6.5 Grendel with IMR4064?

3

308Loader

New member
Has anyone tried IMR4064 in a 6.5 Grendel? I don’t see load date in any of my books for it. Looking at the burn rate chart it does fall within the range of powders that are listed. H335 at #86 Benchmark #85 (fastest), imr 4064 #101, Varget at #108, cfe223 at #111 (slowest). Seems to be in the wheelhouse of this cartridge.

How temp stable is IMR4064? This time of year, it is difficult to work a load ladder in Minnesota. -10F yesterday, +30F tomorrow, July will be +100f.
 
U

Unclenick

Staff
4064 is a little too slow and bulky for the 6.5 Grendel. QuickLOAD says 100% loading density of 4064 produces lower pressure and velocity for 90 through 130-grain bullet weights than the commercial loads do.
 
3

308Loader

New member
Thanks Nick. Didn't figure it was a good option. Hornady 11th book shows Varget, reloader 15 both are stick powder and my mind went to 4064 for some reason. In looking at the burn rate chart it seemed feasible.
 
U

Unclenick

Staff
It wouldn't be non-functional, it just showed that, for example. a 130-grain bullet expected to do 2500 fps out of the 6.5 Grendel would only get to 2400 with the 100% loading density. To clarify what I wrote, it's not that the burn rate is too slow, but that the combination of burn rate and high bulk density is the issue. Varget, for example, was designed to compete with 4064, but it is a finer stick, so it tends to have less bulk density and it is easier to get more into a case.

You could try addressing that bulk issue with a long drop tube, if you really want to get 4064 to work.

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H

hounddawg

New member
I have messing with my Grendel a lot lately and from what I have learned my rifle ( AR15 with 20 inch barrel) likes IMR 8208 for the best accuracy. Try starting at 25.5 and working up to 27 + gns (my rifle) behind a 120 or 123 gn bullet. H322 works well also but is a bit lower on the FPS scale. If you are working on a hunting load to get maximum max FPS try AR Comp or CFE 223.

Some things to watch for are pressure spikes when getting near max load with the 8208, second hand info on that but from enough people on the 6.5 Grendel forums that I believe it. I found an accuracy node at 27.2 gns so I never went any higher. The CFE 223 tends to be temp sensitive from what I have heard but never did much with it so that is also second hand info. AR Comp shoots great and gave me the highest FPS but I don't have enough of it on hand to bother refining a load with.

I want to try some H335 next time I see it instock where I can get more than a pound or two. Same with the AR Comp

edit I played around in GRT with 4064 and it might work OK but that case is sure gonna be full. If you decide to load test it let us know how it works out

edit 2 - did some googling and found out what Nick suspected is true. The velocities were too low for it to be useful. Save the 4064 for your 308's
 
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