel but still fits on the AR-15 chassis. www.dtechsuperstore.com He is the guy who pioneered the WSSM platform AR rifles. For commercial ammo and ballistics that outperform the Grendel the standard 243WSSM does it as well without going wildcat.

Is 6.5 ammo common or is it going to be a pain to find?

I have only had my Grendel since May. I started gathering brass, dies ect in Feb, and have had no problem gathering components for reloading. I also ordered 500 rounds of Wolf ammo and really wish that I had not, as it's not that good.

I have never seen Grendel ammo on a store shelf, but then I purchased two rifles from Gander Mountain in Tyler, Tx and they did not have and still do not have ammo in those calibers, one a 32-20 Marlin the other a .375H&H CZ. They have had several 375 rifles sold there and cannot understand why no ammo.

I do not think you will ever find the Grendel to be common, however if you reload, brass should never be a problem. Forming it is one of the easiest things you can do. Just get some 7.62x39 brass, aka., AK-47 brass, run it through a Grendle resizing die, load with a slightly reduced charge and shoot. you will have a perfectly formed case and these fireforming loads are plenty good for casual fun shooting, I have found mine to be very accurate. I purchased 2000 cases last spring when I found a good price so may have a lifetime supply of brass, or nearly so.

How do you think the Wolf cases will fare when reloaded? Will you have to anneal the cases to avoid splitting them, common with lower quality brass, or will they hold up well in your opinion?

Well, Boston T. Party says we should have at least 10k rounds for each of the calibers we have rifles, your 2-3k stockpile is a good start on that.

I am curious, how many rounds of 243 WSSM can you get into a M16 30 round sized magazine?

Wildcats, especially oddballs like the WSSM are interesting from a 'wow ma, look what I can do' standpoint and little else. They won't get any mainstream support and will almost always be relegated to the handloaders who dabble in arcane calibers looking for a hardware solution.

As for Grendel 6.5 brass (Priv Partisan aka PPU), the necks are too thin and generally suffer from a case seperation within 2-3 reloadings. Pretty well known issue over at 65grendel.com. When its available, you can snag Wolf 6.5 MPT for .50c or so a round, pull the bullet and use it for a handload. The best brass is obviously Lapua when you can find it.

Originally Posted By LaRue_Tactical:
So, thinking about producing a non-5.56 caliber, the 6.5 Grendel, I thought it best to go do some testing ...

On the flight up to Greeley, me and the Navion passed by a town called Munday, Texas.

So, I flew by Munday ... on a Thursday.



Set a box out at exactly 325 yd. to confirm the 325 yd. dot zero ... shot, checked (knowing I left it 2 moa high) , then came down that 2 moa and shot twice more ... ummm, convincing ... and not bad shootin' ...

After shooting last two shots, I mindlessly took the scope off to show the ranch owner. I then put it back on and didn't think another thing about it. I later heard he was a little concerned I didn't shoot some more to re-zero.



Elk country ...



I can see the shot in this next pic, it was 405 yards across this draw ... wind howling. Using a BOG tripod, rock-solid, I held 20; best-guess into the wind and let fly.



This is how I found him just 10 yds from the point-of-impact. My spotter said he whirled to the left and was instantly out-of-sight.







We took off all the orange stuff for some pics ...



Starting in on field dressing ...



Got him down the hill just at dark ...





The flight back.

Processed meat was under this pile tied-together with the hidden seat belts. I was flying alone, so held the camera out for a self-portrait ...

If he'd been any bigger, then I would have had fit-issues getting him in the Navion.



Kansas is soaking wet ... corn is still green ...



Thought it best to verify the Garmin's accuracy, so I dropped down to check a road sign on a long stretch of deserted Texas road ... no cars seen for miles on that one ...



The Navion is back in the hangar ... the meat's in the freezer ...



So, this is not the end-all-be-all of tests, but those 120 grain Triple Shox did shoot clean through an elk side-to-side, standing 405 yards across the way. Don't know how much damage it did, but it sure did kill hell out of him. He was guartering slightly away, and I missed my wind guess by ~5, so I hit him just behind the diaphragm, it then passed through the diaphragm halfway through him, zipped through his left lung and exited behind his left foreleg. YMMV.

A nice side benefit of hunting, all meat is hormone-free and organic, just the way my honey likes it.

M. LaRue