6.8spc versus 6.5Grendel the popularity contest

Do you own a gun so chambered

  • I own a 6.8 spc

    Votes: 24 57.1%

  • I have a 6.5 grendel

    Votes: 15 35.7%

  • I'm special and own both

    Votes: 3 7.1%
  • Total voters
    42
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Don't ever start a 6.5 vs 6.8 caliber war!

Don't you know what happened to the last guy who did that?

If you persist in this unwise course of action long enough, Bill Alexander will summon his undead hordes, who can only be slain with silver bullets with a ballistic coefficient over .8! These unclean zombie creatures will rise from their graves, perform a complicated dance routine and then eat your brains! Then, they will take your all your money and spend it on new uppers.

I'll throw in my $.02 before the monsters get here: 6.8 SPC seems to be more popular in all the gun stores I've visited. 6.5 will be the target shooter's and reloader's darling, but the 6.8 SPC has a larger following at the moment.
 
I have the rifle (6.8) but am having hell finding ammo at brick-n-mortar stores. Most everything I've ran through it has been mail order and hand loaded.
 
Ok.... Ironically, I just spent the morning (couldn't sleep) looking at different calibers that could be used on an AR-15 platform.

Naturally, 6.8 and 6.5 came up.

I was toying with the idea that I could use an AR platform deer hunting and was seeing what I could do with the modular design of the rifle.


Some of my deer hunting shots will be on stands that have shots up to 300 yards, and some will not have a shot over 60 yards.


The idea was that I could get a M-4 upper just because. Then I could get a legal caliber upper for brush hunting, and again another legal caliber upper for longer range stands. Then I'd basically have one lower with easy conversions to do just about anything I wanted to do with the rifle.

Ok... the point to this.


I'm getting ready to duck and run, but from what I've been reading this morning it seems that 6.5 Grendel has an edge over 6.8 SPC. Now, granted I am VERY amatuer on these calibers but it seems that 6.5 Grendel has more energy delivered downrange and therefore has the capibility of operating in a greater variance of ranges for mid-sized game.

It's too bad that ammo seems to be scarce in 6.5, and I've only seen one company offering a 6.5 Grendel upper-- Alexander Arms.


Correct if I am wrong on any of those passing observations.


-- John
 
6.5 Grendel does have slightly more energy down range. If you use comparable bullets, the 6.5 has 10 or 20 ft-pounds more energy at 500 yards.

The statistics Alexander Arms publishes is for the Lapua Scenar from a 24 inch barrel. The Scenar is a target bullet ands is not apropriate for game. The 24 inch barrel is pretty rare in an AR. Look at the numbers I posted in this thread. With a 20 inch barrel and similar hunting bullets, the 6.5 g has a very small advantage over the 6.8 at 300-500 yards. The 6.8 has a very slight advantage under 300 yards.
 
Interesting Todd. Thanks. I'll add that into my mulling over.

Realistically, all of my shots at deer would be under 300 yards. The longest shot I've ever had to take at one was 298 yards with a Remington 700 30-06.

I am thinking that either caliber would probably would deliver the performance I would need at the ranges I would anticipate using it at (min 30 yards- max 300 yards.)



BTW... I've really enjoyed your contributions to this forum.


-- John
 
Here's what I want to know: which one can best be outfitted with a Hornady Lever-evolution bullet and offered in the new Marlin lightweight levergun I had a dream about last night?
 
The 6.8 may bee more favored, but the 6.5 is currently cheaper. And the rising cost of ammo, that is a big consideration. Plus it's easier to reload, due to more case availibility and wider bullet selection.
 
The 6.8 may bee more favored, but the 6.5 is currently cheaper. And the rising cost of ammo, that is a big consideration. Plus it's easier to reload, due to more case availibility and wider bullet selection
Click to expand...

Everything after "more favored" appears to be backwords.
 
Just an FYI for those concerned with ammo availibilty in Grendel, Wolf are now providing Grendel 6.5

Place to buy include

AMMOMAN.com is selling at $270 for 500
Cabela's at 10.99 for 20

Cheaper than Dirt carries Alexander Arms but is currently out of stock

Midway USA carries both AA and Wolf

I just want those nice folks at Robinson Arms to bring out a swap kit for Grendel for my XCR rifle.

I can then get to swap between 5.56 and the 6.5 which gives me near to effective 7.62 NATO range and performance in the same rifle.
 
Last edited:
Yes, Wolf 6.5 is now available. Either of these cartridges is a fine mid range one, and I hope it ignites an interest in other mid range rounds like the 7x57 and 257 Roberts. 90% of the time, most hunters don;t need a supermagnum.

As far as picking between 6.5 and 6.8, it depends on what you want. 6.5 will be a better target gun, with a large selection of really excellent match grade bullets. 6.8 is much more limited, since you basically are stuck with 0.277 bullets weighing 115gn or less (at least in the AR).

For hunting at 300 yards or less, either catridge will serve and both are better than 7.62x39 or 30-30 with flat nosed light bullets.

With Ruger adopting 6.8 for their mini-14, that's going to favor that caliber. If CZ adopts 6.8 in their 527, or Remington in their 799, their will finally be a light weight hunting rifle that will probably swing the pendulum in favor of that round. The CZ in 6.8 has been rumored for a couple of years, but nothing so far. But the same was true of the cz-527 in 204 and we have that now.

It looks like 6.5 will be a niche round, unless another manufacturer picks up the ammo. Right it is limited to the AR, and custom bolt guns.

You will be served well with either cartridge, but if I were a betting man, I'd put my money on 6.8.

Looking at super-premium hunting loads, it looks like 6.8 with the 110 TSX should be decent. 21 gns of Reloader-7 should be good for abour 2400 fps with moderate pressure. The 6.5 Grendel will do 2376 with the 120gn TSX.

This gives the 6.5 a good advantage at all ranges - about 10%
 
Looking at super-premium hunting loads, it looks like 6.8 with the 110 TSX should be decent. 21 gns of Reloader-7 should be good for abour 2400 fps with moderate pressure. The 6.5 Grendel will do 2376 with the 120gn TSX
Click to expand...

Perhaps you should change powders!

Cause Hodgon gives a velocity of just under 2700 FPS for the 6.8spc with a Hornady V-max of 110grs with a max load of H322 and 2800fps with a 100g Barnes X

also Look at midwayUSA's
6.5G wolf ammo
Out of stock NO backorder
 
I think I've changed my perspective. 6.8 spc just has good round ballistics.
Granted 6.5 isn't bad either. Well, I really just think that this is like comparing
energizer and duracell. They are too damn close to really decide between either. Both rifles look very nice, and function beautifully. I've shot both, and honestly can't find any arguments against either.
But hopefully most of us agree that it's not the argument between the two, but the knowledge that it's way better then 5.56.
And hopefully the US military takes out a contract with either company soon, and can forget all the bereaucratic crud that surrounds the AR and 5.56 cartridge.

I still like the long range ability of the 6.5g.
6.8spc tends to wiggle around out there past 200m.
 
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