Thoughts on the 6.5 Grendel

I am considering doing my first AR build. I was thinking of buying a Palmetto State PA10 (complete upper and a complete lower) but they are always out of stock. So a buddy of my has talked me into just building one and he said that his next build will be a 6.5 Grendel. He seems to really like this round.
I know nothing about this caliber, so I did some "YOUTUBE RESEARCH" and it seems to be a pretty decent round.

I am looking to hunt deer and Hogs with it and let my daughters shoot it as well. I do not currently have an AR-15 platform, so I would be starting from scratch.

So to those that have them or shot them, what are your thoughts? Are they a good "all around" gun? (Deer/Hogs/coyotes/paper) From what I have seen in my limited research so far is that this would make a good accurate rifle even at long distances.

And for those that have built one, can you point me to places to look at parts? I've looked at Palmetto,Aero, Odin works and Sanders ... are those decent places to look?

Thank you in advance for any guidance here.

6.5 Grendel is a great, low recoil round that's effective for hunting at short to medium ranges with relatively cheap match grade ammunition. Excellent round.

I think the Larue upper builder's kit is hands down the best buy on the market right now. You can get one unassembled for about $800, and all you need other than that is a stripped lower receiver. some of the small details are already done, like setting the gas block and getting the gas key staked, etc. it makes assembling it properly a no-brainer. I've had one, excellent gun.

the .264 bullet is phenomenal and the Grendel will def. do its jobs for most of Texas hunting conditions. Might want to look into the performance of PSA before leaning that direction. They are budget friendly but budget friendly for a reason

the Grendel has become my favorite round for the hunting I do with a rifle mostly deer, hogs and coyotes. If just after yotes I usually have the 17 Remington but the Grendel has worked for them nicely.

Look at some of Double Naught Spy posts in the hog hunting forum here for its effectiveness on hogs.

Can’t go wrong with the Grendel. My only complaint is that Hornady discontinued their AMax round for it. Their Black is good as well as the American Eagle round, mine just liked the AMax a little better.

P_102

This is a few years old but sums up the Grendel pretty well

http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/5700119/1

Seriously considering a Grendel myself. Also want a 300 BO...

If you get the Grendel first, you may very well forget about the Blackout.

Ran my Larue Tactical 6.5G at the Hunters Challenge and it performed extremely well. You will be very pleased in the LT offering. I was using Hornady Black 123 Gr. ELD in my rifle.

Agreed....

Grendel is an outstanding cartridge for AR-15 in a regular 16-20" rifle.

Also very practical in an SBR or pistol, with a 10-12"ish barrel. Just as good if not better than 300blk as a short range hunting tool. Range fodder is cheap cheap if you're the type that likes to go blasting (or go to a carbine training class.)

I'm thinking about ditching one of my .223 uppers and getting a 6.5 Grendel. I was initially reluctant to do so, because of the cost of plinking ammo. That has become a moot point over the past couple of years.

I believe it. My 30 cal can just got put in jail which has me peaking around at the blackout. I've wanted the grendel quite a bit longer tho.

Everything that I've read about the grendel sounds awesome. I've already been bit by the 6.5 bug and want to keep going with it. I've even been thinking about getting into reloading and sharing the 123 gr between the CM and the Grendel.

It's an awesome round.

That said, since this is your first AR, I recommend you go with a .223 unless you have no other hunting rifles. Grendel ammo is significantly more expensive than .223 and you're going to want to practice a lot with it. You can always get a 6.5G upper (which will eventually become it's own rifle ) later.

cheap Wolf ammo

Yeah.... wolf ammo for practicing is a whole lot more expensive than .223, at a whopping $6 per box.

You don't have to be such a jerk about it; a simple "here's one box that isn't so expensive" would suffice. So you found one type of cheap ammo. I was speaking in general and their .223 ammo is still way cheaper. All the ammo I've looked at in the past has been way more expensive.

Outstanding all around Texas hunting round. It’s my go to for deer, these days. It’s also pretty fun on the range.

Wow..thank you all for your response to this!!
I am still in the "research phase" on this round..but y'all are making it easy to determine that my next gun will be the 6.5 Grendel.
To answer some questions listed above.. My primary hunting rifles now are a Howa .243 with a Blackhawk tactical stock and a Saka Finn Bear 30-06. I am from Nebraska but head to the Great State of Texas to hunt hogs twice a year. So my primary game is big ole Texas hogs and big ole Nebraska bucks. So from the responses above...the Grendel will be a great addition (especially for my daughter s to shoot)

I really have no need for a .223. I do not feel they are a big enough round to hunt deer up here (heck my .243 doesn't do the job some times shooting Hornady SST 95 Gr ) in fact this year at HUNTERS CREEK RANCH I shot a 196lb sow and didn't get a pass through at 80yds with it.
So my thinking (and it is slightly clouded with Wild Turkey American Honey ) is that I start from scratch. But I don't have the lgunsmith tools I've seen on YouTube to do some of these builds.
So what would those of you that have done these types of builds do in this scenario? Buy complete a lower and a complete upper and join them and be done..OR... Buy the small amount of tools needed and start from scratch?
I really like the look of one of the Odin works free float fore grips.
What length barrel do y'all recommend for a Grendel? I was thinking 20".

Does any one have a build list that they would recommend !???
Thank you again for everyone's assistance on this. I can't wait to get started!!

This is all you need, 18" barrel. Once you buy the UU kit then you can get their stripped receiver. Add your scope and ammo and head to the range.

Larue UU Kit

My rig with the LT M-308 suppressor and Leupold MK5 HD scope in an LT-104 scope mount.

And you ran it very well! Has me thinking about building one in addition to my 6.8's.

Love my 6.5 G. Works on pigs, deer, and coyotes. Of course your does are bigger than our bucks but I don't think it will be any problem.

I like the look of that scope!

35mm tube, 44mm objective, great glass. Downside is mount options are limited and expensive.

18 inch barrel will be all you need for your AR65. The grendel is a perfect hunting caliber for the AR platform. Especially as a hog killer. Definitely stay away from 223 it is useless in Texas except for target shooting in my opinion.

In Texas the AR is a real "hunting gun" so you definitely have to have one.

I would recommend to buy a complete upper. They seem to be fairly cheap for a Grendel and then build your lower. You cant really screw anything up building a lower but you can screw up the upper with accuracy or other issues.

good luck!!

I see great deals all the time in the classifieds here and on other sites.

Sent you a PM

20" Odin Works with an 18" Midwest Industries handguard, I am about to swap the optic to a 4.5-14 MTAC.

Thank you everyone for all the information. I am really looking forward to this project. I found a pretty nice looking "Complete Upper" at Grendel Hunter that I like.
Does any one have any info on this upper? I was looking at the 18" Fluted Stainless barrel with a 15" MLOC handguard.
Was considering getting the Velocity 4lb trigger as well but may look around for something different. Is Velocity Triggers a decent trigger?

Thanks again for all the guidance on this! I really appreciate it!

I went somewhat the same route. I bought a Grendel upper and swapped it out on my carbine. I liked it so much that I built a dedicated lower. I did a few tweaks out of personal preference.

1. CMC trigger. I really like the feel of their triggers, especially the 3.5lb flat trigger.
2. Adjustable gas block. I like to be able to tune the gas system to the round I am shooting.
3. Rifle length buffer tube and stock. I feel I get a more consistent cheek weld on a scoped rifle than I do with an adjustable carbine style stock.

I'm not going to blow smoke up your a$$ but I do a ton of research on anything I am considering to build or buy. From my findings, short answer is DO IT! I was thinking of a grendel bolt action but once again after reading and talking with several gun dealers and owners if you buy a gendalel bolt action you should have built a creedmore bolt action. The grendel was designed to be a long range sporting rifle and that is exactly what it is. You get great performance (long range) from the sporting platform without sacrificing your comfort while doing so.

What a beaut!! I had read that 20" was the sweet spot for this round? It the 18" performing well?

Bill Alexander wrote the 18 inch barrel is probably the best length for the Grendel as a hunting cartridge.

I love my 6.5G. 18" underground tactical barrel. It my 90% hunting gun...