These fellas are shooting group with this case design. With the success they are having with the 6mm I can't help but wonder how the 30cal would do shooting score. No matter the argue, the 30cal dominates score shooting. 100 yards and 200.
Since the case capacity of this improved Grendel is approximately the same as a BR, I think there is real potential.
Mike Ezell has had some success with his Grendel I know. I don't remember exactly what Mikes case design consists of, but I think it's similar.
I like the idea of trying different ideas, thus the reason I started this post after hearing about these boys. Lee
Lee, mine, which I call a 30 Major(long story), is simply a 6.5 Grendel case necked up to 30 cal. Being a tad smaller doesn't hold it back much, and not at all with the right powders. It makes it somewhat more efficient than a BR, hence allowing it to work better with slightly faster burning powders....not much, but some. The benefit, if there is one, is that faster powders create lower muzzle pressures and a little less recoil, while maintaining the same velocities. To me, the 30 Major/Grendel is as good and maybe slightly better than a 30 BR but is a little bit more limited in terms of powder capacity and the neck being a little shorter than a BR neck.
All in all, I say flip a coin...If you have a dedicated PPC bolt face, it makes more sense to me than rebating BR rims. If a 308/BR bolt face, the BR case is probably what I'd use. Otherwise, just pick one, as they are both wonderful cartridges. A little more capacity, such as mentioned here, only comes at the price of a shorter nec, which is already shorter than the BR. Not that big of a deal with the good selection of good 30 caliber bullets available, but one can certainly play with specific throat length setups for specific bullets to deal with an even shorter neck...particularly with the great barrel life that the small 30's have.
The case, IMHO, is a very good one for BR purposes, whether with or without moving the shoulder around. As is, chamber dimensions for a standard Grendel make it a .070" long PPC. I just don't see that being enough bigger than a PPCV, or enough smaller than a BR, to say that either are significantly better or worse than the other. If anything, I think with standard BR weight bullets, a 6 Grendel would only make those 30+/- grain charges of n133 easier to pour than into a PPC..as well as the added benefit of not requiring forming the cases from a 220 Russian. Obviously, my first post in this thread was a sarcastic one as I'm not someone who believes that the 6PPC is the end all, be all to BR. I believe that this case has the same or maybe slightly more potential if there were as many of them on the line as there are PPC's and BR's. Those kind of statements often draw the ire of some of the BR community for several reasons. I assure you that this post is not intended to do so..It's just my own opinion, having shot all three quite a bit. I think that the topic of this thread is one that has merit, provided good components. After all, the PPC tried for 40 years, with virtually every br shooting shooting it, to beat the old 100 yard 5 shot group record held by the .222, unsuccessfully. Along came Mike Stinnett, shooting a Grendel case necked up to 30 cal, and it didn't take long for that record to fall...to a 30 cal! What would be the end all, be all if 99.9% of Benchrest shooters used a Grendel based cartridge?
Bottom line...its a good case to play with and has a lot of potential in our sport, IMHO. But as long as 99.9% of shooters shoot a PPC or 30BR, it'll never take over the game nor be accepted as being as good as it is, widely.--Mike Ezell
