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Thread: 6.5 Grendel barrel suggestions

  1. #11
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    I have some experience with barrels by Alexander Arms and Satern. Both are of excellent quality and are very accurate (again, in my experience).

    I'm planning to build a Grendel later this spring and will be using a Satern Liberty barrel over one by Alexander mainly because it's available with 5/8-24 threading at the muzzle where AA still only sells their barrels with 9/16 threads. Another nice bonus is that Satern sells their Grendel barrels with a matched bolt.

    But again, anything made by AA is top quality. Their hard use Grendel bolts are good to go.
    Last edited by Tx_Aggie; 02-27-17 at 22:31.

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tx_Aggie View Post
    I have some experience with barrels by Alexander Arms and Satern. Both are of excellent quality and are very accurate (again, in my experience).

    I'm planning to build a Grendel later this spring and will be using a Satern Liberty barrel over one by Alexander mainly because it's available with 5/8-24 threading at the muzzle where AA still only sells their barrels with 9/16 threads. Another nice bonus is that Satern sells their Grendel barrels with a matched bolt.

    But again, anything made by AA is top quality. Their hard use Grendel bolts are good to go.
    Personally, I'd steer clear of the Liberty, it's an economy barrel with a pretty checkered past. Many folks had issues with throats and short chambers. It's also not a real Satern, though associated/owned by them. For the cost they charged many to correct their own mfg problem you could have bought a much better barrel.

    Now their answer is a completely non-standard long/sloppy throat, with weasel words that the throat is not part of SAMMI, etc.

    The AA designed compound throat is what makes the grendel shoot many different bullets well. You really don't want to lose that unless you are trying to optimize for a single loading like LBC did. And even then it's not clear it was a significant difference.

    The AA lite barrels are much better for the money, IMO.

  3. #13
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    Does anyone have experience shooting Wolf 6.5 Grendel ammo? What sort of accuracy can you manage?

  4. #14
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    Shot in both AA 16" and Shilen 18" while not shooting groups, hits on steel 1.5-2 "moa" doing positional training out to 400. Function 100% and does not cause any issues shooting brass afterwards, etc.
    GET IN YOUR BUBBLE!

  5. #15
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    I've had a scratch on my butt for a long time to build a Grendel and pulled the trigger a few weeks ago ordering parts. I wanted a reasonably light, match grade rig to tinker and experiment with. I ordered the fluted AA 18" barrel (on sale for $200 right now through AA) and a bunch of other stuff including an AA bolt, a BCM carrier and NF FFP scope. I figure since AA developed the round, I'd run their stuff. Ordered 1200 rds of Hornady SST loaded ammo today. 1000 to stash and 200 to shoot and reload. The AA stainless barrels are not coated in any way afaik. I'm still on the fence about nitriding, but I like the idea of it. New barrels have tooling marks/burrs inside and breaking them in is how you remove them or "lay them down". If you take a brand new barrel with the burrs in the bore from machining and nitride it, the imperfections internally seem like they'd become hard & remain. I've talked with some of the long range guys I used to shoot with about this and they agree. But being that barrels are so cheap m ok replacing it every 5-10k rounds to achieve the max accuracy potential for the barrel. One think I can say for certain is that the guys I used to shoot the 1000yd matches with locally, not one of them had a nitrited barrel. All raw stainless bores with the exception of a few new guys who ran non-lined steel barrels on factory rifles. The only part I'm waiting on now is the barrel. I assume they're back ordered. Everything else will be here this week and I'll post my humble review when it's done.

    As far as shooting steel cased ammo through a non-lined bore, I can't see how it would damage anything. The laquer coating might leave some residue in the chamber but as far as permanent damage to the barrel, I doubt there would be any. I plan on running some Wolf through mine just to see how it shoots.
    Last edited by a1fabweld; 03-29-17 at 16:48.

  6. #16
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    Steel case ammo tends to have a bimetal jacket that's harder than the copper jacket on conventional ammo.

    The LuckyGunner test: http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/bras...el-cased-ammo/ probably has some flaws, but showed significantly faster wear using steel case vs brass.

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by a1fabweld View Post
    I've had a scratch on my butt for a long time to build a Grendel and pulled the trigger a few weeks ago ordering parts. I wanted a reasonably light, match grade rig to tinker and experiment with. I ordered the fluted AA 18" barrel (on sale for $200 right now through AA) and a bunch of other stuff including an AA bolt, a BCM carrier and NF FFP scope. I figure since AA developed the round, I'd run their stuff. Ordered 1200 rds of Hornady SST loaded ammo today. 1000 to stash and 200 to shoot and reload. The AA stainless barrels are not coated in any way afaik. I'm still on the fence about nitriding, but I like the idea of it. New barrels have tooling marks/burrs inside and breaking them in is how you remove them or "lay them down". If you take a brand new barrel with the burrs in the bore from machining and nitride it, the imperfections internally seem like they'd become hard & remain. I've talked with some of the long range guys I used to shoot with about this and they agree. But being that barrels are so cheap m ok replacing it every 5-10k rounds to achieve the max accuracy potential for the barrel. One think I can say for certain is that the guys I used to shoot the 1000yd matches with locally, not one of them had a nitrited barrel. All raw stainless bores with the exception of a few new guys who ran non-lined steel barrels on factory rifles. The only part I'm waiting on now is the barrel. I assume they're back ordered. Everything else will be here this week and I'll post my humble review when it's done.

    As far as shooting steel cased ammo through a non-lined bore, I can't see how it would damage anything. The laquer coating might leave some residue in the chamber but as far as permanent damage to the barrel, I doubt there would be any. I plan on running some Wolf through mine just to see how it shoots.
    What muzzle device are you using? I was looking at that barrel and considering it, but the fact that it is 9/16-24 and there are not many muzzle devices in that thread, your options are limited. What did you go with?

  8. #18
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    Great article you linked Junkie. Very informative.

    Fallenromeo, I'm still looking for a muzzle device. I may take a 5.56 brake, open it up, and thread it.

  9. #19
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    No need to modify a 5.56 brake when there are so many muzzle devices on the market for both 9/16x24 and 5/8x24 threads.

    I've had a lot of great results from several AA, Lilja, Satern, Bartlein from PF, Criterion from PF, Specialized Dynamics, and some others I can't recall off the top of my head.

    So many of my AR15s seem to be tuning into 6.5 Grendel now, that I'm having a hard time keeping track of what's happening. I got a Grendel bolt gun as well for the kids to learn on, a little Howa Mini that has almost no felt recoil, like my Lilja 318 Grendel.



    I also have 2 builds going on with 18" AA Fluted barrels, and have built a lot of uppers with the 16" fluted AA barrels. Those have shot anywhere from 1/2" to 1.2" 5rd groups at 100yds with Hornady factory 123gr SST.

    I've got a 22" Lilja Grendel barrel build in the slo-mo process of coming together as well, built on billet receivers. I plan to mostly replace my .260 Rem with that shooting 130gr VLDs, 130gr Norma GTs, and 130gr Hornady ELD-M for a dedicated target rifle role, whereas all my others are really lightweight and handy for ease of carry in the field, and ease of maneuver.

    Faxon Firearms and Ballistic Advantage have started making Grendel barrels as well, but I haven't put my hands on them yet. I like what I've seen from them in 5.56 NATO so far though.

  10. #20
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    As with most things Grendel, LRRPF52 is correct. While 9/16x24 is not as "common" as 1/2-28 or 5/8x24 (FAL pattern originally IIRC), there are enough out there to be a decent enough selection. You just have to look at the manufacturer's websites as opposed to the large retailers/resellers as they don't stock full selections. For example, I am using a brake from Silencerco (Trifecta Saker 7.62 mount) for my 16" fluted AA barrel. Currently waiting on the upper to come back from AR15barrels (timing brake via lathe work, pinning gas block, etc.) and then it will be done except for the optics. Putting a spare VX-R 3-9x on it for this coming deer season while I determine what I really want long term.
    Last edited by cdmiller; 07-16-17 at 21:13. Reason: Typo

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