The 6.5 Grendel gets adopted by SAAMI

[Texas Sheepdawg]

Congratulations Mr. Alexander.
http://www.alexanderarms.com/index.php/ ... saami.html

[Colohunter]

I also heard that not too long ago, the great part about it is he is letting up on his control of the round, meaning it may become easier to obtain ammo, barrels, etc.

[Texas Sheepdawg]

Ammunition is one of the key things I am thinking about. More Brass availability.

[Colohunter]

That's always a good thing. That's one reason I'm glad to see the AAC Blackout round come out. As a 300 Fireball shooter for a few years now, it's nice to see some factory options that aren't way overpriced.

[wildcatter]

That's always a good thing. That's one reason I'm glad to see the AAC Blackout round come out. As a 300 Fireball shooter for a few years now, it's nice to see some factory options that aren't way overpriced.

Here's "THEE" list of SAAMI's voting membership, as listed from their web site..

A-Square Company
Alliant Powder
ATK Security and Sporting
Beretta USA Corporation
Browning Arms Company
Colt's Manufacturing Company LLC
COR-BON/Glaser LLC
Federal Cartridge Company
Fiocchi of America, Inc.
Glock, Inc.
Hodgdon Powder Company
Hornady Manufacturing Company
Kahr Arms
Marlin Firearms Company
North American Arms, Inc.
Nosler, Inc.
O. F. Mossberg and Sons, Inc.
Olin Corporation/Winchester Division
Remington Arms Company, LLC
Ruag Ammotec USA, Inc.
Savage Arms, Inc.
SIG SAUER
Smith & Wesson Firearms
St. Marks Powder, Inc.
Sturm Ruger and Company, Inc.
Taurus International Mfg., Co.
Weatherby, Inc.

Question: Did anybody hear who sponsored the SAAMI Spec?

As AA is not a voting member of any kind, one of the above outfits had to sponsor the standardization or the SAAMI std can't happen.

So, Who did it??..

..t

[Ghost Dog]

This is from the 6.5 Grendal site:

"SAAMI takes a while to get anything up. AA just hired Wayne Holt, who used to be at Hornady, to run the PR and commercial side of things. I would believe that they are turning stuff over to Wayne in that regard, and that once he gets his feet wet, the announcement will be made official by AA. "

Never hurts to have an inside man.

[Ghost Dog]

Just doing a little more Googling. Wayne Holt was Hornadys Director of Marketing.
"Wayne Holt was the #2 man at Hornady for many years and was with Glock prior to this. This is big move on Alexander Arms part. Should be very interesting to see how things go." From Legions Fate web site.


And who makes Grendal ammo???

[wildcatter]

Just doing a little more Googling. Wayne Holt was Hornadys Director of Marketing.
"Wayne Holt was the #2 man at Hornady for many years and was with Glock prior to this. This is big move on Alexander Arms part. Should be very interesting to see how things go." From Legions Fate web site.


And who makes Grendal ammo???

[ http://www.lg-outdoors.com/images/SS_61142.jpg ]

It seems that, but just a guesstimate, that Hornady is doing it, because Wayne is not a voting member..

..t

[Ghost Dog]

Wildcatter, I've been reading a lot about the Grendal lately. Dawg and Hoot perked my interests, so I had read about the Saami stuff earlier.
There's a lot of politicking and other movements in the Grendal, 6.8, etc world going on.
Being totally out of my realm, what's the importance of being Saami certified to Bill? And this seems all related to government contracts.

[wildcatter]

Wildcatter, I've been reading a lot about the Grendal lately. Dawg and Hoot perked my interests, so I had read about the Saami stuff earlier.
There's a lot of politicking and other movements in the Grendal, 6.8, etc world going on.
Being totally out of my realm, what's the importance of being Saami certified to Bill? And this seems all related to government contracts.

It's (saami) a standardization thing, clearing the way for normal relations with DOD, for possible adoption, etc. As the 6.8 has been saami approved for years and the gov hasn't formally adopted it either, the saami spec on the Grendel is prolly only a feel good step, in the final analysis, because the gov doesn't want either one. Those two cartridges couldn't live up to the initial hype, that fact highly ticked off SOCOM, after they spent several fortunes on the escapade. In other words, though the 6.5/6.8, do improve the performance, it's not enough to justify scraping the 223 and thus inheriting the enormous, associated, over-all tactical/logistics problems.. or so they tell me.. Think about it, the 6.5g is now down to a 95g bullet to make it work, so says socom. Compare the 6.5, 95gr, Hornady Amax, at 2800fps, in the Grendel, to the 223, 90gr Sierra at 2650fps, both from 24" barrels and both straining to achieve these results. Keep in mind the designated marksmen program was supposed to be shooting 300-1000yd rigs, from a M16 platform.

On a graph, which I just did, out to 1000yds, you can't readily see that they fly any much more differently from each other, until you hit about 600yds, then the 223 starts to slightly pull away from the 6.5g. AND, though the 6.5g starts out with some numbers better than the 223, in the energy department, at about 300yds, the 223 catches the 6.5g and fly's past it, with somewhat noticeably increased energy numbers. The Taylor Index is where the 6.5 shines, but not enough for me, but it would make a difference on a varmint at say 0 to 00yds, but again, the 223 catches the 6.5 at about 775yds and both loads are up to taking coyotes at that range.

So, you can split hairs, if you want, and you'd be correct, but those numbers, do not thrill the DOD, into taking on the monumental task (to say nothing of the astronomical financial outlays), of a switch-over.

All this is why BD and I, who have extensive experience with the 6.5's, in the hunting fields, say you need, at least the powder capacity of the 6.5x55, to really kick those stream-line bullet in the pants..

..t