Accuracy Problems

[LRRPF52]

Ted:

This is scary. Asking a question like 'what weights to you follow or copy for which powder', or can you use 'Lil Gun' with the Grendel tells us very clearly that you are dangerously over your head and are headed for a very bad situation if you keep heading the way you are.

We would also ask why you haven't read the hundreds of threads here covering Grendel loads.

I advise you to go to a web site of a company that makes and sells reloading equipment and watch any videos they have about reloading. Hornady, RCBS, Sierra, Redding come to mind. I am not sure if they have instructional videos but if they do, you need to look at them. Buying a handloading book from one of the major companies or the 6.5 Grndel load guide from JAS or LRRP52 here on the forum is another option but they don't have process, only loads.

Bottom line, you need someone to tutor you on the processes involved in handloading. This will include what powders to use and as importantly, why some powders work with some bullets and with other bullets may be extremely dangerous.

No, I have no U Tube videos to recommend that you watch but someone else here may know of some.

So, before you do something really dangerous, you need to learn the 'how's' and 'why's' about reloading.

LR1955

"Lil Gun" would be really, really bad in a bottle-necked rifle cartridge. One thing I want to reiterate is that hand-loading for even a bolt gun is not a trivial task. There are significant pressures being generated inside the chamber. With the Grendel, those pressures go up to 50,000 pounds per square inch. Think about 25 mid-sized trucks with all their weight concentrated on one square inch of surface area.

The best thing when getting into reloading is to have a wise, experienced, smart mentor. Loading for a gas-operated rifle with a floating firing pin is even more demanding than a manual bolt action rifle, because so many things are critical for a safe and reliable load:

* Primer selection
* Shoulder set-back
* Full-length re-sizing
* Powder types and weights for the gas system
* Magazine COL restrictions
* Detecting pressure signs

Most hand-loaders that get into the 6.5 Grendel have come from a solid reloading background where they have loaded for bolt guns and service rifles for years. As they get into the Grendel, they look at what specific nuances there are for the cartridge, obtain their dies, and study-up before throwing loads and seating bullets.

For those who are just getting into hand-loading for a gas-operated AR15 in a variant caliber right off the bat, there are many things to consider as you move forward. Most importantly, a smart, experienced, cautious mentor is critical. They will then tell you to get a good reloading guide book-not necessarily one with recipes for loads, but a reloading instructional manual that takes you from the explanation of the physics involved, to the various tools and components necessary for a good reloading work station.

A powder burn rate chart is another important resource when looking for powders, but specific cartridge load guides will have a series of recommended and industry-tested powders in them. That is what the 6.5 Grendel Reloading Handbook is, in addition to including chapters that discuss considerations for the AR15, history of the cartridge, etc. The Grendel Reloading Handbook is only one small, but important resource for the Grendel reloader, with the pretext that the person already understands how to reload.

Here's a burn rate chart to give an idea of where different powders fall. The Grendel uses powders from Benchmark to N540 on that chart. Benchmark would be for your really light pills, like a 90gr TNT, but is not a popular powder in the Grendel. The most common powders for the Grendel are in the Hodgdon's BL-(C)2 through Ramshot TAC ranges on this chart:

[sneaky one]

For a new reloader to rely on -not factory loaded-you made it yourself is a bad situation, if the advice is not followed.

Ted, I spent the time, dropped the dime, took the single stage loader press , and bench to bolt it to. & shoot off of. Brought the scales-the powder all of it ====load on site.

Windy? weigh the powder charge inside a vehicle. Shoot with known data for known bullets.

Don't follow my pathway-I am out in the field by my lonesome on certain pills. I have had no bad experiences -yet. I am a experimental round tester for us all.


STAY SAFE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The warning of ==do NOT try this at home applies here. This is REAL LIFE- you do not want to have a REAL experience =BAD-- with gunpowder !!!
Say you'll be good on this -please.

[Tedward]

TED:

Ok -- not a problem then. Just scared me for a moment.

The straight walled cartridges take faster powders for their bullet weight than necked cartridges. I am not surprised that the Beowolf takes Lil Gun -- a slower burning pistol powder -- because the Beowolf is a straight walled cartridge. Neck it down to say, .30 caliber from .50, and Lil Gun would probably blow the rife to pieces.

You can always look at the Hodgdon load data for a good variety of Grendel loads. AA also has them on their web site somewhere and there is a sticky on the forum with loads. You won't find pistol powders being used with the Grendel. Way too fast for the cartridge.

LR1955

Thanks for the response from you and others. I am not doing any loading yet and my friend who does loading and has for years will run me thru the processes. He doesn't have the Grendel and asked me to get the dies, powder and primers before he can load them and show me the process. He has a Dillion Progressive Press but said I should use the single stage for what I'll be doing. He also recommended the Rock Chucker so once I get to that point I'll probably get one of them. He does pistol, bolt and AR loads so I think I'll be in good hands. He was out over the weekend and I just needed to get some stuff at the gun show and succeeded. Got primers and powder for the Grendel but no powder for the Beowulf. Got Bullets the other day from Midway so soon I can go to class...

I'll let you know the out come, sure I'll be fine, he will be running rounds with me, he gets to shoot first...Also I do have the Modern Reloading by Richard Lee. No Grendel info but it helped with the basics. I PM'ed LRRPF52 for a Grendel Reloading Guide book but no reply on that yet. Just realized you have LRRP52, different people or typo????

[LRRPF52]

Your inbox is full, so the message didn't go through. Yeah, I sell the 6.5 Grendel Reloading Handbook through the AR15 Build Box website in my sig line. I actually use the Handbook myself more than I thought I would. The handbook is a collaborative effort from a few forum members, with industry data from AA, Lapua/Vihtavuori, Hodgdon's, and Western Powders.

With the AR15, you have to be even more attentive about the reloading process. Primers need to be seated deeply in the pocket, and they need to have hard cups. You need to full-length re-size fired brass with good shoulder set-back, but not too much, and you need to use powders that work well with the case capacity limitations.

I also load in smaller than .5gr increments when doing pressure ladders, because .5gr is a ton of change in a small case like the Grendel. I prefer .3gr increments, then .2gr as I get close to the max load so I can creep up on it, although .2gr is within the error margin of most digital scales. I never violate basic reloading guidelines, like working up a load.

I definitely recommend a solid single-stage press like the Rock Chucker or even a Redding T7 turret press. In your quest for good reloading guide concepts and procedures, I would recommend getting a manual that addresses the issues with AR15 service rifle loading considerations, and using that in conjunction with the 6.5 Grendel Reloading Handbook.

[calshipbuilder]

748 didn't work for me either, BLC2 works really well

[Tedward]

Your inbox is full, so the message didn't go through. Yeah, I sell the 6.5 Grendel Reloading Handbook through the AR15 Build Box website in my sig line. I actually use the Handbook myself more than I thought I would. The handbook is a collaborative effort from a few forum members, with industry data from AA, Lapua/Vihtavuori, Hodgdon's, and Western Powders.

With the AR15, you have to be even more attentive about the reloading process. Primers need to be seated deeply in the pocket, and they need to have hard cups. You need to full-length re-size fired brass with good shoulder set-back, but not too much, and you need to use powders that work well with the case capacity limitations.

I also load in smaller than .5gr increments when doing pressure ladders, because .5gr is a ton of change in a small case like the Grendel. I prefer .3gr increments, then .2gr as I get close to the max load so I can creep up on it, although .2gr is within the error margin of most digital scales. I never violate basic reloading guidelines, like working up a load.

I definitely recommend a solid single-stage press like the Rock Chucker or even a Redding T7 turret press. In your quest for good reloading guide concepts and procedures, I would recommend getting a manual that addresses the issues with AR15 service rifle loading considerations, and using that in conjunction with the 6.5 Grendel Reloading Handbook.

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