6.5 Grendel as cast bullet shooter?

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
I have a non-typical 6.5 x 55 Swedish Mauser bolt rifle.......a Ruger Model 77R. The rifle has been a tackdriver with every 140 grain J-work I have tried in it--Nosler Partition, Hornady #2630, Speer Hot-Cor. 2700 FPS, 3/4" to 1" 5-shotters with boring regularity. 120 grain Barnes TTSX Condor Cuddlers run about 2800 FPS and group in 1.25" to 1.5", which is real-world-acceptable. Twist rate is a mite slower than in the milsurps with their 5 turns/meter pitch, my rifle is 1-9". Not ideal for castings, but usable.

C. 2012 or so I did a shoot-off between 2 Lyman bullets--the Loverin #266469 (138 grains naked in 92/6/2) and the newer #266673, a long 150 grain bore rider that looks accurate just laying on the tabletop. I do like bore rider designs a bunch. My rifle's bore/groove is .256" x .264", throat is .2645" or thereabouts (slugged), and castings are sized @ .265". Both bullets started doing weird things once past 1900 FPS, throwing flyers and groups opened more as we climbed past 2100 FPS. That was called a CLUE at my old job site. Abide by the speed limit of 1850 FPS, and 5-shotters were in the 1.5" ballpark at 100 yards with "469"; "673" could just manage 2" at 100. Not a huge difference, but it showed up and continued for 100+ of each bullet with 2-3 powders each. #266469 got the nod, and 19.0 to 20.0 grains of 2400 lit by WLR primers have become my go-to jackrabbit and coyote cast bullet hunting loads outside Kalifornistan, and do fine on paper within the Pipple's Respoobleek.

Having the Ruger Swede, I haven't pursued a Creedmoor, a Grendel, or a 263 Waters. All are great hunting calibers, and I used the R/Swede to bag a muley in 2006 with NosParts. Just be aware that twist rates might impose a speed limit at some point along the way, which is the price of hurling javelins in this game.
 
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