Hi 6.5 forum, i need your help. Or at least some feedback.

[Mr.1904]

Hey everyone, been checking out the forums for a little bit now.

I just finished my 6.5 grendel upper about a month ago. I got impatient and slapped it on a JD Machine billet lower i had and went shooting. I bought a case of Hornady Amax 123gr 6.5 grendel to get the brass and acclimate myself to the round and rifle itself.

So here's my quagmire; I finished out the 200 rounds tonight, and i'm not totally satisfied with the results. The upper is a BHW 18" .264 LBC 1:9 twist heavy barrel, SAA bolt, RRA chrome AR-15 BCG, UTG Pro 15" keymod handguard, and the glass is a Bushnell Elite 6500 2.5-16. The lowers have switched between a tuned ALG trigger group W/JP spring kit, and a Geissele Hi-Speed National Match trigger tuned to ~2.5-3# both with STR stocks and standard buffers and springs. I'll be the first to admit i'm relatively new to precision shooting (been shooting for groups for about 1.5 years now) and don't even reload yet, but that is changing since i have acquired a friends single stage press and have started acquiring some projectiles. But my best 3 shot group is about .4" and my best 5 shot group is just over .5" all shooting at 100 yards shooting off of bags. My best group at 300 was ~4". (Furthest my range goes out to)

Now, what the issue is tending to be is i'll get two shots bullet on bullet, and then sometimes a third. But with the 4th and 5th i'll throw to make it 1.5" or so. Tonight i shot at an indoor range to shoot in a controlled environment as my normal range is outdoor and has a tendency to get a little windy. My groups will range between 2.5" to what was stated above. I feel like the rifle and the load need to be tuned in order to reach the extreme accuracy grendel is reported to have starting with the load. I feel like the load needs to be tweeked either +/- grain weight a little, or +/- powder charge a little. Is anyone else with a .264 1:9 chamber using 123gr and having amazing results? If so what's the load you're using?

Again touching on the grouping in the first 200 rounds it was tending to put two bullets touching, and than another two bullets touching, but with about a 1-2" spread. Even at 300 yards.

I broke in the barrel correctly (at least in my mind) and am having at least 5 mins in between groups to let the barrel cool off. Tonight while i was shooting i was rushing a bit between two groupings and noticed that when the barrel got hot the spread increased. Anyone else have experiences like this with a heavy barrel profile?

So, am i just being ungrateful? What is everyone else getting with a run of the mill 18" rifle? Is it just a question of tuning the load to the gun? From what i've read the Hornady Amax load has a tendency to be the most consistent. Also, most of what i've read has put 18" barrels in the 1:8 twist rate. My goal is to get a sub .5" five shot group in which i know is possible. I just need help getting there.

The fully completed rifle will consist of a PRS stock, and Velocity 3# single stage trigger, but i've gotten ancy and decided to put money into components and ammo instead.

I'll attach photos of my two best groups, the 40 rounds i put downrange tonight, and the last three targets i shot at 300 yards

EDIT: By the way, the upper functioned flawlessly using an ASC 6.5 grendel 10 round magazine

[Mr.1904]

[attachment=4290]

This was slated to be the best group of the night until i blew it on the last shot

[attachment=4291]

These were the results from tonight, the bottom right was zeroing. Middle left was my first group. Top left being my second and went left to right from then on. All targets are 2" target spots.

[attachment=4292]

My best two so far

[attachment=4293]

My last three 300 yard targets

[wraith1516]

The twist rate might be to slow to stabilize 123gr bullet try the 100gr bullets. My bhw 20" bull is a1in8 twist shoots .6" or less all day long , you could have someone else whom you know is a better shot shoot it to see if it is a form or technique problem

[rabiddawg]

My goal is to get a sub .5" five shot group in which i know is possible. I just need help getting there.

You may need to adjust your goal. In my opinion, getting sub moa out of a home built gun is like hitting the powerball lottery.

[Drift]

I hunt more than I shoot targets. But getting .5" groups with a home built rifle using store bought ammo seems pretty good to me. When you reload more and can tune the ammo to what the rifle likes you can probably shrink those groups by another .2-.3"

[m796rider]

I hunt more than I shoot targets. But getting .5" groups with a home built rifle using store bought ammo seems pretty good to me. When you reload more and can tune the ammo to what the rifle likes you can probably shrink those groups by another .2-.3"

I would very much like to see the AR that can regularly shoot .2" 5-shot groups at 100 yards... I personally have never gotten close to that, or seen anyone I know get close to that.

To the OP, were your personal best groups shot with a bolt gun or semiauto?

[LRRPF52]

I'm not seeing the problem. Did I miss something? You can lap your receiver face and bed the barrel and it might tighten up even more, but you have a good shooter right now. Biggest variable is the shooter, and you're doing a lot better than many people right off the bat.
Get out on some steel and have some fun would be my suggestion.

[rickOshay]

Seems like you've got a good shooter. BTW - I didn't realize JD was making billet lowers now. Good for them.

When this pattern happens to me, I usually blame the guy pulling the trigger. I get four in a tight group (see below) then the 5th jumps out, usually because I get excited about a good group and rush it.


(This was the 85 gr Sierra over AA2520)

I agree with LRR....shoot more, have fun. Maybe do some ladders at 300 yards to tweak the load.

[1911man]

One thing that could help you is to Chrony the shots. If you shoot 4 shots into one hole and they are all within 20 fps of each other and then the last one is 100 fps off that can at least tell you to blame the ammo. Usually I would agree with the poster above that when you have 4 tight and the 5th on is off it is the shooter but there are many variables. I am noticing that some of your groups are landing on different areas of the target. For example one group is high center then another is low left. Are you using the same dial on your scope and same point of aim for all of these groups? If so that would point to shooter error. I had groups similar to this on one of my bolt rifles. They would all be around the same size but in different locations. Over time I realized that each time I lined up to shoot my 5 shots I was doing several things different. The biggest thing I noticed was my hand placement on the stock and that effected where my finger was on the trigger which changed my point of impact. My groups were still good because I was using good fundamentals but each time the groups would be in different places in relation to the bulls eye. I started consistently putting my hand and finger in the same place and it went away. It still happens to me some times though, especially when I go from one rifle to another.