6.5 Grendel build (assembly)

[Guest Tennessean]

A buddy of mine and I are actually in the middle of building 6.5 uppers right now, and by "in the middle," I mean waiting on parts. Went with the 20" Shilen at 1:9 twist, Parallax Tactical Free Float Tube. I already have a lower ready to go with a PRS stock and Timney 3 lb trigger. Looking into bullets now and powder to go with the AA brass. Leaning towards 123 grain Sierra Match Kings with cfe 223, if I can find any more. Also looking to put a Vortex Viper PST 4x16, when I recover financially from everything else. Edited November 22, 2013 by Tennessean

[mikegideon]

A buddy of mine and I are actually in the middle of building 6.5 uppers right now, and by "in the middle," I mean waiting on parts. Went with the 20" Shilen at 1:9 twist, Parallax Tactical Free Float Tube. I already have a lower ready to go with a PRS stock and Timney 3 lb trigger. Looking into bullets now and powder to go with the AA brass. Leaning towards 123 grain Sierra Match Kings with cfe 223, if I can find any more. Also looking to put a Vortex Viper PST 4x16, when I recover financially from everything else.

 

Good barrel choice. I just got my 6x24 PST. Nice stuff. 

[Luke E.]

A buddy of mine and I are actually in the middle of building 6.5 uppers right now, and by "in the middle," I mean waiting on parts. Went with the 20" Shilen at 1:9 twist, Parallax Tactical Free Float Tube. I already have a lower ready to go with a PRS stock and Timney 3 lb trigger. Looking into bullets now and powder to go with the AA brass. Leaning towards 123 grain Sierra Match Kings with cfe 223, if I can find any more. Also looking to put a Vortex Viper PST 4x16, when I recover financially from everything else.

 

 

Good barrel choice. I just got my 6x24 PST. Nice stuff. 

 

 Good to know we're not the only ones waiting for that barrel huh.

[mikegideon]

Yep. I'm just gonna have to wait. I have way too much invested in this gun to use a cheesy barrel.

[Guest Tennessean]

Good to know we're not the only ones waiting for that barrel huh.

It's hard to beat Shilen.

[mikegideon]

It's hard to beat Shilen.

 

Yep

[Guest Tennessean]

Did ya'll notice that Midway's having a Black Friday sale starting Monday? Don't know what kind of deals, but I figure to snag the Redding dies and maybe some more brass. It would be nice to save a dollar or two.

[mikegideon]

Did ya'll notice that Midway's having a Black Friday sale starting Monday? Don't know what kind of deals, but I figure to snag the Redding dies and maybe some more brass. It would be nice to save a dollar or two.

 

I'm done. Have the Redding dies and bushings. 300 rounds of brass that I have already primed. I even have a Sinclair bump gauge for setting shoulder bump. Got powder and bullets too. Just waiting on the barrel and receivers. 

[Luke E.]

Did ya'll notice that Midway's having a Black Friday sale starting Monday? Don't know what kind of deals, but I figure to snag the Redding dies and maybe some more brass. It would be nice to save a dollar or two.

 

 I looked at the Lapua brass and Alexander brass and both showed out of stock today. I've got 100 pieces of brass primed, 100 Lapua 123gr Scenar bullets and Hornady dies already. Now I just need to find powder and i'll be able to load test rounds. I have found some more Lapua brass and bullets local to me if I decide to go ahead and pick up more. Price is higher but it's partially offset by the shipping from Midway. I still lack gun parts and glass but plan on completing the upper before I start on the lower so that I can at least start working through the break in while I gather parts to build the lower the way I want. There is a chance that I may be making a career change and taking over a gun shop so that has me in a little less of a rush to by the non Grendel specific parts right now since parts would come much cheaper at that point.

[Luke E.]

It's hard to beat Shilen.

 

 I've never owned one but hope this one shows up soon. 

[R_Bert]

I'm done. Have the Redding dies and bushings. 300 rounds of brass that I have already primed. I even have a Sinclair bump gauge for setting shoulder bump. Got powder and bullets too. Just waiting on the barrel and receivers. 

Which bushings did you choose?

[mikegideon]

Which bushings did you choose?

 

.286 and .287. I had to buy the titanium nitride ones. I got those numbers off a forum for Lapua Brass. I haven't stuffed a bullet and measured yet.

[Luke E.]

.286 and .287. I had to buy the titanium nitride ones. I got those numbers off a forum for Lapua Brass. I haven't stuffed a bullet and measured yet.

 

 I've never owned or even used any Redding dies, What purpose do the different bushings serve?

[mikegideon]

They set neck tension

[Luke E.]

They set neck tension

10-4

[mikegideon]

Just a heads up...

 

After doing quite a bit of reading, I ordered an extra bolt last night. Some of that reading came from Bill Alexander himself. Since the Grendel is wound up tight in terms of bolt thrust, it's easier than most to break a bolt. It's also NOT a standard 7.62 x 39 bolt. Alexander Arms makes the only bolts that are designed and tested for the caliber. As with all things from AA, it can (and usually wiil) be a long lead time item. It's probably the main reason that barrels take so long.

 

In a nutshell, if you break a bolt, your rifle is gonna be down until AA get's around to sending you one. The hard use bolt is 93 bucks. It's well worth it to me to have a spare on order.

 

http://www.shopalexanderarms.com/Bolts_and_Extractors-6.5_Grendel_Hard-Use_Bolt_Assembly.html

Edited November 23, 2013 by mikegideon

[Luke E.]

Just a heads up...

 

After doing quite a bit of reading, I ordered an extra bolt last night. Some of that reading came from Bill Alexander himself. Since the Grendel is wound up tight in terms of bolt thrust, it's easier than most to break a bolt. It's also NOT a standard 7.62 x 39 bolt. Alexander Arms makes the only bolts that are designed and tested for the caliber. As with all things from AA, it can (and usually wiil) be a long lead time item. It's probably the main reason that barrels take so long.

 

In a nutshell, if you break a bolt, your rifle is gonna be down until AA get's around to sending you one. The hard use bolt is 93 bucks. It's well worth it to me to have a spare on order.

 

http://www.shopalexanderarms.com/Bolts_and_Extractors-6.5_Grendel_Hard-Use_Bolt_Assembly.html

 

 Do you know if this is the bolt that Shilen sends out with their barrels?

[mikegideon]

 Do you know if this is the bolt that Shilen sends out with their barrels?

 

No. But since AA uses that barrel on some of their rifles, I figure they are using AA bolts. AA offers 2 different ones. I just picked the heavy use because there's only like 15 bucks difference in price.

[Luke E.]

No. But since AA uses that barrel on some of their rifles, I figure they are using AA bolts. AA offers 2 different ones. I just picked the heavy use because there's only like 15 bucks difference in price.

Makes sense. I'll probably hold of until I get the upper complete and then order a spare. I'll just cross my fingers that I don't break a bolt in the time it takes to receive it. I would hope that the brand new bolt that comes with the barrel would outlast the wait time for a new one. Thanks for the heads up!

[GuitaRx]

finished ordering everything for my 6.5 Grendel build today.. now for the waiting. :waiting:

Edited November 25, 2013 by GuitaRx

[Luke E.]

finished ordering everything for my 6.5 Grendel build today.. now for the waiting. :waiting:

 

 Waiting now is bad enough but i'd imagine it will seem worse once you have all your parts sitting in front of you except the elusive barrel.. Here's hoping for a quick shipment! 

[GuitaRx]

 Waiting now is bad enough but i'd imagine it will seem worse once you have all your parts sitting in front of you except the elusive barrel.. Here's hoping for a quick shipment! 

 

yea... actually the barrel is in stock, but they're waiting on the bolts...

[mikegideon]

 Waiting now is bad enough but i'd imagine it will seem worse once you have all your parts sitting in front of you except the elusive barrel.. Here's hoping for a quick shipment! 

 

I've kinda been there. Still, I have spent my time researching ammo, and still need to swap some optic mounts around. I'll wind up having my first load development session loaded by the time everything shows up. It will also give me time to do the trigger install at the right pace, since it will probably take a little time to tweak it in.

[Luke E.]

I've kinda been there. Still, I have spent my time researching ammo, and still need to swap some optic mounts around. I'll wind up having my first load development session loaded by the time everything shows up. It will also give me time to do the trigger install at the right pace, since it will probably take a little time to tweak it in.

I'll definitely (if I can find powder) have my first batch of test rounds done before the rifle is ready. I hope to find something out about this FFL sometime this week because that could really save some money on this deal.

[mikegideon]

The guys are liking Cfe 223 as well. 842 is probably a good un too. I have lots of that

Edited November 26, 2013 by mikegideon