Where is the 6.5 grendel brass

[Dildobaggins]

Been reloading for a little over a year now. I've found everything I need with some effort and patience...and paying insane prices. However, I've been looking for 6.5 grendel brass and just can't find it. Am I missing something? Are they just not producing this as it's not as popular as other cartridges? I have 100, 120gr Hornady American Gunner rounds. I'd gladly use the Hornady brass, but I'd like more any suggestions on how to get my hands on some, or is it just a waiting game?

 

[supercorndogs]

I have seen Lapua 6.5 Grendel brass for a while now at more than one of the major suppliers. One of them had a bunch of nickel plated starline for a short time too.

 

[Dildobaggins]

I have seen Lapua 6.5 Grendel brass for a while now at more than one of the major suppliers. One of them had a bunch of nickel plated starline for a short time too.

All the Lapua I'm seeing is out of stock, but I'll keep an eye out! Thanks. I'm contemplating buying some Hornady frontier, shoot it and reload it. It'd still be a little less than the Lapua brass. At this point I'll take anything that is semi quality brass.

 

[towerofpower93]

All the Lapua I'm seeing is out of stock, but I'll keep an eye out! Thanks. I'm contemplating buying some Hornady frontier, shoot it and reload it. It'd still be a little less than the Lapua brass. At this point I'll take anything that is semi quality brass.

That's what I did with 3 x 200rd ammo cans of Hornady American Gunner back when it was cheaper to by loaded ammo than the virgin Hornady brass.

As to where all the brass went, I think 6ARC shooters have been buying up a bunch of it as it's a simple trip through the sizing die and they're good to go. I'm guessing they also have fewer factory loaded ammo options from which to make once fired brass so the 6.5G to 6ARC transition is giving them what they need.

Someone will be along shortly to bitch about 6ARC shooters now, haha

 

[Birch7]

It pops up semi regularly. Should be some more soon from Starline directly-check their website as they open up for backorders and ship within a week or so.

 

[TxWelder35]

That's what I did with 3 x 200rd ammo cans of Hornady American Gunner back when it was cheaper to by loaded ammo than the virgin Hornady brass.

As to where all the brass went, I think 6ARC shooters have been buying up a bunch of it as it's a simple trip through the sizing die and they're good to go. I'm guessing they also have fewer factory loaded ammo options from which to make once fired brass so the 6.5G to 6ARC transition is giving them what they need.

Someone will be along shortly to bitch about 6ARC shooters now, haha

Paging @Snuby642

 

[zeroz]

I'll bitch for him. Fucking 6 ARC shooters buying up all our brass, dicks.

Ive got "notify me" reminders out at a bunch of places and it has been awhile since I've been notified.

 

[Carlos Danger]

Gimme some sense of quantity and let me see if I can part with some. It's once fired Hornady, cleaned and annealed.

 

[GMZ]

Lapua in stock here:

https://www.creedmoorsports.com/product/lapua-6-point-5-grendel-brass/Lapua

Lapua 6.5G is some of the only brass that’s constantly in stock at multiple lgs for me.

Starline intermittently allows backorders, not surprised if Hornady is putting all resources into 6 ARC production.

 

[nightman89]

Nosler has some pop up on their pro shop email from time to time. Just sign up and wait patiently.

 

[Dildobaggins]

Side note. Just looked up 6 ARC, as I've never really looked into it. and I want one now.

 

[MK20]

I have a guy offering me a new Howa in 6.5 Grendel for 550 with a scope base, etc. Is this a fair deal and is it a good platform for the 6.5 grendel? Or is it a steaming pile and to be avoided?

 

[Yondering]

Side note. Just looked up 6 ARC, as I've never really looked into it. and I want one now.

You should. It’s an improvement. Not that the standard Grendel isn’t great too, but the 6PPC was king for a long time for good reason, and the 6 ARC is just a variation of that with heavier bullets.

On brass - Lapua is good if you can find it, but be aware that it’ll bulge at lower pressure than Starline due to the shape of the web. Hornady is fine too, if it’s all from the same batch. If not you may need to sort it.

Also, there was a time when some of us resorted to forming Grendel brass from 7.62x39 (the original parent case for all these PPC and Grendel variants). It’s not economical if you can buy brass, but if you can’t, it’s still an option. I’ve formed a few hundred with Red Dot and cream of wheat and a wax plug, or cheap 100gr SP pulls from RMR. If you sort them and turn necks they can be reasonably consistent, although it’s a large primer case of course. Just another option.

My #1 preference is still Starline, but haven’t seen any in a year or more.

 

[stello1001]

I have a guy offering me a new Howa in 6.5 Grendel for 550 with a scope base, etc. Is this a fair deal and is it a good platform for the 6.5 grendel? Or is it a steaming pile and to be avoided?

Not really. I paid less than that for mine and bought it new. I'm talking about barelled action and 20moa scope base.

If he is offering an entire stocked rifle maybe it's worth it, depending on the stock.

 

[hlee]

@MK20 A Howa barreled action in 6.5 G is currently $472 and change at Brownells. No scope base included.

 

[Dildobaggins]

You should. It’s an improvement. Not that the standard Grendel isn’t great too, but the 6PPC was king for a long time for good reason, and the 6 ARC is just a variation of that with heavier bullets.

On brass - Lapua is good if you can find it, but be aware that it’ll bulge at lower pressure than Starline due to the shape of the web. Hornady is fine too, if it’s all from the same batch. If not you may need to sort it.

Also, there was a time when some of us resorted to forming Grendel brass from 7.62x39 (the original parent case for all these PPC and Grendel variants). It’s not economical if you can buy brass, but if you can’t, it’s still an option. I’ve formed a few hundred with Red Dot and cream of wheat and a wax plug, or cheap 100gr SP pulls from RMR. If you sort them and turn necks they can be reasonably consistent, although it’s a large primer case of course. Just another option.

My #1 preference is still Starline, but haven’t seen any in a year or more.

I can't justify the 6 ARC right now. I already have a 6mm creedmoor. I'll find a way to justify sooner or later though. Haha. I want to load the 6.5 grendel with 90gr pills and see what kind of velocities I can get. Good info on the Lapua brass. I'll get on starline email list and just wait.

One question for you though. Let's say I find an accurate load with the Hornady brass, with a powder and projectile. How much is brass going to change that specific load? Or is it something you just have to try and see?

 

[Yondering]

I can't justify the 6 ARC right now. I already have a 6mm creedmoor. I'll find a way to justify sooner or later though. Haha. I want to load the 6.5 grendel with 90gr pills and see what kind of velocities I can get. Good info on the Lapua brass. I'll get on starline email list and just wait.

One question for you though. Let's say I find an accurate load with the Hornady brass, with a powder and projectile. How much is brass going to change that specific load? Or is it something you just have to try and see?

Just have to try and see. Adjusting the charge weight to match the same velocity sometimes works, but not always.

 

[Assholenumberone]

I bought 7.62x39 brass and just made 6.5G. Fire formed with a min powder charge LT-30 and some fmj boolets. Those rounds were surprisingly accurate.

 

[supercorndogs]

The LRP 7.62x39 brass I made 6.5 grendel out of, takes a beating at minimum charge weights and pretty low velocity numbers.

 

[FuhQ]

Side note. Just looked up 6 ARC, as I've never really looked into it. and I want one now.

There’s a a lot of hype going around, so don’t believe everything you read. Just like for years 6.5 Creedmoor fanboys swore it was a .300 WinMag replacement, because some idiot at Hornady’s marketing team made an ad stating it was ballistically equal. And every moron who doesn’t actually understand ballistics, or what they are, and gets their latest gun gossip & info from the new guy at the Bass Pro gun counter, believed it, and started spreading the lies. And well, we ALL know how “intelligent” the average person is.

 

[Yondering]

There’s a a lot of hype going around, so don’t believe everything you read. Just like for years 6.5 Creedmoor fanboys swore it was a .300 WinMag replacement, because some idiot at Hornady’s marketing team made an ad stating it was ballistically equal. And every moron who doesn’t actually understand ballistics, or what they are, and gets their latest gun gossip & info from the new guy at the Bass Pro gun counter, believed it, and started spreading the lies. And well, we ALL know how “intelligent” the average person is.

Here’s the thing all the newbies to the cartridge ignore about 6 ARC - us wildcatters have been shooting it for years, and it’s capabilities are well established. There have been more than a handful of different 6mm Grendel wildcats before Hornady pretended they developed it, and we don’t have to guess about what it can do. The truth is, that it IS really good, and it’s not just hype.

 

[diggler1833]

While I'm sitting out all of the fun with a recovering shoulder, I took some of my mounds of virgin Grendel Starline brass (kidding, but I did buy 500 pieces 2 years ago when I assembled my Grendel AR) and randomly chose 20 pieces to measure to see how uniform they were.

I was quite surprised. Out of the 20 cases; length had an ES of .003 with an SD of .0008, headspace had an ES of .002 with an SD of .0004, primer pocket depth had an ES of .003 with and SD of .001, and case weight had an ES of 1.9gr with an SD of .6277gr. Not bad for stuff I remembered paying around $.60/per. No ball micrometer or I would have measured neck thickness.

Curious, I took 10 once-fired cases and did an H20 capacity test. 9 of those cases averaged 35.6gr, with an extreme spread of only .3gr and an SD of .112gr. The 10th (actually the 4th one I measured) was .6gr less, but that could have been a filling inconsistency on my part. If I hadn't lumped them together I would have remeasured the outlier.

I did the same thing then with my Starline LRP in 6.5 Creedmoor. Results were equally impressive for "inexpensive" (comparatively) brass.

Is it as uniform as my Lapua brass in 6.5x47? No. But it sure does alright for the money. Will it last as long as Lapua brass? Doubt it, but for dudes like me who reload and shoot only 1-2K rounds per year it will hold up for quite some time.

Hopefully Starline gets some Grendel brass back on the market soon, but I am willing to bet that they are going to be focused on more popular cartridges for a while still.

 

[Yondering]

IME Starline brass will outlast Lapua in the Grendel with a steady diet of warm loads. That’s due to the internal web taper differences.

But yeah, Starline is some dang good brass these days. It’s consistent, and better quality than most other commercial brass.

Probably worth pointing out though that your “water capacity” measurements aren’t telling you what you might think. That measurement is not really about capacity directly; the brass expands against the chamber walls during firing and THAT is the important capacity at that point. Instead, your measurement is a good comparison of brass spring back across the entire batch. If one case springs back less than others, it’ll read higher water capacity, indicating a softer body. A uniform reading across the entire batch means the hardness of that brass is fairly uniform, a good quality to have.

Consistency in this measurement is a good thing, but for actual capacity relative to pressure and velocity you’re better off comparing brass weight if comparing different brands or unknown firings, etc.