Question for 6.5 Grendel reloaders

[Red_Beard]

Hey everyone, I am struggling with finding reliable data on bullet speeds that I can expect from a 20" barrel. I am trying to figure out some loads I want to try by messing around with JBM, but am severely limited by not knowing the Muzzle Velocity to expect with all the different weight bullets. They will be fired out of a gas gun in that makes any difference.

I am looking for any information from bullets from 107 SMK's up to 129 gr (I have a 1:9 twist barrel and my research indicates that it won't stabilize anything heavier)

I plan on propelling the bullet with either IMR 8208XBR or H322 if this helps at all. (Any other suggestions for powder are appreciated as well)

Thanks for the help in advance

 

[bobke]

H322 for lighter bullets, but 8208, TAC and CFE have all worked in some combination for me. My everyday load in a 20" Bartlein is either 123 SST's, Amax's or Nosler CC's. over CCI 41's and CFE. Holds well to 500, which as far as I've been able to shoot. Mid 2500's without pressing really hard.

 

[Red_Beard]

H322 for lighter bullets, but 8208, TAC and CFE have all worked in some combination for me. My everyday load in a 20" Bartlein is either 123 SST's, Amax's or Nosler CC's. over CCI 41's and CFE. Holds well to 500, which as far as I've been able to shoot. Mid 2500's without pressing really hard.

Thanks for the info! I was looking at the Hodgdon reloading data and it seems like they are getting a little faster speeds with the H335. Do you have any experience with that load out?

 

[bobke]

Easiest and best recommendation I can offer is to refer to Welcome to the 6.5 Grendel Forum : : The World's Tier One AR Cartridge. There is a wealth of info and exchange there, enough to keep you busy for a few well spent hours. And to respond to the H335 question, no, I have no experience with 335 at all. I use the above three powders, as well as RL15 and AR Comp in a 308 AR10, and have a stash of each, so focusing on what is in hand. Plenty of load testing to be done with those 5 alone.

 

[Will Fennell]

Red,
Try some heavier bullets....my 1/9" SAKO .260 LOVES 123gr Scenars, and shoots some 140's well.

 

[jcfd2201]

There is a thread on the Grendel forum where the poster has actual MV's and load data posted on the 123's.

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?4960-Hornady-123-SST-Load-Development

While I only load 85 to 95's for predator hunting, my best results have been from Tac and H335.

 

[High Binder]

My best results have been from Xterminator with 100gr and TAC with 107smks.

W748 was pretty good with 123s but nothing worth mentioning.
BL-C2 sucks bad, think shotgun.

I have a 24" barrel so my FPS data is going to be way higher than yours so that's not worth mentioning. I will say that this is the single most anal and picky gun I've ever encountered. It took me 300+ shots trying every combination of bullet type/weight to powder you can imagine and to this day I only have two bullet/powder combos this gun likes (~1/4MOA), everything else sprays like a shotgun.

 

[Justshutupnhunt]

I've had really good luck with AA2520 with the 123 grain amax myself.

 

[FCS]

First question I have is what chamber are you running? AA 6.5 G with longer freebore dimension or a shorter freebore as found in 264 LBC?

I've not been very happy with accuracy with the higher BC, larger radius ogive profile when ran OTM.

95 V-max in an AA chambered bbl is running 2960 fps from a 21" bbl.

120 SMK / Berger Match BT shoots best about 2550.

100 Berger Match BT shot pretty well but that bullet has been discontinued.

Punching paper or shooting varmints?

Varmints I'd take a hard look at the 95 V-max or 100 Nosler BT. Sierra 85 HP would probably work well also but I've not tried that bullet in Grendel yet.

Best all around bullet(s) IMHO are 120 SMK or 120 Berger Match BT for OTM, LR work.

100 gr or below, H322 should work well. 8208 has been a great powder for me with 120 gr bullets.

Hey everyone, I am struggling with finding reliable data on bullet speeds that I can expect from a 20" barrel. I am trying to figure out some loads I want to try by messing around with JBM, but am severely limited by not knowing the Muzzle Velocity to expect with all the different weight bullets. They will be fired out of a gas gun in that makes any difference.

I am looking for any information from bullets from 107 SMK's up to 129 gr (I have a 1:9 twist barrel and my research indicates that it won't stabilize anything heavier)

I plan on propelling the bullet with either IMR 8208XBR or H322 if this helps at all. (Any other suggestions for powder are appreciated as well)

Thanks for the help in advance

 

[Red_Beard]

First question I have is what chamber are you running? AA 6.5 G with longer freebore dimension or a shorter freebore as found in 264 LBC?

I've not been very happy with accuracy with the higher BC, larger radius ogive profile when ran OTM.

95 V-max in an AA chambered bbl is running 2960 fps from a 21" bbl.

120 SMK / Berger Match BT shoots best about 2550.

100 Berger Match BT shot pretty well but that bullet has been discontinued.

Punching paper or shooting varmints?

Varmints I'd take a hard look at the 95 V-max or 100 Nosler BT. Sierra 85 HP would probably work well also but I've not tried that bullet in Grendel yet.

Best all around bullet(s) IMHO are 120 SMK or 120 Berger Match BT for OTM, LR work.

100 gr or below, H322 should work well. 8208 has been a great powder for me with 120 gr bullets.

It will be a combo of paper and varmints, but prolly 75% paper (I have an older savage bolt gun in .223 that will shoot 1/2-3/4 moa with any hunting bullet I put in, so I would hate to retire it completely). I have an AA upper with Shilen barrel, so I think that it is the longer freebore.

Thanks for all the great advise so far everyone. @ High Binder, I have heard that about some of these guns, but as long as I can find that 1/4" combo at some point I will be very satisfied.

 

[bobke]

The 100 Nosler is a solid choice with TAC or 8208. 120 Nosler is also very good over TAC or 8208. 123SST from an early release group buy is even better in long throated 6.5 Grendel long throated chamber over CFE.

 

[High Binder]

@ High Binder, I have heard that about some of these guns, but as long as I can find that 1/4" combo at some point I will be very satisfied.

Stick with it, I went though so many different loads that I almost gave up on it and seriously thought about selling it out of pure frustration. I got to the point where I just forgot about it and wrote it off for about a year+ figuring it was just a POS but as I started seeing more and more 6.5 options on the shelf, I started playing with it again and only recently found it's sweet spot (lighter bullets 100,107,108). Anyway, good luck. hope it doesn't take you as long as it did me. The one piece of advice I would give you is to pay attention to what it seems to like and don't try to force it to like something that it doesn't. I spent a lot of time/money trying to make it like 120/123s.

 

[Red_Beard]

Thanks for everything guys! I will post some results when I can finally get my hands on some powder.

 

[pawprint2]

Alexander arms, with Radford Army Arsenal has a web page with well tested load data available.