Just thought I’d pick the the hives brain on actual 6 ARC Bolt life


I’ve  been trying to dig around and find a reliable source of testing and research on the actual bolt life but I only seem to find parroted info on how much thinner the edges round the bolt face are which I understand .

Just trying to get a reasonable expectation of actual service life with factory ammo. If anyone has any source of info or personal experience input would be appreciated. Info seems to be mixed or slanted.

I intend to shoot the crap out of the 6mm ARC I'm building now but it’ll take awhile for me to report back on service life.

I bought a Rexus bolt to start with already

I've shot 6.5 Grendel from release, been wildcatting 6mmAR for almost a decade.

I've used proper .136 bolts, brass cases and I've loaded the 6mmAR warm.

I've never broken a bolt. Ever. I still have my first Grendel build which has to have over 4000 rounds of 123AMAX handloads loaded very spicey.

With Geissele now making 6/6.5/22 ARC bolts, I believe this will be a thing of the past.

Dupe

I don’t have an exact round count with my Grendels (same bolt as 6ARC), but I’ve broken a couple and numerous extractors. I’ve never broken a 5.56 bolt despite having been a frequent shooter and high power competitor.

The material relieved for the larger case head does shorten bolt life. Having a spare bolt on hand will keep your range day going. Bolts are relatively inexpensive. They are consumables. Shorter bolt life should not stop you from enjoying your 6ARC.

I broke the extractor on my 6 arc but, I was using slightly above gas data.  I threw the best extractor for grendel/arc and havnt had issues so far.  Im not loading above gas gun data anymore either.
My grendel Ive got over 1,000 something on it, no issues because Im not loading it past gas data either.

Yeah that’s not going to stop me from messing with it. I understand the nature of the bolt design but kinda figured the random numbers people put out on bolt life are vastly overblown .


I was a pretty early adopter of 6.5 Grendel and spent a couple years loading and shooting an Odin Works Bolt and barrel combo.


I must have been under a rock, haven’t seen the Giessele GFR, pretty snazzy

SOLGW Alpha Bolt made from Aermet will be a game changer.
My 6.5 Grendel uses the ARP 750XD bolt and will outlive me, even with crazy hot loads.

Who sells those ?


My google fu is failing

Having an over gassed 6.5 Grendel will shorten the life of extractors and bolts.  There have been problems where bolts would fail if the receiver face was not square causing the bolt not to be in proper alignment with barrel extension.   Running over 52,000 PSI shortens bolt life but is even worse when over gassed.


Shooting rapid fire strings where there is a lot of heat will generally shorten the life of an AR-15.   I’d assume that would apply equally to a 6.5 Grendel AR-15.   I’ve been around several 6.5 Grendel AR-15’s and I’ve seen one bolt fail early on with a Brownell’s 18” mid length 6.5 Grendel barrel.   This barrel had a short chamber plus an oversized gas port.   The owner added an adjustable gas block and started watching the cartridge overall length of his reloads and never had another problem.   The barrel was accurate so he decided to keep it since he mostly shot reloads.  

I have a 16” carbine gas length 6.5 Grendel which was over gassed.  I keep spare bolts and extractors and had an extractor fail after a couple thousand rounds.   After the extractor failed I got an adjustable gas key for my bolt carrier and made the 16” upper much better.   This 16” 6.5 Grendel barrel has always been accurate even when it was over gassed.    I look at bolts as wear items just like tires and brakes on autos.  How you use them determines how long before you have to replace them.

I don't think the Son's of Liberty Gun Works Alpha bolt is for sale, yet.
Unfortunately, ARP is no more and no one, to my knowledge, makes a comparable bolt and extension.

If you really want high performance in an AR 15 package, check out the POF Rogue Prescotts in 6.5 and 6mm Creedmoor.