I guess it's Grendel!

[taylorce1]

Just threw down some money and a .223 factory barrel for a used Savage Prefit barrel in 6.5 Grendel, PT&G bolt head, and Accustock with DBM set up in 7.62X39. I Feel like I got a pretty good deal on the stuff, considering the barrel is a Bartline. It's good thing I have a unmolested Stevens 200 .243 Win in the safe as well as a NOS SSS Competition trigger, Stockade bolt handle and lift kit, and a PT&G .025" duplicate of the Acculug in my parts box.

It should go together pretty quickly after I send the barrel off to be chopped and threaded 5/8X24. It's a 26" varmint contour barrel trying to decide if I'll cut it back to 16.5" or 18" as I want a short barrel. I might even flute it and the bolt body.

The Grendel has been on my short list to try but I always thought I'd to an AR first.

[stagpanther]

Should be awesome--especially since you'll be able to seat bullets long and not worry about the "touchiness" of an autofeed. Buddy of mine has kept his freezer full of venison every year since he bought a Grendel barrel for his AR almost ten years ago.

[taylorce1]

I'm going to probably rely on factory ammunition for awhile. I really don't have time to reload much anymore. I'll still be limited a bit by how the Savage magazine is set up.

[AgedWarrior]

An 18” barrel would help realize a bit more of the cartridge potential, but either way, a great cartridge. The Grendel has become one of my all around favorite cartridges.

[taylorce1]

Got the barrel in yesterday, but I’m stuck out of town right now. I hope to give an update soon.

[precision_shooter]

I’d not go any shorter than 18 if sticking to factory ammo. If/when you can get to reloading you can Taylor (see what I did there?) a load to a shorter barrel.

[taylorce1]

I'm going 16.5" simply because it is the most effective way to lighten up the whole rifle. The barrel alone weighs 5.6 lbs, and cutting it down gets me to almost 3 lbs if I did my math right. Twisted barrel said he can get me to 3 lbs and even a little under if I flute. If I'm going to use this to hunt with it has to be a weight I'm willing to carry here out West or I might as well sell it all off again for the next person to play with.

[doofus47]

I have two 18" Satern barrels in two different uppers and I get 2450-ish fps(Hornady SST) and 2500-ish fps (Hornady AMAX) from my barrel. Both are accurate.

You're going to have fun.

[taylorce1]

Well, I did a 180 on this one. I just sold the barrel and bolthead, I decided it would cost me more money than buying a new barrel or just buying a Howa to get down to the weight I want.

[GeauxTide]

Just love the Grendel. I started with an AA Arms Overwatch, but hated the 24" Bull barrel. Replaced it with a Sanders 18" R5 and love it. Last month, I got a deal on a Ruger Predator 10 Shot. I've had great success with 30gr of CFE223, which is 1.5gr off max in Hornady X. In both rifles, 123SST print .2"!! A lot of people like IMR 8208xbr because it's temp insensitive. I would recommend 18" of barrel. I just read your last post. Give the Predator a look. Put a Boyd's Spike Camp stock on it and it's mahvelous.

[doofus47]

Well now i'm curious.
if you sold a 6.5 barrel and bolt head...
Are you going 6.8 or 300 Blackout or 224 Valk?

[taylorce1]

No, I was going to have about $500 invested in just the barrel with cutting it down and threading it and $600+ to coat the barreled action. I can buy a brand new Howa mini for around $550 with a 20" threaded barrel for my suppressor. The more I thought about it, it made more since to start over. I got my money back out of it.

[AgedWarrior]

The Howa mini action with 20” heavy barrel is a good action. The stocks are...okay. The trigger guard and bottom polymer piece is a bad idea, but can be replaced with an aluminum piece that fits great from DIP Inc. The aluminum part stiffens up the mag release so it is not as easy to accidentally drop the mag too. The Howa mags are not exceedingly great either...but they work. Jefferson Outdoors has come out with a flush bottom hinged floorplate for top loading that some really like.
I replaced the bottom with metal on mine, and I will likely be upgrading the stock later this year. But the rifle shoots great! Using Hornady 123SST on CFE223 I am getting .5 MOA.

[taylorce1]

I didn't know about the Jefferson bottom metal, Oregunsmithing LLC also makes a flush bottom metal for around the same price. I've seen an example of it floating around the forums. I never liked the DBM on the Howa rifles very well.

[AgedWarrior]

Originally Posted by taylorce1

I didn't know about the Jefferson bottom metal, Oregunsmithing LLC also makes a flush bottom metal for around the same price. I've seen an example of it floating around the forums. I never liked the DBM on the Howa rifles very well.

I had actually forgotten about Oregunsmithing. I like the Howa actions and barrels, but from there everything sort of goes downhill. Replacing the trigger guard assy. with aluminum helps a lot and is quite simple. You can also cut down the mags so they are almost flush and only hold three rounds and it is a much better rifle in the field. The DIP bottom metal stiffens up the mag release a lot, and they have a replacement lever if desired that makes it even harder to accidentally dump your mag.

[deadcoyote]

Totally random other direction but cz makes the 527 series in 6.5 grendel and they seem really unpopular. At least where I live they’re always on sale for 25-35% less than the other chamberings in the same gun.

[cosh]

I havent seen the Howa mini but over a year ago I was at a Cabelas. There were a few CZ 527s on the used rack. They seemed a little rough in the machining. Not sure why they were traded in. I would go for the Howa mini in a 6.5 Grendel. Also thought about Savage but wondered if I could get it to feed from the mag. OP - waiting for your update when you get the Howa. :-)

[deadcoyote]

Just to clarify, the cz 527 is a very popular and highly regarded rifle. I’m just saying the Grendel chambering specifically seems to be commonly sold for $490 when the normal price on the gun in every other offering is $689-$730.

[taylorce1]

@cosh,

I doubt I'll have a Grendel in a Howa or any other rifle very soon. I just bought the barrel because it was really affordable for a Bartline, cheaper than a contoured blank. Once I decided it wasn't economically feasible to get to a weight and length I wanted I just moved on. The Grendel is on my want list but way down the line of rifles I'll be buying.

[taylorce1]

Well it has now morphed into something else all together.