Originally Posted by David_Walter
When I go to the "ballistic" app, and select for "best flatness" for the 223 and the 6.5 Grendel, I get the 55 grain Hornady VMAX Superperformance and the 100 grain Wolf FMJ-BT.

Trajectory seems to be similar out to 600 yards, but the Grendel has 818ft-lbs energy at 600 while the 223 has just 306 ft-lbs.

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David - we've discussed my 12.5" Grendel a couple times IIRC, so I can comment from experience - compared to a 75/77gr 5.56, the short Grendel with the 123 ELD (or something similar) has a lot more drop, but a lot less wind drift and more power on target at distance. Because of the reduced wind drift, it's a lot easier to hit with at distance than my 16" 5.56, especially in changing conditions. It's kind of fun to dial in a bunch of drop or hold over at 600-ish yards and drop those slow heavy bullets on target. (relatively to a 5.56 anyway)
Some numbers you can use for comparison:
123gr ELDM - 2350 fps
75gr BTHP - 2680 fps (add maybe 50-100 fps for a 20" if you want)

You won't have much luck at all with 55gr 5.56 at distance; way too much variation in the wind.


My personal experience is that for long distance in a small frame AR, the 243 LBC and other 6mm Grendel-based wildcats outrun everything else I've compared. They also have more room in the magazine to play with seating depth and chasing the lands. I have not shot a Valkyrie side by side with my 243, but on paper the real world velocity and b.c. numbers don't seem quite as good (the early published numbers appear to have been pretty optimistic). Only advantage I see to the V is factory ammo, if that's your thing.
A couple of my 243 LBC loads to compare, if you want to play with a ballistic calculator:
95gr VLD-H - 2930 fps
105gr BTHP - 2800 fps

(All of my numbers above are for sea level or very close to it.)

Last edited by Yondering; 08/13/19.