Which one to buy or build??

For under 200 mostly 150 either will do the job. If I went the 6.5 Grendel route I'd go .264LBC instead same thing different maker so different name do to copy right. Thing is the 264 uses a 7.62x39 bolt and the 6.5 uses a 6.5 grendel bolt.
I'm seriously thinking when I go with a hvy thumper it will be the 450 Bushmaster myself.

So I guess my answer would be 450 for 150 yards and less.

Well if I go with the 450, I will for sure buy a reloader. You can buy the Grendel ammo without breaking the bank for hunting. But the 450 is higher. I think that the 450 would be a great woods gun and small to medium green fields. Hogs and big bucks would roll with a shoulder hit or tucked tight behind the shoulder.
And as for defense; who would want to charge a semi-auto spitting out 300 grain slugs that would knock down good size pine saplings. Which reminds me, I have to get back on my thurty thurty and Ruger 44 carbine. I,m back on track now, had a good looking woman distracting me. A mans got to do what a mans got to do, at my age, buy more guns. :101010:

DEADEYE 1 said:

Would you rather build a 450 Bushmaster AR? Or a 6.5 Grendel for up to 200 yards but mostly under 150 yards. I think they are both AR, not A10. I see a lot of 308 uppers now. The 450 goes back to the old argument big heavy bullet vs. small fast bullet. Although the 450 is going over 2.000 fps.

Click to expand...

For hunting I’ve found that large slow moving rounds, .50 muzzleloader or .45-70 in particular, kill quickly with almost no damage to the meat. While a fast moving smaller caliber, .223, .243, .30-‘06, .300Win, etc., damage (bloodshot) far more meat than the large slow movers and don’t kill any quicker.

That being said I only hunt with 30-‘06 or .223 these days. Neck shots being my intention it doesn’t make much difference, IMO.

I have hunted with 45 caliber, 50 caliber, and 54 caliber Thompson Center muzzleloaders using maxie-bullets with TC lube in the grooves. Back in the 70s and early to mid 80s I killed deer with all three calibers. I never recovered a bullet on a deer that I killed with them. Complete pass through on all .There was a big hole on exit. But like you said, not as much meat damage from hydrostatic shock.

For 200 yards and under the 450 bushmaster is going to be a great choice. The 6.5 is a good round and cheaper to load for but IMHO is better suited to longer distances. For hunting where you're not going through a lot of ammo; 450 would be my choice.

EDIT: Just an FYI if you plan on loading your own 450 BM rounds one of the nice things is that with a Lee bullet sizer you can resize 458 bullets to 452 giving you much greater bullet options (from like 140gr to 600 gr). I 140 gr in the 450 GM would give you something like 2500 fps and extend your range if you so desired.

oO_Rogue_Oo said:

For 200 yards and under the 450 bushmaster is going to be a great choice. The 6.5 is a good round and cheaper to load for but IMHO is better suited to longer distances. For hunting where you're not going through a lot of ammo; 450 would be my choice.

EDIT: Just an FYI if you plan on loading your own 450 BM rounds one of the nice things is that with a Lee bullet sizer you can resize 458 bullets to 452 giving you much greater bullet options (from like 140gr to 600 gr). I 140 gr in the 450 GM would give you something like 2500 fps and extend your range if you so desired.

Click to expand...

Thanks did not know that.

Build is the way to go, unless you want a lot of unused parts laying around