6.8 SPC or 6.5 Grendel

[jleyring]

I received a lower receiver awhile back and started brainstorming. I decided not to go with another 5.56. The 6.8 SPC seemed like a great option. There seems to be alot of options for pieces and the prices are good. The issue is that ammo seems hard to find as well as bullets and brass for reloading. I even work at a large sporting goods store and it never comes in. From what ive read it is not a great long range gun either. I want to use it for coyote hunting. I just fear that the round will become so unpopular that they quit producing it.
I like the idea of a 6.5 Grendel due to the long range option. There seems to be plenty of ammo and reloading components. The issue is that the build will cost so much more. There are not many companies that make barrels that I can find.
So my question is which one would be the better option in the long run as well and if there is any companies that have good prices on parts i would love to see them for the 6.5. It would help me make the decision. Thanks.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

The Grendel is a less common caliber but with better ballistics and much better cross sectional density along with a very good ballistic coefficient.

The Grendel benefit are not significant over6.8, but it is the way I went.

Overall, they are fairly comparable and you could not go too wrong either way. Both are a good improvement over .223/5.56.

 

[jason41987]

i used to really like the 6.8SPC.. i used to be big on it, but the grendel began to attract me, shoulders are further back so you can fit a much longer bullet at the overall length of whatever magazines youre using, and the higher ballistic coefficiency gives you much greater power downrange.. also, 6.5mm bullets seem to for some reason be better in general.. and if you convert your .308 rifles into something like 6.5mm lapua you can share the bullets

another benefit is this.. if you couldnt find commercial ammunition for 6.8 or 6.5 grendel anywhere, 6.5 grendel brass can easily be made from 7.62x39mm brass and 6.5 bullets seem to be more common

 

[Dangerous Dan]

I have built a few 6.8 SPC and a few 6.5 Grendel the 6.8 Runs out of gas bad at 200 Yards and the Grendel with the 123 A Max is so mean on deer it wins hands down to the 6.8 That is my 2 cents DD

 

[rbernie]

the 6.8 Runs out of gas bad at 200 Yards

Well, 'out of gas bad' seems a bit dramatic. My experience, on the range over a chrony as well as in the field, has been that they're about equal to 250 yards and certainly in the same ballpark out to 300 yards. The Grendel doesn't really show its legs relative to the 6.8SPC until the ranges get past 250 yards, at which point the less aero 6.8SPC is starting to fall behind. But all in all, there is adequate energy in either chambering to drop any thin-skinned North American game out to 300 yards without question, and it's been regularly done by both chamberings for a decade now.

There is no way around the fact that the design parameters for each were different - the 6.5 Grendel emphasized VLD bullet use at the expense of case capacity (and potentially the ultimate bolt life in the AR platform due to the larger rim), and the 6.8SPC emphasized terminal effects inside of 300 yards. Hornady does now make a few .277 bullets (e.g. 120gr SST) that are both suitable for hunting as well as mo' aero friendly than the stubby 90gr-110gr 270 varmint bullets used in most early 6.8SPC loadings. Even without the newer boutique lower-drag bullet offerings, the plain-jane 110gr Sierra PH and older 115gr Hornady HP have proven quite deadly on deer out to 300 yards over the course of the last decade.

Since I use my rifles exclusively within a 300 yard range, I chose the chambering with the greatest parts availability across the broadest range of manufacturers - and that was 6.8SPC. That doesn't mean that it's the best thing ever - it just means that I've chosen a chambering that suits my purposes and that gave me the greatest support and product offerings within the gun-bits community.

YMMV.

 

[LJH]

Get the 6.5, its what you want. If you get something else you will second guess you purchase. You don't want buyers remorse.

 

[mokin]

That is the same question I asked myself a couple of years ago. I really like both. As I seldom make shots over 300 yards I really couldn't see much of an advantage of one over the other. I wanted to build a 6.5 but at the time it was still proprietary and prices were through the roof. I went with the 6.8 spec II chamber (there was still a lot of debate as to that at the time). The reason I originally wanted a 6.5 were the availability of brass and bullets (and I have a soft spot in my heart for 6.5s).

Two big issues regarding the 6.8 SPC: 1) So far, maybe by now something has happened since I've looked into it, the 6.8 SPC crowd hasn't really agreed on a SAAMI spec chambering and there are still some differences to be ironed out, and, 2) is that the 6.8 SPC brass looks a lot like 5.56/.223 and I invariably end up with some of that when friends help pick it up.

If you go with the Grendel, be advised that the upper receiver should have a slightly larger ejection port than is standard. Either way I'm sure you'll have fun and enjoy the rifle.