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6.5 Grendel barrels

T-Hoe

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Oct 25, 2010
636
120
Marion, IL
I am wanting to build another Grendel, but not sure which barrel to go with. I had a 24" AA overwatch upper and was very pleased with the way it shot, but I want a 20" this time for hunting and medium range target shooting. I will mostly be shooting the 123grn bullets. I talked to Alexander Arms at the NRA show and they told me the barrel and bolt kits are about 8 weeks out. I also checked midway, and they are all out of stock. So I am looking for advise and input before I order one from them. Any info would be appreciated.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

I have been searching around for my build as well and I will be going with the Alexander Arms barrel and bolt. Over all by the time I am doing doing it myself my upper will be around 900 or so maybe a lil more depending on the muzzle break I go with.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

www.65grendel.com is a great exchange of info on Grendels, but in keeping up with this search as well-I've been looking for a 20" Satern barrel, there are few true Grendel chambered barrels floating around, either new or used. Wait times appear to be around twice advertised length and since the round's been given SAAMI blessing, demand seems to have outstripped supply, for the time being. Might try Les Baer, Precision, Midway has had some Liberty-button rifled/made by Satern on occasion, Templar Custom, SAOD, GunBroker, some are .264LBC, some Grendel. AA button rifled Shaw barrels have had some good reports, as well. Good luck with search, but a wait may be your only option.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

Thanks for the information, I will try to call AA this week.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

When I had my 300 blk built the guys at Loki said they had some saturn genedel barrels in stock. It was a month or so back so no idea if they still have any but might be worth a check.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

Ordered my barrel from black hole weaponry. Technically a .264lbc but i honestly don't know why people argue about the differences. It shoots sub-moa without the high price tag so I'm okay with that
smile.gif
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

JT Distributing also has grendel barrels. Quite a few of the guys from 65grendel seem to recommend them. I've been searching around for a while on this too.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

My first grendel was from JT distributing. I still have it and it shoots great right about 3/4 moa with just about anything I feed it.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

H at AR15 Performance has the .264LBC 18" Melonite or stainless in stock.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

I ordered my lothar walther barrel 6-8 weeks ago. They are doing a run of them right now. Last I heard mine should ship any day now. If you email them you might be able to get in on it
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

Your gonna like the Lothar. This was my best grouping at 100 yds last week and managed a 1.5" grouping at 300 yds this past weekend.

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Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

Nice group! Are those reloads? What twist and profile/length is yours? I've got everything I need but the barrel. I have aa brass primed and ready to load too. They said mine should ship late last week... I hope it did.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

mwilkins-
6.5 CSS or true Grendel chamber? Just checked their site, and if up to date, only shows 6.5 CSS. See over on Grendel forum you've embarked on .338 project-interested to see how that goes. Thx.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

I built mine with a 20 inch satern barrel and its a tack driver, I hit a little packet of in the red targets rim fire stuff the other day those packs are only about 2 inchs square @ 500 yards first shot. 100 yard groups just over 1/4 MOA with factory hornady 123gr Amax bullets just off a bipod no rear rest. I have to go test it at the range again since I put the PRS stock on there and got a mono pod for on it.

IMG_0943.JPG

IMG_0924.JPG

grendel290moa.jpg
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

A Lothar here too. Yup it hammers.

This brings my point.
Seems that pretty much all the high end custom barrel makers produce about the same thing. Then it is brand loyalty very Ford vs Chevy.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

Thanks again guys. I just sent a email to LW asking about availability.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: kvwpwr</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Nice group! Are those reloads? What twist and profile/length is yours? I've got everything I need but the barrel. I have aa brass primed and ready to load too. They said mine should ship late last week... I hope it did. </div></div>

123 gr Hornady Amax, 8.75 twist on 24" barrel, Grendel chamber. I have put 100 gr Bergers, 120 gr Scenars and the 123 Hornady's through the barrel and believe it or not, they all performed very close to one another.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

I have a Sabre and it shoots the heavier bullets nicely. Who made their barrels?
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

Keep us updated about the LW. I would call, but that crotchety old man Woody that works there destroys every project I want to do just by being him, and frustrating the hell out of me. He is like every ignorant gun store salesman all rolled into one bitchy bitter old man.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

Sabre made Sabre's barrels. All of AA's 'Tacitcal' models, i.e. M-4 copies were Sabre barreled.
For a blasting barrel they were ok some of the time, but too many were made semi-questionably. The older ones were the better ones, and some of their stainless barrels they built and sold were nice.
Doesn't matter now though.

I have LW barrels that shoot rediculously well, and SHAW barrels that shoot good, given the choice LW is hard to beat and was one of the first in the Grendel game, so they know it well.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

Whats the price range on the LW grendels barrels? I'm thinking about building a new one with an 18-20 inch barrel but dont really want to spend a shit load on this one.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

I'm happy with JP barrel, don't know who makes them for JP.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

I have had 24 inch, 18 inch, and 19.5 inch Grendel barrels. The 24 inch is only useful for bench shooting, or long range varmint shooting, but they are very slow to track, or to engage multiple targets quickly.

The 18 inch barrel gives up a little more velocity than I wish. The cartridge is small, so to get the best performance, and efficiency out of the powders for that cartridge, a little longer barrel seems to work best.

If I only had one Grendel, I would order a 20 inch barrel, or one as close to that as possible.

Alexander Arms is now coming out with lots of new barrel profiles. If I had unlimited funds, I would order the best light, to medium weight, fluted 20 inch barrel I could find. I would have it mounted up into a ventilated tube forend, not one that doesn't allow lots of air flow around the barrel.

That way, I would get the best compromise with velocity, and would have a very fast handling rifle. The fluting would mitigate any heat issues that occur with long string of fire.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

No reply from LW yet. Getting closer to calling AA and just ordering one.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: MB198</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I'm happy with JP barrel, don't know who makes them for JP. </div></div>

JP dont sell just barrels you need to buy a whole upper from them to get a 6.5 grendel. I have a JP barrel for my .223 but after shooting a cut rifled barrel from satern Im thinking about putting a satern .223 barrel on in place of the JP.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

For whatever it worth, the customer service I have received from Alexander Arms went far, FAR beyond anything I would have expected. They have done extensive work for me and only charged about 20% of what I expected to pay.

When I was talking with them about the work they were doing on my rifle there, I chanced to ask about problems I was having with a different rifle. Even though the rifle wasn't one of theirs, the armorer gave me the info that I needed to fix the other rifle....that was pretty cool.

I just don't think customer service gets much better than that.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: lethal93ta</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

JP dont sell just barrels you need to buy a whole upper from them to get a 6.5 grendel. </div></div>

Incorrect. JP sells Grendel barrels:

http://www.jprifles.com/buy.php?item=JPSM6.5G-22M8



I've owned three different Satern Grendel barrels. All have been incredibly accurate.

I think Satern currently offers 264 LBC chambering, but they are reportedly planning to get another Grendel reamer, with availability expected later this year.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

as per JPs web page

http://www.jprifles.com/1.4.1_barrel.php

"While we do offer the high performance 6.5 Grendel® chambering in our complete rifles such as the CTR-02 and the JP-15, it is not offered as a stand-alone barrel kit or raw barrel. Due to the extreme performance nature of the cartridge, we prefer to offer that option only on rifles that we build."

when I called them about a year ago they would not sell me a barrel they wanted to build the whole upper. I was going to make my 6.5 just like my .223 JP but I wasnt going to spend the money on a upper from them when I can build them cheeper. maybe since then they changed there tune seeing the grendel take off like it did.
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: lethal93ta</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> ...maybe since then they changed there tune seeing the grendel take off like it did. </div></div>

Yes, things have changed. I know of people who purchased 6.5 Grendel barrels direct from JP within the last month or two. Call JP if you have doubts.

Link below indicates "call to order":

http://www.jprifles.com/buy.php?item=JPSM6.5G-22M8
 
Re: 6.5 Grendel barrels

Thanks guys for all the input. I ordered two barrels from Alexander arms last week.