07-03-2013, 09:19 AM
Guardsman26 Wrote:Reviewing some of the interesting posts on this thread. I think I asked the wrong question.
Perhaps, I would have made life easier for myself if I had asked: what could be done to help military and LE users accept and use the 6.5 mm Grendel more widely?
The supplementary question is: is it good enough as is? If not, what could or should be done to improve it.
It has also been mentioned using high-power propellant to give the projectile increased velocity and energy.
And, just yesterday, from woohoo, ". . . Design and manufacture a stronger bolt and extension. A few stronger designs already exist. . . ."
Consider the muzzle velocities from a 16.5-inch bolt gun chambering a cartridge, which case is longer (1.92" vs 1.52"), case rim is wider (.473" vs .442), case capacity is greater (53 gr. H2O vs 35 gr.) and overall length is longer (2.82" vs 2.26"), than the 6.5mm Grendel: the 6.5mm Creedmoor --- Short Barrel 6.5mm Rifle - Sin City Precision 6.5mm Creedmoor http://www.sincityprecision.com/?p=1503.
2575 fps with the 139-grain Lapua Scenar, 2750 fps with the 123-grain Lapua Scenar, from a 6.5mm Creedmoor 16.5-inch bolt gun.
It's been reported in these pages that 2700 fps, with the 139-grain Lapua Scenar, was attained from a 6.5mm Grendel 22-inch bolt gun (CZ527) --- and, extrapolating, 2550 fps, in a 16 to 16.5-inch barrel.
All of which prompts me to conclude that an "enhanced" 6.5mm Grendel is the answer. And, all that is needed is an upgraded (read: "Big Bolt") AR-15/M16/M4 Bolt-Barrel Extension.
And, if we're ready to move to a Bullpup configuration --- allowing a still-longer barrel length, in a shorter overall length than is possible in existing AR-15-type platforms, as Tony Williams has stated --- there's an instant ambi left/right ejection design (presently incorporated in the ARX-160 and ARX100) that removes a significant downside to the Bullpup consideraton.
If only the Military Top Brass would start thinking outside the box!