6.5 Grendel on it's own merits

[Stinky Coyote]

If ARs went away, 6.5 Grendel might not cease to exist, but its popularity would decline substantially. That isn't apt to happen, however. If ARs went away, I don't see a whole lot of manufacturers clambering to make other types of guns to fill the void for 6.5 Grendel. 6.5 Grendel has been all that popular with non-AR platforms.

Now, had the statement been that 6.5 Grendel would never have existed without the AR15, I would have to say that the claim is correct. I don't know, maybe somebody somewhere would have come up with a non-AR15-based chamber cartridge that uses the same amount of powder and gets the exact same performance. People are wildcatting all sorts of cartridges and all claim some sort of superiority over existing cartridges, LOL. However, it would likely have been called something else.

Not an argument to you but just adding to these possibles brought up.

Can we imagine America without AR's? LOL so that whole argument goes away. And Grendel was developed to improve on AR 5.56 downrange performance. So it was inevitable as that was always a need and desire, someone was going to keep working on solving this and provide a 21st century response.

Here's another take, the CZ 527 in 7.62x39, the Ruger m77 boat paddle 7.62x39. There have been bolt guns in AK-47 cartridge for a long time and also bolt action .223's (.222's etc.) for a long time, they all go away without AR? no AR's and few AK's.

There have always been AR Length cartridges or a micro action length class in bolt actions and there's been an evolution in ballistics and gear over the tail end of the 20th century and into the 21st century so all areas, action types/lengths, have seen 21st century ballistic options come available. Unavoidable that the 6.5 Grendel came out, AR or not.