New to the Grendel

[Maddog6]

Just finished building my Grendel. I used a Spikes lower with Magpul PRS stock and a 24" Alexander Arms upper with a Vortex Crossfire II 4x-18x scope. Ammo is difficult to find here in AK. Can anyone give me some info on reloading dies, brass, bullets, and powder that would work well?

[cory]

Pictures or it didn't happen. HAHA

IMHO Redding Dies or bust. FWIW it was cheaper to buy the standard set and micrometer separate and you pretty well have their competition set. I haven't checked price in a while so I don't know if that's still true. Unless you want to spend the money for the type S set.

Lapua, Hornady, and Nosler (Norma is expected soon) make brass for the Grendel. Lapua will last you 20+ loads, Hornady will last you almost 10, and there's not any data on the Nosler brass, yet.

Anything in 123gr will work great in the Grendel. 100gr TTSX, 107gr Scenar, and 120gr Nosler Btips are great choices too. Right now I'm playing with 140gr Hornady SSTs and HPBT, but I'm in the minority in trying to use 140gr bullets.

CFE223 is the go to powder for 123gr and larger bullets right now. 8208xbr is great for the 100gr class of bullets with smaller bearing surfaces. It's also great for accuracy in the 123gr bullets, very temperature stable; however, the velocity will be lacking. There's several other good powders for the Grendel.

I highly suggest you pick up the 2 volumes of the Grendel Handbook. More info there than you'll probably ever need.

[ricsmall]

Mad dog,

I would get the redding dies, AA brass made by lapua, and 123 amax or SST pills for a good start. 8208 XBR has been the best powder in my Grendel and most everyone here has had great results with it. Check with mark at precision firearms as he was selling once fired lapua (mostly) brass fairly cheap. Hop this helps. Oh yeah, go to ar15buildbox.com and get the Grendel reloading handbooks. Two volumes so far and very good material. Until you get the handbooks, hodgdon's website has pretty good data as well.

Richard

[sneaky one]

Good advice from RS- to you as a mad dog 6,err !

Spend the money in advance - to get the best end results from Your Grrr. It is so sweet, as a midsized round,,, Enjoy it. Drop the extra dimes now- instead of way later. Get the best dies that you can afford , and all the goodies that tag along to load this round up. It's so cool. guys.

[VASCAR2]

You can also fire form 7.62 X 39 brass which might be available locally. The case capacity is a little less and uses large rifle primers. I use the FF 7.62 X39 brass for plinking or places where I might loose my more expensive brass. My 7.62 X 39 brass was given to me by a friend. I just sized it it with my 6.5 Grendel dies and loaded a minimum load of powder with the cheapest bullets I had. These FF brass are now loaded with factory second Sierra 100 grain HP Varmints. These have proven accurate for me and not quite as expensive to load. They'll do a number on a water melon or critter.

[LRRPF52]

Welcome to the forum. The 6.5 Grendel Reloading Handbooks will answer most of your questions and then some. http://ar15buildbox.com/Home_Page.html

I have had good results with the Hornady New Dimension dies.

[davidj]

Nothing wrong with shooting factory Hornady ammo which you can sometimes find for under $20. Then you don't need new brass.