Testing Palmetto State Armory's new 6.5 Grendel ammo

[@VASCAR2]

Jamin from JJE Capitol said the Sabre Black Tip is the SST with different color polymer tip. The 123 grain FMJ is the bullet Hornady uses in their Frontier 123 grain FMJ. The BTHP is the same bullet used in 200 round packages sold as American Gunner in plastic box. Velocity of AAC ammo is a little low compared to Hornady. I usually get 2500 FPS out of AMAX/ELD-M and SST out of my 20” AR-15 with Shilen barrel. Some times lower velocity group better. For current price looks good enough. I bet AAC is producing their own brass for 6.5 Grendel. AAC has a new ammunition factory making bullets, brass cases and primers.

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@VASCAR2 ah thanks for the info!

[@kalcolt744]

They will probably just copy the hornady bullet like they did the sierra in 223 and 308.

[@lancegardner8560]

​@@kalcolt744 not a copy, that's actually where they get them from.

[@cancermonkey7334]

@@TheOutdoorGeneralistTools and Targets verified this also. The shots he put in the gel with this vs the Hornady Black Ammo (123gr SST) were identical wound cavities. The only difference is the color of the polymer tip.

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@cancermonkey7334 thanks! Good to know.

[@GB-zi6qr]

Congrats on the property!!!! Good video. Thanks for posting.

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@GB-zi6qr thanks!

[@william16845]

6.5 grendel is a fantastic little round..it's best suited for the hand loader though. It's like every rifle has its own powder/ projectile combo that it'll shoot sub moa with..it's hard to find factory ammo that can get the results of a good hand load.

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@william16845 I agree!

[@jeremyfrix522]

Wow bummer on the last shot of the open tip match that was an awesome group !

[@billjensen6216]

With all 3 of my 6.5 grendel rifles and pistol, I have found that the Hornady black 123 grain eld work the best for me

[@deanwood1338]

Not going to lie. Don’t remember subscribing to your channel but after watching this video you have one for life now 👍

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@deanwood1338 thanks for watching!

[@briankopp1369]

Glad you found a good channel, I bet you don't drink.

[@TheMcpvideo]

🤔 interesting I've been looking at the 6.5 grendel for sometime now I definitely want one 👍

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@TheMcpvideo yeah it’s a sweet little cartridge.

[@jonn8163]

I noticed less volosity then advertised as well but once I dialed in the elevation I was shooting sweet groups from my 18” AR

[@lylewalters909]

The black tip is the hornady sst bullet.

[@joecoastie99]

SST’s are hell on white tail. Good to know!! I’ve been stocking up and I plan on getting a lot more

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@joecoastie99 nice! I do have one more box of the black tip so I’ll have to try them out.

[@practicalcivilian3259]

Idk why but I live waching these kind of test fr

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@practicalcivilian3259 that’s why I keep doing it! Thanks for watching!

[@WildTex-m9u]

The OG ammo review. That second group with the flier made me laugh. 😅

[@thesaint1517]

I just purchased 100 each otm and black tip. Glad I saw you video and comments. Looking forward to use them with both my ARs.

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@thesaint1517 Black tip were sold out by the time I placed my order this morning, but I did get a few hundred of the FMJs to keep on hand.

[@madhatter6913]

I think a bit of bedding work with your Howa would do wonders. Not an expensive endeavor at least if you prefer to use the same stock, but a better option would be find a stock with an aluminum bedding block. Been a hot minute since I’ve had a Howa so maybe they’ve incorporated those things already, but if not I think that would really improve your groups.

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@madhatter6913 I’m pretty sure it has aluminum bedding blocks! It’ll probably get a different stock and a glass bedding job in the future though.

[@happysnowfish]

I'm, pretty certain the sabre are 123gr Hornady SST projectiles but plastic tip is different color. PSA site says Hornady. It just doesn't say which hornady.

[@Gahmaz0z]

I do have an AR barrel in Grendel but i pretty much don't shoot it anymore. Faxon decided to make the gas system midlength which makes it shoot pretty harsh compared to my 6Arc which has rifle length gas.

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@Gahmaz0z hmm that’s interesting…what barrel length? Could probably make it a little nicer with an adjustable gas block.

[@Gahmaz0z]

@@TheOutdoorGeneralist 18" I use an adjustable gas block and have it throwing brass to about 3 or 4 O'clock

[@jorgesolis9468]

​@@Gahmaz0zsame here factory diamondback was throwing 1 o clock before i got an adjustable gas block nailed a big this morning running away at 150 yards quartering away

[@madhatter6913]

Subscribed! What is the barrel length on the AR? Think I missed that bit of information. I picked up some of the black tip rounds and a 20” upper so I’m interested to see how they do on paper. Might eventually use it for mid range whitetail hunting is the ultimate goal. Something light in recoil, decent down range performance, and doesn’t drop like a rock like 300 Blk.

[@fgutie35]

So basically decent plinking ammo. My 16" VEPR AKM in 6.5 Grendel shoots tighter groups than what I saw in your video. It likes Hornady Black ELD ammo.

[@briankopp1369]

The black tip is sst, not my favorite for putting meat on the table but is very accurate and works well. My BCA 20" loves sst, but I don't use it for deer, the Barnes 115 brings home the venison.

[@frankbrowning328]

Great video. Congratulations on your property! I remember that feeling when we bought ours many years ago. It was my biggest want and biggest achievement. The pride of ownership can't be beat. When you get into your deer stand and know you wont be sharing that land with anyone but who you invite it really makes you feel good. I like that Howa. I've been trying to choose between it and the CZ600 in 6.5 Grendel and in 7.62X39. I have a CZ527 in 7.62X39 but now it's worth so much I rarely shoot it. The velocity seems to be low in most of the PSA ammo I see tested. The 7.62X39 is even worse in regard to box vs reality. However, in my guns both the FMJ and Black tip 7.62 X 39 are very accurate. The OTM bullet is a disappointment in these 2 rifles. The black tip is a =n expanding bullet made by Hornady just as it is in the 7.62X39. In 7.62X39 it is a very good deer hunting option and would also work as a defensive option with the caveat that it will over penetrate threats.

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

Thanks for the info! Yeah, I kick myself all the time for not picking up a 527 Grendel when they were available. The 600 design to me (though I haven't handled one myself) seems like it needs some work.

[@dinadaughtry8993]

About the same velocity for the bullet weight as the 7.62-39 with a smaller diameter bullet

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@dinadaughtry8993 yep! This particular ammo is running about 100fps faster than a typical 7.62x39 loading from a 20” barrel (based on 7.62x39 velocity vs barrel length data from rifleshooter.com.) This, combined with the higher ballistic coefficient of the .264 bullet results in a flatter trajectory and more energy on target at distance. It also tends to be more accurate, but I think that’s mostly a function of the rifles it’s chambered in. Thanks for watching!

[@nospam3409]

Not sure what direction the wind was blowing, but on that last group the corn in the background was dead calm on the far left shot, and moving slightly on the other 4.

[@9millimackerpackerwhacker848]

Cool, wish you'd at least shot some water or wet paper so we could see terminal

[@briankopp1369]

In my humble opinion, the ssa- e trigger is by far the easiest to shoot well.

[@michaellewis5624]

I have had 3 grendels. A bolt action and 2 AR's. I could never get good accuracy with factory ammo or hand loads.

[@merlinnorris714]

The group size may be affected by all that wind

[@jackedburton7639]

SHOW ME THE JELLY. WE NEED JELLY TIME!

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@jackedburton7639 we’ll get there some day!

[@kweeks10045]

It looks like you have two issues. First, it would appear that your gun has a fairly long throat. Hand loading is probably the only viable solution unless you rebarrel or just run it like it is. The second issue is barrel harmonics. Maybe it's the can, you'd have to remove it to find out. Something is inconsistent with the bullet leaving the barrel. Suppressors can affect accuracy, so it probably wouldn't hurt to shoot some without it.

[@BrendonWBrown]

Thanks for running these tests. Haven't seen these prices in a few years.

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@BrendonWBrown I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Grendel ammo that low. I’ll still load most of my own, but I did pick up a few hundred more rounds to have on hand.

[@PJ_Perry]

Im on the fence about getting a Ar upper in 6.5 grendel ..i figured why not have a quick caliber change is grendel worth having ?

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@PJ_Perry Grendel is absolutely worth having! One of my favorite intermediate cartridges.

[@Trash_panda_real]

O believe the black tips are eld's

[@Jc4947]

Curious, what trigger are you running on that ar?? Thanks for making this vid!!

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@Jc4947 CMC single stage, 2.5lb I believe. I need to take it out and give it a good cleaning and see if it’ll lighten back up and reset properly again.

[@EricVernor]

I have the same trigger in my 6.5 Grendel AR, love it...great to see affordable prices.... e​@@TheOutdoorGeneralist

[@BulletsNBrass]

Grrr, yt blew away my comment. Basically, only so so accuracy but I can't recall how good those rifles normally are for you with your handloads, so maybe that's not far off for the guns involved. Not horrible particularly for the price point on this caliber. I followed you on Rumble, then checked my account there, gotta love it not pulling videos from YT for the past 8 months or so. I guess I'll have to manually upload them for rumble.

[@BulletsNBrass]

Doh, I had missed the end of the video, so the Howa did well on the reshoot, so not bad at all.

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

The Ballistic Advantage barrel in the AR has been so-so with Hornady's 123gr bullet profiles, but shoots excellently with the 120s. I'm probably going to end up re-barreling it in 6 ARC with a higher quality barrel. I'll have to see if I can get Rumble to automatically pull videos over. When it does that, does Rumble host a separate copy of the video, or does it just play the KZbin one? I'm not adept enough at looking into the source code to tell yet.

[@BulletsNBrass]

@@TheOutdoorGeneralist It pulls the video somehow, because I've later removed or made private videos and had them still show on rumble. It's not super fast though, and I've now had it fail and need reconfigured several times. I think YT does something to block it and you have to adjust things.

[@mr.mr.3301]

We need a good softpoint for hunting

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@mr.mr.3301 I believe there’s a Federal Fusion offering in 6.5 Grendel, which is a bonded soft point bullet.

[@mr.mr.3301]

@@TheOutdoorGeneralist I can never find it in stock.

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@mr.mr.3301 oh I see that now, none available from online retailers at the moment.

[@AlaskanBallistics]

SST is a horrible bullet anyway. AAC needs to come out with bonded ammo

[@jaredgranger4180]

Is the twist rate for both barrels 1:8?

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@jaredgranger4180 yep!

[@jjgriffin3275]

You had More Excuses than a Woman in this video!

[@TheRange7]

where's your video?

[@theproudamerican1967]

From my experience with AAC ammo. Check your seating depths. I adjust seating depth with a kinetic bullet puller and a seating die to get a consistent seating depth then use a Lee factory crimp die. My group sizes shrank dramatically doing this and saw a reduction in extreme spread and standard deviation

[@kyle18934]

does that mean that the quality control is less than other companies?

[@theproudamerican1967]

@kyle18934 they are improving. But yes i have noticed some qc issues. I have had ZERO safety issues, feeding problems, failures to fire. Just found if I tune the ammo myself I got much better groups. I have shot about 4500 rounds of AAC ammo through 4 firearms

[@kyle18934]

@theproudamerican1967 holy smokes that's a lot of shooting. I noticed their 9mm and 5.56 has brass shavings stuck tp them still. it clogged up my AR rather quickly. I don't go through a ton of ammo, so I don't have any reloading equipment. would you suggest sticking with other brands until their quality control is better?

[@theproudamerican1967]

@kyle18934 I haven't experienced brass shaving. You may need to polish the feed ramps on your barrel extension. I polish feed ramps on every new barrel I get. Pick up 400, 600, 1500, 3000 grit sand paper. Wrap it around a ⅜ punch and go in order. The whole process takes about 15 minutes. Then use brake clean and flush the shavings from the muzzle end.

[@kyle18934]

@theproudamerican1967 there were oily brass shavings in the box the bullets came in. i tried to get them off the bullets, but some still stuck to the bullets. I'll polish the ramp though, maybe that would help.

[@richardmartin3243]

NEED A 6.5MM GRENDEL WITH A BULLET WEIGHT 95GR TO 130GR BE ABLE TO RUN 2900FPS TO 3000FPS WITH A FMJSCBT WITH A MAGNUM PRIMERS FOR ALL WHETHER BURN

[@TheOutdoorGeneralist]

@@richardmartin3243 sounds like you’re talking about a hot load out of a 6.5 Creedmoor or 260 Remington (realistically 6.5 PRC) not a Grendel. Not going to get those velocities with the 30ish grains of powder that can be stuffed into the little Grendel case.