I'm new to the 6.5 Grendel & thought I would start my experiment by purchasing a relatively affordable upper from 80-lowers.com. The upper arrived and then the ammo search began, which of course, there isn't much out there. My son, who has two 6.5 Grendels, happen to have saved all of his brass, even though he doesn't reload, so he sent his Hornady, once-fired brass and hand loaded a few rounds using my Lee classic turret press and Lee dies.
When I try to chamber a round, the bolt is jammed in there tight and the only way to extract the cartridge is to gently tap on the side discharge handle until it finally breaks free. While I don't have a cartridge gauge for the Grendel yet, I measured all dimensions and they are well within maximum specs according to all the reloading resources that I have (Lee, Lyman, Hornady). The brass is pretty scratched up when ejected. I decided not to fire a round yet until I can determine the cause of my problem. I've contacted the seller and they have pics & said that they will get back to me on Monday, but I suspect that they have no idea why I'm having this problem. Below is a pic of an extracted round, unfired.
12-12-2020, 06:02 PM (This post was last modified: 12-12-2020, 06:04 PM by VASCAR2.)
My guess is the chamber is very rough. If the barrel is Nitride/Melonite/QPQ the process can leave salts and other residue from the hardening process. Cleaning and polishing the chamber could help but there is also a possibility the chamber is just rough. Its not unheard of for a manufacturer to use worn out reamer. The manufacturer may have failed to run a finish reamer in the barrel. Poor quality control is relatively common with some 6.5 Grendel barrel manufacturers.
One common problem with reloading the 6.5 Grendel is bumping the shoulder back so the brass fits the chamber. You can size the case and see if the sized case fits the chamber and will fall out when the muzzle is raised. If the case doesnt fall out lower the sizing die a little more. The shoulder normally needs to be bumped back .003-.004. Once you have the case sized take a loaded cartridge and color the bullet with a black marker. The cartridge should fall out of the chamber via gravity when the muzzle is raised. If the bullet is into the lands seat the bullet deeper. If the bullet is into the lands some of the black on the bullet will be rubbed off. It is not uncommon to get a short chamber with a worn out reamer. These particular chamber problems are fairly common on cheap 6.5 Grendel barrels. Rack grade cheap barrels are luck of the draw on accuracy and QC.
First thing to do is take the extractor off and if it has the rubber oring, get rid of that rubber oring.
Next thing I would check is to see if your hitting the lands, dont trust book data, it's very possible you could have a tight throat and your hitting the lands, if that checks out as good, then move on to sizing the cases another 3 thousands down more and see if that fix's the issue.
12-13-2020, 03:26 PM (This post was last modified: 12-13-2020, 03:30 PM by jertex.)
Thanks for the advice. I'll go through the steps of lowering the sizing die by small increments to see if that makes a difference. I also have some factory ammo on the way to see how it seats. It's cheap wolf ammo, but it should be sized correctly.
I've also thought about just buying a new barrel and replacing this one and chalk it up to a learning experience. I got this lower at a low enough price that the cost of adding a quality barrel will end up costing what a higher quality complete upper would have cost in the beginning. I'm still mulling that one over and it will be the last resort if I can't solve the problem my resizing and if the seller doesn't offer a satisfactory solution.
O does that bring back memories , bump the shoulders back , I had the same problems with my Lee dies until I bumped the shoulders back , I picked up a Wilson cartridge guage and check every one of my cases after I size them , good luck .
Just curious, what is the down side of having the oring installed ? What advantages does it have ? I dont understand why its hated so bad for the Grendel I Want to learn
Dt219 Wrote:Just curious, what is the down side of having the oring installed ? What advantages does it have ? I dont understand why its hated so bad for the Grendel I Want to learn
Dt219 Wrote:Just curious, what is the down side of having the oring installed ? What advantages does it have ? I dont understand why its hated so bad for the Grendel I Want to learn
I tried making minor adjustments to case size and still the same problems. I talked to customer service at the vendor today and he said that, from the pics, the upper needs to either be repaired or replaced. They sent me a pre-paid UPS shipping label and I'll be shipping it back this afternoon. I'm pretty happy with their response and it looks like they are a good vendor that stands behind their product. Once I get the upper returned, I'll provide an update to the post.
Just curious, did you thoroughly clean the barrel/chamber before trying to chamber your cartridge?
Reason I ask is because every barrel that I have ever bought for my Grendel's ( Alexander, Satern/Liberty, Monster/Green Mountain) has had a bunch of crap in the bore/chamber. Monster was the cleanest, AA was the worst.
Of course, now that you have sent it back, it's kind of a moot point now.
Another update, my Lyman Ammo Checker block came in and all of the cartridges that I loaded seat perfectly, so there definitely was an issue with the chamber.
Well, it's been a while, but I'm supposed to receive a replacement upper today. They didn't tell me what was wrong with the first one, but they replaced it. Once I get a scope on it & sighted in, I'll post a report.
jertex Wrote:Another update, my Lyman Ammo Checker block came in and all of the cartridges that I loaded seat perfectly, so there definitely was an issue with the chamber.
Too funny, there are some on this site that disdain ammo checkers.
