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Ar15. What caliber would you choose?

You understand that is not correct right? The 22 Grendel has a longer body and more powder volume. The length to the shoulder of a PPC is 1.075", the length on the Grendel cats is 1.150". There are several cats based on the Grendel case. 224 AR, 224LBC, 22 Predator and 22 Grendel. I have made a few hundred barrels in 224 Predator and get calls from guys all the time who have listened to guys like you and tried to use 22 PPC dies to size brass for the 22 Grendel by all other names. It does NOT work.
Calm down Francis. I meant, performance wise, a 22 Grendel is essentially a 22PPC by another name.
 
You got any more 22lbc barrels in the works? Just did load workup with my new fluted 18ā€ 223 Wylde 3 gun barrel. oh man this thing is sweet. Thanks.
I may have 10 left but sold out of everything else so I'm closed until Mar 1st. Glad that one is doing it's job, BTW it has a CLE chamber in it.
 
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Calm down Francis. I meant, performance wise, a 22 Grendel is essentially a 22PPC by another name.
I've been designing wildcats since 82, I don't call things something they are not. People end up with wrong reamers or chamber by asking for the wrong thing. The .22 cats based on Grendel cases run apx 100-125fps faster and that is why most if not all are using Grendel brass instead of PPC brass. I've never checked availability of PPC brass and really have no reason to since the 6mms and 224s I make are based on the Grendel case design. To answer your question, yes I know PPC cases that have been around forever are the same diameter at the base and Lapua actually used their 220 Russian design as a starting point for the Grendel brass they made for Alexander.
 
I've been designing wildcats since 82, I don't call things something they are not. People end up with wrong reamers or chamber by asking for the wrong thing. The .22 cats based on Grendel cases run apx 100-125fps faster and that is why most if not all are using Grendel brass instead of PPC brass. I've never checked availability of PPC brass and really have no reason to since the 6mms and 224s I make are based on the Grendel case design. To answer your question, yes I know PPC cases that have been around forever are the same diameter at the base and Lapua actually used their 220 Russian design as a starting point for the Grendel brass they made for Alexander.
Still working on the calming down part, eh? LOL! Smh...

Out of curiosity, if 220 Russian brass is the parent case of both PPC and Grendel (yes, I already knew this as well), how does the Grendel brass differ from the PPC brass? Is Grendel brass, drawn as Grendel brass (and not formed from 220 Russian) thicker in the case head or walls?

FWIW I also have been around wildcats and case designing for at least two decades as well...though recently my day job has occupied a lot of my time, limiting my participations in those activities.
 
Still working on the calming down part, eh? LOL! Smh...

Out of curiosity, if 220 Russian brass is the parent case of both PPC and Grendel (yes, I already knew this as well), how does the Grendel brass differ from the PPC brass? Is Grendel brass, drawn as Grendel brass (and not formed from 220 Russian) thicker in the case head or walls?

FWIW I also have been around wildcats and case designing for at least two decades as well...though recently my day job has occupied a lot of my time, limiting my participations in those activities.
Well Carl, let me ask you with all of your banners under your name, why did you feel the need to ask me If I knew the 22 Grendel was the same as a 22PPC with a different name?
 
To point out that whatever the latest whiz bang .22 Grendel based round was, it was just another reiteration of something that had already been done.

Now if you're going to continue to be snotty about this, after I have tried to give you an out, we can go there (with all those banners under my name) and I can spank your ass publicly.

Do you want to double down? Or do you just want to politely disagree and move on?
 
Have a touch of badgeitis do you?
Nope. But apparently you have a touch of attitude or chip on your shoulder. I think you need to think about that for a few days....when you come back, if you want to do it again, I'll make it longer or permanent. Think on it...
 
Well Carl, let me ask you with all of your banners under your name, why did you feel the need to ask me If I knew the 22 Grendel was the same as a 22PPC with a different name?
HaHaHaHaHa!!!!!! He said ā€œBannersā€...
625EC036-EA37-42E8-B8B8-42AD932147CB.jpeg
 
So I have 1 stripped ar15 lower sitting in my safe. Having it not on somthing is keeping me up at night šŸ˜‚. I already have a 5.56 that I use to plink and quick acquisition of targets
I have a 6.5 grendel for varmint
22lr for plinking and limb rats
And ar ar10 for deer

I want to build somthing with this, but ive lost my creativity. If you could build any gun off of an ar15 lower what would it be and why? Also, for this hypothetical lets say there is not a pandemic, and ammo and everything else is readily available. Thanks!
Was in this boat. Built another grendel to be a hunting rifle, but ended up becoming more of a long-range precision gun. It's my all time favorite caliber and with the right care putting it together, gets <.5 moa easily out to 600, and about .15 to .2 moa to 100 with hornady factory loads. Most fun gun I've ever had, and is a better hunting rifle than I could have dreamt of a year ago. If I was in your shoes, I would certainly build a high-end grendel because I don't think anything touches it in terms of fun, ease, weight, recoil, accuracy, etc.
 
So I have 1 stripped ar15 lower sitting in my safe. Having it not on somthing is keeping me up at night šŸ˜‚. I already have a 5.56 that I use to plink and quick acquisition of targets
I have a 6.5 grendel for varmint
22lr for plinking and limb rats
And ar ar10 for deer

I want to build somthing with this, but ive lost my creativity. If you could build any gun off of an ar15 lower what would it be and why? Also, for this hypothetical lets say there is not a pandemic, and ammo and everything else is readily available. Thanks!
6mm ARC. Long range flat shooter. Does not go transonic until past 1100 yards.

Takes a new barrel, a new bolt (same carrier), and different magazines (but fit in a standard AR-15 magwell). Everything else is the same. Plus ammo is still relatively inexpensive and can be found in some places.

This caliber is what Barrett and Hornady created for a new military weapon. Light weight AR, fires a hard hitting bullet, and at a distance. Cartidges are smaller and lighter allowing a soldier to increase his number of cartridges carried. Barrels are 18-24"
 
Hang on to it like money in the bank. I've never gravitated away from standard military ammo, no 270 243 300blk or designer wildcats. I love being able to find surplus ammo for practice. What can't be done with 5.56 or 7.62?
 
I built a 50 Beowulf pistol and after a year decided to just SBR it. It's fun to shoot, still is good out to 100 yards. Able to down wild boar, deer and coyote. It's a conversation piece at the range too. BIG boom and everyone looks.
 
Paint job has changed throughout the years but this is how she currently sits.
 

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6Arc is the new flavor but every shop I have been in lately has had 224valk ammo (got 6 boxes of the cheap shit for $11 a box at academy lol)
 
50 Beowulf

A Baby 50 AR is fun to shoot. Can kill wild boar, so that's gotta tell ya how stout this caliber is.
 
The focus seems to be on what upper and caliber to get and not the lower. You have a small frame lower, build a lower that is extremely good at one thing.

Do you have a great lower for scoped target work? PRS Stock- great trigger

What about a true 3 gun competition worthy setup say a UBR stock and Geissele 3G

Do you want the most compact setup you can get? PDW short or folding for transport?

Because we can swap out uppers, what would be a lower most unlike what you already have? How different would it make the uppers you already do have?

Then figure out what upper is unique to what you have.

As my AR garden grew there have been a lot of swapping around uppers and lowers to figure what I like best.
 
For 223, I'd go with a 5.56 or Wylde chamber. My AR's are configure so.

Depending on applications, I like some combinations.

Defense. Not afraid of new things, a 16" .350 Legend makes more sense when one considers it as if it were a 9mm Magnum, which is just about exactly what it is. I expect to see it in a double stack handgun if anyone's got the common sense God gave them, something approaching a 45ACP with a narrower double stack. A duo of an AR and a handgun, both accommodating a the double stack handgun magazine, would be the next logical step after my own Ruger American Pistol 9mm Pro and Ruger 9 PCC, both of which accommodate the handgun mag (17rd).

Longer Range. I use the Stag 24" Model 6 Super Varminter, a pair, for my F T/R Comp at 600yd. It'll probably shoot considerably farther, especially at higher altitudes, like my own which is nearly a mile up. I tried the 24" 6.5 Grendel, and I made the mistake of loading too hot. IMHO, the AR bolt and the bolt face cutout for the 6.5G cartridge base could be overstressing the more common extractors out there, especially with longer barrels, which extend the dwell time and stresses associated with it.. The J-P Improved certainly helps here. If you see black shoulders, you're seeing a cartridge being extracted before dwell is complete, which is tougher on the extractor. I am now reserving my 24" 6.5G for varmints, with 90TNT loads, kept at or below book maximum charges. My 20" is better suited to the 120 Speer Gold Dot loads I've put together for it.

The 90TNT loads could well end up making the 20"; into a nice plinker.

I have found that generic lowers like the PSA PA-15 handle the 5.56 and the 6.5G about equally well, so a swap mine out with no problems.

Greg
 
Not afraid of new things, a 16" .350 Legend makes more sense when one considers it as if it were a 9mm Magnum, which is just about exactly what it is. I expect to see it in a double stack handgun if anyone's got the common sense God gave them, something approaching a 45ACP with a narrower double stack.
What? None of that is based in reality. 150gr bullets at over 2300fps is a long way from any 9mm or 38 Super load. More importantly it's got the same COAL as 5.56. Show me a semi auto handgun that comfortably accepts a Pmag and has a 2.3+ inch stroke and reliably feeds something that long and I'll happily eat some crow.

This post is about as well researched as the time you claimed Hornady teamed up with Ruger to release 6.5CM concurrently with the RPR.
 
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If you reload and either have components or have access to them your choices are pretty open. If you are dealing with the ammo and component crunch as many are, you might want to stay with what ammo is likely to be most available for.
 
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Send your lower to MSTN and tell him to build something like your favorite in the gallery on his site.
He sure does some nice looking work.
 
I was always interested in a 6.5 grendel, but never pulled the trigger until ammo for the caliber became extinct. If things ever get close to "normal" again, that is going to be my first build. The things i like about it on paper are the ability to stretch the legs on the ar-15 platform, more hunting applications, good handling, and the efficiency of the round itself. Doesn't take a lot of powder, keeps energy out to decent hunting ranges.
 
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@Imthatguywithquestions
I'm gonna go in the opposite direction than most...
20Practical
You have the brass already. Buy a bushing and size the neck down to .204 (one pass), prime/powder/and push a bullet in there. I'd grab an 18-20" with a target crown and have some fun pushing it to 300. Or more. It's probably gonna be my next AR.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
(Jersey guy here, I feel your pain IE: suppressor/SBR/NFA)
 
I recommend either .243, or .264. Find out the current price of brass and factory ammo before you make your decision. A friend I shoot PRS with found out the 6.5 Swede brass was cheap so he built an AR 6.5 Swede AI. The .243 or the 6CM are both really good rounds, and although factory ammo is available for both.

Um, none of that fits in an AR15 lower