Grendel LMG

[stanc]

Ok, I'm a little confused. Take a loose tolerance machine gun and shoot Grendel ammo as just a proof of concept? Is that the idea?

Is it just to prove that a 6.5 Grendel machine gun can be built? No.

I'll predict that you'll make it work, at least part of the time, and maybe you'll get lucky and it will run great, but to what end? No one is going to put that machine gun back into production because the cartridge works, and from I understand, most of those machine guns have been and are worn out.

I imagine that's true, but the purpose isn't to show that the RPD can be upgraded to 6.5 Grendel.

I wonder about making it work consistently not so much because of the links, but because the gas system will be far from ideal for the Grendel, the reciprocating mass is not optimized for the cartridge, etc.

Before Bill Alexander began tinkering with the AR15, it wasn't optimized for 6.5 Grendel, either. We can't know for sure if the RPD can be successfully converted until somebody with the necessary knowledge and experience makes the effort.

We all have pet hobbies and desires though, so I wish you well!

It isn't a hobby, pet or otherwise. It's an attempt to achieve a specific goal.

A week and a half ago, Paul opined that the best chance for 6.5 Grendel to become a military cartridge is to interest the V4 nations -- Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic -- in adopting it, and the "most important factor that would make the Grendel get noticed is if a modern LMG was chambered in it, and shown to provide the same downrange benefits as 7.62 GMPG's." http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthrea...1#post9181

Joe suggested, "Let's help him pursue that notion and see where it takes us." http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthrea...1#post9236

When nobody else posted any ideas for "pursuing that notion," I started this thread. Since conversion of a modern LMG is not feasible for any of us (if only because there are no disintegrating links available), I proposed using the old RPD as a vehicle that could be used in side-by-side evaluations with OPFOR GPMGs like the PKM.

Paul had previously asked, "Have we already discussed the possibility of using RPD links for the Grendel?" http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthrea...1#post9227

Since the Europeans have long been using non-disintegrating links like those in RPD belts, that gave further impetus to the idea of converting an RPD to 6.5 Grendel.

Is it worth doing? I dunno, but it's the only idea I could come up with. If anyone else has alternative proposals that are feasible for us to develop, I'd be more than happy to see them.