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Posted: 10/19/2016 11:27:07 AM EDT
| I'm trying to put together a hunting rig in Grendel, budget build. I was looking at the Anderson M4 barrel but I'm finding out that their chamber is not spec. They list it as a Grendel 1 chamber but they cut their chamber longer to work with steel cases more reliably I guess. Not sure of the explanation but will their barrel work with a Grendel I bolt from another manufacturer or should I just avoid this barrel all together? |
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I buy 6.5 Grendel barrels from Alexander Arms because they invented it, have worked with it extensively and have a known good product. I'm sure any other source will back their product, I just trust the original manufacturer to have addressed any problems.
Anderson has an economy based business model. All of their products are the cheapest available. I'm a firm believer in the old adage, "you get what you pay for". Other people feel that they are paying for the name when buying Colt, LMT or KAC, and that cheaper products are just as good, only cheaper. It all depends on what school of thought you embrace. If you buy an Anderson and it feeds and functions will you be happy with the outcome or are you going to expect it to shoot under 1" at 100 yards with steel cased ammo as well? I buy premium barrels (usually better than even Alexander Arms offers) and feed my rifles premium bullets (Sierra, Nosler and Hornady mostly) and expect under 1" groups and get them. I don't buy steel cased ammo because I consider it blasting grade thrash and it's also known to wear barrels out twice as fast as commonly available jacketed lead core bullets. Cheap has it's place and you may be perfectly happy using Anderson barrels and blasting through them with steel cased ammo and simply replacing the barrels when they start to keyhole. There is nothing wrong with this approach, because Grendel is an expensive round, more expensive than .308 to use premium components and get the accuracy it's capable of producing. I would buy a 7.62x39mm upper if I wanted a blaster. |
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Border, my source on the steel-case debate is a report a while ago from LuckyGunner (I could dig it up, if needed).
My understanding from that report is that steel-case ammo was detrimental to your barrel ONLY if you blasted at such a high rate of fire as to heat your barrel to the point it actually gets softer than the bi-metal jacket of the projectile loaded in the steel-case. At normal rates of fire I don't believe there was any concern. I will admit that cheap steel-case ammo for the 6.5 Grendel tempts one to BLAST AWAY. Guilty. But had damn fun doing it! ;) Anyway, am interested in any research you've uncovered on the issue besides the LuckyGunner report? |
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Quoted:
Border, my source on the steel-case debate is a report a while ago from LuckyGunner (I could dig it up, if needed). My understanding from that report is that steel-case ammo was detrimental to your barrel ONLY if you blasted at such a high rate of fire as to heat your barrel to the point it actually gets softer than the bi-metal jacket of the projectile loaded in the steel-case. At normal rates of fire I don't believe there was any concern. I will admit that cheap steel-case ammo for the 6.5 Grendel tempts one to BLAST AWAY. Guilty. But had damn fun doing it! ;) Anyway, am interested in any research you've uncovered on the issue besides the LuckyGunner report? The bullets are the problem and they wear barrels out with normal usage, mag dumps not required. The bullet is bi-metal AKA copper washed steel. Shooting the steel bullet through a steel barrel and it's toast. The steel case has zero effect on barrel life. |
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Quoted:
I'm trying to put together a hunting rig in Grendel, budget build. I was looking at the Anderson M4 barrel but I'm finding out that their chamber is not spec. They list it as a Grendel 1 chamber but they cut their chamber longer to work with steel cases more reliably I guess. Not sure of the explanation but will their barrel work with a Grendel I bolt from another manufacturer or should I just avoid this barrel all together? If you buy the 16" 6.5 Grendel 1 chambered barrel from Anderson Manufacturing buy the bolt from Anderson Manufacturing. Anderson Manufacturing list the bolt face depth as .135. The SAAMI 6.5 Grendel chamber uses a .136 bolt face depth + or - .001. If you but a 6.5 Grendel bolt you could end up with a tight chamber if used with the Anderson barrel. There have been a couple of post where members have reported information they were given by Anderson in regards to the 6.5 Grendel 1 chamber. There is still no definitive answer on the Anderson 6.5 Grendel 1 chamber specifications. If I were to buy a barrel with an unknown chamber (like 6.5 Grendel 1) I'd definitely buy the bolt from the same manufacture. |
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