Looking at some uppers..... are the short carbine length accurate long range? Say 300 or 400 yards? Or should I stick with a 20" or 18"?

Paging Bender, think he has proven on the 6.5 grendels that at that distance you can use a 12" barrel with minimal loses to accuracy and velocity

Yeah he did a chrono test with different barrel lengths, and going from 18" to 12" resulted in a very minimal loss in velocity. I would imagine that a 12" would reach out to 400 just fine.

Accuracy should be fine out of the shorter barrels.

Hunting or shooting? Energy is already close to borderline.

We shot a number of deer with a 12.5" upper inside 100 yards. It killed them but I wasn't terribly impressed with the results. If hunting at longer distances, id want to squeeze all the power out of it you can and stick with 18-20".

Targets, you might not notice a difference.

Barrel length does not factor into accuracy much after 12". Chuck Hawk did a really cool article on it that I can't find anymore. Completely changed how I look at barrel length. You do get more velocity, however.

For me, do you want to milk every FPS out of it, run the 20. I'm really wishing I had a shorter one on my big grendel, honestly. I'd hunt it more. Once you throw a suppressor on it, it's hard to maneuver in a deer stand. My 12.5", however, is badass and I love it. So, I've been really encouraging 16 inchers lately. Don't lose a ton of velocity and it's still a rifle.

I run an 18" on mine, honestly wish I had gone with a 14" or 16" instead. With the can, it sticks out a good ways, but it's manageable.

Shoot 123 SST's and nothing has walked away from it yet at any range, be it pig, deer or racoon.

I have a sweet ass 6.5 Grendel pistol for sale

considering this...... this would mostly be a hunter...

https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-12-carbine-length-6-5-grendel-1-8-stainless-steel-12-slanted-m-lok-upper-with-bcg-ch.html

shalackin said:

---

considering this...... this would mostly be a hunter...

https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-12-carbine-length-6-5-grendel-1-8-stainless-steel-12-slanted-m-lok-upper-with-bcg-ch.html

---

Thats the exact one I had. It was great for the price. My opinion though, that's a 100 yard deer gun, not a 300-400 yard gun. Perfect hits and you'll be fine. The first time you make a mediocre shot (it happens) and hit a little far back, you'll be kicking yourself.

If you want a 300-400 yard deer gun, move up to AR10 or a custom caliber AR15.

CS78 said:

---

shalackin said:

---

considering this...... this would mostly be a hunter...

https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-12-carbine-length-6-5-grendel-1-8-stainless-steel-12-slanted-m-lok-upper-with-bcg-ch.html

---

Thats the exact one I had. It was great for the price. My opinion though, that's a 100 yard deer gun, not a 300-400 yard gun. Perfect hits and you'll be fine. The first time you make a mediocre shot (it happens) and hit a little far back, you'll be kicking yourself.

If you want a 300-400 yard deer gun, move up to AR10 or a custom caliber AR15.

---

With a 12.5" barrel, you have 900 ft lbs of energy at 275 yards out of a Grendel shooting a 123 SST projectile. It's much more than a 100 yard gun.

It doesn't matter much what you shoot with if you hit too far back, the deer is going to run and usually a long way.

Havent hunted with either of my grendels, sadly. So no data for you there. The 12" is plenty capable of punching paper out to 500.

Data collected with a magnetospeed shooting 123gr Hornady American Gunner factory ammo:

12" average muzzle velocity: 2239 fps
20" average muzzle velocity: 2523 fps

Plugged my data into Stelok to get some approximate energy numbers for you out to 500.





Just for fun, heres the same table for 55gr 5.56 out of a 12.5" barrel.



Hope thats helpful info.

schmellba99 said:

---

With a 12.5" barrel, you have 900 ft lbs of energy at 275 yards out of a Grendel shooting a 123 SST projectile. It's much more than a 100 yard gun.

It doesn't matter much what you shoot with if you hit too far back, the deer is going to run and usually a long way.

---

My opinion, 900 ft/lbs of energy from a 6.5mm bullet is FAR from ideal. There's so much more to it than an energy number. That same 900 ft/lbs of energy from a 45 cal projectile and the results on the animal are much different. Smaller/ narrower caliber projectiles need more energy to get similar results.

Shot placement is not black or white. There's lots of borderline/ grey area. There are shots where more energy or bigger holes can make the difference between finding the animal or not. Sure a gut shot deer is still a gut shot deer but single lung, liver, etc; more energy can absolutely make or break the day.

shalackin said:

---

Looking at some uppers..... are the short carbine length accurate long range? Say 300 or 400 yards? Or should I stick with a 20" or 18"?

---

I take my 12" out to 500 pretty easily. With a suppressor it's still plenty maneuverable

CS78 said:

---

schmellba99 said:

---

With a 12.5" barrel, you have 900 ft lbs of energy at 275 yards out of a Grendel shooting a 123 SST projectile. It's much more than a 100 yard gun.

It doesn't matter much what you shoot with if you hit too far back, the deer is going to run and usually a long way.

---

My opinion, 900 ft/lbs of energy from a 6.5mm bullet is FAR from ideal. There's so much more to it than an energy number. That same 900 ft/lbs of energy from a 45 cal projectile and the results on the animal are much different. Smaller/ narrower caliber projectiles need more energy to get similar results.

Shot placement is not black or white. There's lots of borderline/ grey area. There are shots where more energy or bigger holes can make the difference between finding the animal or not. Sure a gut shot deer is still a gut shot deer but single lung, liver, etc; more energy can absolutely make or break the day.

---

I am acutely aware of energy, projectiles, etc. Which is also why I specifically stated the projectile I did, because it is a projectile designed for hunting and performs extremely well at doing what it is designed to do - which is expand and both transfer energy into the target, but also cause significant internal damage. If you are using something that doesn't expand, just like with a gut shot - doesn't matter much on caliber if you miss.

A good hunting projectile, even with a less than perfect shot, from a 6.5 at those distances will absolutely kill game, and do it well. I know, because I've done it and have seen it done in person multiple times over. I watched Log punch several deer with his 12" Grendel at ranges well beyond 100 yards just last season. Every one dropped right where she stood. They weren't all 100% texags perfect shots either, but they were good shots that hit vitals in one form or fashion.

But like you said, your opinion. I suppose it is better to be ultra conservative than the other way around.

schmellba99 said:

---

CS78 said:

---

shalackin said:

---

considering this...... this would mostly be a hunter...

https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-12-carbine-length-6-5-grendel-1-8-stainless-steel-12-slanted-m-lok-upper-with-bcg-ch.html

---

Thats the exact one I had. It was great for the price. My opinion though, that's a 100 yard deer gun, not a 300-400 yard gun. Perfect hits and you'll be fine. The first time you make a mediocre shot (it happens) and hit a little far back, you'll be kicking yourself.

If you want a 300-400 yard deer gun, move up to AR10 or a custom caliber AR15.

---

With a 12.5" barrel, you have 900 ft lbs of energy at 275 yards out of a Grendel shooting a 123 SST projectile. It's much more than a 100 yard gun.

It doesn't matter much what you shoot with if you hit too far back, the deer is going to run and usually a long way.

---

The only reason that I'd go along with 100 yard idea is the barrel. PSA barrels on these guns are usually BCA and they may be decent shooters or you may get minute of barn out of them. More than likely going to be serviceable but until you get it out and shoot it, who knows.

16" or 18" would be ideal and buy the best barrel you can afford. I'm shooting a 18" with a black hole barrel I believe, (bought the upper on Texags). Shoots lights out and the buck i shot with it didn't take 10 steps.

I have a aero precision lower with a larue 2 stage trigger, 20 inch faxon match series barrel that is just getting started. Dropping hogs @ 400-500 yards with the Hornady Black BTHP with no problem. Hopefully once I get it tuned in it will kill coyotes out to 800+. I like the round and it's performance/results so far. Keep the data coming, it's not a AR pistol round. My son in law has pretty much the same set up but an 18 inch barrel with similar results. Neither of us has a suppressor so I can't compare it to others on the board.

built my first SBR in 6.5G this passed winter. i'm dying to get it out this year.

Pay attention to velocity, if you drop below velocity needed for expansion/upset for a given projectile, you're going to get poor terminal performance. Bullets designed for quick expansion and upset like the SST are usually good to 1900-1800 FPS. Solid copper bullets tend to have minimal expansion at ~2000 fps or below.

EX: Using Bender's data, 250yds would be my limit for a shot at game with a 12" gun with 123gr SSTs, while it'd be 400yds for the 20" gun.

C ROC N said:

---

it's not a AR pistol round.

---

Maybe. Depends what you use it for. My 12" Grendel is the most capable AR I own