push me one way or another

[Kilco]

Hmm that's odd... My Shilen barrel/bolt combo from midway had the bolt marked "AA" right on it with the. 136 recess.

It is however possible they changed, but seems unlikely as they provided barrels directly to AA as an upgrade for a long time.

[VASCAR2]

I think that is a blanket statement regarding their AR-15 barrels however the web site states a buyer can supply a bolt to be head spaced to one of their barrels. Other than 50 Beow I don't know of another cartridge chambered for the AR-15 besides the 6.5 Grendel that uses .136 bolt face.

Shilen's web site shows the 18" 6.5 Grendel barrel has having a threaded muzzle but the 20" barrel which is similar to the barrel as sold by Midway is unthreaded.

[LRRPF52]

well then shilens customer service was wrong, they are the ones that stated a .125 bolt face depth

here is the info direct from shilen

"here is no difference between Brownell/Shilen. barrels and ours.


Shilen Rifles, Inc. is a custom rifle manufacturer and does not adhere to SAMMI Specifications. SAMMI was created to standardize dimensions in order to allow interchangeability between large OEM producers and consumers. As a company whose focus is solely based on providing World Class Accuracy we do not feel that certain SAMMI Specifications produce the most accurate results and require modifications in order to produce the accuracy we strive for on a daily basis. Therefore, because we do not adhere to every single SAMMI Specification we cannot state that we are a SAMMI Spec Manufacturer. At Shilen Rifles, Inc. we strive to give the customer a more customized World Class Accuracy that some manufacturers who use standardized specifications cannot produce. "

"We use mil-spec bolts. They are carpenters steel, shot peened and magnetic pulse inspected. We do not use or offer any chrome bolts. The bolt has a .125" face depth "

Do you have a link for that? I just searched through Shilen's site and couldn't find this. There are a lot of typos and errors (SAMMI vs SAAMI, "magnetic pulse" versus "magnetic particle" inspected).

[mdram]

Do you have a link for that? I just searched through Shilen's site and couldn't find this. There are a lot of typos and errors (SAMMI vs SAAMI, "magnetic pulse" versus "magnetic particle" inspected).

those are cut and paste from emails sent to me by shilen customer service

[LRRPF52]

Shilen makes great barrel blanks and profiled blanks.

A lot of companies learn where their suppliers have expertise, then fill in the blanks in the manufacturing chain on their end when it comes to chambering, profiling, threading, installing barrel extensions, pressing in the index pins, cutting gas ports, and any finish work.

Some manufacturers will only order blanks and do everything else, some will ordered profiled blanks, and others will have the barrel maker do other operations leading up varying degrees of a final assembled part.

While some barrel makers are world class at cutting a straight hole through a stock pipe of stainless and rifling that bore, they might not be very experienced or adept at the other processes in the entire chain of operations.

[funnelcake]

They're (Shilen representative typing that email) confused. Never seen a 6.5G bolt made from C158 steel...don't believe they exist. Given that I'd be dubious about the bolt face depth specs provided. That said, my brother has used a bunch of their barrels and they all shoot very well. Call 'em back!!