I've been a fan of the Grendel since before AA released his trademark on it. I have a Shilen barrelled AA 24" upper, plus had a Remington imported Zastava mini mausers 7.62x39s rebarreled with a #1 contour Shilen. I live in Alabama, and it's a perfect cartidge for 99% of the deer and hog hunting in this state. 28.0 TAC and 26.0 H4895 behind 120-123gr bullets are my favorite loads . There's a video from 2013 of me cutting a playing card in half from 100 yardswith the 24" AR on my channel. Thanks for showing the great round some love. 👍
To be honest I thought that this video would do better, I know there are a lot of folks that like this cartridge myself included. It is a great practical little cartridge especially for youth and eastern style hunting. These Howa rifles make for an outstanding combination as well. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and experience with the cartridge and taking the time to watch and comment! --Jeremiah
My best loads in my Howa Mini in 6.5 Grendel are with H335 and Tac. 120 ELD-M, 123 SST, 120 Nos. BT, and the 95gr Vmax all love those powders and group under .5" Like you said, it's a perfect Eastern Whitetail rifle. Thanks for the detailed overview, for those who have yet to experience what the grendel has to offer.
Thank you very much for the kind words and taking the time to share your thoughts and experience with the cartridge I thought this would be a much more popular video to be honest and I am surprised it has not gained more traction. Hopefully this video will catch on and increase others interest in the cartridge itself. It is also ideal for Handloaders as you can load to higher pressures in a bolt gun compared to an AR-15 and that could be another video on the subject itself. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
I loved my Grendel and kick myself for selling in on the bright side now I can build a new one! I got a nice walnut stocks from boyds and added the hinged floor plate.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment! We probably won't cover the Grendel again for a little while unless some other super interesting rifle pops up or we get enough requests for it. Definitely a good cartridge though that is perhaps a little under appreciated. --Jeremiah
Thank you very much I'm glad you enjoyed the presentation we are all about informing others and showcasing the results exactly as we get them in an easy to watch package. The feedback is greatly appreciated! --Jeremiah
Well done video and test. I purchased a Howa Super Lite in 6.5 CR last November and have been amazed at the accuracy of such a light rifle. My initial groups with Hornady Whitetail, 129 gr, were right at 1" and am just now working up some handloads to test. My first Howa is a winner.
It is very impressive what these rifles are capable of in terms of precision, especially for a factory rifle! Thank you very much for sharing your experience with us and everyone in the comments! --Jeremiah
Thank you very much for the kind words and the feedback we greatly appreciate it! We too were impressed with the overall performance of the rifle and the handloads assembled with it! Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!! --Jeremiah
I have one of the first Howa Mini action rifles in 6.5 Grendel non-threaded steel barrel . Just like you described it weighs no more than a pellet rifle! Nice platform now just have to finally get a decent load.
That's awesome, they are really neat rifles and if they are all this accurate with a good load it's an amazing value. I love these lightweight rifles for Backcountry hunting and work on horseback. Thanks for watching! --Jeremiah
You are very welcome! Thank you for taking the time to watch and comment, the 6.5 Grendel does have some merit with a bolt gun especially if more folks release data specific to the bolt gun where you are able to safely increase pressure just like with 6mm ARC and 22 ARC. --Jeremiah
I have heard a lot of good things about TAC in the Grendel I know we have used it a lot in the magazine as well. Thanks for sharing and taking the time to watch! --Jeremiah
I gave up on my 30? Year old Oehler 35 chronograph. I switched to the Garmin Xero chronograph. The Oehler is fussy. The wind really makes it difficult. The sun has to be just right. The Garmin Xero chronograph works every time. No missed shots. It even works at night.
I'll let you in on a secret... There is and has been a Garmin chronograph recording velocity behind the scenes for the past few videos we've filmed it's an awesome unit and seems to be very accurate. A full review is coming soon! Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
I just finished putting a Howa mini together. Bought a barreled action and put it in a Bell & Carlson stock in 6mm arc. I also added bottom metal to replace the factory plastic. Can't wait to hit the range to see what it can do.
Thank you both for watching we greatly appreciate you sharing your experience and taking the time to comment. Best of luck to you both in your adventures! --Jeremiah
Email Howa or Legacy Sports and let them know I want one as well very badly and I think that cartridge would be a perfect fit for this rifle! If enough of us ask maybe they'll make it! Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
That sounds like a great load thank you for sharing I may have to try that out for myself, I think I have some 120 grain Speer Gold Dots and I know I have that powder! --Jeremiah
Finally got the razor lht J for my waypoint. That’d be a good LW option for one as light as this. Figured my pressure spikes out..wasn’t gettin chamber/barrel dried or moped out good after Buddie talked me into a hard scrub and I used alotta hoppes which I thought I’d cleaned up but noticed it seepin around the brake seam after 6-7rds 6.5prc loaded hot. Lucky I didnt loose an eye or 2. Gonna get mlok weights to use when not packin in eastern ky coal fields or in my case steep mountains. lol always a pleasure brother..👊🏻Matt
I have been dying to get my hands on one of those waypoint rifles. Appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment and share your experience that's what the comments section is all about. Folks can come here and learn from others! --Jeremiah
@@HandloaderTV amen..absolutely! Im at 570 hot rds on this bsf 24” carbon barrel and be takin a look with a bore scope soon to see what’s happened so far…50rds over 3600fps. Keep a log of every single shot..thank you for doin what you do for us to learn
Good video 👍 The second that bolt locked up I knew what exactly what it was. Suppressors have their place, but at the range with super sonic, it just makes guns incredibly dirty. Never got my best accuracy with them. Though it is cool to shoot the 50 and 338 Lapua without hearing protection on steel targets, I quit using them years ago with super sonic because of the same issue you just had and also the carbon that blows back through continuous shooting dramatically decreases barrel life.
That is very true suppressors do make guns very very dirty and if they are not cleaned often enough they certainly can reduce the barrel life and cause premature erosion of the throat. However, if you clean often enough with the suppressor this is a non-issue. There are some newer designs that are flow through and greatly help reduce such issues as well but it is important to note. Thankfully the HOWA bolt is easy to disassemble and made for an easy fix! Thank you very much for watching and sharing your thoughts and experience. --Jeremiah
I like the Grendel, I have an AR in that caliber and prefer it to the 5.56. That being said I bought a Howa 1500 Hera H7 last year in 6.5 Creedmoor. Out of the box it shot to 1/2" with 5 rounds at 100 yards with my 130gr handloads. With a little load development and if I do my part it will put those same 5 rounds into a best of .330" all day. On a calm day my best is 1moa at 300 yards testifying to Howa quality and build. Not bad for a chassis rifle at 700 bucks.
I am glad to hear that we are not alone in our accuracy testing of these Howa rifles. They seem to be very accurate and for the price they are very hard to beat! Thanks for watching and sharing your experience with everyone! --Jeremiah
I love mine. I don't have the carbon fiber barrel, but it's still very consistent. Too bad you didn't try out some Accubond LR's as that's what mine really likes. I also have a 6.5 grendel Scout Pistol and an AR with a 20" barrel. I'm loading some 100 gr. ELD-M's for varmints and it's a nice load out of the pistol. ;) I may just have to get one more and buy the Elevate.
We were super impressed with this for a factory rifle it performed very well. We also appreciate you sharing your experience and what your rifle likes here in the comments. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
Glad to hear others are having the same experiences we are we only test one rifle so you always wonder if they're all like this. Thanks for watching!! --Jeremiah
Indeed we get asked quite frequently, it's a Konig Jager Super Bench, sadly the company is out is business now and these benches are hard to find. Great question though, thanks for watching! --Jeremiah
Quick question - have you looked at the most recent bolt gun data recently released by Sierra? It appears you can load slightly hotter in bolt. I confirmed some other Sierra bullets specifically the #1720 with seating depths etc. Have yet to test though. Enjoyed the video - love my Howa 6.5!
Hi yes you absolutely can load the bolt action to higher pressures than an AR-15, it won't surprise me if we see both bolt gun and gas gun data like with 6mm ARC and 22 ARC. Both of those cases are based off the Grendel case. The main reason why pressure is low is to prevent bolt breakage in the AR-15 and similar rifles. I did some experimenting off camera and worked up loads at much higher pressure and velocity levels with no adverse effects in this rifle. However I don't recommend doing so without proper pressure testing equipment. Great question thank you for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
I teally want to try one of the new carbon howa rifles. But was hesitant waiting to se gow they shoot. But i guess the wait is over. I would really like them to make a long action variant like in 270 or even 280 ai. Would be nice.
Granted this is only a sample size of one but so far we are very very impressed with the performance of this rifle and cartridge combination! It seems that others in the comments are equally pleased. A 280 AI would be something I would be extremely interested in! That is my go to Deer cartridge here in Arizona and running a light rifle sounds way better than my current 9 lb rifle. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
Yes I love the 280 ai. I hunt in the north east. But as far as a deer round it's almost perfect. I think. A good 160 about 2900 or so. And bang flop. End of story.
I do have plans to cover it at some point, I have the dies and some brass and ammunition but to be honest with you acquiring a rifle has been a bit challenging in addition to finding the time. It seems like it's very popular with western hunters and that is about it so perhaps working up some hunting loads for it would be worthwhile it does seem like a hot topic in hunting circles. Thanks for the suggestion and the continued support as always! --Jeremiah
@@bustabass9025 Thank you for the kind words, I believe as your comments are in every video we appreciate that and it means a lot to us and to me personally as well. I thoroughly enjoy getting to help others out. I'll see what I can do about getting a 6.8 Western to put to the test. --Jeremaih
I don't think we showed a load containing 33 grains of powder so I'm not exactly sure what powder or cartridge you are referring to. You should always cross reference data though and ensure your load in not above maximum pressure or velocity. We have a Handloading 101 video I would encourage you to check that out if you want to learn more about reloading. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
Great question we get asked that a lot, it's a Konig Jager Super Bench. Sadly they are out of business and are pretty tough to find these days. Thanks for watching! --Jeremiah
I’ve heard mixed reports regarding barrel quality and accuracy. It would be nice to know what averages were, and how difficult it was to work up good loads in this rifle.
It was extremely easy to develop loads, essentially what we do is shoot 5 different charge weights using the same bullet and powder from minimum or close to minimum to maximum. We'll test a minimum of 25 loads to a maximum of 40 loads for video testing. It depends on weather conditions and how much time we have. This is done to keep the comparison from rifle to rifle as fair as possible and make all of our videos directly comparable. This particular rifle averaged under 1 MOA across all the loads tested. I do not remember the exact number of the top of my head but it was very good. Based on what others have said seems to back up our results. But with that said this is just a sample size of 1 for what we did and we could have got a barrel that just shoots well. Great question perhaps we should do a series on load development and different methods in addition to the one we do. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
@@HandloaderTV PRN and Ultimate Reloader did series on accurized set ups of the howa, and both ended up shooting an enormous variety of loads with poor results, finally deciding to rebarrel. I loaded for a 1500 in 30/06, not considered a match caliber, but could never do better than 1.5 inches, with most closer to 1.7. Other rifles in the same calber, Tikka, Beretta (Mato), Remington, shot under .5 inch, most with less rounds than the Howa. It is only this that kept me from buying exactly the great package theyre offering here. -Though I think i would opt for the 6ARC.
I couldn't agree more I would get one of those in a heartbeat!! I think it's an ideal rifle and cartridge combo. Email legacy and let them know there's been a few folks asking for it. We can make it happen if we're loud enough! Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah
Thank you very much for the kind words and taking the time to watch and comment! I am really liking this scope for the money it performs very well. --Jeremiah
If we're being honest even a 2 moa rifle is capable of shooting a sub moa group here and there. Must rifle makers accuracy guarantee is just marketing hype. This particular rifle is amazingly accurate though for sure! Thanks for watching!! --Jeremiah
That is very impressive I am glad to hear that others are having similar results and experiences with these rifles. Thanks for letting everyone know! --Jeremiah
It really depends on what I'm doing but generally speaking I would take the Creedmoor but it requires a longer action, more powder and generally speaking isn't as accurate with the lighter bullets that the Grendel was designed around. I would say Varmint and small game Grendel. Big game and versatility the Creedmoor if I had to choose between the two. Thanks for watching and great question! --Jeremiah
I have one and not really impressed at all. I have three AR Grendel's that will outshoot this Howa. Very disappointed with it. Might rebarrel to 6 ARC .
We appreciate you sharing your experience with us I am sure if it was really bad HOWA would make it right they do have an accuracy guarantee, with all their rifles. Personally speaking, I would highly recommend the 6mm ARC in one of these rifles I think overall it's a more versatile cartridge. Thank you for sharing though and taking the time to watch and comment! We show the results as we get them but it is still only a sample size of one ideally if we had all the time in the world we would test multiple of the same rifle, sadly we can't and that is why these comments are so important they help educate others and let others see what kind of experiences they are having so thank you for contributing to that! --Jeremiah
For the performance you are getting the price is really hard to beat, they seem to shoot exceptionally well! Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! --Jeremiah