6.5 Grendel on it's own merits

[Stinky Coyote]

I base it on my personal experience at matches. These are gas gun matches that go out to 900 or so yards. Everyone I see adopting a new small frame AR cartridge is going 6ARC. Within this group, Grendel is generally considered inferior to 6ARC. With cheap ammo readily available, Grendel was, at least to me, a no brainer. With that ammo pretty well gone, 6.8 SPC is arguably better for short range hunting, while 6ARC is better for longer range target shooting. I think Grendel is a great cartridge, but the fact remains that a big edge it had over competitors is gone. Just look at this forum. There's not exactly a flood of new members pouring in. Beyond that, Federal seems to have stopped producing ammo for Grendel. Prvi seems to be going away too. Hornady, Barnes, Nosler, and AA seem to be the only companies currently making new supplies. Of those, Hornady is the only major player. Again, it's a great cartridge, but its usage seems to be shrinking, not growing, at least to me. Hopefully, Hornady keeps producing decent quantities of ammo.

Anyone that can do math can quickly see the 6.8 is a deer only set up that falls flat on it's face quickly. I ran the 6.8 before I could get the Grendel, it was a brief run, felt it was about wrapped up by just over 200 yards and with it's SD was really only a deer size game contender. The Grendel has elk/moose qualifying SD bullets in the 123's that can hold similar hit probability (due to higher bc) to near double the range of the 6.8. They aren't even in the same league in terms of hunting potential for game on this continent. Blew through a quartering whitetail at 420 that dropped with a 16" Grendel, I thought it was pretty miraculous to kill a doe at 220 with my 6.8 110's and it did a runner so was a long walk to get relief. So the 6.8 is arguably an adequate 250 yard deer round but the Grendel adds 150 yards to that easily and goes beyond deer size game. They only fit in the same magazine/action length as their only similarity.

The 6.5x55 survived, because it has the right numbers, the 6.5 Grendel is a couple decades in now...because it has the right numbers. Will it be a rager like the Creedmoor? No. Will the ARC be a rager yup, the world has been dying for a short fat factory 6 like a ppc/br/dasher, so surprised it took that long. And if you can put 2 and 2 together you'll see the ARC (which is a 6 Grendel) will drag the 6.5 Grendel along nicely as there are more target guys than hunters but the hunters will do what they usually do between 6 and 6.5 choices....they will gravitate towards the 6.5 for hunting. Any x39 case based well supported factory round will likely be around a long long time, well played Grendel creators and Hornady for recognizing the long term potential with that case and applying 21st century bullets/design to it.

And yup, Hornady makes great ammo, likely part of the reason others don't sell as much and opting out. That's not gonna slow down and the ARC will ensure that case and ammo will carry on for a long time also. They will support the 6.5 and 6 Creedmoor no differently, both will remain big successes throughout this century.

How long has the 6.8 been out? Hows it done in that time compared to the Grendel? Lol...The Grendel withstood the flash in the pan phenomenon because it has all the right numbers. A bolt action only Canadian learned about it in about 2005, have wanted one since, not even considering a gas gun. That should tell you that any ballistics nerd will find the good stuff quickly and easily. It should also tell you likelihood of it being a survivor also.

Edit; And your experience on the matches. 6 Arc offers a 150-170 yard distance advantage for similar impact speeds (103/108 gr hornady loads vs the 123 6.5)...and that's while you'll see target guys move to the 6 but in hunting world that extra distance is already beyond where 99% of game is taken so it's only beneficial to the target guys or the very few elrh hunting guys. 0-500 hunting the Grendel has no fat, no weakness, the Arc gives up barrel life and being under 120 gr bullet weight as 2 disadvantages to the Grendel. Grendel is most balanced and well rounded on more checkboxes one may choose in a cartridge.