25The Small Arms Review - Vol. 8 No. 6 - March, 2005
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While the .223 Remington has proven
to be capable of excellent accuracy, many
have long wished for a cartridge throwing
a larger diameter and heavier bullet. NRA
High Power competitors, impressed by the
accuracy and ergonomics of the basic AR
design wished for a cartridge with less wind
drift for 600 yard competition. The 6.5mm
Grendel was designed to meet both of these
needs. While similar in size to a common
7.62x39mm round, the use of highly effi-
cient projectiles with very high Ballistic
Coefficients provide the Grendel with sur-
prising long range performance.
The concept of re-chambering the AR
for a larger caliber is hardly new. The
6x45mm Wildcat was an early attempt to
add performance to the AR in the days be-
fore heavy .224 diameter projectiles were
available. J.D. Jones has also done exten-
sive work in this area. The biggest push
probably came from competitive shooters
looking for added performance to improve
their scores. NRA High Power shooters
looking to decrease the amount of wind
deflection they had to fight with on the 600
yard line led to AR Match rifles being built
in a variety of calibers. These included .22
PPC, 6mm PPC, and Derick Martin actu-
ally built one in the fat 6mm Benchrest.
Something a little more interesting was a
6.5mm wildcat built by Mike Bykowski on
a .30 Remington case. This would be con-
sidered a forerunner to Remington’s new
6.8x43 SPC. Unfortu-
nately, rifles in all these
calibers were only built
in very limited numbers
by individual gun-
smiths. None went into
full production. Addi-
tionally, while car-
tridges like the .22 PPC
and 6mm PPC offered
certain advantages in
competition, they of-
fered little over the .223
Remington for practical
field use.
The main stum-
bling block when work-
ing with the AR-15 de-
sign is the confines of
its magazine well. This
dictates the maximum overall length of the
cartridge as well as its maximum diameter.
As Alexander Arms first began working on
the concept, they ran into the problem of
what to use for a base cartridge. As they
examined their options, one case that
seemed to hold the most promise was the
At the 2004 SHOT Show, Alexander Arms, LLC officially unveiled an interesting new intermediate
cartridge specifically intended for use in the AR-15. Dubbed the 6.5mm Grendel, it is intended to improve
the ballistics and terminal performance of this popular rifle.
Lead photo, above: A current production 24-inch 6.5mm
Grendel rifle from Alexander Arms with 17-round magazine.
Right: The 6.5mm Grendel (center), here compared to a .308
(left) and .223 (right), adds performance to the AR-15 family
without the bulk and weight of an AR-10.
26 The Small Arms Review - Vol. 8 No. 6 - March, 2005
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6mm PPC. This incredibly successful
Benchrest cartridge was designed by Dr.
Lou Palmisano and Ferris Pindell in 1975
and is the benchmark by which all other car-
tridges are measured in terms of accuracy
and it just happened to mate well with the
parts they had on hand. Plus, they felt that
this was the largest diameter case that would
double stack and feed reliably through a
magazine within their size limitations.
Cases of larger diameter begin to bind, caus-
ing reliability problems.
While the 6mm PPC case seemed like
a logical choice dimensionally, they felt the
terminal performance would be enhanced
by increasing the base area of the projec-
tile. They considered .25 caliber but quickly
moved on to 6.5mm (.264) and 7mm (.284).
Both of these calibers offer a diverse range
of very aerodynamically capable projectiles
in various weights with extremely high Bal-
listic Coefficients (BC’s). This feature was
important to them as their concept was not
to go crazy chasing velocity, but rather to
use extremely efficient projectiles. Such
projectiles would lose less precious veloc-
ity due to their BC’s being so high. While
they considered the 6mm PPC necked up
to take 7mm projectiles, they ate too deeply
into case capacity. Another problem en-
countered was that the bullet weights were
simply disproportionate to available case
capacity. In the end the physical dimen-
sions of the rifle constrained them to utilize
a 6mm PPC case slightly modified and
necked up to 6.5mm.
To test the concept, a rifle was built
using a 24-inch stainless steel 6.5mm Lothar
Walther Match barrel. This featured 6
groove rifling with a 1:9 inch RH twist and
an 11 degree Match crown. The barrel was
free-floated via a synthetic handguard pi-
rated from an AR-10. The rifle’s feed ramp
was modified, the height of the ejection port
was raised slightly, and a 7.62x39mm bolt
head was substituted. Then some USA
brand 7.62x39mm magazines were modi-
fied and the rifle was put to work. Not only
did it work, but it worked quite well. I had
a chance to compete with this prototype
using preproduction ammunition in a 200/
300 yard any rifle/any sight prone Match
late in 2003. Shooting unsupported prone
with a sling, the rifle posted a 599-33X out
of a possible 600-60X. This score was shot
using a load driving a 120-grain Nosler
Ballistic Tip at 2,564 fps.
Impressed by the potential of the con-
cept, Alexander Arms continued to refine
the cartridge. Then, Lapua of Finland was
brought on board to finalize case design and
to produce cartridge cases. This was a rela-
tively simple process considering Lapua’s
familiarity with the .220 Russian, .22 PPC
and 6mm PPC cases. The parent case of all
of these is the Russian 5.6x39mm, which
was used with great success by Russian
teams in International Running Deer com-
petitions. Finnish shooters also experi-
mented with this cartridge and Lapua and
Sako both produced brass case ammunition.
The .220 Russian was developed from this,
which led to the PPC and now the Grendel.
I spoke to Janne Pohjoispaa, an R&D engi-
Above: To increase downrange performance, the 6.5mm Grendel was designed
to use projectiles with high BCs. (L to R) Lapua 144 and 123, Hornady 129
SST, Nosler 120 Ballistic Tip, Speer 90-grain TNT.
Left: In the last few years a number
of new cartridges have been intro-
duced to enhance the versatility of
the AR. (L to R) 5.56, 6.5mm
Grendel, 6.8x43 SPC, .458 SOCOM,
.50 Beowulf.
27The Small Arms Review - Vol. 8 No. 6 - March, 2005
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neer for Nammo Lapua, and he stated
bluntly, “there is no long way from .220
Russian to 6.5mm Grendel.” Basically, the
prototype 6.5mm PPC based case had the
shoulder moved forward slightly to increase
case capacity and the neck was thickened
to improve case life for reloaders.
The finalized cartridge has a .441 inch
diameter casehead (like a 7.62x39mm) and
an overall length of 1.524 inches (38.7mm).
As it is intended for use in a self-loading
rifle it features a .059 inch thick rim. This
is significantly thicker than the .043 inch
rim utilized on 5.56mm ammunition. Shoul-
der angle is 30 degrees and a small rifle
primer is utilized in conjunction with a small
.061-inch flash hole. Overall length for
rounds fitting into an AR magazine runs
from 2.20-2.270 inches depending upon
projectile.
The result is a handsome little cartridge
which fits neatly into the confines dictated
by the AR-15’s magazine well. However,
due to its diminutive size one would expect
this round to be a purely short range num-
ber, perhaps useful to 300-400 yards. Such
is not the case. While initial velocity is not
particularly high (2,650 fps with the fac-
tory 123-grain Lapua load) the case was
specifically designed to allow use of pro-
jectiles with extremely high Ballistic Coef-
ficients. This makes the cartridge extremely
efficient, and performance at extended dis-
tances is substantially better than one would
expect.
It is the potential of this cartridge that
is most interesting. Production ammunition
loaded with a 6.5mm Lapua Scenar clocked
2,680 fps from my review rifle. This, mated
to the Lapua’s BC of .542, gives impres-
sive performance in such a compact pack-
age. As an example, at 500 yards, the Lapua
still has over 1,000 ft-lbs of energy and it
has more energy at 1,000 yards than a 77-
grain Sierra MatchKing driven at 2,750 fps
from a 5.56 has at 500 yards. Better still, it
has a flatter trajectory and less wind drift
than a .308 175-grain MatchKing driven at
2,650 fps, all the way out to 1,000 yards.
Neither is accuracy lacking. A production
Grendel rifle was shot in front of USMC
personnel at Quantico. From a machine rest,
it placed 10 rounds of this load into a group
2 inches high by 3 inches wide at 350 yards
and 10 inches high by 12 inches wide at
1,000 yards.
Currently Alexander Arms offers four
loads in this caliber:
90 grain Speer TNT at 2,978 fps
120 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip at 2,620 fps
123 grain Lapua Scenar at 2,650 fps
129 grain Hornady SST at 2,520 fps
Along with ammunition, Alexander
Arms offers rifles with 24 inch and 18.5 inch
barrels. Models are offered with two rifling
twist options to best suit individual needs.
A 1:8 inch twist is offered which is designed
specifically for use from 600-1,000 yards.
This rate of twist has been found to reduce
group size at extended distances. Unfortu-
nately, group size suffers slightly at shorter
distances. So for the vast majority of shoot-
ers a 1:9 inch twist is recommended. This
is optimized for use from 100 to 600 yards.
It will be interesting to see what the
future holds for the Grendel. I have been
told that Lapua will be offering loaded am-
munition in the near future and that Norma
will be introducing cartridge cases. It is also
interesting to note that the US military has
recently taken note of the Grendel and is
examining it. A well thought out cartridge,
it adds even more versatility to the AR-15
family.
Sources
Alexander Arms LLC
US Army Radford Arsenal
P.O. Box 1
Radford, VA 24143
(540) 639-8356
Accuracy of the
Grendel is very good
as this 5 shot 100
yard group attests.
Right: While designed for different purposes, both the 6.8x43mm Rem SPC, L,
and the 6.5mm Grendel offer a significant performance advantage over the .223
Remington.