LaRue Tactical is introducing 6.5mm Grendel rifles, starting with a model with 18 inch barrel
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVsfoHjAEli/?taken-by=laruetactical

When I can get one of their barrels for $250, then I'll be interested.

But why keymod?

I did the same thing. I have a receiver set and 15" mlok handguard and a mbt2 trigger laying around for a grendel build.... I told myself I was done with building AR's.  Uggghhh. Might not be done just yet....

Just sell me the barrel and matching bolt and I'll take care of the rest

Yup

My thoughts exactly. I'd like an 18" Stealth barrel and a bolt. I have most of the rest of the rifle waiting.

A lot of people like complete LaRue rifles and uppers.

Will make an excellent drop-in solution for those with Stealth billet receivers.

I thought that would happen soon after Mark shot that elk.

Barrel + Bolt please.

sell the bolt and barrels only.

There are already plenty of people making barrels.

Some people like to be able to buy high quality complete rifles from reputable manufacturers.

It helps to have companies that actually take the time to figure out how to balance out the system and make it work with factory ammo.

A lot of people have a hard time assembling AR15s because they don't understand the history behind how the guns have been traditionally set up or why.

The biggest example I see with this is gas block installation.

Many assume that you just seat it against the shoulder on the barrel, then wonder why they have short-stroking issues.

Then they have issues with buffer and recoil spring matching with the gas system.

Others will hodgepodge bolts and barrels together, then wonder why it doesn't work.

Having a competent manufacturer take care of everything from the start allows the layman to just buy a complete rifle and not worry about it.

Go on.....

I assume he's saying that you can't assume that backing the block to the shoulder will guarantee good alignment of the barrel gas port and the block gas port. Which is true. I've got one barrel where I had to back it off a couple hairs to get everything lined up right.

I avoided this problem by buying the LaRue gas block with my LaRue stealth barrel. My preference would be an option for LaRue barrel, bolt, gas block, and  MAGAZINES!!!! in 6.5 Grendel.

Cool, give me a 12.5" next please.

saami chamber?

Damn, like Super Accuracy?

excellent.

eta- 13.5" for those of us who wish to use a "rifle length" 12"-12.5" handguard and have minimal barrel exposed.

@dirtdivision just moved to Texas.

Now this.

It's a sign.

THIS...  and a few mags!  

PredatAR profile would be nice.

I second this^. I haven't used my 18" PredatAR barrel, because I wanted to go with a Grendel in the 18" length.

I've seen a lot of parts-bash builds by even older guys in my area who think they know what they are doing.

This included retail locations, guys who have passed themselves off as knowledgeable, convinced customers to give them their money, then I had to fix the basic mistakes.

The most common mistake I see is gas blocks placed against the shoulder on the barrel, instead of aligned with the gas port.  You have to align the ports, not the exterior surfaces of the block rear face and the shoulder at the barrel step for the journal.

Another common mistake is gas tube misalignment, where the carrier key clips or drags enough to cause early wear.

Another common mistake is hammer springs installed backwards or attempted to be jammed under the trigger pin.

One of the biggest ones I still see are aluminum gas blocks installed on MLGS or CLGS guns.  I tried to warn a major shop in my area about this, they didn't listen because they trusted the "expertise" of their gunsmith.  Turned out not to be a gunsmith at all.

For me personally, because of the amount of guns I've had to fix, and the things I've become aware of over the past few decades from a continual hunger to learn all I can about them, I personally like to assemble my own AR15s.

For the record, I have had no communication with LaRue about this project and have not been promised anything, just relating the facts as I see them.

I think a LaRue 6.5 Grendel will make an excellent addition to the market from a reputable vendor who creates a higher level of quality, innovation, and attention-to-detail that many people have come to respect.

Just got one of the MBT-2S triggers that will be going in my 18" Grendel.

Awesome, the more the merrier!

Good for them.  Now, when are you going to have matched barrel/bolts available for we unwashed, cantankerous masses who like to build our own?

I third this^.  I'm not sure if you can do the Tober cartridge/barrel system with the switching gas block on the Stealth 2.0 chassis.

A LaRue 6.5 Grendel makes perfect sense.  Wish I could afford one, my Grendel is currently in pieces thanks to someone attaching the free float Hogue handguard with alien technology adhesive from the planet hell in the galaxy of WTF!!! It will rise again....the Hogue free float handguard will not.  It's dead, like dismembered dead.  My birthday is next week Mark, a LaRue 6.5 Grendel would be a great gift .

Nothing but kind words here! Now c'mon Mark, hows about some 18" Stealth barrels with Larue bolts?!

You know we're going to need more lowers.  

I would love to see these barrels sold separately, with matching bolts would be great too. If love to build a 20in Grendel with a Larue barrel.

The one from like 7 or so years ago??

My suspicion is that it made more market sense at that time to push the large frame Optimized Battle Rifles in 7.62 NATO.

My analysis of the market indicate that margins are way better on AR10/SR25 type rifles, especially from high quality companies with engineering and manufacturing prowess in their own niches, as compared to a 5.56 rifle.

Figure that the main differences between an OBR 7.62 and Stealth 5.56 at the time were materials and initial RDT&E for the OBR, since LaRue isn't riding anyone else's coattails with typical forged receivers, someone else's handguards, and other critical components that LaRue established a name for by designing and making in-house.

Since LaRue has good engineering and tight QC on manufacturing standards, they were able to make a reputable AR10-type system that actually works, and sell it for a price that discerning people are willing to pay.

If they would have just made 6.5 Grendel Stealths and later PredatARs, the margins come down to about the same as a 5.56 Stealth or PredatAR, because the only things that are different are the bolt, extractor, barrel, and mags.

From a business perspective, it was an obvious choice to go with the large frame OBR.

The market that seems to be hurting the most right now is 5.56 guns.  So many of us have countless 5.56 carbines and rifles, that we simply can't be given one in many cases.

What I've found is that I haven't shot my 5.56/.223 Wylde stuff in years, other than one of my working carbines that I used for a private course within the past 24 months.

I'm losing track of how many 6.5 Grendel's I'm building or buying.  The last one was a bolt gun, the little Howa Mini with 22" sporter barrel, while I have Build Boxes full of other Grendel projects, and look at my 5.56 blasters thinking that they should be Grendel's too now, even the Retros.

Valuable insight. Thank you.

Although I was referring to when Mark posted on here some years ago, pics of bagging an elk(IIRC) with the 6.5G at a good distance, and flying his plane back with an elk rack in the cabin.

And I want to try a 6.5G so bad, but limited parts/magazines (relative to 5.56) are kinda holding me up. At least the ammo situation is rectifying itself with Wolf on the market and some others.

Yes, that's exactly what I was talking about.

LaRue shoots bull Elk with 6.5 Grendel at 405 yards, elk goes down quickly.  Christmas cards are sent out with elk head in rear cabin of the Navion in 2008.

Everyone expects LaRue to start making 6.5 Grendel Stealth AR15s and Stealth uppers within the year.

LaRue does not do so in 2008.  Natural question was, "Why?"

LaRue is not dumb and has made very insightful business moves, so there had to be a valid business reason for not cranking out a .308-killer that fits in the AR15 in 2008.  Reason was simple:  The market wanted tons of .308 ARs in 2008, and there were very limited options then, playing field was wide open.  Demand is still healthy for people wanting .308s in 2017, evidenced by LaRue selling out 125 limited edition FDE .308s in 4 minutes on Jan. 1st.

It would be interesting to see the numbers on 5.56, with the popularity of other cartridges growing so fast.  I saw a recent statistic about how many AR15s are made in 5.56, and it showed that 10% of AR15s are chambered in something else.  That has to be a huge market shift from 10 years ago.  The current cartridge to beat in the AR15 is the 6.5 Grendel across several parameters, performance being #1, factory ammo support being #2.  When you have those 2 bases covered, things fall into place.

Grendel parts availability hasn't been an issue for many years.

Ammo has been plentiful for many years since 2011 when the Hornady faucet was clearly turned on for good.  There are at least 42 factory loads and have been close to that many for the past 3 years.  There have been so many ammo options, several have been discontinued and replaced already, like 123gr SP from PPU, 90gr TNT from AA, 120gr AMAX replaced with 123gr AMAX, 130gr Nosler Accubond replaced by 129gr Nosler ABLR, and 123gr AMAX being replaced with 123gr ELD-M.

You have several loads from AA, Hornady, Federal, PF, and Wolf.  Everything from steel case to premium target and hunting, with more of the loads being for hunting.  I think it's about a 44/56% spread between TGT/ hunting last I checked.

You have everything from Barnes 120gr TSX and 100/120gr TTSX, to 123/129gr SSTs and 123gr ELD-Ms, to 100/120gr Nosler BT, 129gr Nosler Accubond LR, 130gr Berger VLDs, 130gr Berger Hybrid ARs FGMM, 90gr TNT, 120gr Fusion, 123gr Scenars, 107/123gr SMKs, 130gr Swift Scirocco IIs, and a 7n6-type Wolf plinker bullet that kills well too.

I just saw ELD-Ms for $16.79/box.  Steel case is selling for $4.55/box of 20.  6.5 Grendel Ammo

600 yards doesn't seem to be much of a challenge with a LaRue Grendel......!!

omg!

Very impressive!

It appears them boys in the Dead Center of Texas know a thing
or two about crafting barrels.

Must be that Rearden steel!

So, I picked mine up today and shot it this evening.  It came out of the box shooting sub 1/2 moa with quality but reasonably priced ammo, which I'm VERY happy with.  But I'm going to take the above statement seriously and put it into practice.