Alexander Arms Barrel & Bolt kit

[Hardhead]

Hello all,
I am new to this forum and fairly new to the grendel community. I've done alot of long range shooting in my life, so it's obvious as to why I am interested in the grendel. My qusetion is, Does anyone have any experience with the AA Barrel and bolt kits that can be purchased from their website? I want to know how accurate they are. I am looking to build a rifle that is capable of 1000 or greater shots on target. I have a LW barrel on order from CSS but they seem to be jerking me around and I've been waiting for nearly 3 months on a barrel that was listed "in stock" and I have been given about 5 different time periods in which the barrel was supposed to ship... no luck. So depending on How accurate/available they are I may be switching my order. Thank you in advance for your time.

[LRRPF52]

Welcome. Your experience seems pretty normal for the industry right now with anything chambered other than 5.56, which is even limited compared with a few months ago. I have a 16" AA barrel/bolt I got from Midway a few years ago, and it's just a button-rifled E.R. Shaw barrel, but still shoots sub-MOA. I recently shot a .792" 4-round group with it using Precision Firearms Factory 123gr Lapua Scenars. For such a lightweight gun, it shoots very well, despite being extremely difficutl to hold on-target.

If you're looking to push the effective range on targets, you'll want a high-end pipe. Get the match-grade barrel for what you're looking to do. Wait times are lengthy right now because barrels can't be made fast enough to meet demand across the industry.

[Hardhead]

Thank you for the welcome and the quick response. I've made mymind upon a 20" barrel idk if they AA 20" could be considered "match" or not. I know LW makes great stuff and it's not the wait that bothers me. It's the fact that I've been told 2 weeks about 5 different times. I don't mind waiting, but I hate sing strung along and having smoke blown up my hind end. Last I heard from them it's supposed to boot this weekif it doesn't I'm seriously considering canceling

[LRRPF52]

I think there are multiple layers of suppliers telling manufacturers the same thing, so it trickles down to the customer and manufacturer, leaving the impression with the customer that they are bing jerked around. The manufacturers don't want to trash the name of their suppliers, so they keep extending the estimated shipping times since they don't have critical parts to work with that were promised to them as well.

There is such a huge demand for barrels right now.

[louieprkr]

LRRP has a great point! I also wouldn't cancel after waiting for so long you already have time invested in this barrel. If you cancel you could get stuck with a longer wait somewhere else. All these shortages do leave companies struggling to find ways to keep customers happy.

[Hardhead]

Yea, you've got a point there. I know the barrel I have on order is supposed to be good so I should probably just grit down and bare it and try to keep in touch with Tom Stewart at CSS. I can't wait to have this build done. Already have everything I need but the barrel/bolt

[Greyfox]

I too had a very long wait for my LW barrel. When I got it I sent it back because the bolt would not close on my PTG GO gauge. Woody sent it back to me and said they cut my chamber to zero headspace and nothing was wrong withthe barrel. He said you have to resize your cases to factory specs. My barrel has the .295" neck and shorter throated than the Overwatch. I had to grind off the top of the shell holder so the case could go deeper into the sizeing die and push the shoulder back. I have two sets of dies to load both rifles. After working out these problems I am very happy with the barrel. I use it for 200-300-600 yard matches.I also went to the 107gr Sierra match king and IMR 8208 powder for this rifle.

My AA Overwatch bolt will close on the PTG GO gage. This rifle has a LW barrel and Grendel chamber with .300" neck.

Both rifles are very accurate.

Greyfox

[Hardhead]

yea supposedly the reason it has taken so long is because they are upgrading their reamer to saami spec. they had to wait on the hornady rounds to come out and test fit and all that mess. so I'm not supposed to have that kinda fitment issues outtat the one I have on order. Do you find that your lw setups hold sub-MOA groups at 600 Greyfox?

[Rambozo]

The AA drop in barrel/Bolt kits shoot fine. Like LRRPF52, I have the ERShaw 16" Barrel/Bolt combo, and I like it quite a bit. It seemed to shoot better over time. Now I kind of like that rifle more than my LW. My LW, while it shoots great, is a good bit more picky. The throat is much shorter, and some reloads have given me cycling problems. The Shaw has just been much more tolerant of seating depth and port pressure. It seems to shoot well enough too.

If it was me though, I would just wait for LW. Their barrels seem to be good, and if the wait is due to upgrading the chamber, then that's just a good thing. I think if I had to do it over gain, I would still go LW, only with a more traditional H-Bar profile, as opposed to the modified SPR profile I went with.

[Greyfox]

Hardhead. My first 5 shot group at 600 yards was 4 3/8" with the Grendel chamber. Both LW barrels will shoot sub moa at 600 yards. I shot my best score at 600 with the css chambered barrel.

Greyfox