New 6.5 Grendel AR15 Upper

luvcatchingbass

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Looking for recommendations on a new 6.5 Grendel upper. I'm planning to get a new upper for my Ruger AR-556, something a little better for deer hunting and hopefully more shootable for my daughter beings this is her first year able to hunt. She is not very big and can be a little recoil shy at times and my AR currently fits her much easier with the adjustable stock and its something she can practice with more with 5.56/223 then switch over to the 6.5 shortly before hunting. I have been looking online and reading reviews which of course ends up leaving me conflicted and wondering if I'm getting what I want for the price's. Obviously accuracy is the main thing on my list, quality parts, and good muzzle devise to soak as much recoil as possible beings I don't have a suppressor. Here is a list of the ones that I have been looking at 6.5 Grendel Hunter, Artheris, Sanders Armory. It seems the more I look and try to read up on options the more indecisive I get. Trying to not hit the pocket book too hard but also know you get what you pay for. Any input or experience on any of these or other options?
 


Petras

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I'll probably catch hell for recommending Bear Creek, but I have a few of their uppers and haven't had a stitch of problems. I do run one of their 6.5 grendel uppers and have been able to get it to shoot 1" groups with 107 tmk loads. I will say that I had to put roughly 1-200 rounds down each upper to get them to shoot decent. Their barrels aren't the highest of quality, but they will shoot after a bit of break-in.... The one I run is a 24". I want to say mine was only like $240 delivered, but I think their prices have gone up a touch since I bought mine. I do see that they have a Dual charging 18" ss 6.5 grendel upper for $249 right now.
https://www.bearcreekarsenal.com/6-...ist-mid-15-mlok-dual-charing-nrail-upper.html

It's not a top of the line $2000 upper, but I've not had a single issue with any of mine.
 

1lessdog

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I have put many 6.5 Grendels together. And out of all the rds to pick from the 6.5 has gave me more problems cycling then all the other put together. It will shoot 10 shots great and then short cycle the next 2 or 3. I can never put my finger on the problem. I run adj gas blocks on all of them.

To me the best and most reliable round is the 300 Blackout. I dont think I have ever has a single cycling issue with one.
 

luvcatchingbass

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300BLK is another that I have considered but am just unsure how much I like it at 100yds for deer. I'm sure it is still more than enough and I know for sure if I was going to use it myself in a more wooded area with about 50yd max shooting potential I would have no problems. I got a buddy with a 6.5 grendel and to my knowledge has never had issues with it, both his kids have knocked their deer down the last few years no problem with 123-125gr loads.
 

luvcatchingbass

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I'll probably catch hell for recommending Bear Creek, but I have a few of their uppers and haven't had a stitch of problems. I do run one of their 6.5 grendel uppers and have been able to get it to shoot 1" groups with 107 tmk loads. I will say that I had to put roughly 1-200 rounds down each upper to get them to shoot decent. Their barrels aren't the highest of quality, but they will shoot after a bit of break-in.... The one I run is a 24". I want to say mine was only like $240 delivered, but I think their prices have gone up a touch since I bought mine. I do see that they have a Dual charging 18" ss 6.5 grendel upper for $249 right now.
https://www.bearcreekarsenal.com/6-...ist-mid-15-mlok-dual-charing-nrail-upper.html

It's not a top of the line $2000 upper, but I've not had a single issue with any of mine.
I have also been looking at the Bear Creek for the price point, the couple reviews I've found weren't that bad but just when compared to others the accuracy was a little looser. Considering I got into my cheap Ruger for about $650 just wondering how expensive of an upper I want to put on it, could stand to put a little nicer trigger on it too but it's fine for me at this point. Is there anything else I need to watch out like buffer weight when going from a 5.56 upper to 6.5 or 300?
 


Tikka280ai

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I ran a bear creek upper and was getting sub-moa with handloads. It had a few small issues when I first got it but for $250 I wasn't expecting much. After fixing it ran flawlessly for the 300ish rounds I put thru it

My brother has a palmetto state grendel upper and once we get the gas block tuned he hasn't had an issue with that one
 

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