700 yd Precision AR15 thumper *Range Report*

I just bought a Grendel for yote hunting, But the 20" PSA upper and paired it with a PSA AR lower. GTG. Ive never shot a Grendel before now, but my buddies all do for coyote hunting. Factory Hornady Black or the SST 123gn, lights out. And reasonable.
 
Late to this conversation. My 224 Valkyrie 80 ELD, is over 2000 fps @500 yards. Splash is bigger than target, and easy to see through the scope.
 
Chuckman said:
6.5 Creed and 6.5 Grendal are the bee's knees. Faxon, Criterion, and the fellows over at Sniper Country really like Brownells: https://www.snipercountry.com/65-grendel-barrels/
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The author needs to do more research prior to typing. “Furthermore, stainless steel can absorb and release heat far more effectively than most other metals.”= False
If that’s the case an M249 barrel would obviously be stainless instead of 41V45 steel (Chrome Moly Vanadium).
 
In a AR15 platform the most available cartridge for OP needs would be the 6.5 Grendel. There are other low volume cartridges that may also work such as the 6x45, .277 Wolverine, .25-45 Sharps, .224 Valkyrie to name a few. .243, 6.5 Creedmore, 7-08mm and .308 need the large receivers of the AR10.

CD
 
Holy Headaches Batman! I could not be more disappointed in this upper.

Mounted on a lower with Geisselle trigger, PRS stock and good glass. I couldn’t get better than 3-4” groups at 200.

Wilson Combat Recon Tactical, 18” rifle length gas, stainless, fluted, and threaded 5/8”x24, 1:8 twist.

Decent ammo:
Hornady Black
American Gunner
Hornady SST

sandbag rests off a solid concrete bench.

About the only good thing was it had zero failures and the brass made a nice little pile right at 4 o’clock.
 
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Dang that sucks!

Did you try it without a muzzle device?
 
NKD said:
Dang that sucks!

Did you try it without a muzzle device?
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It has a Warcomp brake rocksetted in place.

not sure what my next step is going to be.
 
I don’t think I can see any rub marks, but what do y’all think of the clearance between the block and rail?

70F86F51-9A22-418E-88E0-09E3F2DC2365.jpeg A9DE6BD3-72A2-48AF-BC39-FEC7743B4A23.jpeg
 
I would think that would hit as the barrel vibrates.
If you pull the guard, you should see a shiny spot on that satin gas block
 
It looks like it's cleared, in those pics. I assume the rifle was cold when you took them?
 
@Tim

I would load a ladder test with 123gr eld using 8208 powder and try some hand loads. If you don’t have any luck, there may be the reason he was selling the upper. I saw it posted on SH and the Grendel forum as well.
 
I bought a new, unfired build from a guy and he was kind enough to advise that I check some things before I just go blasting. One of those things was the barrel nut. I haven't done that yet, but I've also not fired it yet.
 
Tim said:
It has a Warcomp brake rocksetted in place.

not sure what my next step is going to be.
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I’m probably barking up the wrong tree, and not very knowledgeable about precision long distance shooting, but it would be nice to examine the crown and any fouling/buildup in that area (if used) or any potential anomalies in interfacing with brake.
 
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to tighten up from 1.5-2 MOA is more than the gun. I think focusing on the gun is the wrong knee jerk reaction. If I was you this is what I would do.

First at home inspect the rifle. The gas block is only one of a few touch points. does the bi-pod mount screws in the rail touch the barrel or gas block?
Is the gas flow adjusted correctly as to allow a pile of brass in one spot?
Cheek weld good for proper sight picture?
LOP set correctly for the type of shooting you will be doing?

1. Get to 300 rnds before making any judgment on the rifle as a whole.
2. Run a data book and polt your shots like you should be doing
2a. record wind, light, at start and overtime
3. Set parallax correctly for the shot distance when shooting groups
4. Call and mark the shots on your data book
5. take pictures of the end grouping and when at home compare it to your polt chart

That's just the start, but enough.

To squeeze the last 1 to 1/2 MOA out of a gun is a bitch, and its harder then squeezing 2 MOA out of a 4 MOA gun.
 
JBoyette said:
to tighten up from 1.5-2 MOA is more than the gun. I think focusing on the gun is the wrong knee jerk reaction. If I was you this is what I would do.
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no offense intended, but I am a sub-MOA BENCH shooter all day long. Working desperately to improve field positions, but from the bench I’d go against anyone on here and feel confident about holding my own.

went back to the range this morning after giving the rifle a good going over.

this first group is Hornady SST factory 6.5Grendel ammo. Not cheap stuff at all.
- mechanical front rest, not a bipod
- good solid rear bag
- 12x Burris XTR II optic
- 5 shot string over maybe 2 minutes.

After I got frustrated with the Grendel, I swapped out the upper for my .223 Wylde just to get some chrono data for this weather...

- same lower (LOP, cheek weld, trigger, etc)
- Harris bipod on a QD MLOK Mount (bouncy)
- Magnetospeed mounted
- 6x
- cheap Magtech 77gr ammo
- 11 shots in about a minute
IOW not exactly pushing for accuracy.

I have a hard time seeing how plotting my shots and keeping a data book are the answer to this one.

DF58128D-00E2-4194-99A9-9CB45ECB7A53.png
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Tim said:
no offense intended, but I am a sub-MOA BENCH shooter all day long. Working desperately to improve field positions, but from the bench I’d go against anyone on here and feel confident about holding my own.

went back to the range this morning after giving the rifle a good going over.

this first group is Hornady SST factory 6.5Grendel ammo. Not cheap stuff at all.
- mechanical front rest, not a bipod
- good solid rear bag
- 12x Burris XTR II optic
- 5 shot string over maybe 2 minutes.

After I got frustrated with the Grendel, I swapped out the upper for my .223 Wylde just to get some chrono data for this weather...

- same lower (LOP, cheek weld, trigger, etc)
- Harris bipod on a QD MLOK Mount (bouncy)
- Magnetospeed mounted
- 6x
- cheap Magtech 77gr ammo
- 11 shots in about a minute
IOW not exactly pushing for accuracy.

I have a hard time seeing how plotting my shots and keeping a data book are the answer to this one.

View attachment 176603
View attachment 176605
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When using ballistic-x where are the photos exported to on your device?
 
Ok I have android and am looking where they went.
 
[QUOTE="

I have a hard time seeing how plotting my shots and keeping a data book are the answer to this one.
[/QUOTE]

Agree that plotting is not the fix for all issues, but you are missing out on data. Even with the targets you shared, it has no real good information for the long term data collection.

As an example, on target 1 the 6.5 Grendel target, if you have filled out plots you would know if not only the group size is the same, but first, second, third shots stack in the same pattern.

Plotting the shots does three things.
1. Allows you to have a procedure, within that procedure you can identify whats going right, and wrong per shot.
2. Builds a pace of consistent tempo between a shot, and rebuilding your shooting position.
3. Allows you to study your groups long after you left the range with solid data.

Trust me I get that a rifle not performing well is not fun. But if you want to cut to the heart of it all. that barrel is not up to the standards you want. When I built rifles, Tbox was the only barrel brand I would use for 6.5 Grendel.
 
Is all the hardware secure and have you tested another scope?
Have you checked the lead or headspace and new vs fired brass? Grendel’s have a Gen1 & 2 bolt face.
My Sako M75 in 7-08 has a looong lead, the best factory ammo 3 round group was 2 3/4”, my first hand loaded bullets produced a 5rd 3/8” group.
 
Pink_Vapor said:
Is all the hardware secure and have you tested another scope?
Have you checked the lead or headspace and new vs fired brass? Grendel’s have a Gen1 & 2 bolt face.
My Sako M75 in 7-08 has a looong lead, the best factory ammo 3 round group was 2 3/4”, my first hand loaded bullets produced a 5rd 3/8” group.
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I’m pretty sure I have this figured out. After some tinkering and advice from the snipershide, I think the LaRue mount is a POS. I swapped out that mount with a PEPR, same optic, and got decent results. I’m headed back to the range Tuesday to really wring it out.
 
Pink_Vapor said:
:eek: Say it ain’t so!
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This particular QD Mount has apparently been know to have issues.

switching over to a Burris PEPR Mount (not exactly big $$) gave me a 5 round 0.6” group. I was short on time, so I need to get back to the range to verify with a fair number of rounds.
 
That is disappointing. My cheap 18" PSA upper that I sold a short while back shot better than that. I can't remember who I sold it to, but i wonder if he is having luck with it. I only fired 20 rounds through mine, and it was only at 100. I am also not a shooter of any kinds of range either.
 
Tim said:
This particular QD Mount has apparently been know to have issues.

switching over to a Burris PEPR Mount (not exactly big $$) gave me a 5 round 0.6” group. I was short on time, so I need to get back to the range to verify with a fair number of rounds.
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Which Larue Mount is it? Mine has been rock solid for years and I’ve never heard a bad thing about them. They’ve just sort of become not the coolest new thing lately (no change in design) so other stuff is at the forefront.

I run the 30mm SPR-E LT139. On my 1:8 16” Rainier/Shilen/Colt mashup with 69gr SMKs...never had an issue with accuracy due the mount.
 
11B CIB said:
Which Larue Mount is it? Mine has been rock solid for years and I’ve never heard a bad thing about them. They’ve just sort of become not the coolest new thing lately (no change in design) so other stuff is at the forefront.

I run the 30mm SPR-E LT139. On my 1:8 16” Rainier/Shilen/Colt mashup with 69gr SMKs...never had an issue with accuracy due the mount.
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It's an LT-204 mount. All I can say for sure is that I had it properly torqued and came away with disappointing results. When I switched the same optic to a different mount, my results were better. Again, I haven't put enough rounds down range to validate that initial test.

IMG_0206.jpeg
 
Something that intrigues me in the 6mmAR (Grendel), which seems like what the 224V should have been.

My 6.5 shoots pretty good, I just never have had time or space to set up for reloading to maximize it.

I’ve thought about selling my upper and stuff lately, and just stick with my Bergara HMR for my longer range stuff.
 
looking back at this and you saying that your brass was in a neat pile... my gun slings the empty cases like 15-20+ yards away, i hope it's not over gassed now that i think about it
 
Tim said:
I’m going to build a precision rifle on an AR15 platform and am looking for recommendations in chambering.

Max 700 yds and I want no doubt about impacts on steel at that distance. Sometimes .223 doesn’t hit hard enough for a quick call so I’m looking for something with a bit more thump behind it.

I have an Aero build in the safe to repurpose. It has a good trigger, stock and optics so I’m looking for the barrel now.

This is strictly for games, not hunting or social work.
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I have found myself in a similar predicament, lucky me!

If you were to do it all over again, what would you do? I’m considering simply rebarreling an AR but keeping it in 556 and setting up for longer ranges. Will I be woefully disappointed?

I’m not looking to compete. Really I just want to begin learning the craft of how to do all of the calculations and dialing things in on my scope, but on the cheap. I am quite aware that as I gain more experience, I’ll want different gear, so a rebarrelled AR in 556 seems to make the most sense at the moment. Already have parts, ammo, components, etc…
 
frakncylons said:
I have found myself in a similar predicament, lucky me!

If you were to do it all over again, what would you do? I’m considering simply rebarreling an AR but keeping it in 556 and setting up for longer ranges. Will I be woefully disappointed?

I’m not looking to compete. Really I just want to begin learning the craft of how to do all of the calculations and dialing things in on my scope, but on the cheap. I am quite aware that as I gain more experience, I’ll want different gear, so a rebarrelled AR in 556 seems to make the most sense at the moment. Already have parts, ammo, components, etc…
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I think you're on the right track ins ticking with .223

At 700 yards you'll still be able to hear a hit on steel with 70+gr bullets. And you'll be able to find good precision factory ammo without difficulty.
 
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