The 6.5mm Grendel (6.5×39mm) is an intermediate cartridge jointly designed by British-American armorer Bill Alexander, competitive shooter Arne Brennan (of Houston, Texas ) and Lapua ballistician Janne Pohjoispää, as a low-recoil, high-precision rifle cartridge specifically for the AR-15 platform at medium/long range (200–800 yard). It is an improved variation of the 6.5mm PPC.
The 6.5mm Grendel cartridge was first unveiled in May 2003 at the Blackwater Training Facility in North Carolina, where it remained supersonic at 1,200 yd (1,100 m) range and out-shot the 7.62mm NATO with only half the recoil. Since its introduction, it has proven to be a versatile cartridge and is now expanding out into other firearm design platforms including bolt-action rifles and the Kalashnikov system.
The name "Grendel" is inspired by the mythical monster antagonist from the Old English epic poem Beowulf. It was a trademark owned by Alexander Arms (Bill Alexander's company in Radford, Virginia) and manufactured at Radford Arsenal,[8] until legally released in 2010 for SAAMI standardization with collaboration from Hornady.
The 224 Valkyrie Round is a 90 grain 6.8 bullet necked down to a 224 which is stable to 1000 yards. The 224 Valkyrie round is a new round from FC (Federal) that beats out the .22 Nosler, 6.5 Grendel and 5.56 round in all aspects and starts to approach on the 6.5 Creedmore while doing all of this on an AR platform. This round will provide you the energy retention of the 6.5 Grendel, comparable drop and drift of the 6.5 Creedmoor at 1000 yards and the up close power of the .22 Nosler. Bringing you the best of three different rounds into one superior round that can be used for both long range and short range without compromising either. It is trying to match the 6.5 Creedmore in drop and drift with a much smaller caliber, all while beating out the 6.5 Grendel with lower recoil and improved energy retention, and all this with the up close power of the .22 Nosler. Making this a comparable long range round but in a much smaller caliber, that is also much more versatile and able to be used in multiple situations.
With a round that is this versatile, it should be looked at by military and law enforcement because if it is put into 16-inch barrel rifle it could be used for both long-range precision shots as well as close range situations. For the shooters out there this round could help be a great choice for shooting competitions because of the loss of energy at longer ranges will help make the longer range shots with some power left over. A round like this would be great for hunters as it will have the ability to hunt varments to medium game.
