Serbia adopting 6.5 Grendel as main military cartridge

[montana]

Wikipedia list the case length for the 6.5 Grendel Case as 38.7 mm so instead of calling it 6.5x39 I think PPU is just using a more descriptive name without calling it 6.5 Grendel. Whether PPU has upped the pressure for the Serb military is yet to be disclosed. All the previous information indicated the performance was very similar to the 6.5 Grendel.

Possible, but I quote the article:Serbian soldier with M17 in DMR configuration (source)Interestingly, it appears that the rifle is now chambered in a proprietary cartridge, 6.5×38.7mm, rather than the original 6.5×39 mm Grendel cartridge. The new round has been developed by Serbia’s Prvi Partizan, an ammunition manufacturer. The new round reportedly has better ballistic characteristics, with a flatter trajectory and more kinetic energy on target out to 800m, according to the Serbian Ministry of Defense.
It could possibly be the same as the 300 Whisper and 300 BO, but it could also have a much higher pressure value unsuitable for AR Grendel platforms.

[Fess]

It would not surprise me if they redesigned the case to allow higher pressures. They might have monkeyed with the taper and overall length as well.
Bill Alexander had said that the Grendel was designed around the existing AR15's bolt size and magazine well. If I recall correctly, he said that the max design pressure for the case was 58,000 psi. If the case were designed for a significantly higher pressure, the walls and base would need to be thicker, reducing case capacity and increasing material cost.

I don't know what the guts of the M17 look like, but it would not surprise me if it could handle longer cartridges and/or higher pressures.

[A5BLASTER]

I bet all they did was cut the neck down just a hair. So they could call it something diffrent when they jacked the pressure up to increase nothing basicly.

[stanc]

6.5 Grendel - SAAMI dimensions

Case Length: 1.52 in / 38.6 mm

[Fess]

OOPS. I just realize that I misread the article. I am now pretty sure that they were comparing the new 6.5 round to their old one, the 7.62x39, not to the Grendel. Duh on my part. No wonder they said: "The new round reportedly has better ballistic characteristics, with a flatter trajectory and more kinetic energy on target out to 800m, according to the Serbian Ministry of Defense." Even a downloaded Grendel does that.

[stanc]

"The 6.5×38.7 mm round, developed by Serbia's Prvi Partizan, leverages work on the company's 6.5×39 mm Grendel cartridge, but it has been optimised to be fired from automatic and semi-automatic weapons."

https://www.janes.com/article/90088/zast...ault-rifle

[Fess]

I recall that when the Grendel was first introduced, there was concern about the relatively small amount of cartridge taper and the steep shoulder angle. It will be interesting to see what is meant by "optimised to be fired from automatic and semi-automatic weapons".

[VASCAR2]

Stan do you think the case taper on the 6.5 Grendel needs optimized to use disintegrating belt for machine guns. I can’t remember if anyone ever designed a disintegrating belt for the 6.5 Grendel. What ever Serbia adopts I don’t think it will have much effect on the 6.5 Grendel other than maybe slow PPU selling 6.5 Grendel ammo in the USA.

[stanc]

I doubt that 6.5 Grendel case taper would be an issue. It isn't significantly different from 7.62 NATO case taper, which works just fine in disintegrating links.



Years ago some Horde members posted artist's concepts of metallic links designed to fit 6.5 Grendel case dimensions, but none have ever been prototyped.

[just_john]

Since they came up with an "almost?" Grendel case but with the wrong primer pocket, perhaps they are just creating a market for what they already had.

[GSPHunter]

Since they came up with an "almost?" Grendel case but with the wrong primer pocket, perhaps they are just creating a market for what they already had.

Could be, but I'm thinking they wanted a different neck/throat to optimize their choice of bullet....Primer pockets don't "usually" force a name change...think of all the 308 small primer pocket brass out there.

[hill37]

My guess is the shoulder pushed out just enough not to chamber in a Grendel and the pressure jacked up to what the action can take.

[stanc]

My guess is the shoulder pushed out just enough not to chamber in a Grendel and the pressure jacked up to what the action can take.

So you're thinking something similar to the 6.5 Grendel Max?

_____________________ 7.62x39 ___________ 6.5x39 __________ 6.5 Grendel ________ 6.5 Grendel Max

[hill37]

That's where I'd start. Then do what it took to get it to feed.

[stanc]

In the second quarter of 2020, the Serbian army adopted the new modular M19 automatic rifle. Feature weapons is not just replacement of barrels of different lengths, but also bicaliber performance. The weapon can be transformed for the use of two ammunition. The old widely known Soviet intermediate cartridge 7,62x39 (model 1943), which is still one of the most common on the planet, and the new 6,5x39 mm Serbian cartridge, built on the basis of 6,5 mm Grendel ammunition.

https://en.topwar.ru/177059-serbija-otho...a-762.html

[hill37]

It seems Trolls and Drifting off topic is a universal forum problem.

[stanc]

It seems Trolls and Drifting off topic is a universal forum problem.

:confused:

[LR1955]

It seems Trolls and Drifting off topic is a universal forum problem.

h37:

Ditto with Stan.

What are you talking about?

Of all the Threads, this one has stayed on topic way better than most.

LR55

[hill37]

I'm sorry. I wasn't talking about Stan. I should have said I was talking about The comments section of the article. I apologize to Stan for my mistake.

[stanc]

No apology necessary. I was puzzled, not offended. Thanks for clarifying.