Is there a battle proven bolt for 6.5 Grendel?

[heronblue7]

Has any serious testing been done on the various 6.5 Grendel bolts?

I want something I can trust for home defense and SHTF.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Bill Alexander reads and occasionally posts on this forum.

I believe the Wolf Military Classic 100gr loading had his participation, and it's (I'm not sure but I suspect) very likely an actual military load.

Maybe he'll chose to participate in this topic.

For my own part, I'm noting that some bolt failures occurred earlier on in the development of this system. General consensus is that this could have been the result of some variations in evolving systems. The outcome of that is a Type 2 bolt.

I can't speak to brands or models. I can say that my systems use the AR Stoner barrels and type 2 bolts, but at this early stage, that's just my bet in the bigger pool. (Systems = 20" standard, and 24" Varmint/Target, both AR's.)

I have a spare barrel and intend to shoot the heck out of mine.

IMHO, home defense and SHTF are not so likely to be high volume fire applications. If my plans materialize, I'll be shooting mine for fun, and likely shooting up a lot more rounds than I'd ever want to be shooting in HD or SHTF.

My plans include 2-gun combat matches. Temper those plans with my own advanced age of 73.

Greg

 

[SD Carpenter]

There's one country whose army is using Grendel can't recall which one

 

[THEIS]

There's one country whose army is using Grendel can't recall which one

Hi,

Serbia is still in adoption phase to have Zastava Arms rifle issued in 6.5 Grendel.
They are still testing different ammunition types.

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[LeadZeke]

JP or ARP if they still make them.

 

[SD Carpenter]

I got my setup through Odin works and it's been flawless, they really have a lot of the Grendel down imo

 

[346ci]

JP or ARP if they still make them.

+1 here, AR15 Performance. Their .264lbc barrel/bolt combo was a laser with factory g ammo when I had it. If you are mixing barrel and bolt brands, need to check headspace.

 

[Yondering]

Has any serious testing been done on the various 6.5 Grendel bolts?

I want something I can trust for home defense and SHTF.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

I won't attempt to comment on your question about testing (and that will probably devolve into a bunch of comments about everyone's personal favorite brand anyway) but can say this:
- If you're looking for long bolt life, lap/true your receiver to ensure that your bolt lugs all contact evenly. Uneven loading where just a few of the lugs take more load than the rest is hard on even a really good bolt.

 

[Jsp556]

+1 on ARP.

 

[ssdrew]

I'm still using an Odin bolt in my 20" and a house brand bolt from Atherisrifleco that came with my 12.7 barrel. If I ever have one go out, I'll order a JP. From what I've read, it's about the best one out followed by a maxim. As for testing, I haven't heard of one, but if one is found I would be quite interested in it.

 

[stevieb92]

I've got the JP bolt in my 6.5 grendel. Plus JPs QPQ full mass carrier. Works as expected.

 

[KitShickers]

JP or Maxim

 

[Constructor]

Bill Alexander reads and occasionally posts on this forum.

I believe the Wolf Military Classic 100gr loading had his participation, and it's (I'm not sure but I suspect) very likely an actual military load.

Maybe he'll chose to participate in this topic.

For my own part, I'm noting that some bolt failures occurred earlier on in the development of this system. General consensus is that this could have been the result of some variations in evolving systems. The outcome of that is a Type 2 bolt.

I can't speak to brands or models. I can say that my systems use the AR Stoner barrels and type 2 bolts, but at this early stage, that's just my bet in the bigger pool. (Systems = 20" standard, and 24" Varmint/Target, both AR's.)

I have a spare barrel and intend to shoot the heck out of mine.

IMHO, home defense and SHTF are not so likely to be high volume fire applications. If my plans materialize, I'll be shooting mine for fun, and likely shooting up a lot more rounds than I'd ever want to be shooting in HD or SHTF.

My plans include 2-gun combat matches. Temper those plans with my own advanced age of 73.

Greg

Actually If the bolts are made from the same material and heat treated the same the bolts with the .124 recess are stronger by 8% from the additional material supporting the lugs, any engineer can tell you that in less than 10 minutes.
In the early 2000s it wasn't as easy to have custom bolts made so they took 5.56 bolts and opened them up to accept the .442" diameter rim. The Lapua brass had a thick rim so the extractor would not snap over the rim. Their idea was to open the diameter of the 5.56 recess and make it .012" deeper at the same time in the same operation to fix 2 problems at once.
They should have moved the extractor pivot pin forward .012" and left the recess .124 deep keep from making the bolt weaker than they already had by opening up the recess and removing material from the web that supported the lugs.
I've seen all of those nice little drawings on arfcom made by pencil and not to scale that make it look like the extractor would be weaker but they are wrong. The machined "Grendel" extractors used by AA are the same machined extractors used on 7.62x39 bolts. They were sold by Rguns and Alpha shooting sports.

 

[Wyzrd]

I ran a JP bolt in my 6.5 Grendel and it ran great! JP makes top quality gear, so I’d think they should be GTG.

 

[opus56]

JP's are great and they stand behind them if they have any issues. Running one in my .224 Grendel.

 

[newguy2k3v2]

I have a jp and I believe one Maxim bolt. Alexander still makes their "hard use" bolt also I believe and I haven't heard anything bad about them.

 

[heronblue7]

I want to use my 6.5 build on mulies, antelope and elk.

Also for a SHTF DMR rifle.

 

[Strykervet]

JP is best but I think the two Grendels and Beowulf I have are still using older AA bolts since I bought several years ago. Whatever the case, no problems.

 

[Drago6]

You can't go wrong with JP bolts