Which chamber for a custom bolt gun?

[stokesrj]

I'm building a AR chambered in Grendel because choices are limited on this platform for good all around performing calibers. But why would you build it into a bolt gun when there are so many better options available? Are you a gun collector and just like having different guns? I'm just curious. Thanks.

To answer this question it is necessary to define better, I own several 6.5 caliber bolt rifles, 6.5X55, 260 Remington, 6.5 STW, and 6.5x54 Mannlicher-Schonauerr rifles and don't consider them better. I also have two very different 6.5 Grendel bolt rifles that excel at their given roles. One is a very heavy prone rifle built on a Stolle-Panda action with a McMillan Anschutz profile prone stock and a 2 oz Timmney trigger and sporting a 36X Leupold bench rest scope. This was task specific built to compete in any/any class reduced course midrange prone matches. It does this better than a 260 would because of less barrel heat creating less mirage or barrel tension and does it better than a 6mm PPC because of the larger bullet diameter increases X count (it is expected that the score will be a perfect 500 out of 500, the winner determined by X count). This rifle excels at this task.

The second rifle is a light weight rifle designed for hunting whitetails in timber. It is built on a Remington Model 7 action, 20" Pac-Nor barrel, McMillan edge stock and sports a Leupold 1.5-5 VX3 scope with heavy duplex reticles mounted in Talley light weight rings. The whole rig weighs only 5 lbs 8 oz. Is a delight to handle and pack long distances. It puts five 130 grain Berger Hunting VLD's in .5" or less at 100 yards and is perfectly capable of putting down any whitetail that walks the face of the earth with a point blank range of 260 yards. I have similar rifles in heavier calibers, but the recoil from such a light rifle is unpleasant and unnecessary. The Grendel does anything they will and is a whole lot more fun.

So for these two applications, it seems to me that the Grendel is better than other calibers, as I have defined their tasks.

However, when I was completing my Grand Slam of North American Wild Sheep, and had tens of thousands of dollars riding on the shot, I took my 6.5 STW, it is clearly superior for that task. I packed it for 31 days through 250 miles of British Columbia alpine type terrain. And when the time came it performed perfectly.

Tomorrow morning, I will be competing in an any/any match and the 6.5 Grendel Panda will be the perfect choice.

Anyway, I assume you asked the question in earnest and this is an earnest answer.

Bob