Looking for a rifle for my relatively small wife and very small daughter to hunt hogs, deer, and other medium sized big game.
QUESTIONS
1. Is there a good penetrating factory hunting load with something like a Nosler Partition?
My main 6.5Grendel worry is the lack of a good penetrating hunting load to be had in factory ammo, like a Nosler Partition. My wife's favored .243Win load is a 100gr partition (Federal) and so far it has made a full pass-through on every critter shot, while doing good damage along the way through bone and softer tissue. Limited 6.5G case capacity seems to limit the utility of the monometallic bullets like the Barnes, Hornady GMX, etc., so little love there.
2. Are the modest 6.5Grendel velocities (assume 16" bbl) enough to get the various factory hunting loads to perform (terminally) at longer reasonable hunting ranges (say 300 yards, max)?
.243Win loses a lot of velocity in shorter bbls and factory 100gr pills out of the Ruger Am Compact 18" bbl are moving ~2600fps ( http://rifleshooter.com/2016/04/243-winchester-effect-of-barrel-length-on-velocity/). Alexander arms claims ~2450fps from a 16" bbl with 120-129gr loadings (http://alexanderarms.com/images/pdfs/grendel_ballistics.pdf). Going from .243Win to 6.5Grendel does not seem like not too much of a loss, performance wise, in the bbl lengths under consideration. 6.5G has less velocity, but more weight in popular hunting loads. But I have no experience with 6.5G as I have with .243Win.
3. Alexander Arms: Good quality?
Not sure I want to build my first 6.5Grendel upper, so am considering the AA lightweight 16" bbl upper (http://www.shopalexanderarms.com/Uppers-6_5_Grendel_Incursion_Complete_Upper_Assembly.html).
4. Subjective Recoil?
I assume it is less than a .243Win from a bolt gun, assuming same rifle weight. My wife can manage .243Win recoil and still put the bullet where it needs to go.
BACKGROUND
Wife is 5' nothing, 100lbs if you stuff rocks in her pockets. She can shoot a Ruger American Compact in .243Win (6lbs, 18"bbl, 37" OAL, 12.5" LOP) when she uses a PAST recoil shield. Problem is, she is heavily left eye dominant, so shoots lefty...and that rifle only comes righty. So follow-up shots are a slow prospect, even without a shooting sling. Lefty bolt guns with 12.5LOP and 6lbs or less in .243Win-ish chamberings are limited to the Browning X-bolt Micro-Midas ($800-ish). Or a custom job (very expensive).
About the only centerfire rifle that fits my daughter (10YO, tiny for age) is an AR15 with 6-position collapsible stock, collapsed all the way. She can use that with a red dot and get on target. Daughter still too small for a compact short action bolt gun with a 12.5" LOP. Daughter can shoot a Crickett all day long.
AR15 is darned lefty-friendly, so wife will be able to shoot it easily, make a follow up shot quickly enough to count, use a proper shooting sling. It can be built at 6lbs or less (before optics) & 37" or less OAL (with 16" bbl). I own several AR15 lowers, so I have my eyeball on the Alexander Arms 16" lightweight upper (http://www.shopalexanderarms.com/Uppers-6_5_Grendel_Incursion_Complete_Upper_Assembly.html at $685). AA makes a basic lightweight rifle with that upper that comes in at 5.9lbs.
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[FTR, the Ruger American Compact is a whole lot of rifle for the money. My wife's is accurate with most of the 8 or so factory loads I tested. (The Federal factory load with the 100gr Nosler Partition was not the most accurate, but it was good and had the Partition.) Main downside of the Ruger Am Compact is the noodly forearm. It is not stiff enough and can cause flyers. The bbl is free float--until you rest the forearm on a sandbag out toward hte end or use a shooting sling. My son also shoots it well and I intend it to be his gun. I will stiffen up the forearm with carbon fiber shafts and epoxy or bedding compound. And slap on a couple picatinny rails to mount gun lights for hunting hogs at night. Of course, I am partial to Mauser actions and shoot a CZ550 my own self, but that Ruger American showed me inexpensive rifles can shoot.]
QUESTIONS
1. Is there a good penetrating factory hunting load with something like a Nosler Partition?
My main 6.5Grendel worry is the lack of a good penetrating hunting load to be had in factory ammo, like a Nosler Partition. My wife's favored .243Win load is a 100gr partition (Federal) and so far it has made a full pass-through on every critter shot, while doing good damage along the way through bone and softer tissue. Limited 6.5G case capacity seems to limit the utility of the monometallic bullets like the Barnes, Hornady GMX, etc., so little love there.
2. Are the modest 6.5Grendel velocities (assume 16" bbl) enough to get the various factory hunting loads to perform (terminally) at longer reasonable hunting ranges (say 300 yards, max)?
.243Win loses a lot of velocity in shorter bbls and factory 100gr pills out of the Ruger Am Compact 18" bbl are moving ~2600fps ( http://rifleshooter.com/2016/04/243-winchester-effect-of-barrel-length-on-velocity/). Alexander arms claims ~2450fps from a 16" bbl with 120-129gr loadings (http://alexanderarms.com/images/pdfs/grendel_ballistics.pdf). Going from .243Win to 6.5Grendel does not seem like not too much of a loss, performance wise, in the bbl lengths under consideration. 6.5G has less velocity, but more weight in popular hunting loads. But I have no experience with 6.5G as I have with .243Win.
3. Alexander Arms: Good quality?
Not sure I want to build my first 6.5Grendel upper, so am considering the AA lightweight 16" bbl upper (http://www.shopalexanderarms.com/Uppers-6_5_Grendel_Incursion_Complete_Upper_Assembly.html).
4. Subjective Recoil?
I assume it is less than a .243Win from a bolt gun, assuming same rifle weight. My wife can manage .243Win recoil and still put the bullet where it needs to go.
BACKGROUND
Wife is 5' nothing, 100lbs if you stuff rocks in her pockets. She can shoot a Ruger American Compact in .243Win (6lbs, 18"bbl, 37" OAL, 12.5" LOP) when she uses a PAST recoil shield. Problem is, she is heavily left eye dominant, so shoots lefty...and that rifle only comes righty. So follow-up shots are a slow prospect, even without a shooting sling. Lefty bolt guns with 12.5LOP and 6lbs or less in .243Win-ish chamberings are limited to the Browning X-bolt Micro-Midas ($800-ish). Or a custom job (very expensive).
About the only centerfire rifle that fits my daughter (10YO, tiny for age) is an AR15 with 6-position collapsible stock, collapsed all the way. She can use that with a red dot and get on target. Daughter still too small for a compact short action bolt gun with a 12.5" LOP. Daughter can shoot a Crickett all day long.
AR15 is darned lefty-friendly, so wife will be able to shoot it easily, make a follow up shot quickly enough to count, use a proper shooting sling. It can be built at 6lbs or less (before optics) & 37" or less OAL (with 16" bbl). I own several AR15 lowers, so I have my eyeball on the Alexander Arms 16" lightweight upper (http://www.shopalexanderarms.com/Uppers-6_5_Grendel_Incursion_Complete_Upper_Assembly.html at $685). AA makes a basic lightweight rifle with that upper that comes in at 5.9lbs.
======================================================
[FTR, the Ruger American Compact is a whole lot of rifle for the money. My wife's is accurate with most of the 8 or so factory loads I tested. (The Federal factory load with the 100gr Nosler Partition was not the most accurate, but it was good and had the Partition.) Main downside of the Ruger Am Compact is the noodly forearm. It is not stiff enough and can cause flyers. The bbl is free float--until you rest the forearm on a sandbag out toward hte end or use a shooting sling. My son also shoots it well and I intend it to be his gun. I will stiffen up the forearm with carbon fiber shafts and epoxy or bedding compound. And slap on a couple picatinny rails to mount gun lights for hunting hogs at night. Of course, I am partial to Mauser actions and shoot a CZ550 my own self, but that Ruger American showed me inexpensive rifles can shoot.]
