6.5 Grendel Preferred Loads

[PrecisionFirearms]

Bill:

Simple. 120 Sierra Match King. Same load, same OAL. It will shoot as well as a person can hold from either chamber providing the barrel is of good quality.

Some loads using other bullets will shoot better but my bet is that they won't shoot equally well out of either chamber and they won't shoot equally well with almost any safe Grendel load. My bet is that a 120 will.

However, no commercial outfit will make money off of selling loaded ammo with a 120 Sierra as the bullet is not a "VLD". That part is marketing and I can't blame the manufacturers. No matter how good that bullet may be, if the ammo isn't marketed as a 'VLD', it won't sell.

LR1955

You are absolutely correct on the 120 Grain SMK. It is a very good bullet. I can personally attest to the accuracy from personal experience and from what customers are telling us. But when I try to market it, is moves slower than just about any other ammo we make. It just not racy enough. No hype, just plain gourmet vanilla results. No 1000 Yard Wins for sure, but for those looking for 600 and under distance, the 120 SMK should not be overlooked and is under appreciated. I found it will often outperform the 123 SMK in the 100-400 yard range. And it will do it in just about any rifle that I have tried and I have tried over 50 combinations of different lengths, profiles, brands, chamber clones, and temperatures. I have also found the 123 A-Max to be very forgiving and overall average for a VLD probably goes to it. The 123 Scenar can be very accurate, but is very particular and I haven't figured out what makes that thing tick. Just last week, I tested a Bartlein 24 inch Barrel, chambered in 6.5 Grendel and it shot .4 groups at 100 with the first 6 rounds with the first one a spotter round and not included. No cleaning between shots and no break-in. (Break-in is a conversation for another thread). I then fired 5 more, still with no break-in or cleaning. Still all five shots were under .4. I very happy with Bartlein barrels. During cleaning, it exhibited almost no copper fouling. I guess that is the purpose of 5R rifling. This test as done with 123 Grain Lapua Scenar in Lapua Cases, CCI 450, 28.3 gr 8208 XBR, COL 2.260-2.263. But I have seen this very load do 1.2 inch groups in another rifle that shot .6 with factory Hornady ammo. I don't know if it is possible to have a universal load that would shoot Sub .5 in all rifles. I haven't seen this happen in the 5.56 world either.