6.5 Grendel Load Data

I think the 6.5 Grendel is a fantastic cartridge, mild but yet effective over a wide range of conditions, and of course the fact it fits into the AR platform is just icing on the cake.
One of the things that seems to elude us, is a bullet and a powder that just works in everyones gun. Since I am a High Power competitor, I come at it from this perspective. The .223 or 5.56 service rifle just simply hammers with the Sierra 77 SMK or Hornady 75 BTHP match bullet with several powder charges of commonly available powders loaded to magazine length of 2.250'. It is no secret, load development has already been done, almost any barrel buttoned or cut of high quality, Douglas, Wilson, PacNor, Green Mountain, Krieger, Bartelien, Schnieder, Satern and others chambered with a Wyld Chamber and set with a 6.5-8 twist per inch simply works. It is expected to produce .5 MOA groups in 98 out of 100 barrels. And it does with 24.5 grains of Varget, 24.0 grains of Reloader 15, or 23.2 grains of IMR8208XBR. With these loads if you do not shoot clean (perfect scores) it is you, all you.
But I continue to find finicky results with the Grendel, by this I mean that loads which shoot clover leaf groups in one barrel shoot playing card sized groups at 100 yards in another. I think it would be of great benefit to the 6.5 Grendel if we were to find a handful of loads that work in everyones gun. Okay, that is overly optimistic, so lets confine it to everyones gun providing they have a Grendel SAAMI chamber.
Today, at the range I was testing my 14.5' ultralight with some loads that have shot really well in it previously and some loads that shoot really well in others rifles.
To illustrate this, I fired several five shot groups with one of my favorite loads, the 123 Hornady A-Max over 28.5 grains of IMR8208XBR, Lapua cases, Wolf small rifle magnum primer seated to 2.250'. This is from the bench, using sand bags and the Nightforce 2.5-10 NXS scope set at 10X. All groups were one hole and well under .5MOA.
I then used one of the loads that BWild had developed using the 100 grain A-Max over 34.0 grains of Hodgdon CFE223 with the same results, clover leaf one hole groups.
I then switched to the 129 Hornady SST, a bullet that has performed really well for me in several rifles with several powder charges. This time I used another of BWild's loads that performed really well in his rifle, 30.8 grains of CFE223, expecting similar results, only to find an improved cylinder pattern of about 5 MOA. My rifle categorically rejects this load.
Experiences like this leave me scratching my head, I know I could successfully develop a load for this bullet the 129SST in this rifle. The real reason is why should I have to? Why have we as a community not honed in on three or four loads that shoot in all rifles. It isn't that hard, what is preventing us from achieving this goal?
LR1955 continually points to the 120 SMK as the go to bullet, I continually point to the 123 A-Max as the go to bullet. Yet, we fail to converge on a single load that shoots from everyones guns. We also fail to find a series of charges that shoot from everyones guns.
Hornady has achieved this goal, or at least come the closest to developing a single load that shoots in most everyone's rifle with the 123 A-Max factory loading. I do know some who claim it doesn't shoot in their rifle, but I'm not clear if their rifle is a Grendel or variant. My rifles shoot this load to less than MOA but my handloads do better, perhaps because of the Lapua cases or perhaps due to the precision exercised in assembling the loads.
I think it would be a worthwhile exercise to focus on finding a few loads that shoot universally well from the 6.5 Grendel rifles out there. Since the Horandy 123 A-max is readily available to most of us I would like to propose using it as a test standard to compare results to. For me this would mean any load I can develop, restricted to magazine length loads that will outperform the Hornady factory load should be considered as a candidate.
My proposal would be the load I listed above, 123 A-Max, 2.250', 28.5 grains of IMR8208XBR, any case, any primer.
If your load can outperform the Hornady factory load, and my load listed above in your rifle, please document it and propose it as a candidate.
I'm looking forward to what you, the Grendel Aficionados, might come up with.
Bob

I think the 6.5 Grendel is a fantastic cartridge, mild but yet effective over a wide range of conditions, and of course the fact it fits into the AR platform is just icing on the cake.
One of the things that seems to elude us, is a bullet and a powder that just works in everyones gun. Since I am a High Power competitor, I come at it from this perspective. The .223 or 5.56 service rifle just simply hammers with the Sierra 77 SMK or Hornady 75 BTHP match bullet with several powder charges of commonly available powders loaded to magazine length of 2.250'. It is no secret, load development has already been done, almost any barrel buttoned or cut of high quality, Douglas, Wilson, PacNor, Green Mountain, Krieger, Bartelien, Schnieder, Satern and others chambered with a Wyld Chamber and set with a 6.5-8 twist per inch simply works. It is expected to produce .5 MOA groups in 98 out of 100 barrels. And it does with 24.5 grains of Varget, 24.0 grains of Reloader 15, or 23.2 grains of IMR8208XBR. With these loads if you do not shoot clean (perfect scores) it is you, all you.
But I continue to find finicky results with the Grendel, by this I mean that loads which shoot clover leaf groups in one barrel shoot playing card sized groups at 100 yards in another. I think it would be of great benefit to the 6.5 Grendel if we were to find a handful of loads that work in everyones gun. Okay, that is overly optimistic, so lets confine it to everyones gun providing they have a Grendel SAAMI chamber.
Today, at the range I was testing my 14.5' ultralight with some loads that have shot really well in it previously and some loads that shoot really well in others rifles.
To illustrate this, I fired several five shot groups with one of my favorite loads, the 123 Hornady A-Max over 28.5 grains of IMR8208XBR, Lapua cases, Wolf small rifle magnum primer seated to 2.250'. This is from the bench, using sand bags and the Nightforce 2.5-10 NXS scope set at 10X. All groups were one hole and well under .5MOA.
I then used one of the loads that BWild had developed using the 100 grain A-Max over 34.0 grains of Hodgdon CFE223 with the same results, clover leaf one hole groups.
I then switched to the 129 Hornady SST, a bullet that has performed really well for me in several rifles with several powder charges. This time I used another of BWild's loads that performed really well in his rifle, 30.8 grains of CFE223, expecting similar results, only to find an improved cylinder pattern of about 5 MOA. My rifle categorically rejects this load.
Experiences like this leave me scratching my head, I know I could successfully develop a load for this bullet the 129SST in this rifle. The real reason is why should I have to? Why have we as a community not honed in on three or four loads that shoot in all rifles. It isn't that hard, what is preventing us from achieving this goal?
LR1955 continually points to the 120 SMK as the go to bullet, I continually point to the 123 A-Max as the go to bullet. Yet, we fail to converge on a single load that shoots from everyones guns. We also fail to find a series of charges that shoot from everyones guns.
Hornady has achieved this goal, or at least come the closest to developing a single load that shoots in most everyone's rifle with the 123 A-Max factory loading. I do know some who claim it doesn't shoot in their rifle, but I'm not clear if their rifle is a Grendel or variant. My rifles shoot this load to less than MOA but my handloads do better, perhaps because of the Lapua cases or perhaps due to the precision exercised in assembling the loads.
I think it would be a worthwhile exercise to focus on finding a few loads that shoot universally well from the 6.5 Grendel rifles out there. Since the Horandy 123 A-max is readily available to most of us I would like to propose using it as a test standard to compare results to. For me this would mean any load I can develop, restricted to magazine length loads that will outperform the Hornady factory load should be considered as a candidate.
My proposal would be the load I listed above, 123 A-Max, 2.250', 28.5 grains of IMR8208XBR, any case, any primer.
If your load can outperform the Hornady factory load, and my load listed above in your rifle, please document it and propose it as a candidate.
I'm looking forward to what you, the Grendel Aficionados, might come up with.
Bob