I had 2 barrels that wouldn’t Hornady 123s worth a crap whether it was black box 123 eldm or custom box “cheapies”. I have a friend that went through the same thing with his. One barrel was a budget barrel the other 2 were not. I pulled my upper and put the 5.56 back on. I’ll try some reloads one of these days.

I've read that SSTs (which should be the "Cheapies" you're referring to) have had some sort of production change leading to lower velocity and accuracy, but have yet to read of the ELDMs suffering the same fate, which is why I went with them. Perhaps they've finally gotten the same treatment SSTs did. Thank you for the information.

*UPDATE*

Got out to the range today, and this is the result of rebuild, replacing aluminum spacer with two steel weights in rifle buffer, releveling scope, re-mechanical zeroing scope, moving the gas block forward a touch and waiting at least 1 minute between shots.



Nearly had a heart attack when I first started shooting, and wasn't even hitting the backer... Sonofabitch... Finally realized I was WAY low (there're more way lower than shown as well) and you can see me walk it up and in to the final three shots in the center.

I'm pretty darn happy with that at this point, and after I confirmed BDC reticle lining up with velocity on gongs from 300 to 500 yards, I quit while I was ahead. Brass ejects right around 0300 now too.

I'd like to thank everyone that contributed help, and give @Lockstep a shoutout especially as ejected brass is also no longer caked around the neck and shoulder anymore, so I'm guessing moving the gas block up a touch gave the bolt that little extra room to seat completely without binding on the gas tube.

Again, thank you all for the support!

Thank you for the support.

Funny thing. I took my 6.5G back out last Friday after sitting for over 2 years. Had a box of black and smacked steel with it 3 for 3 at 350 yards. Grabbed a few out of the Custom box and did the same. These were different lot numbers from what I had previously that sprayed the target instead of grouping. Guess I’ll have to try and take a deer with it this year which is why I bought it.

Confirms what I thought, glad you got it squared away. It can be really frustrating!

Glad to read that yours is doing well now as well. Good luck on your hunt!

Thank you and yes, going from an extremely promising two touching to 3 moa was very frustrating, very pleased now!

Dont give up on it yet. Suggest you try the Tubbs barrel fouling system. I used this system on my cheap 6.5 Grendel barrel and it took care of my erratic follow up shots. If you don't reload you can purchase the loaded rounds for your Grendel.

Oh I'm pretty happy with it at this point, which is why I quit while I was ahead after the last three rounds in the center and then just confirming BDC reticle lining up with velocity. Next range trip should be very pleasing if the last one is any indication.