Geissele MRGG-S adopted by USSOCOM in 6.5 CM.

Has anyone broken a geissele bolt yet? Im curious to how they are holding up. Maybe the mrgg-a will kill the 6 arc for military use but the weight savings can't be ignored imo.
Just because we get endless propaganda from the USM, as things currently stand they love the Geissele 5.56 BCGs currently. The 6 ARC bolts that were submitted for testing all survived and exceeded the testing parameters.
 
Just because we get endless propaganda from the USM, as things currently stand they love the Geissele 5.56 BCGs currently. The 6 ARC bolts that were submitted for testing all survived and exceeded the testing parameters.
Good to know. I’m waiting for Geissele to release the Mrgg, but it’s hard to ignore the gfr in terms of practicality, and they seem to be holding up well. Odds are I’ll end up getting both. Expensive times….
 
Good to know. I’m waiting for Geissele to release the Mrgg, but it’s hard to ignore the gfr in terms of practicality, and they seem to be holding up well. Odds are I’ll end up getting both. Expensive times….
To me, they are just completely different animals. Small frame vs large frame, with appropriate setups of both rifles you end up with substantial weight saving with the 6 ARC. To me, the 6ARC is a really nice upgrade to a weapons platform that the majority of US Troops are familiar with. It gives you better terminal ballistics at any range vs. 5.56. The MRGG is a dedicated gas gun sniper system, not really an assault weapon. Heavier rifle, larger optic, dedicated range finding and thermal bridge.
 
To me, they are just completely different animals. Small frame vs large frame, with appropriate setups of both rifles you end up with substantial weight saving with the 6 ARC. To me, the 6ARC is a really nice upgrade to a weapons platform that the majority of US Troops are familiar with. It gives you better terminal ballistics at any range vs. 5.56. The MRGG is a dedicated gas gun sniper system, not really an assault weapon. Heavier rifle, larger optic, dedicated range finding and thermal bridge.

I agree with everything here. I have both a LMT MWS with a 6.5 Creedmoor barrel, and a LMT MRP with a 6.5 Grendel barrel. In terms of general handling the smaller lighter Grendel is a dream to carry and shoot. However the Creedmoor while heavier, and less suited for assaulter type roles, allows much more confidence when engaging targets beyond 600 yards. Terminal effects are vastly different. They really are two different animals with overlapping capabilities depending on barrel length and optic choice.
 
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Bolts have always been the weak link in the grendel/arc. Whoever figures that out will be a huge winner.

This is the way my Children...

I've been using YM for Many Years without issues, they use 9310 Steel.

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Badlands Shell Shock is pretty interesting stuff and certainly has application in both 556 and 6.5 CM ammo... 55gr at 3k fps out of 10.3" barrel is crazy (3300fps out of 14.5" barrel). $0.70 or so a round for 55 fmj and $1.25 or so a round for 77 otm is pretty reasonable and should hopefully come down as production ramps up. Their 308 M118LR equivalent is way too expensive but hopefully they can figure that out (they have a blank page for 6.5 CM so excited to see what happens here).

Personally, I'd love a 100gr ELD VT or similar bullet pushed silly fast from a short (~14.5") 6.5 CM and a 130 AR Hybrid that is +200 fps from what we are used to today.

 
Badlands Shell Shock is pretty interesting stuff and certainly has application in both 556 and 6.5 CM ammo... 55gr at 3k fps out of 10.3" barrel is crazy (3300fps out of 14.5" barrel). $0.70 or so a round for 55 fmj and $1.25 or so a round for 77 otm is pretty reasonable and should hopefully come down as production ramps up. Their 308 M118LR equivalent is way too expensive but hopefully they can figure that out (they have a blank page for 6.5 CM so excited to see what happens here).

Personally, I'd love a 100gr ELD VT or similar bullet pushed silly fast from a short (~14.5") 6.5 CM and a 130 AR Hybrid that is +200 fps from what we are used to today.


Great idea to put a bomb next to your face.

Firearms are designed around a typical brass cased cartridge. Safety factors in design are factored around this. Gas systems are designed around a specific impulse and gas volume.

Unless the firearm was designed to handle these high pressure rounds (destructive and non destructive testing to make sure you keep half your face when it DOES fail) you would have to be insane to shoot this through a normal AR. Not to mention the wear and tear on a gun not designed to handle those pressures/spikes.
 
Great idea to put a bomb next to your face.

Firearms are designed around a typical brass cased cartridge. Safety factors in design are factored around this. Gas systems are designed around a specific impulse and gas volume.

Unless the firearm was designed to handle these high pressure rounds (destructive and non destructive testing to make sure you keep half your face when it DOES fail) you would have to be insane to shoot this through a normal AR. Not to mention the wear and tear on a gun not designed to handle those pressures/spikes.
Agree 100% and that was my thought initially but I guess the new case material is lighter / stronger than brass (not a high bar to be lighter / stronger than brass) which allows for thinner case wall to hold the same pressure. Thinner wall = more volume in the case which reduces pressure for an equivalent powder charge. Up the charge to bring pressure back to 62k and velocity increases. Pretty interesting upgrade and seems to cost about $0.30 / round more in the 556 platform
 
I love it when all these guys talk about the military should use these way over pressure rounds from cottage industry loaders
I think reading what goes into military ammo testing and requirements should be required for all.

I was talking to a Crane guy twenty plus years ago and suggested they try my load launching 155’s out of a 308. He explained cost and testing requirements to me. I understood why they choose velocities they do

As to grains testing on the 6.5’s. It’s been up
In the air. At one time they said 147 was the bomb but last I heard two months ago now it looks like a bullet in the 140 grain range will win out
 
I love it when all these guys talk about the military should use these way over pressure rounds from cottage industry loaders
I think reading what goes into military ammo testing and requirements should be required for all.

I was talking to a Crane guy twenty plus years ago and suggested they try my load launching 155’s out of a 308. He explained cost and testing requirements to me. I understood why they choose velocities they do

As to grains testing on the 6.5’s. It’s been up
In the air. At one time they said 147 was the bomb but last I heard two months ago now it looks like a bullet in the 140 grain range will win out
From what I understand the pressure is not increased, because the case internal volume is increased with the material they are using instead of traditional brass cases. Increased case volume = lower pressure
 
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Ive been using Rubber City for many years and their bolts are also made of 9310 MPI batch inspected Shot peened.

I haven't broken any JP, Rubber City Armory or Young Manufacturing Bolts, but that doesn't mean much because I don't torture my Custom Precision builds.. Bartlein Barrels be spendy.

For my Custom Hard Use Carbines, like the SOLGW Broadsword / Geissele Chrome Lined Heavy Barrels Builds the Geissele Complete Enhanced BCG’S have been absolutel Rockstars.

Back to the Grendel/ARC's Bolts the YM HMB Bolt design is a pretty damn solid improvement over the traditional Mil-spec, I've also noticed less wear around the cam pin itself.

The only caveat that I will mention is that after the initial 150-200 round brake in cycle, unless I know the Bolts I'm using are using all SpringCo Springs and Gas Rings I replace them. It's a cheap/easy upgrade to any Bolt that I know for a fact will increase the reliability and longevity of the bolts performance.
 
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Since this thread has drifted significantly from the original topic I’ll go ahead and join the tangent.

6ARC: the biggest problem with 6ARC is that AR lowers and bolts really aren’t made to accommodate the cartridge. The only way to truly run right is to deviate from the standard and make a new bolt, barrel extension, lower, and magazine. That still doesn’t overcome the limitations of the cartridge as it was constrained to the AR magazine. If you need a whole new gun to reach the reliability and durability performance requirements of a combat system, why limit to the 6ARC? The .264 LIC/.264 USA has tremendous potential in that space, and is basically the optimal general purpose rifle cartridge.

High pressure ammunition:
The U.S. Army opened the box on this with Next Gen, and like it or not, it’s going to continue. Ammo manufacturers working in the HP world have done a pretty good job of using case materials to contain the pressure, and are using novel propellants that get the projectiles moving at increased velocities early in travel and drop pressure dramatically much earlier than more traditional loads, thus keeping port pressure in a safe area for function. Of course, this doesn’t solve every aspect and risk of HP ammo, but it helps a lot. Guns built from the ground up for HP ammo (like the M7) with backward compatibility with standard pressure ammo are really what’s going to be needed for these programs.

Overall program thoughts:
It would be entirely possible to field a .246LIC rifle with a 14.5-16” barrel that was optimized for HP ammo that could directly overtake the current MRGG-A program at lower weight and with increased magazine capacity.
 
Since this thread has drifted significantly from the original topic I’ll go ahead and join the tangent.

6ARC: the biggest problem with 6ARC is that AR lowers and bolts really aren’t made to accommodate the cartridge. The only way to truly run right is to deviate from the standard and make a new bolt, barrel extension, lower, and magazine. That still doesn’t overcome the limitations of the cartridge as it was constrained to the AR magazine. If you need a whole new gun to reach the reliability and durability performance requirements of a combat system, why limit to the 6ARC? The .264 LIC/.264 USA has tremendous potential in that space, and is basically the optimal general purpose rifle cartridge.

High pressure ammunition:
The U.S. Army opened the box on this with Next Gen, and like it or not, it’s going to continue. Ammo manufacturers working in the HP world have done a pretty good job of using case materials to contain the pressure, and are using novel propellants that get the projectiles moving at increased velocities early in travel and drop pressure dramatically much earlier than more traditional loads, thus keeping port pressure in a safe area for function. Of course, this doesn’t solve every aspect and risk of HP ammo, but it helps a lot. Guns built from the ground up for HP ammo (like the M7) with backward compatibility with standard pressure ammo are really what’s going to be needed for these programs.

Overall program thoughts:
It would be entirely possible to field a .246LIC rifle with a 14.5-16” barrel that was optimized for HP ammo that could directly overtake the current MRGG-A program at lower weight and with increased magazine capacity.
Agreed on all of the above with the exception of 264 as a bore diameter.

I know 25 cal is all the hotness right now, but I do think a 6mm or 25 cal would make more sense. The 6.5 CM large frame AR already can't take advantage of the heavy for caliber bullets so why use a smaller case with the same diameter? I would think stepping down one or two bore sizes might be good to allow for those heavy bullets to be loaded to mag length especially if OAL is going to be constrained further
 
Since this thread has drifted significantly from the original topic I’ll go ahead and join the tangent.

6ARC: the biggest problem with 6ARC is that AR lowers and bolts really aren’t made to accommodate the cartridge. The only way to truly run right is to deviate from the standard and make a new bolt, barrel extension, lower, and magazine. That still doesn’t overcome the limitations of the cartridge as it was constrained to the AR magazine. If you need a whole new gun to reach the reliability and durability performance requirements of a combat system, why limit to the 6ARC? The .264 LIC/.264 USA has tremendous potential in that space, and is basically the optimal general purpose rifle cartridge.

High pressure ammunition:
The U.S. Army opened the box on this with Next Gen, and like it or not, it’s going to continue. Ammo manufacturers working in the HP world have done a pretty good job of using case materials to contain the pressure, and are using novel propellants that get the projectiles moving at increased velocities early in travel and drop pressure dramatically much earlier than more traditional loads, thus keeping port pressure in a safe area for function. Of course, this doesn’t solve every aspect and risk of HP ammo, but it helps a lot. Guns built from the ground up for HP ammo (like the M7) with backward compatibility with standard pressure ammo are really what’s going to be needed for these programs.

Overall program thoughts:
It would be entirely possible to field a .246LIC rifle with a 14.5-16” barrel that was optimized for HP ammo that could directly overtake the current MRGG-A program at lower weight and with increased magazine capacity.
Do you think current 6arc mags with have reliability issues in dirty environments because of the lack of clearance in the mag due to case size?
 
Agreed on all of the above with the exception of 264 as a bore diameter.

I know 25 cal is all the hotness right now, but I do think a 6mm or 25 cal would make more sense. The 6.5 CM large frame AR already can't take advantage of the heavy for caliber bullets so why use a smaller case with the same diameter? I would think stepping down one or two bore sizes might be good to allow for those heavy bullets to be loaded to mag length especially if OAL is going to be constrained further
.264 is easier to get a good penetrator into than a 6mm.
 
Do you think current 6arc mags with have reliability issues in dirty environments because of the lack of clearance in the mag due to case size?
6ARC has problems in magazines because the AR magwell isn’t wide enough to properly stack the rounds. Needs a wider magazine and therefore wider magwell. SureFire and Magpul did it right.
 
6ARC has problems in magazines because the AR magwell isn’t wide enough to properly stack the rounds. Needs a wider magazine and therefore wider magwell. SureFire and Magpul did it right.

Have you played with the Geissele made 6ARC Specific Magazines??

I've done quite a few Custom 6ARC builds now and when utilizing Geissele Mags, the newer wider feed ramp barrel extension and a A5 Buffer system I have yet to have and issues with reliability with any of the Hornady Factory Ammo.
 
I've been running ASC mags since day one with my RTR 22" 6ARC, RCA AGK BCG and Geissele buffer and spring with zero issues what so ever. Stupid accurate and not a single feeding issue.

I heard some have had issues but I have had none


22" Rainier Ultramatch MOD2 6 ARC +2 Gas
Rubber City Armory BCG with AGK
MEGA Billet AMBI lower
MEGA SBU Thick Walled Billet Upper
Geissele Super Braided 42 and H1 Buffer
Geissele Premium Mil-Spec Buffer Tube
LaRue Tactical MBT-2S Straight Bow Trigger w/JP Spring
Battle Arms Development Ambi Safety
Magpul PRS Lite
 
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Have you played with the Geissele made 6ARC Specific Magazines??

I've done quite a few Custom 6ARC builds now and when utilizing Geissele Mags, the newer wider feed ramp barrel extension and a A5 Buffer system I have yet to have and issues with reliability with any of the Hornady Factory Ammo.

I’ve got a bunch of different mags, they all work. Geissele mags also work great…

Primary issue is making sure the rifle is gassed properly, so that the BCG goes back far enough… I’m using a JP silent buffer system with an Odin works adjustable gas block.
 
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Oh, and for bolt guns that use AW magazines: GrayOps makes a rather expensive 6GT mag that works without issue in the ARC CDG action. Includes an adjustable magazine latch in the magazine… very nice.
 
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That's exactly what I'm hoping for!

...and with an osprey barrel, it should probably be a little more accurate than an Odenworks barrel (no idea who makes their barrels).