How does the 6.5 Grendel compare to the 6.5x48 Swiss?

[Trooper]

Just been looking at the Swiss Arms site. They had a round, the 6.5x48, that they were looking at. Wondered how it compares to the Grendel.

The Swiss Arms rifle design (550/552) is scalable such that it could go from .223 to a larger caliber with minimal effort.

[JASmith]

I found a 6x47mm Swiss Match - http://ammoguide.com/?catid=180 on Ammoguide.com.

Capacity is 48 gr water. Nominal ballistics -- 107 gr bullet at 2900 ft/sec.

Is this about what you were thinking of?

[stanc]

http://www.municion.org/Swiss/645x48Xpl.htm

[Trooper]

http://www.municion.org/Swiss/645x48Xpl.htm

I ran across that earlier. My guess is that it was not much better than the 6.5 Grendel. Sort of like the 260 Rem

[Tony Williams]

The 6.45x48 used a case with the same overall diameter as the 7.62x51 so, yes, it was in a similar size class to the 6.5x47 Lapua, 6.5mm Creedmore and .260 Rem. Which is to say, much bigger than the Grendel. Bullet weight was only 97 grains fired at 2,950 fps.

[Trooper]

The 6.45x48 used a case with the same overall diameter as the 7.62x51 so, yes, it was in a similar size class to the 6.5x47 Lapua, 6.5mm Creedmore and .260 Rem. Which is to say, much bigger than the Grendel. Bullet weight was only 97 grains fired at 2,950 fps.

I think that I have read your comments on places like Tank.net and quarry.nildram.co.uk This is why I compared the 6.5x48 to the .260 Rem rather than to the Grendel.

One other question. Is the SIG550/556 design scalable so that the rifle could be converted to a larger caliber? That was one feature that made the Rem ACR so interesting. In your opinion, is there a good platform out there or are we stuck with the M16/M4?

[LRRPF52]

The Grendel will fit in the Sig550 series, but would need a new magazine dedicated for it. There really aren't any assault rifle platforms that are "better" than the AR15 family, when you consider everything across the board. The SCAR is nice in many ways, but I hate the optic above bore height on it. It needs a modular handguard and different gas system lengths too.

The Sig550 is basically an AK operating system, made with Swiss manufacturing standards. That doesn't take away the problems with the AK operating system, which essentially beats itself to death. The Sig550 also uses a fixed ejector, which when broken, leaves the soldier/unit stuck like chuck. Yes, they do break.

With the AR15 plunger ejector, it is easily replaced, even if you just swap out a bolt in the field with no armorer needed. Fixed ejector designs require skilled labor maintenance, tools, and significant time off the line.

The craftsmanship and workmanship with the Sig550 series is world-class. The only rifles I've seen that compete with it quality-wise are the HK416 and 417. Most guys I know who own Sig550's sell them and stick with AR's, unless they are dedicated collectors, and even those guys shoot their AR's more often.

As far as the cartridges go, anything the size of a battle rifle cartridge is a non-starter for an assault rifle by definition. Too large, too much weight, no real combat endurance for a unit handicapped with them. I would draw the line for an assault rifle case length at 45mm, like the 5.56 NATO. No other assault rifle cartridge has been longer:

7.92x33 Kurz
7.62x39
7.62x45 Czech
5.45x45
5.45x39
5.8x42 CHICOM
6.8x43 SPC
6.5x38 Grendel

[Buck2732]

You could add the .280 British, which is 7x43mm to that list as it was issued to British troops until Churchill became PM and squashed it. Then adopted the 7.62x51.