Hornady 6.5 Grendel Brass — Whitley Reports
Robert Whitley of AR-X Enterprises, LLC builds match-grade uppers for AR-platform rifles. Many of Robert’s favorite chamberings are based on the 6.5 Grendel case necked-down to 6mm. Until 2011, Lapua was the only source for 6.5 Grendel brass. As you’d expect, Lapua’s Grendel brass is truly excellent, but it is also pricey, and sometimes hard to find. Now Hornady is producing USA-made 6.5 Grendel brass. Robert Whitley has worked with the Hornady 6.5 Grendel brass for over a year now and he is able to assess its performance compared to the original Lapua version. Writing in our Shooters’ Forum, Robert reveals: “It’s decent brass but hot loads will loosen the primer pockets fast. With moderate loads you will get good case life and service from the brass and it can deliver excellent accuracy as well. Not Lapua but not bad either.”
Robert reports: “I was able to get my hands on some of Hornady’s 6.5 Grendel brass. My big question was how it would measure up, particularly the loaded necks, and whether it would be compatible with our existing 6mmAR and Turbo 40 die sets. As it turns out, this brass looks like a perfect fit for our existing die sets (and obviously 6.5 Grendel die sets too). Accordingly, folks with existing die sets will be able to use the Hornady brass without any issues.” However, as the loaded neck on the Hornady brass is .001″ (one-thousandth) slimmer than Lapua brass, you may want to try a smaller bushing when sizing Hornady Grendel brass.
The Hornady 6.5 Grendel brass has a LARGE Flash Hole, about .078″ versus .0591″ for Lapua brass. Dimensionally, the biggest difference is the shoulder diameter, with the Hornady brass measuring 0.428″ vs. 0.424″ for the Lapua brass. The Hornady is actually a better fit for 6mmAR chambers which are about 0.432″ at the shoulder. Interestingly, case H20 capacity is virtually identical. Water capacity of new, unfired Hornady 6.5 Grendel brass is 35.1 grains, while new, unfired Lapua Grendel brass holds 35.0 grains of H20. Both brands of Grendel brass increase to about 36.0 grains H20 capacity after firing and full-length sizing.
Here are some of the particulars of the Hornady cases:
| Hornady 6.5 Grendel Brass | Lapua 6.5 Grendel Brass |
| Flash hole diameter: ~ .078″ OAL of brass: Average 1.515″ Weight of cases: 111.7 to 113.0 grains Web diameter, unfired: 0.4375″ Shoulder diameter, unfired: 0.428″ Loaded neck diameter: 0.2895″ 6mmAR loaded neck: 0.270″ |
Flash hole diameter: 1.5mm (0.0591″) OAL of brass: Average 1.515″ Weight of cases: 111.0 to 112.5 grains Web diameter, unfired: 0.4385″ Shoulder diameter, unfired: 0.424″ Loaded neck diameter: 0.290″ 6mmAR loaded neck: 0.271″ |
Similar Posts:
- Robert Whitley Reviews Hornady-made 6.5 Grendel Brass
- Product Review: Hornady 6.5 Grendel Brass
- Whitley's NEW 6mmAR "Turbo" — 105s at 2850+ fps in AR15
- Grendel-based 6mmAR Cartridge for High Power
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Tags: 6.5, 6.5 Grendel, 6mmAR, Brass, Cartridge, Grendel, Hornady, Primer Pocket
It’ll be interesting to see some group comparisons between the Hornady and the Lapua. That Hornady flash hole looks huge!
GSPV
Prvi partizan is the third source for Grendel cases, they have been making them for quite a time,maybe they are not ditributed in the USA.
Filippo
Yes, PP’s Grendel loaded cartridges have been available here under the Wolf brand for three or four years.
Unloaded cases — to my knowledge — have not been offered. You gotta shoot the loaded ammo first to reload ‘em.
You have to wonder just why it is that the U.S. brass manufacturers can not seem to manufacture brass that has as strong a case head/primer pocket as Lapua are manufacturing. Winchester cases seem to have about as strong a primer pocket as any of the U.S. manufacturers, but they are unlikely to manufacture any new brass cases in the near term as they are working at capacity to fill existing orders.
It certainly would be nice to have a second (or third) source for 6.5×47 L brass or even another source for good 260 Rem brass.
“Surely” these companies either have metallurgists on their payroll or could hire some as consultants to get things right.
just googled the component cost; 1) lapua brass $1 per piece, 2) 123 amax bullet $0.25 & good luck finding it, 3) primer & powder $?, 4)personal time loading ?????. So the price of loaded hornady cartridges at $1 seems like the deal of the century to me. Anyone want 500 lapua new cases?
Cruft, you raise a good point, but here’s another way to look at it, based on the idea that the Lapua brass is good for ten loading cycles (many guys get more if they anneal).
$0.29 – Bullet (123 SMK–plenty to be had)
$0.095 – Brass (Lapua)
$0.02 – Primer (Wolf)
$0.08 – Powder (RL 15)
$0.485 Per round cost.
Editor:
The other question is just what powder is Hornady using? If it is one of their ‘super duper velocity’ (ball) powders I would expect it to be more temperature sensitive than RL 15 and the zeroes to drift more with temperature changes.
‘m a little confused here. I’ve always heard that Lapua makes the “best brass in the world” and you can reload them till the cows come home but that has NOT been my experience.
I loaded Hornady SST 120gr with 29.8 Gr of ACC 2520 using CCI 450’s @ “2.220 COAL and Sierra SMK 120’s with 30.0Gr of ACC2520 and CCI 450’s@ “2.220 which is well within spec and in both cases it has produced a very distinct sharp ring around the head of the case .224 past the head. I get same result with some other loads that should be perfectly fine using WIN 748, BLC-2, H335, and sometimes the case nearly looking like a belted magnum but if I use a Hornady brass I have no problem at all, the case is perfectly reusable. In trying to solve this problem the only thing I have come up with is when you look inside a Lapua case at the transition from the head to the side of the case, the transition is very sharp but with the Hornady case it is more of a slow bevel neatly rounded from head to web?. I had seen another post of someone having problems with blowing out the head area of the case on 6.5 Grendel but they did not specify what brass,powder, primer or bullet so it was of no help to me. Have any of you had this problem? maybe I have an early batch of Lapua brass? could someone look inside and compare the area mentioned to see if I just have a bad batch? I lost nearly 100 cases that I do not trust on a reload for fear I will be trying to pull a split case out of my barrel and these things aint cheap. Any healp would be greatly appreciated.
I shot both brass makes in my 6ARturbo40ยบ and found the Lapua to be both more accurate (the smaller flash hole, maybe? had no idea they were different until today) and resisted pocket-loosening better than the Hornady did with hotter loads.
Am now loading a Dasher and find the Lapua 6BR pockets are MUCH tighter than the those of the 6.5Grendel.
After buying 20 boxes of Privi .375 H&H ammo and having about 10% of the rounds fail to chamber I steer clear of this serb junk ammo. Not sure if it was a delta L problem or just poor QC but I don’t gain confidence in a product having to throw 10% of it in the trash. (I actually dykem the case and tried to chamber them. Then took a small safe edge file and removed brass from the belts top side changing headspace and they worked.)
I have had the same belted mag look with below max aa2520, some do and some don’t. I have not looked to see if it’s lapua or hornadey. I will look, thanks for the heads up.
I just built a 6.5 Grendel and I am blowing primer hole in New Hornady Factory Ammo….I switched firing pins and it still blowing hole when fired. Whats up with that ??????