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Geissele GFR Maritime Reconnaissance 6mm arc write up and review

My friend has a build with a Noveske 12.5 barrel. This is the AB numbers I ran off his velocity of 2369 fps with eld-m’s.

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Great info! I should have said out to 500y (about as far as I want to shoot a 556). Certainly better long range performance with the ARC, but I don't love the 1 MIL of drop from 800 to 850.

I will say that the idea behind my 14.7" is to compromise somewhere between the 11.5" and 18" which I think it will do well (and the 14.7" is probably what I'll end up keeping if I can get the lighter bullets to a speed to help me hold coyote fur to 300y)
 
The plan is to put a ZCO 420 on the 20 inch stratomatch and ZCO 210 on 14.5, but that’ll take a bit to save up cause I decided to venture into the custom 2011 game 🫠. In the meantime I’ll vulture optics off my ar10s.
 
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finally got the gfr scoped properly to a more fitting optic and got it zeroed. Rifle hadn’t been shot since doing this review. Added the hux 6k as well and shot two 5 shot groups back to back. These weren’t cherry picked and were the only two I shot. Used 108 grn eld match. Maybe it’s just me but for a chrome lined barrel that’s pretty damn good to me.

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Impressive rifle. I will eventually try one of these out in 16 inch form if they continue to have good feedback. The main thing I am concerned about is the bolt life over the long run. @JohnDeereGuy1996 thanks for the info. How many rounds do you have on it now?
I’m only a little over 100 or so. Haven’t got to shoot much lately unfortunately.
 
Also these new rifles come with no magazine and the geissele mags are unobtanium now. So I have a 3k rifle with no magazine. Real nice geissele.
If a maritime reconnaissance is successful no shots are fired, so no magazine = no big deal.

-Stan
 
My mind is blown that on a $3650 they don't give you twist rate of the barrel. It's got to be at least 8T I'd hope. Also guessing the free bore & neck clearance is on the loose side you know for "duty". Those 80 VT's must be jumping a mile and apparently aren't happy about it.

The 80 VT's state 8T min, but 2750 isn't all that fast.

I'll be trying some hand loaded 80 VT's in a 22" 7T here shortly. The 62's shot great in a 7T Valkyrie.
Or at least 2 fkn mags
 
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Filed form 4 on Friday and got approval today. Scope mount showed up as well. Picked up a couple boxes of hornady 108eldm,103 eldx and the 80gr. Will have a range report soon as I get time to shoot. Hoping one of these 3 will shoot good as I wasn’t planning on reloading for it.

Your Husband must be a Army Vet with those ODG Cabinets.
 
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The barrel extension is longer, so proprietary upper and barrel. Unsure on the bolt. Geissele has mentioned the barrel extension previously as to the reason they won’t sell individual barrels in 6arc.

Bolts interchange in standard AR-15s. Not sure about reverse compatibility with other bolts but I also don't think you'd want to do that other than in a pinch. The G bolts have been among the best I've tested for durability/longevity.
 
Any others that jumped out in the durability department?

Had good luck with the 6.5 Outfitters (Rexus now I think) and Maxim bolts. JP we broke a couple of extractors but the lugs held up fine.

I smashed and peened and broke several no-name budget bolts, which during the covid shortage was the reason for all of the follow-on testing because I got a little worried that it was a Grendel/ARC-wide problem. At the time, I was searching for anything I could get and in the deep dark corners of the internet that's what I was able to find. It turns out it was most likely a material/processing issue. Especially on a F/A lower for whatever reason cheap soft bolts would set-back. One set back .019" and peened out so wide on the lugs it wouldn't fit into the extension anymore. This happened across a string of full auto fire and the rate of fire continually dropped until it jammed as the lugs created a friction fit with the extension.

The ones I mentioned above made it through 500-700 rounds of F/A fire without any measurable setback. The Geissele bolts we have thousands of rounds on close to 10 of those bolts now, and eventually broke one after about 7000 rounds total, 800 of those were F/A 58,000-60,000psi loads (NOT a suggestion for anyone else to try it).
 
With the Geissele mags being unobtanium/stupid expensive and the rifles not coming with them anymore, I have a spare 5 round (I think, its the shortest one) that I wont be using that I'm happy to give to someone if they need one for their rifle.
 
With the Geissele mags being unobtanium/stupid expensive and the rifles not coming with them anymore, I have a spare 5 round (I think, its the shortest one) that I wont be using that I'm happy to give to someone if they need one for their rifle.
I just picked up one of the new ambi 16” GFR and it came with a 8rd magazine.
 
Who has them in stock? Been backordered w/Scopelist-EuroOptic. How’s the new ambi lower?
Rooftop defense. He generally doesn’t charge tax either depending on what state you’re in. If you are military it’s also a 10% discount. I love the ambi lower so far. It’s pretty cool to release the bolt you push down on the dust cover. He had 14.5 and 16” still in stock yesterday.
 
Rooftop defense. He generally doesn’t charge tax either depending on what state you’re in. If you are military it’s also a 10% discount. I love the ambi lower so far. It’s pretty cool to release the bolt you push down on the dust cover. He had 14.5 and 16” still in stock yesterday.
Rooftop seems to have a lot of hard to find items in stock without all the bs of having to wait weeks and weeks for it like optics planet. I think I got a vltor MUR upper from them when no one else had them and it shipped right away.
 
Rooftop seems to have a lot of hard to find items in stock without all the bs of having to wait weeks and weeks for it like optics planet. I think I got a vltor MUR upper from them when no one else had them and it shipped right away.
I agree. Anytime he has something in stock I’m looking for i use him. This time around he was the first to get the ambi gfr. He always ships same day as well unless it’s after 5. Usaully always lets you use random coupon codes you can find as well. Good people over there for sure.
 
I agree. Anytime he has something in stock I’m looking for i use him. This time around he was the first to get the ambi gfr. He always ships same day as well unless it’s after 5. Usaully always lets you use random coupon codes you can find as well. Good people over there for sure.
Sol at rooftop is as good as they come. Honest fellow Arkansan.
 
@JohnDeereGuy1996 how do you feel the geissele gfr 6mm arc 18 inch rifle is gassed ? I am thinking of picking up one of the non ambi models that are marked down in price for $2300 . I will be using my non flow through dead air nomad 30 cal can to suppress the rifle. From your experience do you think I will experience over gassing with this setup ?
 
@JohnDeereGuy1996 how do you feel the geissele gfr 6mm arc 18 inch rifle is gassed ? I am thinking of picking up one of the non ambi models that are marked down in price for $2300 . I will be using my non flow through dead air nomad 30 cal can to suppress the rifle. From your experience do you think I will experience over gassing with this setup ?
I think it will be perfectly fine. You’ll be pleased
 
The stratomatch is where its at. Cut rifle vs CHF makes a huge difference in accuracy.

If you are going to run the gun like a dirty whore at short in distances, then the CHF is fine. If you care about shooting small groups, get the cut rifle.

I dont know about that brother, every single heavy contour Geissele chromed lined barrel I've tested so far has been Sub Half MOA capable. Their CHF Chromed barrels are the best I've seen, they look just as good as all the Knights Cut rifled chromed barrels I've inspected.
 
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I dont know about that brother, every single heavy contour Geissele chromed lined barrel I've tested so far has been Sub Half MOA capable. Their CHF Chromed barrels are the best I've seen, they look just as good as all the Knights Cut rifled chromed barrels I've inspected.
I've also had really good (0.5ish MOA) accuracy with G$ CHF chrome lined barrels (14.5" super duty upper). These don't have the heavy contour but still shoot lights out.
 
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The stratomatch is where its at. Cut rifle vs CHF makes a huge difference in accuracy.

If you are going to run the gun like a dirty whore at short in distances, then the CHF is fine. If you care about shooting small groups, get the cut rifle.
I'd like to see a comparison between the two in terms of accuracy. I'm actually leaning toward CHF, as Geissele seems to make pretty accurate chrome lined barrels. It would be nice not worrying about barrel life for a long time.
 
I dont know about that brother, every single heavy contour Geissele chromed lined barrel I've tested so far has been Sub Half MOA capable. Their CHF Chromed barrels are the best I've seen, they look just as good as all the Knights Cut rifled chromed barrels I've inspected.
Hear that and agree with you. They have something special going on with that phased gas array and their chroming process.

Their cut rifles are just better. Obviously not as durable but you will wring every bit of accuracy out of the system there is the potential for.
 
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Here are 2 groups when i was comparing my 14.5 and 18” gfr. 18” is the stratomatch cut rifled. Pretty sure i can get a little better accuracy out of it, but it’s been over 100 everyday with heat index. 108gr groups were similar. I’ve been impressed with the 14.5 barrel it just heats up a lot faster with the heat lately. I’m using a Huxwrx flow 6k on the 14.5 and a Huxwrx flow 7.62TI on 18”. No issues with gas at all on those but they are flow suppressors. Either way they are gassed great. I get 4:00-4:30 ejection still.
 

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Where are you seeing them for $2,300?
I purchased one from primary arms before they went out of stock a few days ago . But I have not had it shipped yet because I have been debating if I really want to commit to another caliber right now. I am going to make a decision either to go through with the purchase or cancel the order by the end of the day after I do a little more research.
 

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I purchased one from primary arms before they went out of stock a few days ago . But I have not had it shipped yet because I have been debating if I really want to commit to another caliber right now. I am going to make a decision either to go through with the purchase or cancel the order by the end of the day after I do a little more research.
If you don't want to commit that much $$$ up front you could always just build or buy a 6 ARC upper. I don't think Geissele sells complete 6 ARC uppers but there are a number of places that do. Here are a few:
 
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