COMPARING THE HOTROD SST's 6, 25, 6.5

[elkaholic]

Sorry Rich, wasn't trying to derail. Just having a laugh at that belted "7mm-08"!

No worries! It's easy to do. Just one or 2 comments and a rabbit trail starts. I'm guilty too

 

[elkaholic]

What's the difference in capacity between the 7ss and 7sst? They must be fairly close? I'm leaning on my 7ss pretty hard to get 3k with 180's from a 26" Bart 8 twist.

About 2-3 grains

 

[dirtytough]

Also forgot to add I came across a 140 6.5 with a listed bc over .750.

If the bc is close it makes it a pretty solid contender.

 

[elkaholic]

Also forgot to add I came across a 140 6.5 with a listed bc over .750.

If the bc is close it makes it a pretty solid contender.

For sure!

 

[Tidus56]

About 2-3 grains

Which has more?

 

[elkaholic]

Which has more?

SS because of the 40 degree shoulder

 

[Bravo 4]

Sorry Rich, wasn't trying to derail. Just having a laugh at that belted "7mm-08"!

A belt is no laughing matter, a skirt on the other hand.

Sorry Rich, won't happen again!

 

[TG-5150]

Same bullets work in all .257 calibers. You just need a 1:7 twist barrel. Also, if you do, I recommend bumping up the performance to a .25-06 AI 40º.

I recommend a .257 Sherman. Hint.Hint
" we already have that in the .25 SST" says the wizard

 

[MudRunner2005]

If you did neck it down further and go heavier you'd have the same force acting over a smaller area + a heavier projectile. Just like the velocity of a 175 gr from 7mm-08 is slower than a 308 from equivalent barrel lengths.
I have wondered why they didn't neck 6.8 spc to 6mm though and run some 90-100gr though

True, but if you blow the taper out to .010" and add the 40º shoulder increasing from the neck/shoulder joint, you would gain capacity.

 

[MudRunner2005]

The Grendel is only pushing a 123gr bullet about 2300fps in an AR and roughly 2600fps in a 24-26" boltgun. They do not stand a chance at matches beyond 600 yards so i put the cartridge into the "cute" short range plinking cartridge category. Essentially worthless in a boltgun as there are infinite other options with better performance that don't need any effort. Maybe if you hotrod the case and load it hot and run a long barrel you might get it to 1000yards. I have seen people show up to our local matches with them and they behave like shotguns at that distance because they are long past transonic. Heck even if you get the 131 ACE to run the same speed as the 123 ELDM it still falls apart at 700yrds. Even with that BC it only has 300yrds-ish before it bottoms out at 1000ft/lbs for hunting purposes. The cartridge has such little power it needs too light of a bullet to get any velocity (weak by today's standards) that you are forced to run lower BC bullets.

I suppose if that works for you, more power to you. I would love to hear success stories for that little cutie where people were able to get average performance out of it.

The .224 Valkerie and 22 Grendel are of similar performance with a slight edge to the Grendel. Factory ammo gives the advantage to the Valkerie. Feel free to run the numbers yourself but for long range the Valkerie is essentially a .223 improved.
Easy comparison is Hornady .223 running 75gr BTHP Match Bullets @ 2790 (transonic @ 883yrds). Same bullet in .224 Valkerie is running 3000fps (transonic 965yrds). The Valkerie pushing the 88gr ELD at only 2675fps goes trasonic @ 1056yrds. So a .22 Grendel has much further distance capability over a 6.5 Grendel.

This is why the 131ACE is so attractive as not only does it fill a void for those with 1/4bores with enough twist but also follows the competition trend to fo smaller diameter but heavier to drive BC up resulting in lighter recoil and better wind resistance. Now if Rich would do a Sherman-ized .22 to maximize some of these super heavy .22's that would be awesome! 80-90grs are the present but I would not be surprised to see 100+ gr .224 bullets in the near future in the effort to push BC's higher.

Hotrodding the case is what i'm talking about, and I run a 24" barrel in my 6.5 Grendel.

 

[MudRunner2005]

I recommend a .257 Sherman. Hint.Hint
" we already have that in the .25 SST" says the wizard

That's why I've been trying to get Rich to build a .257 Sherman since the 131 ACE was announced.

 

[KRL1116]

Has anyone done any loading of the blackjack in the 257 wby?

 

[TG-5150]

Looks like we need a new thread maybe

 

[WiscGunner]

Imagine how much powder space the bullet would encroach on if those were actually pictures of a 7-08 and .308...look a little long.

Hotrodding the case is what i'm talking about, and I run a 24" barrel in my 6.5 Grendel.

What kind of speeds are you getting out of your Grendel now, if you don't mind sharing? What would you hope for/expect our of a .25 Grendel (Sherman Improved) with the 131? How would this compare to the 6BR or 6 Dasher?