6.5 Grendel

23 Aug 08

On the 6.5 Grendel rifle cartridge, from an instructor and small-arms design engineer:

"In testing the 6.5 Grendel round though the existing AR-15 platform, we've discovered that the two don't mix! I wrecked our test copy within just a few hundred rounds, disintegrating the two locking-lugs on either side of the extractor, and this was all with the manufacturer's recommended ammunition. The 6.5 Grendel is just too much for the AR!

When you open-up the AR's bolt-face in order to accept the 7.62x39 case-head, the process weakens already delicate locking lugs to the point of impotence. I know you, and most others, have also had poor experience with AR-15s chambered for 30/Soviet (7.62X39). It's the same problem!

Ballistically, the 6.5 Grendel is an impressive round, to be sure. It will probably run fine in an XCR or some other, more robust, rifle. However, with the existing AR-15 platform, the biggest thing we're going to be able to shove through it is the 6.8/SPC, and even that cartridge pushes the System's limits."

Comment: The entire Stoner Rifle was designed around the 223 cartridge, and that is the one with which it runs best. AR-15s in any other caliber are fraught with problems, as we see, and are thus not recommended!

/John