6mm ARC vs 6.5 Grendel Sanity Check

[LRRPF52]

The Grendel has a 125 fps advantage over the 6mm ARC with similar weight bullets?

I'm getting 2560 fps with the Hornady 6mm 105 BTHP with Lever out of a Lilja 16". I wonder if the 2350fps figure you've got is low.

That’s Hornady’s barrel length/velocity number with the fastest powder for a 12” barrel. If you look at your 16.5” Lilja, it’s only 55fps faster than Hornady’s stated data for a 16” 6mm ARC with that powder.

If I load 107gr 6.5mm with CFE223, I suspect I could get it going 2525-2550fps from the 12”, but I have just been shooting factory ammo from the 12” Grendel for the past 6 years and really can’t complain about what I’m seeing downrange.

Litz BC for the 107gr SMK was much higher than Sierra stated, which makes sense when you look at them side-by-side with 123gr Hornady bullets. The boat tails on the 107gr SMK are really long.



The 8208 XBR load under the 107gr SMK has been well-tested with a lot of data.

It does 2655fps under the Hodgdon’s max load from my 17.6”. Hodgdon’s max load is based on volume, not pressure. They tapped out at a little over 49,000psi compressed.