handloading Archives

History

Its not every day that I get to write about a cartridge that I remember coming out, but today is one of those. It was twenty something years ago, I was a much younger fella recently married and a son on the way when I first learned about the 6.5 Grendel. Even back then 6.5’s were hot, so when I heard about the 6.5 Grendel I paid attention.

The little Grendel came from Alexander Arms, and the whole idea was to put higher Ballistic Coefficient (BC) bullets into an AR-15. Bumping up the case size was also necessary in order to get these 6.5 Bullets up to a respectable speed. All this to create a cartridge that would make the AR-15 more lethal at distances beyond 500 yards or more.

The popularity of the Grendel has led to similar cartridges gaining fame as well. The 6 ARC has become extremely popular for similar reasons, and now the 22 ARC is following its footsteps.

22 ARC, 6 ARC, and the 6.5 Grendel

6.5 Grendel Dimensions

The 6.5 Grendel inherited a similar volume from it PPC/220 Russian parent case, the case volume is approximately 35 grains of water. Typical Grendel powder charges run between 20-ish and 30-ish grains of powder, depending of course on the powder and bullet choice. These mild charges are not too different from charges used in the .223 or other comparable cartridges. This allows the 6.5 Grendel to propel 100-140 grain bullets up to velocities like 2300 to 2600. These are some pretty general numbers, that obviously are subject to change.

Left to Right: 308 Winchester, 6.5 Grendel, 223 Remington

The odd size of the Grendel case has some other consequences as well. With its .449 bolt-face it falls between the .223 bolts used in most AR-15 rifles and the very common 308 sized bolt-face in larger rifle platforms. Luckily due to popularity of the Grendel and similar cartridges, this has become less of a problem. 7.62×39, .224 Valkyrie and others have made the midsized bolt-face more mainstream.

I’ve used great mag options from both Duramag and Amend 2

Additionally, due to its shape and proportions, the Grendel requires a different magazine to feed from AR rifles. There are a few different options out there including followers and complete mag-housings that have been altered to fit the Grendel and its offspring.

My Test Rifle

The rifle featured in this article for testing purposes is a Bear Creek Arsenal bolt-action upper. A handy and cost effective way to convert from one firearms type to another. It features one of their eighteen-inch heavy barrels and threaded 5/8-24 which fits perfect for my suppressor. The 1:8 twist works great with bullets commonly loaded for the Grendel. I used a Maven RS.3 5-30X50 scope which was probably a little more than necessary, but welcome.

bear creek arsenal, bca, bc-15, bolt-action, ar15, bolt-action AR15, 6.5 Grendel, Maven optics,

the Banish Meateater suppressor did a fine job of suppressing the Grendel

Ballistics

Part of the idea behind the Grendel was improved ballistic performance from the AR-15 rifle. With 5.56/.223 chambered rifles, most were shooting bullets from 55grains up to 75-80 grains. Which can be very useful for a great many things, but at 800 yards they have significantly deteriorated performance. That is where the Grendel comes in, even with a light for caliber bullet like a 123 grain 6.5, the Grendel far exceeds even the heavy .224 bullets. For comparison, a couple loads shown below; an average and heavy 5.56 load compared to an average and heavy Grendel load.

Load Data	Velocity/Energy @400yds	Velocity/Energy @800yds
5.56 55gr FMJ 3250 FPS	1800fps/395lbs	1000fps/120lbs
5.56 75gr BTHP 2910 FPS	2025fps/680lbs	1340fps/300lbs
6.5 Grendel 123gr 2450 FPS	1875fps/965lbs	1380fps/520lbs
6.5 Grendel 140gr 2330 FPS	1880fps/1100lbs	1475fps/680lbs

The Grendel loads can have thirty percent or more energy at further distances, which could be vital when incapacitating a target. While velocities are comparable, the energy of the heavier bullets carries further, and better.

Preface

Just a few days ago, the fools in our government once again took another bite out of our ability to enjoy our rights as firearm owners. Curtailing the imports of modest priced (if there is such a thing) ammunition will only further drive up the demand and price of the ammunition that we can buy. Today’s subject is Ammunition Prepping, and how preparing for ammo shortages can keep you safe.
I’d like to think of myself as a pretty prepared person, I keep the Scout motto somewhere near the forefront of my mind. So as soon as I was old enough to reason (probably about 25) I decided it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start my career as a prepper. It wasn’t food stuffs, MRE’s, and cans of beans, though there have been a few of each stashed under my roof over the years. No, my focus was directed at something far more valuable than bagged Vietnam era pork with rice in BBQ sauce. I had enough foresight, and knew myself well enough that I would need lots of ammo in the future. Precious metals like lead and copper have an incredible value on a stressed market, and if things get bad enough that I find myself tearing open that brown bag of pork, I image the value will quadruple overnight.

old cases of ammo, stored carefully for a rainy day

I’m sure every one of us has thought about building a time machine, and traveling back to the nineties and filling a U-Haul truck with $80 cases of 7.62X39. I still find myself wanting for the good old days like that. But the secret to living well, and by that I mean plenty of ammo, doesn’t involve time machines or wishes, It’s all about action.

Guns without ammunition are useless, with that in mind I present my first rule of Ammo Prepping.

Buy When You Can, Not When in Need

The middle of an ammo crunch is the worst time to buy, if you find yourself searching for stores for your favorite ammo, you’ve already lost. Buy ammo when it’s cheap and plentiful, I remember when ammo was everywhere I would swing by the ammo counter anytime I went in a Walmart. Typically I’d score a brick of .22 or something similar, but there is also the occasional pound of powder there or something.
There are also lots of smaller outlets like small town hardware stores and such. In my former job I did a lot of traveling, and I’d take advantage to swing by every little sporting goods store out in the country. I got quite a few deals on old bullets, and other things that they would have in stock because nobody bought it there.

Make what you cant buy

When I cant buy ammo, I buy components. Handloading is an incredible value to those of us who do it, every good prepper should know how and have the means to make his own ammo. I apply the same rules here as I did to ammo, buy it when you can. Ammunition components are everywhere, and it never hurts to stock up on whatever you can. There is only so much of the stuff, and it will never be worth nothing.

Become the range troll that picks up all the brass, I have done quite a bit of trading and come out ahead every time. I have a huge spectrum of components, dies, brass, and other things for firearms I don’t even own. This works out really nice because I can trade for things I can use, or help out friends when they are in a pinch. You can never have too much.

Buy in bulk

It’s probably been over a decade since I bought a standard box of twenty rifle cartridges, and even that was likely an anomaly. Same thing with buying components, I try not to buy boxes of a hundred. When I buy a box of bullets its usually by 500 or more.

Of course you might be thinking; anybody can do that if you have enough money, which is true. I always try to set aside a little ammo fund so that when the occasional good deal pops up, I can splurge where it counts, in bulk. You’d be surprised how far your money will go when its spent in the right places.
Whether it be a yard sale with a case of primers innocently underpriced, or a wholesale opportunity, or some other opportunity, be prepared.

Make sure you keep mainstream

By this I mean make sure you have mainstream chambered firearms. If you’ve followed me for long you are probably aware of all the bastard wildcats and oddities I shoot. But I also have several rifles in the commonest of cartridges, I’ve got two precision 223 Remington’s, and of course my MDRX that also shoots 223 like a house on fire. Not only that, if I had to survive the rest of my life using only 223 chambered rifles, I certainly could. And the same goes for 308 Winchester, I’ve got several precision rifles as well as semi-autos that shoot this extremely common cartridge.

And it never hurts to have multiple rifles in these common chamberings. I purchased two rifles back in the good ol’ days, chambered in 7.62×39, one is an AK variant, and the other an SKS. At the time, I paid just over $400 dollars for the pair, which is amazing by todays standards. But what I wouldn’t give to go back and buy more ammo for them, luckily the Coldboremiracle of the past was smart enough to buy several thousand rounds for each of them.

Get preppin

Hopefully you’ve learned your lesson during this last ammo crunch. Start making preparations for the next one, because it will surely come. Learn how to handload, find alternative suppliers, create a pool of ammo that could see you and your family through the apocalypse. That’s been my goal, if the world as we know it ended today and I had to live the rest of my life with what I have on hand, for the next forty years I could shoot a couple deer every day, a whole den of marmots, and a dozen or so zombies if they lined up just right, and still have a couple left over for blue-helmets if needed.

-CBM