Any do's and dont's when breaking in a new Grendel?

[bugsbunny45]

I want my best chance to have a very accurate rifle so what are a few things you have done to have a successful breakin.
Do I need to stay away from wolf during breakin?

[snarkscarbine]

[1Shot]

The best thing I did with my second AR 6.5 Grendel to increase accuracy over my first AR 6.5 Grendel was to put an Oden Works barrel group on it. Right out of the gate it was a shooter. My first AR 6.5 Grendel was a complete BCA upper which I had to send back to them to have the barrel replaced because best it would do was 5" at 100 yards, every shot was a flier. When I got it back, 20" fluted SS barrel, I had to shoot between 60 and 70 rounds to get it to settle down and shoot under 1". Before this round count it would throw 1 or 2 fliers in every 5 shot group. I was beginning to think it was me and my shooting form that was causing it but I did not have any problem shooting any other AR. Then all of a sudden between 60 and 70 rounds down the tube the fliers went away. With the handloads it likes, it is picky, it will average 3/4" now. Both of my rifles do not like the Hornady 123 SST bullet in either factory or handloads. They love 120 Sierra Pro Hunter and Speer Gold Dots. By the way both of my ARs have ran like a sewing machine from the get go except when I tried to shoot some handloads with 100 gr Sierra HP bullets without crimping them with a Lee Factory Crimp Die in the BCA. That big HP would catch and drive the bullet back into the case and misfeed in the BCA. I put a crimp on and it functioned but I did not do a load workup with these bullets. I just had them on the shelf and loaded up some to see if the lighter bullet would make any difference in the accuracy of my first BCA rifle but it still scattered them like every other bullet. With both rifle I did like I do with any new rifle. For 5 shots I would shoot 1 and clean. Then shoot 5 and clean then 10 and clean. I usually do not clean the bore of any rifle until accuracy starts to drop off unless I have been out in the rain or snow with a chance of moisture getting in the bore. I will clean the chamber and actions no the bore. I have seen people do more damage by cleaning a bore too much than can ever be done by shooting it.

[wiguy]

I just clean the barrel a bit, then go shooting, nothing special.

I’m not a big fan of Wolf, but I wouldn’t avoid it.

For the most part, any bullet you shoot is softer than the bore itself, so bullets won’t change much. I would evaluate things, then clean again before a high round count.

[bugsbunny45]

Will do thanks

[1Shot]

The bullets in Wolf ammo are under size we are told .263 not .264 so they may not fully engage the rifling especially on R5 rifling. I have not and will not shoot it myself in my Grendel's. I have shot their 7.62x39 lacquer coated steel case ammo in my SKS's but cleaned the chamber really good with lacquer thinner every so often because when the barrel and chamber started to get hot the lacquer on the cases would melt and cause function problems. That is the reason that Wolf introduced the poly coated cases. I am not sure what coating their Grendel ammo has.

[OneHitWonder]

The bullets in Wolf ammo are under size we are told .263 not .264 so they may not fully engage the rifling especially on R5 rifling. I have not and will not shoot it myself in my Grendel's. I have shot their 7.62x39 lacquer coated steel case ammo in my SKS's but cleaned the chamber really good with lacquer thinner every so often because when the barrel and chamber started to get hot the lacquer on the cases would melt and cause function problems. That is the reason that Wolf introduced the poly coated cases. I am not sure what coating their Grendel ammo has.

Bill Alexander himself when designing the round in Russia tried polymer coatings and found the green lacquer to be the best performance on this caliber for several reasons. Corrosion resistance, chamber lubricity, and desert dust operation.

[depletedyourcranium]

Lacquer will not melt in your chamber. Your chamber was just getting dirty as it would with any steel cased ammo (look up steel vs brass case obturation).

Also the Wolf ammo in a 5R rifle might do just fine. It shoots 2 inch groups with my 20 inch 5R barrel. Plenty of other folks have had it shoot well in their 5Rs as well.

Quality of the barrel is a much better indicator of potential accuracy across all types of bullets rather than any type of rifling versus bullet construction.

[LR1955]

I want my best chance to have a very accurate rifle so what are a few things you have done to have a successful breakin.
Do I need to stay away from wolf during breakin?

BB:

You seem focused on using Wolf ammo so maybe you ought to quantify what 'accurate' means to you.

LR55

[towerofpower93]

The bullets in Wolf ammo are under size we are told .263 not .264 so they may not fully engage the rifling especially on R5 rifling. I have not and will not shoot it myself in my Grendel's. I have shot their 7.62x39 lacquer coated steel case ammo in my SKS's but cleaned the chamber really good with lacquer thinner every so often because when the barrel and chamber started to get hot the lacquer on the cases would melt and cause function problems. That is the reason that Wolf introduced the poly coated cases. I am not sure what coating their Grendel ammo has.

If lacquer coating causes rampant malfunctions, why do Russia and China continue to use it on their issue ammo?

My take is that polymer coating is cheaper for Wolf than lacquer, and the "melting lacquer" hypothesis has taken hold in the US with no actual proof.

ETA: my own anecdotal evidence regarding lacquer vs polymer coating is based on polymer coated 5.56 cases sticking in a US manufactured M85 barrel, while the couple of spam cans of 7N6 I've used before it's cost advantages were offset gave me no issues as far as extraction goes.

[ppro]

Soooo Why would Wolf supply the ammo in question, with a under size projectile (.263 vs .264) as noted in the prior post ?

[Wanderson]

Maybe a slightly smaller bullet due to the harder bimetallic jacket?

A copper jacket is like .008 thick, we’re talking a .001 difference.

I think Wolf or RSA offer a steel case 7.62x39 with a non-magnetic copper jacketed round. While it would be nice to see that in 6.5g I’m good with the performance I’m getting out of Wolf thru my PSA 12” nitride upper, which has only seen Wolf steel.