Need a powder recommendation

[customcutter]

The gun show is coming up this weekend. I want to pick up some powder for reloading the Grendel. I have about 6# of H322 left, that I use for .223.

I plan on loading 123gr Hornady SST's and 100gr Barnes TTSX's.

thanks in advance,
CC

[bwaites]

Cfe 223, tac, blc2 for the 123s. XBR 8208, Xterminator for the 100s.

[rickOshay]

Add H335 for the 100's. It works great for your .223 too!

[AZ. Old Guy]

I like TAC, and H335 for 123's

[PredatorDown]

BL-C(2) and TAC have given me the best results. I've also had good results with Accurate 2460

[achristian8]

8208 xbr, benchmark, comp ar,

[LRRPF52]

Customcutter, don't you have the 6.5 Grendel Reloading Handbooks? Most of your questions about powder selection and more will be answered there.

You can also do a search function on the Grendeldata site based on bullet or powder, and get a ton of data while being able to compare velocities.

The above recommendations already cover what I was going to say though. I really have taken a liking to CFE223 for 123gr since Bwild97 started posting his results a few years ago.

I would look at 8208XBR for 100gr as well, which you can also use for your .223 Remington. PDS posted a good list of powders and their sensitivities to temperature, and Hodgdon's seems to lead the industry in that regard based on the chart, but that was with their extruded powders.

[Klem]

Following from 52's comment regarding getting the Grendel manual. That will work, but another option is to source an internal ballistic program like Quickload.

It will allow you to do 'what-if' simulations for all the calibres you own, not just Grendel.

[rickOshay]

Following from 52's comment regarding getting the Grendel manual. That will work, but another option is to source an internal ballistic program like Quickload.

It will allow you to do 'what-if' simulations for all the calibres you own, not just Grendel.

Quickload is notoriously off for the 6.5 Grendel. JASmith has one of the few Grendel-calibrated QL versions around, based on his pressure testing work. He is starting to publish this work, more to follow:

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?10182-Notes-about-pressures-and-published-loads

[Klem]

Quickload is notoriously off for the 6.5 Grendel:

Quickload works just fine for me with the Grendel.

I guess we just have different opinions.

Disclosure: I am not affiliated with Quickload in any way. Nor do I have any data to sell to forum members that might compete with Quickload.

[LRRPF52]

Quickload works just fine for me with the Grendel.

I guess we just have different opinions.

Disclosure: I am not affiliated with Quickload in any way. Nor do I have any data to sell to forum members that might compete with Quickload.

The pressures can be off by over 8,000 to 10,000psi. This happens with other cartridges too. Try to find a start load for a solid copper bullet in .260 Remington, for example. What showed up turned out to be a primer blower.

[motoxxx_ryder]

The pressures can be off by over 8,000 to 10,000psi. This happens with other cartridges too. Try to find a start load for a solid copper bullet in .260 Remington, for example. What showed up turned out to be a primer blower.

did you input the correct information for the copper round? if you used a lead bullet in the same weight range what you explained would happen.

if all the data going in is correct QL is pretty on.

[LRRPF52]

did you input the correct information for the copper round? if you used a lead bullet in the same weight range what you explained would happen.

if all the data going in is correct QL is pretty on.

Yes, I used Barnes 100gr TTSX data, and gave myself a good buffer down from that load as well.

Ql is way off on 6.5 Grendel though, especially with CFE.

[customcutter]

Yes, I will be ordering the Reloading Manuals for the Grendel. I finally got my rifle built last year, and so far I've only been able to shoot 1 box of factory 123 SST's. I bought 5 boxes, and then another 5 boxes. Now that I've got the dies and some other brass from another member, I'll start working on reloading my own.

Is anyone using H322 for the Grendel? I'm already using it for .223, and like to keep things simple if possible?

Thanks for all the replies,
CC

[bwaites]

did you input the correct information for the copper round? if you used a lead bullet in the same weight range what you explained would happen.

if all the data going in is correct QL is pretty on.

The settings in QL have to be significantly tweaked to make it work with the Grendel. It's been a known issue for years. It can be done, and you can get very close, but you MUST tweak the parameters if you are going to do so. About 5-6 years ago I spent a couple hours on the phone with them discussuing options for correcting the parameters that were necessary to make the Grendel work. I was basically told: "Its a professional tool, for people with professional equipment, who can test the loads that it presents before publishing data. If you don't have those tools, including a pressure trace system, you may very well create loads that are unsafe with some cartridges."

Its a really cool program, but like most programs, if you don't put it good data, and control all the appropriate parameters, you are asking for trouble.

In theory, theory and practice are the same, in practice, they aren't!