Hello,

I'd like to build a 6.5 upper for Deer and Hog hunting. I was considering the Grendel 18" button rifled barrel and bolt . Would really appreciate any personal experience with this barrel. I realize there are other higher end options such as LW and Saber but if the AA can consistently get me in the kill zone out to ~400 yards I'd be just fine.

Thanks in advance!

The farthest I've ever been with mine is 300 yards. With cheap Wolf ammo (120gr MPT) it will do ~1.5-2 MOA (5-6") groups at that range. It shoots the more expensive ammo (likes the 123gr Hornady and Lapua loads) significantly better, but I've never actually shot for groups at those ranges.

Thanks for your input. Would be curious to know what it groups with the higher end ammo.

I am using the 16" AA barrel and I am getting good velocity and good groups with whatever I shoot through it. I haven't tried the MPT Wolf through it, but I have used AMAX and a few different handloads. Everything I shot from the bench printed groups around an inch or less at 100 yards (5 rounds), with most 4 rounds going into a 1/2-3/4" group and the other being a flier that opened the group up to an inch or so. My velocity has been around the 2520fps mark with 123gr AMAX and 2350fps with 130gr Scirocco handloads.

I have only put about 100 rounds through the gun, but so far I have not had any problems. I even took a deer with it around the 40th round fired.

You can do a lot better with a Satern barrel if you are really hunting accuracy, but as far practical purposes, like hunting and self defense, the barrel with be fine.

Wow! That's plenty accurate for hunting, and out of a 16" to boot. Maybe I should reconsider sizing down to 16". Thank You.

Can't beat the weight either. Sans ammo and optic (but including BUIS and VFG and an ACS stock) my rifle weighs less than 6lbs according to my scales (showing around 5.5lbs but I am giving 0.5lb for the benefit of the doubt). If you add on an optic that weighs 1-2lbs, you are still considerably lighter than a comparable traditional bolt gun.

The shorter barrel also makes it much easier to maneuver around a tree-stand. The whole rifle will be around 30" long with the stock collapsed.

I get my handloads just under 1 MOA with my AA 18" barrel.

Placed an order yesterday for the 18" AA button rifled barrel/bolt. I was really torn between the 18" and 16". Hope I get a decent barrel with similar accuracy as all of yours. Thanks again for sharing your experience.

I get the same with my 14.5" AA complete upper

only reason not to get one is BA

Few years back I had one of their 24" barrels that was a turd.NEVER could get it to group didn't matter what ammo I tried, even sent it back to them.They had it for 6 months, told me " we're waiting to shoot it" which they never did.I finally had them send it back and I made a prybar out of it....and I'll never buy anything from them again. Oh and yes I can shoot so it wasn't me...
I ended up replacing it with a CSS barrel that shot like a house on fire.

I had the opposite experience.  I sent them my entire upper.  They inspected it and test fired it, cleaned it up within two days and Bill A personally called me to give me the results.

I know for a fact that Sabre Defence provided AA with their 14.5" barrels. I believe SD also made some of AA's 18" barrels as well. But, now that SD is gone, I'm not sure who the new vendor will be?

Sakic #19

Sabre provided SOME of the 14.5 barrels, but I'm not sure that they were the ONLY provider.