Photos: Prototype 6.5 Grendel AK Rifle from Definitive Arms
Matt Korovesis 10.13.15
Definitive Arms is one of the best AK shops in the United States and has created some of the coolest custom and production Kalashnikovs around. At last week’s Big 3 East fall event in Daytona Beach, they brought out an exciting prototype: an extensively customized Vepr AK rifle chambered in 6.5 Grendel that was quickly dubbed the “GrendAK.”
The base gun used in the GrendAK project is a Russian-made Vepr rifle. The 6.5 Grendel Veprs just recently came into the United States, with the first models offered up for retail sale last month.
6.5 Grendel is seen by many as the perfect compromise between smaller intermediate cartridges like 5.56x45mm and larger ones like 7.62x39mm. It is lightweight, flat-shooting, and still hits hard beyond 500 meters. Wolf Performance Arms recently began offering Russian-made, steel-cased 6.5 Grendel in the United States, making plinking with the cartridge much more affordable.
The rifle sports a heavy, 16.5-inch chrome-lined barrel attached to an RPK-style reinforced front trunnion and receiver (RPKs are the light machine gun versions of the AK). A brake on the muzzle helps further tame the mild recoil of 6.5 Grendel. Definitive Arms fitted a tuned Tapco G2 trigger to the gun, lightening the somewhat-heavier Russian trigger’s pull.
Definitive Arms added a slightly modified version of their signature AK-mounted AR magazine well to the rifle, making magazine swaps (utilizing AR-pattern 6.5 Grendel mags) a breeze. The magwell also incorporates a bolt hold-open device and a bolt release, bringing some of the best features of the AR to the reliable AK platform.
During Big 3 East, a Hi-Lux CMR 1-4x scope in an RS Regulate mount was added to the GrendAK to stretch its legs at longer distances. After it was sighted in, Rich from MarksmanshipTrainer.com was repeatedly landing hits on steel silhouettes set up at 500 yards.
Definitive Arms also outfitted the GrendAK with a custom-fitted Magpul Zhukov handguard, CTR buttstock attached via a Bonesteel Arms folding hinge and buffer tube, and MOE AK grip. The Magpul furniture is a significant improvement over the Vepr’s standard wooden furniture. The Zhukov handguard was particularly welcome, as it allowed shooters to get their support hands farther out on the front-heavy Vepr.
Definitive Arms is considering offering converted rifles in this configuration, but has no solid plans for a run just yet. Having witnessed the quality and care they put into each rifle (and having had significant time with the GrendAK itself at Big 3) during a build class with them, I’m confident a line of DA-modified 6.5 Grendel Veprs would be quite successful.
I've been a history and gun enthusiast since I was a kid. I love to shoot just about anything, from silenced bolt-action .22s to fully automatic heavy machine guns, and I love even more when I get to write about them. My main interests are modern small arms and the military small arms of World War II and prior conflicts, with a particular focus on Russian and Finnish firearms. Reading about guns like the Mosin-Nagant rifle in books and on the internet got me interested in collecting, shooting, and writing about them, and I hope to do the same for others through my work.
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