should I use a regular 30 cal alignment rod or is there another more specific size and if anyone has links for where to purchase it would be much appreciated

I'm trying to get a super lightweight BA that I can take on mountain hunts and I would love to get a Howa. The problem is, they appear to have suddenly turned quite rare.

I'm going tomorrow to a LGS that has a Howa mini action in stock, Specifically: Legacy Sports HOWA Mini Howa 1500 6.5 Grendel 22" Kreptek Highlander Camo / Vortex Crossfire2 6-18X48 Scope.

However, Scheels also has Ruger gen 2 with the Bronze cerakote. I really like the look of the Ruger, but can't help but notice that it's 6.7lbs, which isn't exactly ultalite and it does bug me a bit that it's the same weight as the 6.7cm. I feel like if you are going that weight, get a bigger cartridge.

Anywho, the Howa is going for $540 and the Ruger is at $600. Is the Ruger gen2 any kind of upgrade over the howa, besides the cerakote and fluted barrel?

I was also looking at getting a barreled action from Brownells, but at $450, it just hardly seems worth it.

Update

Welp, I tried out the Ruger and the Howa. Man that Howa is just so much lighter and more wieldy. It honestly just felt so much better from the trigger to the bolt. Ended up going with that. Hopefully the factory ammo I have will behave for me. I mostly use Hornady black 123 eld-m, but just got some AAC Sabre.

Good afternoon!

So I have a new upper build:

Upper:

14.5 Satern Liberty Barrel, Bkings Mod-0 thermal fit upper, Bkings M4, Mod-0 13.74 handguard, Bkings gas block and tube, Sota Type II BCG, Breek arms 2BO Double port muzzle brake and castle blast shield.

Lower:

SBRed CMMG lower with zeroed lpk. Larue MBT-2S, H2 Armaspec SRS,10 round dura mags This lower may not be it's final home.

When at the range to test this build out I get failure to eject with first round and the brass is stuck in the barrel which I used a barrel rod to clear. Bullet is expended and second round is double fed and lodged in the upper.

Things I changed:

I replaced the initial H SRS with an H2 to possible address it being over gassed. Replaced ASC 5 rnd mag (never fit well to begin with) with Dura mags (These fit and drop with ease). Took apart and inspected the BCG, cleaned and lubed it. Hand fed bullets slid in and out of the barrel with ease. Feed ramps look good. However, the same issues occurred on the second range trip.

So I took a bore scope out and looked into the gas port to make sure it was aligned and then decided to look extremely close at the extractor. The gas port looks strange to me but I don't know if its enough to have any detrimental affect but the bur on the extractor looks bad especially so close up lol.

So my suspicions are (after reading many posts here and other forums) over gassed and bolt/extractor issues (pics included leading me to the bolt and extractor). To me the extractor has a bur that looks like it is likely the issue. The bcg has been the one component that I feel less confident in about in this build so I am going to replace the bolt entirely.

Am I on the right track? Thoughts on the gas port in the barrel?

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Understanding that on the 6.5 Grendel, bolt breakage can be an issue due to the thinned down dimensions- what is your opinion as to the best material and the best manufacturer of bolts to keep as a backup? Looking to either stockpile a couple of backup bolts and extractors or perhaps even the entire bolt carrier groups in case SHTF.

As the titles states, I don’t have any experience with this specific cartridge but I had a unique opportunity come up. My LGS has a Ruger ranch with a vortex 3-9 chambered in 6.5 Grendel for 350$.

I’m in the market for a new bolt rifle with no specific task to accomplish with it. Would I be crazy to pass this up or will this cartridge underperform in this platform? Any input is appreciated.

Having trouble finding a solid bcg for my 6.5 ar build. New to gun ownership and I was given this ar with blown out threads where the side charging handle attaches. Any ideas on a quality bcg for this platform?

I think I'm in the market for a new rifle, don't yet know what barrel length I'd want. I've been using a 16" 7.62x39 as a "woods rifle" but would like to be able to reach out past the brick wall that round encounters at 200 yards. Unless I'm missing something, it seems like I could approximately double the practical range with a 16-20" Grendel. (If I could get 1000 FPE and a high enough velocity for expansion at 400 yards, then my woods rifle could also be my rifle-rifle!)

So I'm combing through bullet catalogs and range reports and plugging numbers into a ballistic calculator, but I was hoping perhaps somebody could give me some sage wisdom on what bullets are currently available and how they really perform.

Best I see so far are Cavity Black 118 grain MKZ's advertising .505 BC with 2550 FPS from an 18" barrel... That puts me right around 1000 FPE at 400 yards. (And it's only around 50 yards short of my 19" 6.5 Creedmoor with factory 140 grain ammo!)

Is there anything better?

Which of these rounds would be best for deer and hog hunting from a 12" barrel?

I have a Diamondback 6.5 Grendel that I bought to primarily help with some wild hog eradication for some local farmers here in South Alabama. I mounted an ATN 4x20x night vision scope on it and bought an Otter Creek Labs Hydrogen L suppressor to put on it. Everything came in. I sighted the gun using the one shot zero on the ATN and was able to dial it in quickly. Here's where the issue starts. When I put on my suppressor, I go from a 2 in grouping at 100 yards to about an 18" grouping (if you can even call it a grouping.) My buddy told me he thinks its over-gassed given the amount of carbon on the casing when it's discharged. He looked at it and said it doesn't have an adjustable gas bloc. He didn't know much about it other than that. Any tips for helping with accuracy once the suppressor is on? Do I need an adjustable gas bloc? If so, any recs on which one? Also, here is a video of me with my Tikka 7mm Rem Mag with the Hydrogen L on it! Quite impressive

My goal is to try longer range with this caliber, try some competitions like PRS or QP and so on.

Thinking on a

• 18-20” SS barrel heavier profile
• 3-18x optic
• Gas gun

Is it worthwhile to do so with 6.5 Grendel ? If so what’s some considerations and things to know about the caliber ?

I ask because I just received my complete 12” 6.5 Grendel upper from PSA and I’m on the fence whether to put a Romeo5 XDR that I have in my unused inventory, or buy another LPVO?

My club’s range is limited to 200 yds w a wide variety of horizontal, vertical, and other action based steel targets as well as areas to hang paper targets across 25, 50, 100, 150, and 200 yd backstops.

Lastly, once I get my 5.56 and 300 BLK SBR’s zeroed in from the bench, I typically shoot the steel off-hand.

Thoughts?

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I recently finished putting this guy together - my 2nd AR build and first experience with the 6.5 Grendel. I had been watching this builders set for a while and decided it was time after noticing it had a price drop and was also on sale.

Parts list:

• Wilde Arms builder set in mako green color
• Ballistic Advantage 20" DMR fluted barrel
• Superlative Arms adjustable gas block
• Wilson Combat rifle length gas tube
• AR Stoner BCG in NiB
• Breek Arms Warhammer Micro Mod2 charging handle
• Primary Arms SLx 3-18x50mm w/ ACSS Apollo 308/6.5 Gren Reticle (first focal plane)
• Leupold AR scope mount
• VLTOR A5 RE
• VLTOR H2 and H0 weights
• Sprinco Green rifle spring
• Luth-AR MBA-4 stock
• Strike Industries LPK
• Rise Armament RAVE 140 2 stage trigger
• Mountain Tactical RAD muzzle brake for 6.5mm
• BCM Mod3 grip

Accuracy is just ok - nothing to write home about for sure yet. I haven't started reloading for it yet, but I will after I shoot through this factory ammo I have. Oddly, I can shoot one group of a given ammo and it could be in 1 hole at 100 yds, then load the mag with another 5 rounds of the same ammo and immediately shoot another group and it might be 1.5." I'm hoping reloads will be more consistent.

I did have a handful of issues and oddities I had to work through:

• I had major problems with it short stroking at first. The Hornady 123 SST factory loads, which were the hottest ones I had, would not pick up the next round sometimes, or lock back on empty. Lighter loads, like the Hornady 100gr V-Match, sometimes would not even push the BCG back far enough to cock the hammer. My BA barrel came from the factory with a .096" gas port at rifle length. I saw other people reporting theirs were .094". I did test this upper on my other lower setup with a standard carbine tube and standard weight buffer - same short stroking. I also tried swapping the bolt into my other carrier from my 5.56 because it looked as though there may have been a leak around the front of the gas key on my AR Stoner carrier - no improvement. After working through every possible thing I could try (without spending money), I lightened the buffer weight to H0 weight, and opened up the gas port in the barrel to .100". It now locks back with all my factory ammo except the Hornady 100gr V-Match. I am hoping that I can tune reloads with bullets around that weight to lock back properly.

• I had an irritating issue where some part is out of spec, causing the bolt lugs to not line up perfectly with the barrel extension lugs, smashing into one edge of the barrel extension lugs. I suspect it is either the upper receiver or the bolt carrier. Moving the bolt by hand feels ok, but if you push it certain ways, you can feel it contact the lugs. It also will contact the lugs when a magazine is installed. Myself and my dad, who is a gunsmith, decided it's not really a safety issue but rather just irritating, so I left it as-is.

• The Alexander Arms/E-Lander magazines are very snug in the mag well in this lower. They will not fall out on their own - you have to wiggle it a bit to pull it out. The other mag I got is a Duramag 10rd which fits and works fine.

• The slot in the lower receiver where the trigger drops down into the trigger guard was not wide enough for the trigger on my RA drop in. I had to put the lower in the milling machine and mill out another 10 or 15 thousands to get the trigger to drop in.

Overall I'm pretty pumped about it and looking forward to doing some long range shooting and finding some coydogs. Recoil is very minimal with the A5 setup - definitely less than my 5.56 with a standard carbine lower.

I’m wanting to turn my new tack driver into a hunting rifle. What are your thoughts on the range of a 12 inch 6.5? I’ll be hunting in Texas and can’t imagine taking shots over 200 yards but what would you say is the longest ethical range for a hunt?

I’ve been looking for a chart with foot pounds at different ranges but can’t seem to be able to find one for a 12 inch.

Thanks guys!

Hello, I'm looking to buy a ar pistol in 6.5 grendel for deer hunting whitail at about 300 yards and closer. It has to be a pistol to be compliant with local hunting laws. I see a lot of guns with the ~12in barrel length and I'm worried I'd be stretching thin out at 300. Does anyone have any suggestions for a 14in or similar barrel length production gun? Or is 12in good enough? I'm not really interested in building right now.

18" with 1 in 8 twist. I have struggled to find a round or load a round that will consistently produce sub 2 moa results.

I check the testing setup (sled and bags) with other rifles it doesn't appear to be to that or my shooting form as I can produce 1 moa groups with my other rifle.

What are other folks shooting out of this upper? I know you're out there as this is one of the most common ones posted.

What's working for you?

Thanks in advance.

The long range side of shooting recently caught my eye. I currently am shooting a pistol length 6.5 Grendel that fell into my lap. After some research it sounds like quite the cartridge. I was wanting to take a long range class to learn the basics and was thinking about putting together a 6.5 Grendel AR15 with a PSA 20 inch upper. What are your thoughts on its ability to shoot 1000 yards with appropriate glass. Thanks guys

I’m struggling to get my form 1 approved. It’s been a long back and forth. Sounds like maybe they changed the required process for fingerprints to be sent in recently? If I understand right, it requires an EFT file? Which from what I read, can’t be done by a consumer? Any knowledge on this?

I just want my 6.5 back in operation!

I have a Diamondback barrel and the website states that it’s a “Type 1”. If I buy a “Type 2” BCG, will it work?

Recently bought a 30 cal, 5/8x24 muzzle brake but yet it’s too small for my 6.5 barrel.

Any info on what I should look for that will make sure it’s a wider diameter?