Bullet for 6.5mm Grendel

T

tangolima

New member
New to loading this cartridge. What bullet weight are you guys loading with? 6.5mm projectiles have become silly expensive and most of them are 140gr. I think they work the best with higher volume rounds such as 6.5mm creedmore or 6.5mm swedish mauser. For Grendel it could be too heavy. Thanks in advance for your inputs.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
I’m a bit new to the Grendel also. I picked the round over the 6.8 SPC purely because I have bullets and powder (for my 260) that’ll work for the Grendel. I bought some Hornady factory loads with the 123 gr SST to get some brass for reloading. So far I’m loading the 95 gr V-Max as I generate empty brass, but my long term hope is to get my hands on some more 100 gr Nosler Ballistic Tips. That’s the bullet I want to hunt deer and pigs with. It works great in the 260 and I’m thinking that it should do very well at the lower velocity in the Grendel.
 
@tangolima: The answer is what you surmised and what "mehavey" said: Lighter bullets work better. Like "603country", I bought 200 rounds of 123 grain hornady, 'black' ammunition for the brass. I have three boxes of Lapua 108 grain scenars for re-loading my howa, mini 1500 bolt action grendel. Haven't decided on a powder, but given the powder scarcity and expense, I'll try to make do with a powder already in my stock.
 
i am shooting an ar that i built, and so far i have a good load worked up with the hornady 95gr v-max shoots really well

and i am working on a load with the sierra 120gr spitzer pro hunter bullet #1720...i wanted to use it in this rifle for deer this year but i have run out of time, season starts next sat. the load i have so far is probably good enough but my brain dont work in good enough so i will be using the CM again this year

the 95gr would probably be ok but i like a little bigger hammer...i have an old 250 savage 99 that was punched out to 250AI and it likes 100gr sierra bullets but they are running about 400fps faster out of the savage

i use a sierra 130gr bullet in the CM and it is lights out...killed 4 deer DRT..and 6 yotes, nothing has taken another step

you might have luck with a 130gr in the grendel but i think velocity would be the deciding factor, maybe not

like mehavey said 100-123gr...but there are some out liers that could work too, im sure

biggest problem i have is finding powder that i want to try...been looking for so 8208 for about a year now...some will pop up when i least expect it..

good luck with your Grendel...it is a fun round to play with

oh and if you are interested Creedmoor sports has starline grendel brass at a good price....well they did yesterday....just a thought

ocharry
 
Last edited:
To the OP, chances are that bullets ranging from 85-140 gr. will work well enough for you if you have a standard 1:8 twist rate.

If for hunting, like others, I tend to be a fan of lighter Grendel bullets (but only certain ones) for hunting. I also like some heavier 130s as well. It just depends on what you want from the rifle/bullet/target combo. I don't know that lighter bullets work better per se. They all seem to do well within their own parameters and whether or not they work well for you will depend on our wants/needs.

140s are NOT too much for the Grendel, but they are pretty much at the top end of heavy bullets. It starts getting tough getting the proper amount of powder in the case when you get above 140 and you may find it difficult to properly load 140s with some powders or cases withe slightly reduced capacities. Previously, I have tested some 140 gr. Nosler BTHP on hogs and a 'buck' (see below).
https://youtu.be/38Qb-BjA3j0
https://youtu.be/BvtAMZuW5jg
https://youtu.be/0_UR3y4CZ2Y

I also have some 140 ELD-M and Interlocks to try out that were loaded by Druid Hill Armory.

Now, if you are just plinking and/or doing some hunting, probably my favorites are 90 gr Speer TNT bullets. They are best on larger varmints (beaver/coyotes) or medium/large game (deer and hogs), but they basically explode inside the animal. At 90 gr., they are fast for Grendel bullets and with the rifle rifle should get you 1 MOA...plus they are inexpensive for hunting bullets.

The most destructive bullet I have shot from the Grendel is the 130 gr. Berger VLD-Hunting loaded by Precision Firearms. These do NOT perform as advertised and do not deposit all of the energy inside the animal. Instead, at Grendel velocities, they tend to break up, but then make for large and long wound channels. While I still have about 150 of these onhand, I don't hunt with them because I don't care for the lower velocity when it comes to leading running hogs and the more holdover needed at distance. I prefer faster, flatter trajectory bullets for less lead and less holdover inside 300 yards, but the damage done by the VLD-Hunting is just impressive (fired from 20" barrel, IIRC).
https://youtu.be/wqKHml1J-bw

I have a 28" Grendel build that I am looking to see what sort of extra velocity I might be able to get out of these same loads and also see what the performance looks like on hogs. I hope to also compare that with a 12.5" barrel in the near future as well.
 
Thanks guys for the info.

I don't hunt (yet). Target shooting up to 800yd is my goal at the moment. The barrel has 1:8 twist rate.

I bought the rifle from a local forum member. It came with some Hornady 95gr v-max bullets. It is the only bullet I have loaded. They seem doing well with slightly better than 1" group at 100yd. Now I'm running out 95gr bullets and wonder whether a slightly heavier bullets (100gr - 125gr) would give me more advantage to go longer distance. They tend to have higher BC. Anything heavier seems struggling. Just my hunch.

Money is tight and bullets are expensive (easily $0.40 and even more). That further limits my options.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
I'm also eyeing Hornady ELD 120gr. Found source online for $0.32 a round. Will develop a load for that.

I have my own rudimentary figure of merits to gauge bullet performance. The idea is to minimize flight time to distant target. You want high MV and high BC for that. I just compare MV * BC. All Hornady as they seem to have good value and availability. I like Speer too if I can find them.

90gr TNT, MV 2906fps, BC 0.28, 813
95gr v-max, MV 2780fps, BC 0.365, 1015
100gr a-max, MV 2688fps, BC 0.39, 1048
120gr ELD, MV 2400fps, BC 0.458, 1099
140gr SST, MV 2200fps, BC 0.521, 1144

140gr bullets seems to win out in longer range. I shouldn't rule them out just yet. Will some to develop a load when I find a good price.

-TL

PS Spent some time on ballistic calculator. I think the best around is the 120gr ELD. 2nd is 95gr v-max. 3rd is 140gr match. I will get busy.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
I'm shooting mostly the 120 ELD and 95 VMax because that's what I can find on the shelf at LGS. Have shot the 130 ELD but seems to be slow for this cartage application as mid-range platform, could be wrong. It seems the 95 to 123 range is where it's at with 6.5 Grendel. Have had good luck with BLC-2 and TAC powders, I have tried Varget and CFE223. Finding brass for this one is tough, started with converting 762x39, then found some Hornady and Nosler seconds recently.
 
I took a medium sized doe this morning with the 260 and the 120 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip. I am now further convinced that the 100 gr Nosler BT would be about perfect for deer and hogs using the 6.5 Grendel.
 
Tried Hornady SST 140gr bullets. Accuracy is good. No problem going better than 0.5moa. But had hard time get the speed over 2200fps. It actually have less energy than 95gr. I will go back to 95-120gr and save 140gr for Creedmore or Swedish mauser.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top