7.62x39 bolt action finally getting some legs

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adcoch1 said:
Cz makes the 527 in the Grendel, and its the same gun as the carbine, maybe a very minor profile difference in the barrel.
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Yeah, so are the Howa Minis. Thats partly what leads me to expect a RAR in 6.5G to follow the x39.

Something I didnt think about it when i was considering the feeding of the Mini-30 magazine and the 6.5G.
Since they are already using the AR magazines in the .223 variant it would be as easy as slapping a Grendel barrel on the x39 receiver and bolt, and droping that into an AR maged stock.

Honestly if they DONT do that before i have money to spend on a new rifle, Im likely to see if ruger will sell me an x39 barreled receiver and a ar mag stock. That way i can have a heavy, long (for the grendel) barrel made, and have a swap barrel gun.

This is of course assuming all the parts are interchangeable.....having not had either variants in my hands or apart yet I cant say for certain.
 
I have no idea why it took me so long to figure out the 6.5 Grendel was based on the 7.62x39 case. Duh. Now I want a 6.5 Grendel. LOL

For the longest time, I thought a 7x39 would be an ideal low recoil, "practical range" whitetail round. Can't say I feel any differently about the 6.5 Grendel now that I think about it. The ability to load long 120 and 140/3 grain bullets into a 7.62x39 parent case seems like quite a recipe for a whitetail killer that is also fun to shoot.
 
LoonWulf said:
Yeah, so are the Howa Minis. Thats partly what leads me to expect a RAR in 6.5G to follow the x39.

Something I didnt think about it when i was considering the feeding of the Mini-30 magazine and the 6.5G.
Since they are already using the AR magazines in the .223 variant it would be as easy as slapping a Grendel barrel on the x39 receiver and bolt, and droping that into an AR maged stock.

Honestly if they DONT do that before i have money to spend on a new rifle, Im likely to see if ruger will sell me an x39 barreled receiver and a ar mag stock. That way i can have a heavy, long (for the grendel) barrel made, and have a swap barrel gun.

This is of course assuming all the parts are interchangeable.....having not had either variants in my hands or apart yet I cant say for certain.
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I haven't had the 223 rifle with ar mags in my hand yet, but the 7.62x39 bolt looks no different externally than the 223 standard bolt. I bet the stock and magwell are the only difference. Btw, the 6.5 Grendel ruger American already exists, or will very soon. Check Rugers website, they are listed as predator models... And I want one!
 
If I ever get a x39 it will be a bolt or single rifle. I have no desire to get another tactical gun but cheap surplus ammo is interesting as isslow shooting. Combine the two for a downright pleasant trip to the range. Now if we can convince somebody to sell a rifle cheap enough to really excite the cheapskate in me....
 
WestKentucky said:
If I ever get a x39 it will be a bolt or single rifle. I have no desire to get another tactical gun but cheap surplus ammo is interesting as isslow shooting. Combine the two for a downright pleasant trip to the range. Now if we can convince somebody to sell a rifle cheap enough to really excite the cheapskate in me....
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Hard to find a new rifle of any quality more affordable than the ruger American ranch. Geez, i sound like a ruger ad....
 
adcoch1 said:
I haven't had the 223 rifle with ar mags in my hand yet, but the 7.62x39 bolt looks no different externally than the 223 standard bolt. I bet the stock and magwell are the only difference. Btw, the 6.5 Grendel ruger American already exists, or will very soon. Check Rugers website, they are listed as predator models... And I want one!
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Nice! I hadn't looked thru all the American models yet, and missed that. Its actually pretty much EXACTLY what I want in a grendel bolt gun.....perhaps instead of an x39RAR ill get that and add an x39 barrel to it!
 
adcoch1 said:
Hard to find a new rifle of any quality more affordable than the ruger American ranch. Geez, i sound like a ruger ad....
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Yeah, I get that, but it's like buying a Honda Civic to save gas money...you start off by blowing 3 grand on a 10 year old civic. In this case it's spending 400 bucks (after necessary extras) to save 50 cents a shot. How long will it take to burn 800 rounds through a bolt rifle. To make it worse, I reload... how long will it take to burn up 2400 rounds through a bolt rifle.
 
WestKentucky said:
Yeah, I get that, but it's like buying a Honda Civic to save gas money...you start off by blowing 3 grand on a 10 year old civic. In this case it's spending 400 bucks (after necessary extras) to save 50 cents a shot. How long will it take to burn 800 rounds through a bolt rifle. To make it worse, I reload... how long will it take to burn up 2400 rounds through a bolt rifle.
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Oh, I'm with ya, but you might be surprised how much ammo that little rifle could go through. The first time I ran a function check on my cz 527 in x39 i ended up shooting 80 rnds. They go quick when there cheap!
 
I haven't had the chance to play with the Ruger, and the capability to take higher capacity aftermarket magazines is a huge plus, but I am very fond of my CZ 527M/CSR, which doesn't come in 6.5 Grendel...yet...The Ruger looks very interesting - they've really been busy with new products, haven't they?
 
armoredman said:
I haven't had the chance to play with the Ruger, and the capability to take higher capacity aftermarket magazines is a huge plus, but I am very fond of my CZ 527M/CSR, which doesn't come in 6.5 Grendel...yet...The Ruger looks very interesting - they've really been busy with new products, haven't they?
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Check this out....
http://cz-usa.com/product/cz-527-american/
They come in the Grendel.
 
You guys are behind the times, I've had this for a few years now. It's an awsome shooter.
I've been feeding it .308 130gr HPs by Speer over 26 grains of RL7. I can do 1moa at 100 yards with it, which means it's capable of far better. According to the book that's about 2300fps, one of these days I will buy a chrono. My next batch I will bump up the powder a bit and see how it goes
image.png image.png
 
Powder296 said:
You guys are behind the times, I've had this for a few years now. It's an awsome shooter.
I've been feeding it .308 130gr HPs by Speer over 26 grains of RL7. I can do 1moa at 100 yards with it, which means it's capable of far better. According to the book that's about 2300fps, one of these days I will buy a chrono. My next batch I will bump up the powder a bit and see how it goes
View attachment 776190 View attachment 776189
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Sweet rifle! I remember when those first came out, about 1994 or so. Always more then I had when I saw them at gunshows. Still, a very classy rifle.
 
armoredman said:
Yep, I knew that one - I like iron sights and carbine length barrels. I was hoping for the 527M in 6.5, but alas! It was not to be so.
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Im actually not horribly surprised they didnt do a shorter barrel on the Grendel....well maybe a 22.
My experience with a 20" barrel is that 2500fps is pushing pretty hard with 120 class bullets, and they dont hit as hard at the short ranges as the 125 311s do. If were talking 100-150lb deer the 125s penetrate plenty well enough and (again from my experience) produce faster kills on soft tissue hits. This is within 100-150yds, which is what i generally consider open sight range. The extra 4" gets atleast another 100fps (I was getting a bit more) from top end loads. Which brings the 120s up into the velocity range where ive experienced the more rapid expansion and velocity shock, this is again at short range.
Once we get out of open sight range the Grendel has the advantage with the 120 class bullets. Ive never seen the heavy x39 loads in action, so i cant comment as to their effectiveness.

Thats part of the appeal to having a swap barrel x39 and Grendel, or one of each.
 
So the Carbine barrel length doesn't work well with 6.5 Grendel? Bummer. I have no experience with heavy 7.62x39mm loads - the heaviest I do is the NOE 129 grain cast, which isn't the same by any means.
 
WestKentucky said:
Yeah, I get that, but it's like buying a Honda Civic to save gas money...you start off by blowing 3 grand on a 10 year old civic. In this case it's spending 400 bucks (after necessary extras) to save 50 cents a shot. How long will it take to burn 800 rounds through a bolt rifle. To make it worse, I reload... how long will it take to burn up 2400 rounds through a bolt rifle.
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A man's gotta have goals. ;)
 
LoonWulf said:
Im actually not horribly surprised they didnt do a shorter barrel on the Grendel....well maybe a 22.
My experience with a 20" barrel is that 2500fps is pushing pretty hard with 120 class bullets, and they dont hit as hard at the short ranges as the 125 311s do. If were talking 100-150lb deer the 125s penetrate plenty well enough and (again from my experience) produce faster kills on soft tissue hits. This is within 100-150yds, which is what i generally consider open sight range. The extra 4" gets atleast another 100fps (I was getting a bit more) from top end loads. Which brings the 120s up into the velocity range where ive experienced the more rapid expansion and velocity shock, this is again at short range.
Once we get out of open sight range the Grendel has the advantage with the 120 class bullets. Ive never seen the heavy x39 loads in action, so i cant comment as to their effectiveness.

Thats part of the appeal to having a swap barrel x39 and Grendel, or one of each.
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We think a lot alike, and I've had similar experiences. If I'm going to deer hunt with the 7.62x39, I will keep the shots inside 150 and maayyybe stretch one to 200 if the conditions are just right (my hand loads easily carry 1K ft. lbs. and are 1900 fps at 200 yards). However the added range the 6.5G might provide in the same platform is tempting. I'd have to shoot them both to really know though.
 
armoredman said:
So the Carbine barrel length doesn't work well with 6.5 Grendel?
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Not as well as it does with the x39 imo. The x39 gets slightly better velocity from the short tubes, and produce a larger but shallower wound channel.
Again as ranges get longer the significance of the 6.5s bc, becomes apparent. It also penetrates better.

The 100grn balistic tips i switched to from the 123s produce more dramatic results on the 40-60lb goats i shot that the 123s, and penetration was pretty good thru lite bone and tissue. I didnt get to try that load on deer and it might have been a good compromise.

This is assuming top end handloads for both the x39 and Grendel. If were talking factory ammo, the Grendel usually holds a velocity advantage and maintains it, even in a short barrel. At that point performance would likely be similar, or the Grendel would have a slight edge start to finish.

Ive actually taken more game past 200yds with my 6x47 and 85grn sgks, than i did with the Grendel (just cause i owned it longer). From shooting both i would be pretty comfortable shooting out to maybe 300-350yds with the Grendel depending on the situation. The one thing I personally consider when using any relatively light for game cartridge at range is the time i have after the shot, and how far i can let the animal go. I wouldnt take some shots with the Grendel that i would with even my .250AI or .243, just because the faster rounds will usually put game down faster, and offten drt. Lethality wise dead is dead, but drt beats dwot when its late, or over a cliff.
 
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adcoch1 said:
Oh, I'm with ya, but you might be surprised how much ammo that little rifle could go through. The first time I ran a function check on my cz 527 in x39 i ended up shooting 80 rnds. They go quick when there cheap!
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Along those same lines. When you reload and shoot .223 (free brass) several hundred rounds is a normal day at the range. I'm shooting for about 0.15/rd. excluding my reloading time. I don't put a cost on that because I enjoy it. I'm probably going to burn out my first rifle barrel.
 
Powder296 said:
You guys are behind the times, I've had this for a few years now. It's an awsome shooter.
I've been feeding it .308 130gr HPs by Speer over 26 grains of RL7. I can do 1moa at 100 yards with it, which means it's capable of far better. According to the book that's about 2300fps, one of these days I will buy a chrono. My next batch I will bump up the powder a bit and see how it goes
View attachment 776190 View attachment 776189
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does that have the original trigger or is it a upgraded one?
 
That gun is all original, including the wood inserts, it came from Davidsons like that. The wood inserts realy make the stock, the rifles straight from Ruger came with black plastic ones. For anyone with one of these stocks, there is a guy at RugerForum that makes them, his screen name is 41 Magnum, I'm not affiliated. He made the ones in the pic, the original wood was too dark
 
Powder296 said:
That gun is all original, including the wood inserts, it came from Davidsons like that. The wood inserts realy make the stock, the rifles straight from Ruger came with black plastic ones. For anyone with one of these stocks, there is a guy at RugerForum that makes them, his screen name is 41 Magnum, I'm not affiliated. He made the ones in the pic, the original wood was too dark
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yeah i seen the custom wood inlays inserts looks nice:D
 
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