6.5 Grendel vs 308 Winchester: Everything You Need To Know

[@mr220v]

6.5 Grendel. 75% of the energy of .308 with the same trajectory. Lighter rifle and lighter ammo. If 1900ft/lbs will get the job done, may as well save the weight.

[@beware3586]

Seems closer to 50% give or take looking at the data. But I don't think you're wrong. Damn good cartridge for sure.

[@jorgesolis9468]

Same energy as lower end 243 so it'll work

[@Mark12modWon88]

@@beware3586 not sure which charts you’re looking at but at distances past 500 yards the 123 grain Grendel has more energy and a flatter trajectory + less wind drift due to a higher B.C. Than most .308 loadings the problem is this particular chart in the video stops at 500 when the Grendel starts to edge the .308 so the 123g Grendel will give almost 75% the energy of .308 at any distance under 500 and at longer ranges it performs better. It’s a superior long range cartridge with substantially less recoil, smaller / lighter weight firearms etc. it’s not the best cartridge for all jobs but it’s the best you can fit in an ar15

[@joeynewman9439]

My 6.5 Grendel is one of my favorite antelope rifles I have.

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

What bullet do you use?

[@justinlance4174]

@@Thebiggamehuntingblog federal fusion are the best hunting bullets iv used in 6.5grendel

[@azairman]

What barrel length do you recommend?

[@invictusfarmer7188]

what does antelope taste like?

[@swamprat9018]

I got a Grendel to test for a kid gun for deer. taken several deer with it and well the 308 stays home and the Grendel goes hunting with me now. If I was shooting over 300 yds I would take the 308. Inside of 200yds where I do most of my hunting I'll take the Grendel.

[@jimmyvollman7596]

6.5 Grendel is the ultimate Do-It-All AR-15 cartridge. Short, medium, and long range. Plus, you can build an upper receiver for a lot less than a whole new AR-10 rifle.

[@daytonsmith8910]

But it's hard to find and it's really expensive

[@joew5792]

It has also proven to be a handloaders dream for me

[@ChrisEdling]

Naw 556 is better just cause its wayyy cheaper and available

[@cheekimfbreeki9606]

@@daytonsmith8910and now 2 years later we are in the 6.5 Grendel renaissance. You can find really great ACC black tips for 70-75 cents a round.

[@MrCannonsdad]

For SHTF and economics. Carry a .223 pistol 10.5 inch and keep a dedicated upper 6.5 with 18 inch barrel for long range. Best of both worlds. AR 10 is great too and you can add a Creedmoor upper too

[@a.joegevara3519]

I've loved 308 all my life, I finally got an AR10 and have since built a 2nd 6.5cm upper. I was bidding on ammo and accidentally bought 6.5 Grendel, so I bought even more & now I've got a barrel. Looking forward to building it into an upper! My grandson will probably learn to hunt with it.

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

Enjoy!

[@davidh9659]

FInally the honest comparison i've been looking for.

[@daneblackburn613]

I shot around 30 woodchucks last summer with a grendel. Liked it so much I set up a light weight 16 inch barrel as well this fall. Both Wilson combat barrels

[@jamesdewer]

I was a doubter of the Grendel. I met some dude that had one first time shooter bought a 6.5 and I was like why you can't shoot it as much cuz it's expensive. Until yesterday he was gonging it up at 600 yd and I was occasionally hitting it with the 308 in a strong crosswind

[@williamster2015]

They're 6.5 Grendel loads and bullet weights they are far above these and reloading it brings this farther even more. (I've loaded 144gr 6.5 Grendel cartridges with a muzzle velocity of 2,380fps from that smaller case with that heavier projectile.

[@invictusfarmer7188]

whats the max bullet weight you can run in a ar mag? i just started researching this round so i dont know what the upper end is yet. im a big bullet guy. ill take some drop in ballistics for more weight inside 200 yard power.

[@FNWendigo]

@@invictusfarmer7188onsidering that 500 Auto Max (350gr-440gr) is a thing, I’d say cram as much in as you want.

[@clintonlayne9253]

My go to caliber is 308. But I recently bought a 6.5 Grendel upper receiver.which I have not fired yet.. I like your presentation.

[@JV-lq3tx]

I think I'd great if you did a video on varmint cartridges like 17 Rem and 220 Swift. They're not talked about very often and I would love to hear what you think about them.

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

Good idea!

[@SierraMike78]

They should have adopted the Grendel for the new military cartridge.

[@lowerspeedhigherdrag]

I really thought they were going too. There was a lot of talk.about it. Especially cuz they could just rebarral and rebolt face their m4s

[@Coyote-wm5op]

Seems like that would be the most cost effective option. My only concern is the bolt face being thin. Idk how long it will hold up.

[@FNWendigo]

Makes too much sense.

[@trwsandford]

That was my fear when I built mine. It’s held up really well.

[@ChrisEdling]

No it wouldn't be a great all around cartridge. It's tapered like the ak round so it's not gonna a be the most reliable out of an ar like 556. 556 is plenty to be honest and isn't going anywhere

[@SamuraiJake22]

Great video. Excellent presentation of the information.

[@joyroc885]

I love both. I built a few grendels cause I wanted something better than 556 out of the ar platform. Wolf is what help grendel take off. Now that wolf ammo is drying up and all is left is the expensive stuff. 308 is cheaper than 6.5 right now sadly.

[@blakesmith2594]

I have some older steel case wolf

[@FNWendigo]

A case of 20 from Hornady is $35. Rip my wallet.

[@mr.j5919]

A Hunter that actually does it for a living god a big study on 6.5 Grendel vs 308 for medium to large game and surprisingly said he sold his 308 and will never buy another and goes on to name a long list of reasons and said the 6.5 Grendel penetrates better shoots flatter and just kills better than the 308 and says he chooses the 6.5 Grendel over all others to hunt It’s very interesting if you’re a hunter and although I can’t remember the name of the place I read it I’m sure it wouldn’t be difficult to find but you should check it out

[@bigjimmy6690]

I'm sorry, but the Grendel doesn't penetrate or kill better than the 308 by a long shot. I shoot quite a few critters with both, and the Grendel is a pea shooter compared to the 308. The 308 has over 1,000 foot pounds more energy than the Grendel. Just shoot a steel plate back to back with both and the difference in impact is massive. The Grendel is the best round you can get in an AR-15 platform (IMHO) but it doesn't even compare to the 308 in power.

[@davidgreenapple9397]

Hornady American Gunner is a great value in 6.5 Grendel. Nosler (although expensive) is the absolute best in class for Grendel. It's fantastic, accurate, hard hitting, but expensive ($50+ per box right now).

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

Agree. A 120gr Ballistic Tip or a 129gr AccuBond Long Range are both excellent options for the 6.5 Grendel.

[@rc54]

The new Reuger SFAR 308 is a super compact and fun solution. 7 pounds in an AR10 is fantastic and so easy to shoot.

[@Paulito941]

Was really looking to get one but it seems to have a lot of reliablity issues

[@lowerspeedhigherdrag]

Can I use my 7.62x39 AR bolt for 6.5 grendel?

[@robertblack1116]

no, the bolt face is slightly deeper on the grendel bolts.

[@RobertParmer-ls4xk]

Can I use my 7.62’’by 39 magazine with 6.5 Grendel ammo?

[@RollingRigTraction]

Generally yes.

[@bryonreid8770]

How about 6.5 Grendel vs 6.8 SPC!

[@blakesmith2594]

6mm arc vs 6.5 grendel and 6.8 spc

[@dilorenzopiero5162]

I would go for the 308... just the ammo selection and cost.

[@blueeyeddevil1]

why not have both? 😉

[@mr.j5919]

I can’t understand why more and more people these days believe you need these ridiculous calibers to hunt deer or hogs or really just anything if you listen to them talk. It’s hard for me to take anyone serious that believes it takes these giant calibers, to me it shows that they have little to no experience with hunting any animal and are just repeating whatever they heard from other inexperienced “hunters” on KZbin or some forum online. People should really do their own research if they’re new to this and go back and look at what the old mountain men used for elk, moose, Buffalo, and everything else and see what it’s ballistics show and when they do they’ll see that most of the rifles they used were less powerful than today’s 9mm pistol round and the ones that were more powerful wasn’t by much and it makes me wanna ask these people if they think they knew more about hunting than the mountain men did. I’m not telling anyone to go hunt elk with a pellet gun but it doesn’t take anywhere near as much to bring down these animals as they’d like to think and history back me up on this one, for instance the world record grizzly bear, at the time, was killed by a little older lady with a 22 long which is even less powerful than the 22lr that’s so popular today so as long as you get experience in whatever caliber you choose to use then you shouldn’t need to worry AT ALL, it’s far more a fact of the hunters experience and shooting ability than it is the caliber. When you say you wouldn’t use the 6.5 Grendel on elk, a simple search on KZbin will show a young lady that took down a very large bull elk at right at 400yds with the 6.5 Grendel so I’m curious as to what you think about what she did. Thanks for the videos God Bless All

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

Have you actually killed a really, really big animal before? Like an elk, moose, kudu, eland, buffalo, etc.? Not at all trying to be sarcastic or give you a hard time, just trying to understand where you're coming from so I can respond to you appropriately.

[@mikemelina7395]

@@Thebiggamehuntingblog I saw the video the OP is referring to, the elk was bedded down across a canyon. the girl put a good 1st shot into the bull, then her father told her to put a few more shots into him. The bull never got up, or he might have stood up and fallen over DRT. I wouldn't recommend the 6.5GR anything more than what you said: deer inside 300yds. There are many better choices out there if you're using a bolt gun, but if you want to hunt with an AR15 platform rifle, the 6.5GR is one of the best options, along with the .450 Bushmaster and the .350(can't remember the cartridge name).

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

Oh I've seen the elk video with the 6.5 Grendel he references @mikemelina7395. I like the 6.5 Grendel plenty, but, I think that exact video should be viewed more as a cautionary tale than as something to emulate. That said, like you, I think the 6.5 Grendel is probably the best all around option for hunting with an AR-15 platform.

[@mikemelina7395]

@@Thebiggamehuntingblog Horses for courses and courses for horses. I wouldn't use a 6.5Creedmoor on elk either. Horses for courses...

[@bigjimmy6690]

I have both calibers and I hunt mostly hogs in Texas. I much prefer the 308 over the Grendel just due to the power advantage. You have to remember that you don't always get the ideal shot on an animal. With the 308 I can take a big hog at pretty much any angle with my hand-loaded Barnes bullets. I did take a very large Aoudad with the Grendel but only because that's what I had with me at the time. A 100-grain Barnes TTSX put him down in less than 100 yards.

[@jasonlopez4855]

308win is my pick out of 6.5 grendel But I would go with 6.5 creedmore in my AR-10 ⁉️ LR-10 The new best hunting platforms. The mini- grendel Is good for 🧐🦌 hunting for my kid's

[@Tony_Seed]

*6.5 Grendel hand loads with Barnes ttsx bullets enter the chat*

[@Coyote-wm5op]

All the data that’s tracked on these only goes out to 500 yds unfortunately. They’re also not considering what happens when you give the Grendel a longer barrel. .308 really starts dropping after 500.

[@ChrisEdling]

M80 ball falls off after 800 but there are much better loads on the market now that destroy 6.5 Grendel and make 6.5 cm irrelevant

[@joquin4618]

.308 cuz it’s more readily available and somewhat affordable and recoil is not that bad if you suppress it!

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

Both excellent points

[@pilotmiami1]

bravo.thenks

[@HernanMoragaMmHs]

nice!

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

Thanks!

[@cottonkiller8081]

We need more comparisons like this I could watch one of these every day bored

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

Don't worry, more are coming! Glad you're enjoying them!

[@beware3586]

Realistically seems like the Grendel is a top pick for deer and smaller. Technically you have the energy to take an elk at 100 ish yards. Though every damn time i've ever gone elk hunting I cant recall a time the big bastards being closer than 300 or so. Not sure why since almost all my deer have been harvested sub 100. That's just the way it goes I suppose.

[@jorgesolis9468]

And hog hunting

[@keithprinn720]

the 556 as a military calibre was a terrible decision except for weight of ammo being carried by soldiers. absolutely pathetic stopping power compared to the 762.

[@ChrisEdling]

You don't know anything about terminal ballistics. Yea 308 is more powerful then 556 but 556 is very lethal in the ranges it was designed for mainly 0 to 500 yards

[@jorgesolis9468]

At the time the conflict was close quarters well within 300 yards on the jungles so suppressive fire was a major factor and 5.56 withing 300 yards is still super effective now afterwards we find ourselves in the middle east door to door is fine but when you start getting ambushed in the open and the distances spread out a whole lot more and instances like operation gothic serpent start showing the shortcomings of the 5.56 at range and shortening the barrel

[@MangoMike316]

👍👍👍

[@1969darr]

I would take 6.5G all day Every day. Easy on the rifle easy on the shoulder easy

[@Internaught-The-Wise]

6.5 Grendel beats .308 hands down.

[@ChrisEdling]

No it doesn't 😂😂