[Stinky Coyote]

Originally Posted by Roamer

Hey Stinky Coyote

I am very familiar with the 6.5 Grendel, a friend of mine has two, one is a SLR and the other a Howa Mini. I do see the appeal, but I own 3 6.5 creedmoors (who needs variety). One of which is a Ruger American predator that I am going to shorten the barrel down to 18.25, I won’t miss the threads I won’t use. If, as you and I both hope, we can one day run suppressors, I’ll have it threaded again.

I agree that Grendel is an efficient little cartridge, but there in lies the problem, it’s a little cartridge. It can’t do anything my 6.5 creeds downloaded won’t do, but can never match the potential of a full creed load. That is why I won’t be getting a Grendel, I handload and can make my creeds behave like a Grendel if I want to, can’t go the other way though.

Where the Grendel makes the absolute most sense to me is in the SLR or other AR15 pattern rifles. It is at home best in rifles made to fire 223 and makes them a viable big game hunting rifle. If Ruger made the mini 14 in 6.5 grendel I’d be looking to get my hands on one! But a rifle that has a full sized short action (sounds like an oxymoron, lol) is better off being chambered in a full short action cartridge. The Howa mini isn’t that much smaller than a regular short action, not enough for me to accept the losses that come with the chamberings (intermediate cartridges).

Now, down the rabbit hole we go.... why buy a creed when the PRC can be downloaded to creed levels but the creed not able to achieve PRC levels.... I know I know. And again, I do not believe the 6.5 creedmoor is the greatest cartridge ever, there are in fact countless better ones. I just feel it is an excellent balance of powder consumption, recoil, ability to take big game, barrel life, resistance to wind drift and availability. There are many better cartridges at any one, sometimes even multiple, of those criteria, but better at all of them, that’s a short list.

I’m not bashing the Grendel, just sharing my opinion.

Happy hunting

The rabbit holes are endless. Hear you. The creed, and the prc are over achievers, well any 6.5 is, and always have been. We just understand why now. Those long heavy for cal bullets with high bc's and or high sd's. For this thread though, and the needs of most for big game to 300 where 98% of stuff dies under that distance, and considering that few can likely even hold 1.5 moa in field conditions...taking you to maybe 5-600 max if you're set up well and practiced. Well...that's where the efficiency kicks in. Why burn more powder? The creed can smash deer 800+ and guys using the prc to 1200 etc. But for all the asks of a 'do all'...in my list is plinking, light recoil, barrel life king, defense carbine, killing coyotes and deer as far as my field accuracy will allow, killing occasional elk/moose to normal hunting distances, anyone in the family can shoot it well. The 6.5 G is the versatility king and swiss army knife of the cartridges avail. The creed is more like a leatherman, still pretty versatile but has some short comings in several areas...little too much gun.