The first frosty morning of January, I left the truck well before dawn and started easing down the two-track that bisects the hayfield. A half-moon threw enough light to walk without a headlamp, but it was just bright enough to see my breath. Halfway to the treeline, a coyote yipped on the ridge north of me and got an immediate response from two more down in the hollow to the south. Perfect. I’d slipped a call into the pocket of my vest just in case, but this New Year’s morning, it sounded like nature had already started the conversation.
Testing the Stag Arms Pursuit in 6.5 Grendel
I eased into a fencerow and dropped the seat on my turkey vest that was pulling cold-weather duty as a predator hunting vest. The rifle lying across my lap— a Stag 15 Pursuit in 6.5 Grendel—is an AR made to hunt.
Sporting an 18-inch stainless barrel, the rest of the Stag-15 Pursuit is finished in a subdued Midnight Bronze that blends well with winter foliage. The rifle balanced well with a Trijocon 5-20x AccuPoint optic set in medium rings, and even in the half-light, the rifle’s finish didn’t throw a hint of glare. This is a rifle made to disappear.
Field Notes
The Stag 15 Pursuit isn’t another heavy-barrel varmint rifle or a chunky tactical clone. It’s a hunting rifle first — plain and simple. Built around the familiar AR-15 platform, it takes the best parts of modern semi-auto design and pares them down to the essentials: a free-floated 18-inch barrel for consistent accuracy, a corrosion-resistant nitride finish that shrugs off weather, and controls that fall naturally under your fingers when you’re cold, gloved, and short on time.
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At a glance, you might assume it’s just another mid-weight AR, but that’s selling it short. The Pursuit’s upper and lower are fit tightly with no rattle or slop, and the trigger — a Triggertech Duty AR 2-Stage Pro — breaks cleanly enough to reward discipline and not punish adrenaline. It’s the kind of rifle you can ride around in the truck all season and still trust for that one long shot that ends a stand in your favor.
Heart of the Setup
The heart of this setup is the 18-inch stainless nitride barrel, which strikes a near-perfect compromise between compact handling and full-powder burn performance. Shorter tubes give up too much velocity for the 6.5 Grendel’s mid-weight bullets; longer barrels add speed but start to feel ungainly in brush or when climbing into a blind. At 18 inches, the Pursuit keeps the Grendel’s ballistics honest — and the nitride treatment ensures it’ll stay accurate longer.
The free-floated M-Lok handguard offers plenty of accessory mounting options. The stock furniture is utilitarian Magpul but comfortable, and the rifle shoulders naturally, whether you’re wearing a heavy coat or just a thin base layer on a warm day. One of my favorite features is the leather cheek riser, a nice added touch.
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Cartridge Commentary
The 6.5 Grendel doesn’t get the fanfare of newer cartridges, but for the AR-15 platform, it’s about as elegant as ballistics gets. Alexander Arms designed it to stretch the AR’s legs without stepping up to the bulk and recoil of the AR-10 family. The case is a descendant of the old.220 Russian/7.62×39 lineage lets you run bullets in the 100- to 130-grain class with genuine long-range stability.
Out of the Pursuit’s 18-inch barrel, a typical 120- to 123-grain bullet clocks around 2,475 fps, give or take, depending on the powder and load. That doesn’t sound earth-shattering until you realize how efficiently those sleek 6.5 mm bullets maintain their speed. Compared to .223, the Grendel drifts less in wind, hits harder at 300 yards, and maintains respectable velocity well past the point where lighter varmint rounds are coasting on fumes.
Coyote Crusher
Coyotes are a good proving ground for ballistic efficiency. They don’t sit still, they don’t soak up energy gracefully, and they’ll make you pay for any mistake in range estimation. Inside 300 yards, the Grendel simply doesn’t care — hit placement is what matters. With bullets like Hornady’s 123-grain ELD-M or Federal’s 120-grain Fusion, you get the same trajectory you’d expect from a flat-shooting varmint round, but with the authority to anchor bigger game like whitetails without apology.
Ballistic Reality Check
To put numbers to the talk, here’s a practical downrange picture of the 6.5 Grendel from an 18-inch barrel with a 123-grain Hornady hunting bullet zeroed at 100 yards.
| Range (yd) | Velocity (fps) | Energy (ft·lb) | Drop (in) |
| 0 | 2475 | 1637 | 0 |
| 100 | 2310 | 14600 | 0 |
| 200 | 2156 | 1269 | 2 |
| 300 | 2005 | 1098 | 11.4 |
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These aren’t lab numbers; they’re what you can expect on a crisp morning with standard factory loads. By 300 yards, you’re still delivering almost 1,100 foot-pounds of bullet energy— enough for deer with properly constructed bullets — and the trajectory stays gentle enough that a 300-yard holdover feels intuitive. For coyotes, the Grendel hits like a hammer and leaves no doubt when you connect.
At 350 yards, the energy still hovers around a grand. That’s where the Grendel’s BC advantage keeps the bullet flatter, and it’s one reason many seasoned AR hunters have migrated to this cartridge: you get the range of a .243 Winchester class load in a rifle that recoils like a .223.
Range Time
On the bench, the Stag Pursuit printed factory Hornady 123-grain ELD-M groups just under an inch at 100 yards when fired in slow five-shot strings. Federal 120-grain Fusions did about the same. I gave the rifle a brief cool-down between groups and saw almost no point-of-impact shift. For a factory semi-auto with a hunting-weight barrel, that’s excellent performance.
Recoil is light — a slow push instead of a jab — and the rifle tracks beautifully through the shot. The muzzle barely hops, letting you spot your own hits. The trigger broke cleanly at just under four pounds on my RCBS gauge with a normal reset. I wouldn’t bother swapping it for an aftermarket unit; this one is good enough to leave alone.
With a 100-yard zero, my 200-yard hold with the 123-grain load was roughly the top of a coyote’s back. At 300 yards, a foot of hold dropped impacts right where the table predicted. When you can translate data into field reality that cleanly, confidence skyrockets.
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Back in the Field
Late in the afternoon, I called in another pair. The first one came hard to the sound of ‘yote puppy distress and stopped broadside at 125 yards, quartering slightly. The crosshairs settled high on the shoulder, and the shot broke clean. The coyote folded on the spot. The second spun and loped out to 240 yards before pausing. I held just above the spine and sent the second round. Through the scope, I saw dust kick behind him — a clean miss over the top. I smiled; even the best rifles won’t fix a shooter who rushes.
Walking up to the first coyote, I noticed a neat, thumb-sized exit wound — not explosive, just decisive. That’s the Grendel’s signature: efficient energy transfer without hide-wrecking overexpansion. For predator hunters who want to keep pelts intact, that’s a small miracle.
Verdict
The Stag 15 Pursuit 6.5 Grendel isn’t chasing trends or pretending to be a precision-race gun. It’s a hunter’s AR — simple, dependable, and accurate. The Midnight Bronze finish looks sharp without being flashy, the nitride barrel adds longevity, and the 6.5 Grendel cartridge finally gives the AR-15 platform the legs it always deserved.
If your hunting season swings between coyotes and whitetails, and you want one rifle that can bridge that gap with minimal fuss, this one deserves a slot in the rack. It’s accurate enough for beanfield deer, rugged enough for truck duty, and soft-shooting enough for long sessions on the range.
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Like any good hunting rifle, it’s more tool than toy — built for the person who’s in pursuit.
For more information, visit Stag Arms
Specifications
| Manufacturer: | Stag Arms |
| Model: | Stag 15 Pursuit |
| Caliber: | 6.5 Grendel |
| Barrel: | 18 inches, nitride finish |
| Overall Length: | 36.5 inches |
| Weight: | 7.5 pounds empty |
| Action: | Semi-automatic AR-15 |
| Finish: | Midnight Bronze Cerakote |
| Capacity: | 16 + 1 |
| MSRP: | $1,649 |
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