Help with buying a 6.5G AR requested!

[WirePaladin]

Hello all. I am not quite ready yet to do a home-build. But after a lot of research I want a 6.5 Grendel AR. This rifle will be used for target (mostly informal, but still I am serious about accuracy), and hunting deer sized game. This will not be a home-defense rifle or anything like that. And I do reload.
I searched for a forum like this because the FakeBook sites are packed with Trolls bashing the heck out of each other's purchases and builds.

At my club, we all "run what we brung" and respect each other, there are high-dollar ARs and budget ARs, and from my experience they all run just fine, with sometimes surprising accuracy. It's like 1911 pistols. One guy at the club has a $5000 Wilson. It is very pretty and well finished. But I have witnessed it stovepipe factory ammo a few times, and from a rest it is no more accurate than most other 1911's. One kid's $400 Rock Island Arms shoots nearly as accurately, and seems to reliably consume any kind of ammo whatsoever. Go figure.

On this AR I want a rifle length gas system, and 20" barrel minimum. Actually, for my uses, a 22" will be better.
I found 3 possibilities; Radical Firearms, Pro2ATactical, and Bear Creek Arsenal. Do any of you have experiences with these 3 brands? Either yourself, or at your range, or a friend, whatever? I would appreciate hearing from you.
Thanks,
Art

[tlen]

PM sent

[VASCAR2]

https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-20-rifle-length-6-5-grendel-1-8-stainless-steel-15-m-lok-upper-with-bcg-ch.html

[Old Bob]

Don't know your budget but Wilson Combat has 6.5 Grendel 22" barreled ARs. I have their 20" Grendel barrel on my home built AR & it's a good shooter. My only experience with the three possibilities you mentioned are with a BCA upper. It wasn't a good experience. I had to shim the barrel extension on a 6.5 Grendel Odin barrel with .002" shim stock to get a tight barrel/upper fit. The combo never shot well...

https://shopwilsoncombat.com/65-Grendel/products/1040/

[dpete]

Something to consider is how long are the distances you will be target shooting? A 20 or 22" barrel will get you more velocity at distance, but at the cost of weight gain compared to a 16 or 18". Depending on how much you walk while hunting that extra weight can be a royal PITA. An accurate barrel is an accurate barrel no matter what length it is. Unless you will be target shooting at extra long ranges the extra velocity might not be worth the heft when lugging the rifle through the woods. A 16" barrel is a lot easier to swing than a 20 or 22".

[LRRPF52]

[trubulator]

BCA can be fine, but given their lower levels of quality control it is a bit of a gamble. The 20" upper I bought from them is quite accurate, but it is very heavy and the extractor was crap right out of the box (replaced it with one sold by Alexander Arms). That said, feed it stuff it likes and it makes tiny groups. The heavy barrel also takes quite a few shots to heat up, so if you are shooting a lot it is nice since it doesn't show change in POI after a few shots like the lighter barrels can.

For hunting, I think 18" is the sweet spot for barrel length if you are contemplating longer shots. 16" is dandy if you don't think you will shoot deer beyond 300 yards or so.

I would actually strongly suggest you buy or build the upper separate from the lower. The lower doesn't really need anything special beyond a good trigger (larue 2 stage are great for the money) and whatever sort of stock you find useful. The upper is where the accuracy usually comes from. By far, the barrel is what matters there. If you just want to buy one off the shelf, I would buy an upper and bolt together. Palmetto State Armory makes nice stuff and their 18 and 20 inch uppers should do what you want for the least amount of money and low likelihood of problems. Depending on your budget, you could go considerably up from there. Building also isn't that hard. I decided to build an upper simply to learn more about how they work. It was fairly easy and done in an afternoon. I used a 16" daniels defense barrel and otherwise used sort of generic parts (I blew my budget on the high end barrel). I haven't had a chance to wring it out yet, but accuracy looks very promising and it functioned flawlessly from the first shot.

[Zeneffect]

If you choose to assemble your own upper, don't be discouraged with a website saying "out of stock" or "12 months lead time" 9/10 times, the website is wrong and you should just call them and talk to a person. I found this to be the case with both krieger, and white oak precision every time I wanted something

[DHD]

Barrel, barrel, barrel, then trigger.

I use more Bartlein than anything else, but have slipped a few Krieger's in the mix (boltguns). My last 6.5 Grendel barrel is a Proof SS 20". It is a shooter after I got a hundred or so rounds down the barrel and leaned on it some. I shimmed the barrel and put good parts throughout.

I haven't bought a complete AR in many many years and don't have any advice except maybe look into a company that'll build you what you want. Craddock Precision will assemble an upper for you and that seems to be where most have trouble doing it themselves. Really, a good vise block (I use and love the Odin), a good reaction bar (use and love the Midwest Industries with top rail thingamagiggy) and you're only needing a torque wrench. Well, I did leave out a vice but you either have one already or need one....

You want precision (who doesn't) and already reload so.....

Last but not least, if you do buy a complete AR and you're like 96.4% of the folks here, you'll end swapping out a lot of the parts already installed and will have a box of removed parts that you'll never use again. Heck, I do that to rifles I built!

[trubulator]

Barrel, barrel, barrel, then trigger.

I use more Bartlein than anything else, but have slipped a few Krieger's in the mix (boltguns). My last 6.5 Grendel barrel is a Proof SS 20". It is a shooter after I got a hundred or so rounds down the barrel and leaned on it some. I shimmed the barrel and put good parts throughout.

I haven't bought a complete AR in many many years and don't have any advice except maybe look into a company that'll build you what you want. Craddock Precision will assemble an upper for you and that seems to be where most have trouble doing it themselves. Really, a good vise block (I use and love the Odin), a good reaction bar (use and love the Midwest Industries with top rail thingamagiggy) and you're only needing a torque wrench. Well, I did leave out a vice but you either have one already or need one....

You want precision (who doesn't) and already reload so.....

Last but not least, if you do buy a complete AR and you're like 96.4% of the folks here, you'll end swapping out a lot of the parts already installed and will have a box of removed parts that you'll never use again. Heck, I do that to rifles I built!

Nah, everyone knows that a box of parts eventually gets assembled into another rifle...

[montana]

Be sure to check your head space with any new barrel before assembling it. I have sent back two new Faxon (one 5.56 and one 6.5 Grendel barrel),and many other 5.56 barrels for short chambers..Many reliability and pressure problems can be caused by short chambers. Different bolts will effect head space too, so try any bolts you plan on using with any individual barrels..If you can find a function gauge to test your barrels, it is well worth the effort. Function gauges will find any tight chambers or improper throats..

[trubulator]

Be sure to check your head space with any new barrel before assembling it. I have sent back two new Faxon (one 5.56 and one 6.5 Grendel barrel),and many other 5.56 barrels for short chambers..Many reliability and pressure problems can be caused by short chambers. Different bolts will effect head space too, so try any bolts you plan on using with any individual barrels..If you can find a function gauge to test your barrels, it is well worth the effort. Function gauges will find any tight chambers or improper throats..

A real good idea. I bought go and no-go gauges when I built my upper. Lots of people don't do this, but I thought it was worth the effort.

[WirePaladin]

Thank you all for this information!