$1301.00 FFL Transfer Fee

[Sticks]

So yeah...

Went to my local FFL to pick up the barreled action from the member BST section Howa rifle and scope package. When I saw it, I decided that I could not pass it up, and add another member to the Horde (http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showt...7-It-s-a-Horde). HowaGrendel did an excellent job packing everything up in two packages, sent the action to my FFL, and the rest to me.

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Howa Mini 1500 20" Heavy Barrel (not threaded Matt), MDT LSS Chassis in FDE, Odin Works Zulu 2.0 Adjustable Stock, Athlon HELOS FFP Mil/Mil 6x24 scope, EGW 20 MOA rail, 6 bolt Burris rings, Redding die set, 100pcs Hornady brass, Sierra, Hornady and Berger 100 & 120 Gr bullets.

The Burris rings are beefy, but I need more real estate on the rail, so there will be some Badger Rings coming in, the Odin Stock is nice, but I need a cheek weld, so a Luth MBA in FDE got installed. The rifle came with a standard grip - black, so I installed a BAD Adjustable Grip in FDE (nice, but does not go along well with this stock in the heavy angled position, and I had to trim the beaver tail to fit). Hoping to get some nice-ish weather this Friday, so I will be taking it out and see how it does with the GF and the youngest daughter, and their xmas gifts (New Horde - it was an awesome yet misty eyed xmas!). Then I will be bedding the rail, and action to the stock, and send the action out to get it threaded (Matt).

Anyhow....$1301.00 transfer fee

Sitting on the counter is an AR, that I just briefly looked at. This shop does mostly trade-ins, consignment, and estate liquidation so the ARs that come in are either franken guns or el-cheapo rack grade rifles that I really don't have a need for.

The owner points out the rifle sitting on the counter and says, "You shoot 6.5 Grendel, right?"

"Yeah."

"Take a look at that one. I just got it in yesterday."

Pedigree -

24" Lilja Heavy Heavy Bull Barrel .936 gas block journal
Vltor VIS F12 Monolithic rail - Keymod
Gamma VG6.5 muzzle brake
Superlative Arms clamp on Adj. Gas Block
Bootleg Inc (Never heard of them https://bootleginc.com/) Charging handle and adjustable carrier, with .136 Bolt - no markings, probably Maxim if it came with the Lilja barrel
Noreene Billet Lower (never heard of them either https://onlylongrange.com/ )
Geissele stupid light adjustable 2 stage trigger =(found the gold - it's on the springs and the sear)
Fru fru Red mag release
No name LPK with plain ol' safety (getting an ambi)
UTG grip (Really liking it, large and comfy)
A2 Stock (getting rid of that one too...another Luth?)
7.5 boxes of Hornady Black ammo
1 C products 10 round mag
Harris midget bipod (6" to 9")

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Aside from it looked like someone tried to force a .875 gas block down the barrel to the shoulder (some scuff trails in the steel) everything else looks new, and if I understood the LGS owner, only 30 rounds fired. Previous owner was the owner of a gunshop in Montana that closed up shop and moved to the Denver area to take care of family (medical crisis), and liquidated his assets - he is the one that assembled this rifle. Going to give it a real good looking over and see what I got. May pull it down, lap the receiver, bed the barrel and gas block. Need to buy a wrench.

So, out the door, $1301.00.

Quick math says I am way ahead on this rifle. It goes out to get shot with the Athlon scope to see how it does. I may pull the Vortex of my PF Neptune VIII and toss it on there.

$490 barrel and bolt. $500 upper, $150 carrier, $280 trigger...oops, we're there plus 120, free gas block, lower, stock, bipod, ammo....

Another thought is to take the trigger out of this lower and put it in my DMR lower (Geissele SSA-E), move this lower over to my Mk12 and just keep the two uppers with the DMR lower...or swap out the Magpul PRS Stock with this A2 stock and make this the new designated DMR lower.

Extra stuff to end up in the BST section soon. Odin Zulu stock, grip, A2 stock, dies, and more.

[earlwb]

Wow. That does look pretty nice. It looks like a good shooter too.
Congratulations.

[LRRPF52]

Yeah, you got a lot of gun for $1300.

There should be no need for the adjustable gas block since there is an adjustable carrier, or vice versa.

In the photo, it looks like the gas tube is coming out of the block at an angle, might just be the camera, so look at that again.

I would just shoot it and see how it does before messing with anything. It might be a shooter, as the builder obviously knew how to select top notch parts.

[Sticks]

...There should be no need for the adjustable gas block since there is an adjustable carrier, or vice versa.

In the photo, it looks like the gas tube is coming out of the block at an angle, might just be the camera, so look at that again.

I would just shoot it and see how it does before messing with anything. It might be a shooter, as the builder obviously knew how to select top notch parts.

Yeah, I noted the redundancy on the gas system. I might move that carrier over to my MK12 and make it switch back and forth between that and my 16" middy 5.56 (suppressor is coming...maybe March?) as neither of them have ADJ-GB so that will save me $180 in buying 2 more. Then all of my rifles will be fitted with either the QD or threaded. I already bought mounts for the two 5.56.

The photo is at a weird angle for lighting. The gas tube runs straight and true.

The weather for tomorrow is still looking good. Now supposed to be 50 instead of 48. 10mph wind, but with the sun out it will not be that bad. Both new rifles will be shot to see how they do before I start tweaking things. I'll get MV off the 24" with Black and American Gunner.

[The Profit Joseph Sith]

Man that is a score. Nice find! Bootleg is the sister co. Of PWS. that carrier is not cheap. Not a fan of the noreen stuff though. That is funny to have a adj. GB and carrier i cant help but wonder if that had something to do with the reason why it was being sold.

[Kilco]

Wow score!! That's a real mean looking rifle!

[Sticks]

I managed to get out Friday. Temps were warmer than expected, and so was the wind. When we were setting up, it was a 8-13mph wind. By the time we (The Girlfiriend, and the Youngest Daughter with their two Howas) got set up, briefed and started shooting. we were dealing with 10-20mph R-L winds with inverted gusts down to 10 (READ - mostly 20mph winds with 5-10 second drops down to 10).

The Lilja upper is slow, and hopefully will pick up speed as she gets broken in some more.

The ladies forgot to bring food for their rifles (2 hour drive) and I only brought a limited amount of Factory ammo for velocity testing. I pulled 3 rounds of Hornady 123 ELD and Hornandy American Gunner 123 HPBT for each rifle, and let the ladies have the rest.

Lilja -
MM = Moscow Match ammo - sight in rounds
ELD = Guess
HAG = Hornady American Gunner

AR - MM	18	Shots:	5
Min	2464	Max	2478
Avg	2469	S-D	6
ES	14
Series	Shot	Speed
18	1	2478	ft/s
18	2	2464	ft/s
18	3	2474	ft/s
18	4	2467	ft/s
18	5	2466	ft/s
----	----	----	----
New AR HAG		Shots:	3
Min	2435	Max	2470
Avg	2451	S-D	17.5
ES	35
Series	Shot	Speed
19	1	2470	ft/s
19	2	2450	ft/s
19	3	2435	ft/s
----	----	----	----
New AR ELD		Shots:	3
Min	2456	Max	2484
Avg	2473	S-D	14.9
ES	28
Series	Shot	Speed
20	1	2484	ft/s
20	2	2479	ft/s
20	3	2456	ft/s
----	----	----	----

Those velocities are the same that I get out of my 18" Barlitien. The C products mag that came with it gave me some FTFeed issues, so I switched over to one of my ASC mags. Had to keep bumping the gas block open, I would still get some short strokes.

Howa member buy

Howa MM		Shots:	10
Min	2414	Max	2457
Avg	2434	S-D	12.4
ES	43
Series	Shot	Speed
21	1	2440	ft/s
21	2	2425	ft/s
21	3	2428	ft/s
21	4	2414	ft/s
21	5	2431	ft/s
21	6	2431	ft/s
21	7	2449	ft/s
21	8	2429	ft/s
21	9	2440	ft/s
21	10	2457	ft/s
----	----	----	----
Howa ELD	22	Shots:	3
Min	2450	Max	2471
Avg	2458	S-D	11
ES	21
Series	Shot	Speed
22	1	2450	ft/s
22	2	2455	ft/s
22	3	2471	ft/s
----	----	----	----
Howa HAG	23	Shots:	2
Min	2447	Max	2450
Avg	2448	S-D	2.2
ES	3
Series	Shot	Speed
23	1	2450	ft/s
23	2	2447	ft/s
----	----	----	----

ETA - The trigger on this Howa was hideous. I don't know how old it is , came in a Green box, where as the new Horde came in Red boxes, but I'd swear it was heavier than my PSA LPK Trigger on my 16" middy. I did the trigger spring cut job on it, taking about 1.25 coils, and it is almost a touch light, but muuuuuuch better.

The 10 rounds of MM shots for sighters...I started out at 25y to make sure I was on paper with both, then moved out to 100 to get groups. Something weird with that Howa. Got myself to 1" low at 25 by the 3rd shot, then at 100, damned if I was not hitting 6 inches high. Left me scratching my head a bit, and took a few shots to figure out where I was hitting since I was off my target and onto my GFs target.

Both rifles shoot factory ammo under 1 inch. By the time I got to it, the high winds were messing with my 10mph target stands pretty bad, so I had a waving target.

I do know that the Howa seems to love my Moscow Match ammo. .7" group, 4 holes touching .4 and #5 bumping it out to .7. The Lilja AR, I seem to have lost my ability to shoot a gas gun consistently. I was barely able to keep the groups under an inch. I could print 3-4 really good, then the next one or two would hit 1" left or right, as well as the recoil follow though would change on those shots.

The ladies did really good too. The Youngest had her first time shooting 6.5 Grendel, bolt Action, and wind. She was shooting a round robin on one of my load testing targets (eight 2" diamonds on a grid) and was getting discouraged until we got home and I compiled all shots onto one target and it was about a .75 group with a few flyers (overall 1.5"). The mother had her second time with the bolt action and first time in wind, and printed 8 sub MOA groups.