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Howdy from Charlotte, NC.
I'm Zack and am setting up my first 6.5 Grendel MSR for mid-range shooting with an eye on possibly hunting whitetail, feral pigs, and coyotes in the future. The only public range near me tops at 250 yards, so I am looking at getting my hunting license to "practice" off-season on most public game lands. I hope to hit steel consistently at 500 yards and would like to hit a Full-Size IPSC at 1000 yards eventually - I do not know if that is possible with factory ammo and my setup.
I can't shoot the Wolf Military Classic 100 grain at my range, and the ammo recommended by the manufacturer (Defender 107 gr. or Federal Gold Medal Berger 130gr.) is not available anywhere. Does anyone have any recommendations between the Hornady Black 123 gr ELD-M, Hornady Custom 123 gr SST, or American Eagle 120 gr. OTM for groups on paper at 250 yards?
My build:
Anderson AM-15 RF-85 Lower
PSA Custom AR 3.5 lbs. match-grade single-stage drop-in trigger
Bear Creek 20" Black Nitride Straight Fluted Heavy Barrel, 1:8 Twist, Rifle Length Gas System - side charging (delivering today)
Vortex Diamondback Tactical 4-16x44, Vortex Cantilever Mount (delivering tomorrow)
ASC magazines (delivering Monday)
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my recomendation. get a different barrel if you want to go long as you stated
my barrel likes the 123 eld and sst in my handloads
you may need to tray a coupld of types to see what your likes
if it wont group, it may not be the ammo, bear creek has a bad reputation in the grendel world
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Welcome to the forum XaqFixx! When you start shooting long range it makes a significant difference how high above sea level your shooting. Being in the midwest I shoot around 450 feet ASL. My scopes run out of elevation around 800 yards so I use 20 MOA cantilever mounts on my 6.5 Grendel AR-15s. With the Diamondback Tactical reticle youll probably be able to use the reticle to hold over the target at longer range.
The closer you are to sea level the 6.5 Grendel looses velocity and gets into the transonic zone where accuracy degrades. I enjoy shooting at longer range. By reloading it gets my price per round down enough where I can afford to try and find an accurate load for my rifles. If your buying factory ammo to shoot past 800 yards your two best options right now are Federal Gold Medal Match with 130 grain Berger bullet or Hornady Black 123 grain ELD-M.
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Yeah, I understand that while they do offer an MOA guarantee, they certainly aren't Alexander or Proof Research but I don't expect them to be. I think I can treat it like the Ship of Theseus - eventually replacing the barrel, BCG, upper and handguard over time if need be.
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Thank you! I just found the Hornady Black 123 in stock locally for less than $2 a round as well.
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mdram Wrote:my recomendation. get a different barrel if you want to go long as you stated
and I am a LONG way from being limited by my equipment. I'm still the weak link in the chain, I'll be mostly at 250 yards for a while.
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VASCAR2 Wrote:Being in the midwest I shoot around 450 feet ASL. My scopes run out of elevation around 800 yards so I use 20 MOA cantilever mounts on my 6.5 Grendel AR-15s. With the Diamondback Tactical reticle youll probably be able to use the reticle to hold over the target at longer range.
The 250-yard range nearby is at 840' ASL, my family farm - where I could shoot out to 550 yards or so is the side of a mountain with a 45+ degree drop across the property. It is also on the other side of the state so I hope to find something flatter and closer.
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Welcome to the horde from Wisconsin .
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Welcome to the clan, X-squared, from the great nation of Texas! You have several challanges, but none are obstacles. Bearing in mind that there is no bad place to shoot a Grendel as long as it's legal. BCA got a ( well deserved ) bad rap for a while, hopefully they learned something from it and have up'ed their game. If you have ( or have access to ) the tools to do so, whenever I buy an upper, always gets disassembled and trued and then re-assembled. Have had some real surprises when taking them apart.
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Update: Got to go shooting for a little while today. Had to break in the barrel on my .22 and 6.5 grendel upper and zero in the optics on both of those and my 5.56 upper. I ran out of time so didn't make it to the 250 yards range after qualifying at 50. But here are the results firing Hornady Black 123gr EDT through the BCA upper.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Rc49vXfzU3dp5AV17
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Welcome to the horde....
Looks like you got one of BCA's decent barrels by that grouping. Hope you can keep it tight out further. By and large the complaints about BCA seem to be "hit-and-miss" quality control inspections resulting in YMMV barrel testimonials.
'Cause when we stop and look around us / There is nothing that we need
In a world of persecution / That is burning in its greed
[...]in the grey of the morning / My mind becomes confused
Between the dead and the sleeping / And the road that I must choose
--"Question", Justin Hayward
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Welcome from another newbie, XaqFixx! I am looking forward to getting my SixFive to the rangesoon!
Randie
Fort Smith, AR
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Welcome aboard Zack!
You should be able to shoot any factory ammunition.
NRA Basic, Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun, RSO
CCW, CQM, DM, Long Range Rifle Instructor
6.5 Grendel Reloading Handbooks & chamber brushes can be found here:
www.AR15buildbox.com
