6.5 Grendel

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The Grendel looks like a great round, and you don't have to reload. I don't know if you walk or sit to hunt, but if you walk, and your boy has good muzzle control, look into a Safari sling. By far the most comfortable way to carry a rifle. Most rifles are fairly heavy for a 9 year old. Looking at https://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm, it shows the recoil for the Grendel to be about as good as it gets for a 6.5mm at 7.9 ft/lbf. The .357 load calculates to 9.79 ft/lbf. I have a scoped and slinged 7mm TCU in a contender, that weighs under 6 lbs. and calculating the recoil for a 120 gr. bullet at 2075 ft./sec it shows a recoil of 7.25 ft/lbf. Great size for a kid, and easy to carry, but you have to reload, and fireform the cases. Be aware that with the low velocity of this round, you'll want a varmit bullet in order to get good expansion. I've used this for javelina for years, and regular bullets kill very slowly, but the varmit bullets drop them in their tracks. They also make a 6.5 TCU.
 
I have 2 grendles mini 1500 Howas i bought from brownells.

Excellent rifles for youth, women, hunters, lightweight and excellent accuracy right out of the box (5/8" 3 shot factory ammo groups).

Im using mine to shoot steel silhouettes out to 500 mtrs, trjectory with 123 factory ammo ( hornady blk.) Is about 1 moa more then .308 with 168 hpbt.

The howa factory plastic stock is very well designed with recoil pad.

Only minor problem is mag release needs shortening as it sticks out too much and can inadvertly be activated to drop magazine. ( buy extra mag).
 
I have a 6.5 Grendel in the AR-15 platform. It’s a very accurate gun.

With that said, I have to say that I would choose the .270 Winchester as an all around gun. The recoil with standard factory loads is very mild but if you use the Remington Managed Recoil loads the recoil is going to be less than that of the .243 Winchester. This is also true of the .308 Winchester and .30-06 Springfield when loaded with the Remington Managed Recoil loads. Standard ammunition is going to be available everywhere. I shoot the Remington Core Lokts with 150 grain bullets. It’s a very flat shooting cartridge. It’s capable of taking any game animal that walks in North America.

As far as the gun itself, the .270 Winchester is offered by just about every major gun maker in one configuration or another. I have a Howa 1500 in the .270 Winchester. It’s a very accurate rifle. The price on the Howas with the Hogue stock is right at $400. I plan on purchasing a Winchester Model 70 XTR Featherweight in .270 Winchester this year as my primary hunting rifle. I’d suggest that you consider doing the same. This would be a lifetime rifle that he could pass down to his children one day, after using it for a lifetime to hunt anything in North America.

I think the answer to your question lies in the Remington Managed Recoil loads, be the caliber .270 Winchester, .308 Winchester, or .30-06 Springfield. Of course, the .270 Winchester is the mildest of the mild of these offerings.

https://www.remington.com/ammunition/centerfire-rifle/managed-recoil

Good luck
 
Fred, I respect your opinion and yes, the 270 is a shooters choice, but this is a beginner.
Youth model furniture on a contender cannot be compared to a long action bolt rifle. This setup is for a kid!
The caliber and chamber can be adjusted as he grows up and can endure more recoil.
Consider common factory offerings 6.8 SPC, 6.5 Grendel definitely light kickers.
The world is full of shooting options. Have fun deciding which route to go.
 
I didn't mention that I also have a 7-30 Waters barrel for my Contender. I've killed 4 Aoudads with it (out to 230 yards). It is a joy to carry in steep country, and a joy to shoot. It is more than adequate at 230 yards using 120 gr. TTSX Barnes bullets. My first deer was shot with a 6.5 Swedish Mauser cut down to carbine length and sporterized. It seemed like a heavy rifle to me at the time.
 
The 7-30 is hard to improve upon.
The 7 TCU is nifty plinker, too.
I also shoot the 7 mm Bellm.
Alpo and 7 Bellm sm.jpg
 
Banerbird said:
I am looking at a youth centerfire round for my 9 year old son. I'm not a big fan of smaller and lighter bullets (aka 243 or bullets under 120gr). I'm not saying they're bad, but it is a personal preference. I know a lot of people that use it with good success. So when replying, PLEASE don't try to convince me about the 243.... It's not going to happen.

So anyway, I have a 7mm-08 that I absolutely love, but it too long for my son right now. I know that there are reduced recoil 7mm-08 and have considered going that route (I forgot to mention that he has an Encore I cut the stock down for and uses the 50cal Katahdin barrel with good accuracy. I've also considered going the 308 reduced recoil route. This way when he get's bigger, it will be an easy switch to go to full power loads.

This is where the 6.5 Grendel comes in. I don't know much about it and have been researching quite a bit on it. It's an accurate round no doubt. What I've seen so far is that it is more than adequate on deer, but have limited information on that. The factory ammo I'm interested in is Federal's 120gr Fusion (NOT Hornady's SST... another personal preference as to why not on those). What I've seen on ballistics data is that it seems to be more than sufficient on whitetails out to 200-250 yards (energy wise).

Since I already have the Encore, I'm looking at getting a barrel from MGM for it. I don't own an AR, which I know the Grendel was designed for (short barrel). I would LOVE to see Ruger or someone offer it in their compact versions for youth.

So based on this, I have a few questions...

1) What would be the ideal barrel length? Since it was designed for the AR platform and a shorter barrel on the Encore is perfect for smaller youth, should I stick with the 20 inch or would a 22 inch barrel be too long for that round?

2) How does the Grendel perform on deer at 150-200 yards? Where my son would use it, there are opportunities up to that range.

3) How is the recoil in a light bolt action or Encore rifle? I've seen some videos and it looks very mild on adults, but would like some other opinions if possible.

I'm torn between the Grendel and 7mm-08. I love the 7mm, but also love trying newer things and the Grendel really has my curiosity for a youth and/or mid range caliber.
Click to expand...
 
Banerbird said:
I am looking at a youth centerfire round for my 9 year old son. I'm not a big fan of smaller and lighter bullets (aka 243 or bullets under 120gr). I'm not saying they're bad, but it is a personal preference. I know a lot of people that use it with good success. So when replying, PLEASE don't try to convince me about the 243.... It's not going to happen.

So anyway, I have a 7mm-08 that I absolutely love, but it too long for my son right now. I know that there are reduced recoil 7mm-08 and have considered going that route (I forgot to mention that he has an Encore I cut the stock down for and uses the 50cal Katahdin barrel with good accuracy. I've also considered going the 308 reduced recoil route. This way when he get's bigger, it will be an easy switch to go to full power loads.

This is where the 6.5 Grendel comes in. I don't know much about it and have been researching quite a bit on it. It's an accurate round no doubt. What I've seen so far is that it is more than adequate on deer, but have limited information on that. The factory ammo I'm interested in is Federal's 120gr Fusion (NOT Hornady's SST... another personal preference as to why not on those). What I've seen on ballistics data is that it seems to be more than sufficient on whitetails out to 200-250 yards (energy wise).

Since I already have the Encore, I'm looking at getting a barrel from MGM for it. I don't own an AR, which I know the Grendel was designed for (short barrel). I would LOVE to see Ruger or someone offer it in their compact versions for youth.

So based on this, I have a few questions...

1) What would be the ideal barrel length? Since it was designed for the AR platform and a shorter barrel on the Encore is perfect for smaller youth, should I stick with the 20 inch or would a 22 inch barrel be too long for that round?

2) How does the Grendel perform on deer at 150-200 yards? Where my son would use it, there are opportunities up to that range.

3) How is the recoil in a light bolt action or Encore rifle? I've seen some videos and it looks very mild on adults, but would like some other opinions if possible.

I'm torn between the Grendel and 7mm-08. I love the 7mm, but also love trying newer things and the Grendel really has my curiosity for a youth and/or mid range caliber.
Click to expand...
 
IMHO, looking for fixing something that you may already have the answer to. Our family friend does this all the time he has the money to buy different items anytime
he wants. The person he is trying to help complains about everything so a new item is ordered, the items bought are almost identical to what he has.In summary the magic bullet may already be in your gun cabinet.This post may cause concern among those with lots of resources and think what they have isn't good enough, its just a true observation of various persons, myself included.
 
The beauty in the Grendel is it will fit in actions made for 223. It loses that appeal when its loaded in a typical short action. Might as well get a 6.5CM or 260Rem if you have to use a standard short action. No real benefit in the Encore series either. A 6.5Gren, 6.5CM, 260Rem and 6.5x55 will all basically weigh the same in a Encore platform and the others are far more versatile rounds than the Grendel.

When you can get the Howa Mini for about the same price as a good aftermarket Encore barrel....Well thats a no brainer to me. Get it or get one of the better 6.5s for the Encore.
 
If you reload I would get a 7mm-08 Encore bull barrel. You could load the Barnes 110gr TTSX bullet. Trust me that bullet will destroy the chest of a whitetail (shoot it in a 280 AI) . If you want something different, the 357 Max in an Encore bull barrel. Prefer the rimmed Max in a break open gun. Just my 2 cents....
 
ptg offers a 277-dasher reamer. don't know the details on this one, but i imagine it's a straight neck up with no fire forming. should be capable of driving 130s w/ a 10 twist or tighter. not certain how exotic you want to get. i have something similar and the recoil is light. norma offers the brass and it was ~.89 cents a piece last time i checked. first group is the necked up dasher. 6.8 spcii would also be good- two 5 shot groups from the 6.8.
 

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Banerbird, These threads can takeoff like a ship without sail,rudder or compass sometimes . All meaning well of course.
Did you decide on a round?
I’m late to the party in this thread but wanted to share my Grendel views.
I’ve found the round inherently accurate on many platforms.( I have 6 Grendels) Using SST ;which you said was not your preference , I’ve harvested coyotes and whitetails. Ranges from 45 to 450 yds.
I have to admit I’m not a fan of Fusion due to my range tests in multiple calibers.
While it may stay supersonic at 1k, wind will start kicking it’s butt at 600 yds.
So 200 yds,250 yds..... not a problem.
Taking game? I’ve always felt a matter of bullet type and shot placement.
Grendel will do it.
 

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