Not necessarily a full build from scratch per se, but its requiring enough custom fitting I figured this thread would find a good home here.

Started life as a 14.5" pinned and welded .223 Wylde. Shot great, but I wanted something a bit more multipurpose that I could take hunting. That's when I started looking into the 6.5. The rest was history.

Proof 20" 6.5G
JP Enhanced Bolt
Superlative Arms "Bleed Off" Gas Block
AAC Blackout FH
Nightforce Beast 5-25
Spuhr 4003b

Fresh out of the box


Barrel swapped


A little 5-axis mill work to clear the gas block



By the skin of my teeth...


Scope mounted


The gas block still does not clear the rail when you seat it onto the upper receiver since the block height is not concentric about the bore axis. I need to get it back up on the machine to mill out a .250" x 4" slot on the topside of the forward end of the rail. Once that's done, I'll coat all the exposed aluminum and be ready to shoot.

That thing is sexy

A lot will hate on it. 

Be sure to post range results!

That's fine, I got some of that back when I first posted about the original purchase. It's not your normal "black rifle" and I'm good with that.

Nice build.  I just picked up a Christensen grendel barrel myself.  Looking forward to targets.

Looks damn good. Make me think I need a mill.

Incredibly ugly rifle.

You've done a great job with the caliber conversion. I like how the individual parts chosen make sense, not just selection based on the most expensive in category. Any particular reason you chose to modify instead of doing another upper?

I chose the conversion to keep a uniform look. You cant buy cobalt uppers separately, so the conversion was the only option for me.

So I had to bail on the adjustable gas block and just throw on a Troy low profile block in order to clear the hand guard. Even with milling a slot in the top, the block and gas tube still hit.



Also wound up taking off the Beast because it was just too much scope for the rifle. In search of a replacement.

Leupy Mk6 3-18 or Atacr.

How is the balance?  Worried about clearance on mine also.  What's the internal diameter of that handguard?

I'm leaning towards the ATACR.

The balance is really nice. The billet stock balances out the longer barrel. Not sure what the ID of the rail is off the top of my head. I'll try to measure it when I get home. The low pro Troy just barely fits....

Yeah, they don't have specs on Cobalts website so if you get a chance to measure I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

Bill

Done minus final optic and proper mag

Gorgeous and unique rifle! I've always like the Cobalt line, and with the 6.5G Proof barrel... thats bragging rights for sure.

Thanks! I absolutely love what Cobalt does with their rifles. The fit and finish is second to none and their customer service is incredible. I just ordered an Edge Scout Limited Edition tonight to add to the collection. One is none, two is one....

Awesome, I can definitely agree with the two is one rule - I always end up buying 2 of my favorite items.

Lots of people seem to hate on the Cobalt, likely due to the price. But they are definitely the most unique AR's out there. Which is quite the feat - given how many different companies are making AR's, it's very hard to stand out, much less do something genuinely new.

Awesome project.

I think they have the best-looking AR15 on the market right now, very forward-thinking, out of the box approach that is needed with all the coat tail riding, especially in the 21st Century.

A Vortex Viper PST Gen II would complement it well, as would a March Optics.

They really should offer 6.5 Grendel factory rifles, given what the entire package is.

It looks like they just started offering the Grendel in their Overwatch

https://www.cobaltkinetics.com/product/overwatch

Nice rifle.

Ended up going with a Nightforce 2.5-10x24 in a Spuhr 3026 mount. Much better fit for my needs and keeps it to a nice, compact size.