Radical Firearms 24" upper

[Trapeze]

What is your experience with the Radical Firearms 24" 6.5 Grendel upper ? Aim has it for $520 complete.

http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx?item=XRFU65SS24&name=Radical+Firearms+6.5+Grendel+24+IN.+SS+Match+Upper+Receiver+Group&search=Grendel

[kiloechoxray]

RF seems to have a decent reputation but I don't have any experience with them, personally.

I would find out who makes their barrels.

I just finished building up a 24" upper to compliment my 20". I much prefer making my own since when you buy an upper they choose the hand guards, muzzle device, barrel etc. I'd prefer to make those decisions for myself.

[Trapeze]

RF seems to have a decent reputation but I don't have any experience with them, personally.

I would find out who makes their barrels.

I just finished building up a 24" upper to compliment my 20". I much prefer making my own since when you buy an upper they choose the hand guards, muzzle device, barrel etc. I'd prefer to make those decisions for myself.

K E X,

I prefer building my own too, but with a decent $300 barrel budget and every other item on low budget, I can't build an upper with a brake for under $700. If the barrel is half decent, this represents significant value. Primary Arms has had them on sale for $449 a few times this past year.

Anybody have Any idea what barrel blank RF uses?

[larrygsills@aol.com]

I purchased this model late last summer with a 20" barrel and have shot about 700 rounds through it. Here's my experience.

I'm working my way up to begin long-range target shooting, so accuracy is important to me. But since this is a hobby for which I have a restricted budget (insert wife comment here), RF is what I chose. Got mine for new under $500, but since then that vendor (and others) tacked on another $100 to the price. The add you found is a darned good price for it nowadays.

Initially I had to deal with some FTFs and FTEs, which cleared up after I polished the feed ramps and the corners of my magazines. The stock BCG works fine, but I purchased a JP Enhanced Bolt and a Fail Zero NIB carrier just because I wanted that (don't tell my wife). Since then I haven't had to even think about malfunctions.

I'm not a reloader, nor do I want to be one, but I did try several vendors of both factory ammo and some custom ammo (more expensive stuff). My experience with Hornady 123gr A-MAX is similar to others--consistently accurate round. But when I tried the custom ammo, the 'clear winner' was a Sierra 107gr MatchKing bullet in Lapua brass with an advertised 24" barrel muzzle velocity of 2700 fps. All other ammo (and I've tried 5 different rounds/weight combos from 100gr to 123gr) gave me between 1" and 1.5" groups at 100 yards. The 107gr SMK gave me 0.3" to 1" groups, and averaged (30 rounds in two range trips) 0.8". I'm still working to improve my shooting technique, but obviously my budget RF Grendel is a sub-MOA shooter, with the right ammo. (My experience with other calibers has proven to me that finding the right ammo for your particular gun is crucial for accuracy--amazing how different the results can be.)

Important Note: I learned from research that with a 1:9 twist barrel (which this model has) loves lighter bullets, although I'm still studying to understand exactly why. In any case, I'm now ready to 'graduate' to shooting at longer ranges. I've shot at 200 yards with good results (same sub-MOA groups), but will hopefully soon get to a 1000 yard range and to give 300 - 600 yards a try.

Bottom Line: For what I want (learn about long range shooting, shoot accurately & consistently, and at longer ranges, all just 'cause its fun!), my RF Grendel is great! You might even have better results with the 24" barrel, although there's plenty of evidence that longer barrels are not a big factor in accuracy.

Good luck!

[larrygsills@aol.com]

Oh, something I forgot about my early issues. I ALSO had to find the right buffer weight, since I was getting failures to cycle. Ended up using an "H" buffer, which helped fix the cycling problem and kept the recoil mild. Your experience my vary.

[larrygsills@aol.com]

BTW, I asked RF who makes their barrels for these, and they told me they were under a Non-Disclosure Agreement with the supplier. If you find out, please let me know!

[mdram]

i found this a while back, and havent looked into them since

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/08/25/breaking-radical-firearms-steps-line-makes-things-personal/

[larrygsills@aol.com]

UPDATE (FYI...: Soon after my last post on the 20th I discovered that my RF 20" Grendel upper barrel has a 1:8 twist when it was advertised as 1:9. THAT's why the light bullets (100-108gr) were so much more precise/accurate than medium weights (120-123gr). On its way back to them not to get the barrel changed out since I wanted 1:9 originally, and now. So far the experience has been fairly good . . . we'll see about the rest of the story.

[Clarence]

Don't understand your reasoning. 1:8 would seem to favor the heavier bullets, and changing to 1:9 could favor the lighter bullets.

[A5BLASTER]

Never heard of 1:8 twist not shooting the 120 to 123 grain bullets accuratly.

My barrel is 1:8 and it shoots everything I have put throw it from 123 to 100 very well.

This is just my thoughts if it was me I would not be shipping it back for a barrel change, I would be getting my money back and buying from anouther supplier.

I understand things happen sometimes but not getting the right barrel is a rather big mess up and shows very poor QC in my mind.

I wish you luck sir.

[Trapeze]

UPDATE (FYI...: Soon after my last post on the 20th I discovered that my RF 20" Grendel upper barrel has a 1:8 twist when it was advertised as 1:9. THAT's why the light bullets (100-108gr) were so much more precise/accurate than medium weights (120-123gr). On its way back to them not to get the barrel changed out since I wanted 1:9 originally, and now. So far the experience has been fairly good . . . we'll see about the rest of the story.

How did you determine your rifle was a 1-8 not 1–9?