Gentlemen and Vile Unwashed Masses of the Grendel Horde, my order from SGAmmo just came in with some of the recently re-released PPU 6.5 Grendel ammo.
Loaded necks are 0.288 and brass has a quality feel to it, though I just got it yesterday and haven't shot it yet, much less reloaded. Will keep you posted.
At SHOT Show 2020, the PPU rep told me the factory recalled it two years ago because they were confused by, supposedly, two different 6.5 Grendel specs floating around, and recalled it to make sure there was a unified standard. (We've had both SAAMI and CIP specs for quite some time, and they agree as far as I know, so I really don't know what he was talking about, but wasn't in the mood to argue.)
Anyway, it's in the U.S. again, it's available, and so far, so good....
P.S. I note that the primer of the 110FMJ has red sealant on it; I assume that's because the Serbian military has been testing a combat version of the 6.5 Grendel.
:: 6.5 GRENDEL Deer and Targets :: 6mmARC Targets and Varmints and Deer :: 22 ARC Varmints and Targets
BluntForceTrauma Wrote:How are the primer pockets holding up?
Great so far. Will have 5 firings on 50 peices after tommorw range day and will update my thread on them in the ammunition section with my full thoughts.
Sure makes me want to do a head to head test between the PPU 110 grain FMJ and Hornady Frontier 123 grain FMJ. I’d like to chronograph them in various barrel lengths and shoot them for accuracy. I’d probably do the 100 grain Wolf and Barnual steel case comparison during the test. I’m curious if the Frontier 123 grain FMJ bullet has a hollow air space in the nose. I guess I’ll try to order some whether I get time to to do the test.
Thanks for the posts! As a brand, I've had mixed results with PPU. I think their .223 ammo and brass quality is above baseline. I think their 30-06 M2 Ball ammo isn't all that impressive (weak and inaccurate); but the brass there appears on par with military brass (so far at least).
I'm looking forward to hearing more on their Grendel loading. I'm making this up, but to me it sounded like in the past they were maybe using a softer formulation than they should have, and there were issues. I'm completely guessing, but assumed that was them using low pressure 7.62X39 brass formulation and processing, for a high P round. Easy to do since mostly the same tooling. If that's what happend, then hopefully they've upgraded to the higher pressure rated 5.56 brass formulation and processing techniques now as well, as I do quite like PPU 5.56 brass. Like I said, I'm just guessing at all that though.
The original, recalled Large Rifle Primer PPU brass was definitely soft and wouldn't last more than 1 or 2 loads.
I have bags of it. Another thing about it was that cases grew longer than allowable case length in 6.5 Grendel, meaning over 1.530", and it's the only one I recall that does it (same with the older Wolf imported and branded PPU 123gr Soft Point load).
I never had any issues with firing the blue box LRP-primed 120gr MPT load, and it was actually some of the most accurate, affordable factory ammo on the market, even besting Hornady 123gr SST on average through Lilja barrels I tested it in, but by a few fractions of an inch. Both types were consistently well under 1 MOA even though my 16" Lilja Wasp Group Buy barrel. I fired 4 groups through that Lilja barrel out of the gate with PPU 120gr MPT and 123gr SST, and nothing went over .8".
The MPT bullet has a graduated bullet jacket thickness, so it works well on medium game, in addition to being a great target bullet.
I was just thinking, it would be great to see them sold at the old prices of around $13/20 so I did an Ammoseek search.
$12.95 at SGA Ammo!
NRA Basic, Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun, RSO
CCW, CQM, DM, Long Range Rifle Instructor
6.5 Grendel Reloading Handbooks & chamber brushes can be found here:
stanc Wrote:I'd like to see such a test. Is the Hornady FMJ ammo available yet?
Target Sports USA list the Frontier FMJ. I think the American Gunner 123 grain BTHP 200 round plastic box is a better buy but I’d still like to do a comparison test between the FMJ ammo.
Agreed. this is an odd product release. I can buy 6.5 Creedmoor ammo for like 25% less than this.
On top of that, it's priced not much better than ELD-M; for a pretty half-baked FMJ bullet? Why would anyone buy this? If I want plinking ammo, I can get the Wolf Steel for 1/3 this price point. Price this for what it's actually worth (about 45 cents a shot); and I'll buy it by the case. At 75 cents a shot for a half-baked designed FMJ? No thanks. Between the two, I'll take the PPU. Though really, so long as this is all over 50 cents a shot, I'll just shoot Steel and reload my own when I want to be serious.
That said - we'll see! If your testing shows this shoots really accurately, that will count for a lot!
Hopefully Hornady is using the exact same brass and not factory seconds in the Frontier line. I agree the Frontier FMJ is priced to high for FMJ but if it is the same brass as other Hornady 6.5 Grendel ammo that helps a little. If PPU brass equals the quality/durability of Hornady or Starline it should help the sales of PPU 6.5 Grendel ammo.
Rebels010 Wrote:Any more updates/reviews on the 110 or 120? Didnt know if more people have had a chance to try it out.
A5 says he has had great results with them out of a CZ bolt gun.
My 12.5" Ballistic Advantage barreled pistol didn't do well with them. 2.5-3 MOA
Velocities were:
120 gr HPBT 2280 fps avg, 206 ext. spread, 52.4 std. deviation over 10 shots (2209 low, 2415 high, it really was that erratic via LabRadar using a recoil trigger, that one shot even sounded overly hot)
110 gr FMJ 2347 fps avg, 48 ext. spread, 14.2 std. deviation over 10 shots
The same gun is 1 MOA with 123 gr HPBT American Gunner.
I saved the other 1/2 of the boxes to try in my LaRue but didn't get chance to try them before public range shutdown over Covid-19 panic.
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