I just got the 20 inch fluted Faxon barrel in 6.5g and have not been impressed with its accuracy. Wolf steel case is 3-4moa which isn't a big surprise but the Hornady Black 123g ELD is shooting around 2moa for the most part. Sometimes a tad under and sometimes a little over.

Does my barrel just not like the 123g ELD? My AA that I sold and my friends AA both shot the steel case and Hornady better. I don't have a lot of time with 6.5grendels but in 5.56 seems like every rifle I have shot Hornady in, it does well. Obviously .223 or 5.56 that is.

I did order a variety of ammo to try.

I got right at 1.5" at 100 yards with the ELD and just under an inch with the 123gr. SST.

I got the 20" group buy barrel off 6.5 Grendel Forums and my barrel arrived with external rust. The chamber and bore were the filthiest I've ever seen in a new barrel. When I inquired as to an accuracy guarantee, Faxon responded there isn't one.







When I tried the ELD suppressed, it shot somewhat better...



I've not had the opportunity to run more ammo through it but if it shoots good suppressed with ELD and ok with the SST I won't bitch... after all, it was only a $200 barrel.

I have some new Ballistic Advantage barrels I can't wait to try out... they come with an MOA guarantee... and the five .308 BA barrels I have live up to it.

i am getting 1-1.5MOA with my 12" Faxon 6.5G.  I like it.

Wolf has been terrible in both my jp enterprises  18" barrel and my 12" faxon barrel. I'm getting some where around 5" to 7" groups depending on how many rounds I try to group.  

With 123 black eld in my faxon I'm getting roughly 1 moa.  I had many touching one another and a flyer that would be moa.  Best group was about .6 moa in my day of shooting.

I only shoot my 12" suppressed with a dead air sandman s.

Just another data point for you.

I'd be happy with your SST group. I got mine from Aim and am thinking maybe I should have got the BA. I have had great performance from all my BA barrels. This is my first Faxon and was quite disappointed with 2moa from the "Match Series". I know some rifles can be picky but the ELDs are quite affordable compared to the rest of match grade 6.5g.

Not surprising since the Wolf bullets are slightly undersized. My 20inch has not even came close to an MOA group just a consistent 2moa give or take a little.

I even used different optics to make sure it was the barrel.

Looking at the Faxon 20” 6.5 Grendel specs off of JBO, might be the same barrel as Op.



Barrel Material: 416R Stainless Steel
Barrel Type: 5R Button Rifled
Barrel Caliber: 6.5 Grendel, Type 2, SAAMI Spec Chamber
Barrel Twist: 1:8
Barrel Length: 20"
Barrel Profile: Heavy Fluted
Barrel Gas System: Rifle
Inside Finish: QPQ Nitride
Outside Finish: QPQ Nitride
Muzzle Thread:5/8-24 TPI (Threads Per Inch)
Gas Block Diameter: .750"
Gas Port Diameter: .093"
Gas Block Journal Length: 1.1"
Barrel Extension: M4, NP3 Coated
Weight: 1.98 lbs
Magnetic Particle Inspected!
11-degree Target Crown

Bill Alexander has previously posted the Wolf/Branual steel cased 100 grain 6.5 Grendel doesn’t have as good of accuracy in 5 R or Polygonal rifling as typical land and groove.   The AA 16” & 18” fluted SS barrels with fast twist shoot steel cased bimetal bullets a little better than some 5 R and polygonal barrels.  My 16 1:9 twist chrome moly carbine gas system J&T barrel has shot 1.5” and more commonly 2” groups  at 100 yards with Wolf.  I get about 3”-4” groups with Bimetal bullets at 200 yards.

I also have a 16” Faxon midlength gas 1:8 twist 6.5 Grendel barrel from the group buy.   The accuracy of this barrel has improved after the first couple hundred rounds.   I’m the weak length when it comes to shooting good groups.  My Faxon can do 5 shot groups of 1” at 100 yards with Factory Hornady A-Max and a couple of my hand loads.

One bullet which has consistently given good accuracy in the 6.5 Grendel is the 120 grain SMK with IMR8208XBR or AR Comp.  The Federal 120 grain SMK generally produces good accuracy in 6.5 Grendel AR-15.   I’ve read reports where the Federal Gold Metal Match 130 grain Berger as being accurate.

I wouldn’t pass judgement on your Faxon barrel yet.  Make sure your gas block is not touching your hand guard during recoil.

Here is a quote from Bill Alexander in relation to barrel twist and type of rifling with steel cased bimetal bullet accuracy.

Quote Originally Posted by Bill Alexander View Post
The ammunition is designed to function in a 7 1/2" twist barrel of 16" length but will work well down to 10.5" barrels.

On accuracy the bullet jacket is bimetal construction. It is intended to work in conventional type rifling. Canted transition rifling typified by 5R types do not engrave aggressively enough and despite generally being match barrels will not shoot this ammunition as well.

How can you tell if the GB is touching under recoil? No visible markings on my rail or GB.

Is that something that would effect accuracy anyway? Bullet is already out of the barrel.

I would suspect any touching will leave some type mark... although it might take a while if the contact is slight.

I'm going to continue to work with my Faxon barrel, try more rounds down the tube, later try hand loading.

I had a 6.5 grendel that would not shoot anything heavy.  It liked 95gr v max and that was it.   Would not shoot 120 or 123 like I wanted.  It was not a faxon but it was a 1-8 twist.  It was dissapointing.

A Friend used a Brownell’s 18” Grendel II barrel with a Free Float hand gauard and it wouldn’t shoot accurately.  He noticed the gas block had very little to no clearance between the gas block and hand guard.  Under recoil the barrel does move and is the reason for free floating the barrel to get repeatable results.  There are videos showing barrel whip.  The gas block touching the hand guard can affect barrel harmonics.  My Friend relieved a little metal from the GB or hand guard to get clearence and the accuracy improved.   Just something to be aware of and can affect accuracy.

I will try some SSTs along with other types to see what I get. I'd like to be around MOA with factory ammo.


Thanks for all the input so far from everyone

I just looked through the 6.5g pic thread and half or more are thin hand guards like mine. While it may be best to have a larger inside diameter for every last tenth of accuracy it seems my groups won't be cut in half from it. I have almost an eighth inch all the way around the GB.

I have a 15inch Bootleg with rifle length gas.

Your probably gtg with the clearence of your gas block and your hand guard.   There are so many options available today for hand guards and gas block you can get some components that don’t play well together.  Fortunately the gas blocks on the market today seem to be getting a little smaller which helps regards to clearence.

Got in some 123g SSTs, 130g FGMM, 120g AE, and a box of ELDs from a different lot. I'll see if my barrel likes any Saturday.

Was the 16inch Faxon group buy barrel melonited? I haven't seen any accuracy change in any of my 5.56 melonited barrels.(good or bad)

The 16” Faxon mid length gas 6.5 Grendel group buy barrel are QPQ/Nitride.   I had good intentions on putting more rounds through this barrel this summer but it never happened.   Family issues got in the way and I only have a couple hundred rounds through this barrel.    I’ve been the weakest link determining this barrels true accuracy potential.   I need to shoot it on a lead slead but with me shooting I can get 5 shot groups of 1”-1,5” at 100 yards using a bipod with most ammo (except Wolf Steel).

Ok gotcha.

So I cleaned the barrel before I did my accuracy testing and my very first group with ELDs was right around 1moa. . Because of this I kept shooting the ELDs and shot 2 groups of SSTs as well. The SSTs shot about the same in my barrel. All groups are 5 or 6 shots.

It seems even though it is a Nitride barrel it needs to be broken in somewhat. I did clean the barrel before I first shot it and shot maybe 200rds before I cleaned it today. So not sure if it just doesn't like being dirty or it needed broken in.

sorry to revive an old thread but is there any more info on wolf ammo in the Faxon barrels?

I saw a few comments on the 65G forum that mentioned the bimetal wolf ammo doesn't like the 5R rifling Faxon uses.  I just got in on the 12" group buy so I am curious.

I was getting about 3" at 100 yards with my 16" gunner. Mine isn't one of the group buy barrels though.  The guy doing the group buy ordered the barrels with shallow rifling lands, so those barrels may in theory perform worse with the under-sized wolf projectiles.

Thanks.  When I get it built I will try to report back

I need to shoot the wolf again. I also had issues with 2 Vortex optics while I shot groups with the wolf so to be fair I need to try it again.

In two other non 5r barrels I was seeing 2-3moa.

I sell 'em, so in theory I'm biased, but my thinking is that since my groove diameter is the same 0.264 as all other 6.5mm barrels, and if the Wolf bullets are undersized something like 0.263, they'll rattle around in any 0.264 barrel because the lands don't control the major diameter.

Having said that, a guy is just today reporting surprising accuracy with his Faxon 12 and Wolf steel-case.