Feedback on Shilen barrels

[StockDog]

Any firsthand experience?

20" hear profile
1/9
Target crown
.750 gas block

Comes with Alexander Arms bolt
As far as I can tell it is a SAAMI chamber.

Currently sold at Midway.

[Vasux86]

I have this barrel and I am...not very happy with it.

The barrel I got from Midway is not within SAAMI specs; the throat is cut way too short. When I emailed them about my concerns, they told me to contact Shilen. When I talked to Shilen, they wanted me to pay for shipping and send them a dummy round that I wanted the barrel reamed to. For some reason the two people I spoke with at Shilen couldn't understand that I just wanted the barrel to be reamed to SAAMI specs. I also argued with them for a while about paying for shipping since the product I paid for was not what I received, but they weren't willing to help me out there. My two take-aways- poor QC and they were unwilling to correct an error they made. Bad combination.

Another thing to consider is that this is a very heavy barrel. Can't remember right off the top of my head, but I believe it's over 4 pounds. So in all likelihood, you would be toting around a heavy rifle for it's size.

My Shilen barrel has been real finicky on the ammo it likes (probably because it's out-of-spec). The best it will shoot Hornady factory ammo is 1.5" at 100 yards. Other people have reported better results, but this has been my experience. That being said, my barrel will fairly consistently shoot sub-MOA with only one handload (this is after I did load ladders with six different powders and three different bullets).

Once again, this has been my experience with the barrel. Lots of others have reported better results and I hope they will chime in. However, I believe there are better barrels available that would weigh less, have better QC and/or customer service, possibly threaded to give you some options for muzzle devices, and for around the same price. If I could go back, I would not have purchased this barrel.

[jurassic]

Any firsthand experience?

20" hear profile
1/9
Target crown
.750 gas block

Comes with Alexander Arms bolt
As far as I can tell it is a SAAMI chamber.

Currently sold at Midway.

The barrel you bought is an HBAR service rifle contour, it's suspossed to
be a heavy contour for competition. Shilen is a well respected
manufacturer of competition barrels, I'm sure that's why they offered to cut the chamber throat to the ammo
you plan to use, or load. Maybe you could contact Midway again and explain the difference between
their description and what Shilen said it is.

To the OP, do your research on barrels and ask questions. They're are lots of threads
regarding a Grendel chamber and variations. They will all shoot factory ammo, some much better
than others.

[Fredman]

Vasux.

I had similar issues. Wade is the owner, I believe, contact Shilen and ask for Wade. He really wants to make his customers happy. Mine was a 8 twist, I could usually put four out of five in 1/2" or less. 123 Lapua with N-140 or 8208. Never had good luck with Hornady ammo.

[VASCAR2]

I bought the 20" 1:9 twist Shilen Match 6.5 Grendel from Midway back in 2009 when there weren't many other 6.5 Grendel barrels on the market. I like my Shilen barrel and if I do my part the Shilen will shoot MOA or less with Hornady A-Max or my reloads using Nosler 123 grain CC, 31.0 grains CFE and CCI 450 primers. I used blem PSA upper and lower and was intended to be a budget build. My shilen has met my expectation and I didn't need or desire a threaded barrel. My shilen is light enough I can shoot it off hand but I primarily shoot it off the bench. The Shilen's chamber is tighter than my 16" J&T 6.5 Grendel's chamber.

I normally only shoot Lapua brass in my Shilen and my other Hornady, PPU and FF 7.62 X39 brass in my J&T. I consider my J&T a rack grade barrel and I'd prefer it have the looser chamber for reliability. With the various different chambers and barrel profile it really behooves the buyer to seriously consider their intended use propior to buying.

[Drillboss]

Based on the reamer drawing that Shilen sent me, they're using a reamer that is consistent with AA's 6.5 Grendel before it went to SAAMI. The SAAMI chamber is ever so slightly deeper than what Shilen is using. The difference is on the order of 0.0017".

The best 5 round group I've gotten with factory Hornady SST's is just over 3/4". I've gotten some handloads with the 123 gr SSTs down around 1/2", but they're moving 100 - 200 fps slower.

No doubt, those barrels are heavy. Mark at PF posted on here once that Shilen uses a softer steel than most of the barrels he sells.

[LRRPF52]

Shilen makes great barrels.

I would recommend just getting 6.5 Grendel Shilen pipes from AA, since AA uses them for the Shilen upgrade option, that way you get the best of both worlds:

* Benchrest-grade, world-renowned pipe
* Company that did extensive research, development, test, and evaluation of what makes 6.5 Grendel reliable and accurate in the AR15

There seem to be manufacturers that are not aware of the SAAMI chamber design, or are not using it.

[CastorTroy]

my shilen grendel barrel is great. however, as stated, it's heavy. the gas port is also a bit big in my opinion

[jawbone]

for the past couple + years, i've been shooting my AA upper with the 20" Shilen upgrade. shoots 0.5 moa all day with 123 SST, with best 5 group at 0.36 with 100g Nos. never had a technical failure, never had a hiccup of any kind. makes a believer out of me whenever i shoot, and easily converts those who shoot it for the first time.