I am thinking of building a "walkabout" rifle on a CZ527 action. Has anybody played with the 6.5 Grendel/6.5 PPC, and if so what has been your experience?

Dave

Funny you ask about this, but I was talking to Woody @ Lothar Walther just yesterday and he mentioned that there is a little project in the works to offer that exact caliber in a pre-contoured barrel that will duplicate the factory tube in the Grendel cartridge. Supposedly they are testing the rifle out next week and should have some good info for you. I'd give him a call and ask him about it.

Matt:

Thanks for the lead.

Dave

I had a 6.5 PPC built on a 527 carbine originally in 7.62 X 39. My son worked up some loads using 120 gr bullets. It shot under an inch. Then I heard about the Grendel and learned that Alexander Arms was making uppers and also selling 6.5 Grendel loaded ammo and brass. I went to [competitionshooting.com] and they told me to contact a guy for rereaming my 527 to the grendel (They moved the shoulder forward a little from the 6.5 PPC configuration) I'll get you the guy's email if you are interested. Now the competitionshooting site says they won't sell you ammo or brass unless you buy an upper but they have 250,000 rounds of brass ordered and I presume will sell brass and ammo when they receive it. I'm going to try the 110 gr GS custom bullets when it comes back from the shop (Monday)

Right now Alexander Arms is only letting Scott Medesha rechamber for the 6.5 Grendel. He is a very good gunsmith and is usually backed up on work. If they don't release the reamer to the trade their little baby might die on the vine.

JCN

PS Alexander Arms gets the barrels they use for their AR uppers from Lothar Walther so this may indeed be their way of making the chambering more available to the public. I would happily use a LW barrel. The 6.5 PPC/Grendel is a bit anemic for the caliber, but it should be wonderfully accurate and easy on barrels. I think it would make a splendid little walk-about round.

I just talked to Woody at Lothar-Walther and Jim Brockman is supposedly doing work with Alexander Arms on a CZ527 conversion to the 6.5 Grendel. According to Woody, Alexander is going to be offering a conversion on the CZ527 carbine as a semi-standard offering. The guns should be available in the fall, or if one is in a bigger hurry, they can be ordered through Brockman as a custom gun. Woody also claimed that other gunsmiths can request the reamers from Alexander, but that Alexander wants to control who has it so that they can can control quality. I also suspect that they want to make sure they recover their investment in the cartridge, which is reasonable as far as I am concerned.

HOT DOG, this may be easier than I thought!!!!

Dave

Well, thanks for sharing, John.
Now what's all this about only letting so-and-so ream a chamber?
Just get a case and measure it! Have someone cut a reamer and go.
Silly, acting like you own measurements.

Hey Bwana,
Sorry for sharing. I think I wrote that after getting home after a long day and night and another day at work. Tacky; won't let that happen again.
For several years the full sized PPC chamberings were proprietary for Sako and then Ruger also.
The Brits did a lot of that sort of thing 90 - 100 years ago. It was silly then, and I think it is silly now. Especially now, because as you say anyone can use fired cases or a chamber cast to have a reamer made up.
I think the 300 Whisper, AKA 300/221 Fireball would have caught on more if JD Jones had not sat on it (and still does) as an SSK proprietary round.
I think Alexander Arms will come to their senses pretty soon. Nothing like having a couple hundred thousand pieces of brass in the warehouse to convince you to share your reamer blueprints.
JCN

Any idea what the balistics are suposed to be? 120 gr @ 2700, or a tad more? I've been thinking about just such a gun as well, but don't want to spring for a custom. If stock rifles are available for a reasonable cost, I just might have to get one. Would be a perfect first hunting rifle for the kids.

It is my understanding that the 6.5 Grendel will launch a 120-grain bullet at around 2600 to 2700 fps from a 20-inch barrel. I would think that ALexander Arms will sell a pile of them.

Dave

Paul,
I think that's about right on the ballistics. The CZ in this caliber would make a dandy kid's deer rifle, and would punch paper or hit rocks way out there.
The brass would last forever. If you get one send me a PM and I'll send you detailed instructions on how to set the stock up to get longer or shorter quickly with minimum fuss.
JCN

Loud-n-Boomer,
Just a FYI, I talked to Woody today again, and he made a point to mention that 527 project we talked about in 6.5 Grendel is a 'GO'. Supposedly there will be a production run of barrels by late Aug or early September and they will be taking orders by next week. The deal about only allowing certain gunsmiths to do the work is not a restrictive thing, but they want to make sure the cartridge gets off on the right foot and are releasing the reamer to only those gunsmiths that can 'do the job right'. I guess they want the cartidge to show its true potential and not get bogged down by a sloppy job. When Brockman does the work, the rifle will be rebarreled, and then re-bedded and trigger adjusted if you choose. Then it will be fired for accuracy and 'proven' as Woody put it. I guess that way you will be assured of a real hummer that is up to it's full potential. In my opinion it is a good way of ensuring positive feedback for a cartridge just getting off the ground. Hell, Alexander Arms is listing factory Lapua brass at only $40 per 100! They're really doing their part to get the right components out there in quantity vs. maximum profit IMO (and Woody's).

Be sure and post the results when you get that new toy on the bench as I'm sure you'll get your order in soon (I hope anyways!).

Woody did state that the one they have there in the shop is VERY accurate, which should interest just about everybody.