New Alexander Arms grendel... Proble out of the box

[Flagman]

I got my new AA 20" Entry Thursday pm, got my leupold Longe Range scope on and went out to do the barrel break in Friday. I got two boxes of AA 123 Scenar and two boxes of AA 120 TSX from the dealer who sold me the rifle. I load ten rounds in the mag and shoot one off and pull the charge handle to extract the loaded round for cleaning and the round will not come out. I make calls to people familiar with ars who tell me they have never had the problem. I push the charge handle in and try to fire the round with mag out, dud. Previuosly When I got the gun in I broke it down and lubed it well and cleaned the barrel and dryed the chamber as well. After about an hour of frustation, I kept pulling back the charge handle and getting a little movement, eventually the round came out. I Cleaned gun, put 2 in mag and shot both. Everything ok, loaded three and shot 2, third round stuck in chamber. The bolt works flawlessly empty with no restriction. Ok I work and extract this round, I did shoot on paper and put three at 3/4". I cleaned gun at home and went out with scenars and no problem pulling loaded round. Ok I clean today and load one Tsx in clean gun, stuck bullet, I pull it out and go to my reloading room to do some measurements, perhaps improper crimp or? As Im measuring oals, I noticed the stuck round is .060 longer than other rounds, careful inspection shows land marks on bullet, the bullet was sticking in the lands and keeping the whole cartridge from being extracted. Ok, this is gettin long I know. The Barnes ammo oal is 2.233 and the scenars are 2.253, however the Barnes oal is .035 longer at the olgive measuring with a Sinclair bullet comparator. Help, is this a problem with chamber or merely a probelm with the loaded ammo.? Ok Iam editing post, you guys are in bed, I measured the Tsx rounds, from base of case to point on loaded bullet where the olgive is 6.5 measured with comparator, average length of 8 rounds is 1.647, does this measurement meet or come close to saami spec? Flagman

[Tedward]

A guy down the road from me just bought a AA Grendel on Gun Broker. AA Upper and lower but the barrel was marked 5R. Broke bolt and I do not think it is an AA Barrel.

Where did you get your rifle and what markings are on the barrel, someone here might have an idea if the barrel has markings.

[Flagman]

I bought this last weekh on Gun Broker from Worldwide Weaponry, they sell a lot of AA rifles on there. There are no markings on the barrel above the handgrip, I know it unscrews, but I don't know the method and tools needed. Ive tried to read all threads related to this and found none here, but I did see elsewhere where a problem exisited with Satern barrels and talk of two different chambers being cut in the Grendel. Its hard to believe that AA would sell a rifle that their own ammunition will not function in. Thanks, flagman

[VASCAR2]

I have never bought any Alexander Arms 123 grain Scenar ammo but I have 123 grain Hornady A-Max and Les Baer 123 grain Sierra Match King loaded by Black Hills. Both these loads measure 2.245 and this may be an ammunition problem. I recently used a Hornady Lock N Load chamber gauge to measure my 16" J&T, 20" Shilen, 18" Brownel's 6.5 Grendel's and my Son in Laws Lothar Walther 6.5 barrel.

There were slight variations in all four barrels with regard to the maximum overall length for each bullet. I was curious about this since my load using 100 grain Nosler BT stuck in the barrel of my Son in Laws barrel and were to long. I found that a small difference of .005 can be the difference between function and a round which won't extract.

With the 6.5 Grendel I try to keep my brass separate for each barrel and the shoulder set back on the 6.5 Grendel is also a critical factor along with COAL. Just because the round fits in the mag does not mean it will chamber with that particular bullet and ogive.

[dmsims21]

Something isn't right. You should contact Alexander Arms. From what I have heard others say about AA, they will gladly look at it and fix any issue.

[Tedward]

I found the Brownells to have the shortest OAL to lands or end of throat of 5 manufactures barrels. Is that the one you had a round get stuck the Brownells?

[Flagman]

Thanks guys, Ill call them in the am, the throat must be extremely short for a bullet to be crammed into the lands so that it comes out of the case .060. The oal on the Barnes ammo is not even near the max some are using, must be that different chamber dimensions are being produced for AA, flagman

[LRRPF52]

AA Barrels come marked with specific engraving on them.

[Tedward]

Thanks guys, Ill call them in the am, the throat must be extremely short for a bullet to be crammed into the lands so that it comes out of the case .060. The oal on the Barnes ammo is not even near the max some are using, must be that different chamber dimensions are being produced for AA, flagman

I doubt it's an AA barrel, there are lots of people who can put parts together and call it something it is not on GB.
Does the upper receiver have 6.5 Grendel engraved on it too? And I take it the lower receiver is a AA lower. Not just advertised as a AA Grendel.

[Flagman]

Tedward, its an AA lower and I assume AA upper as it came in an AA case with their instruction book and paperwork. I did find another thread with an identical problem by another manufacturer or barrel maker, Ill probably have to send it back for repair, flagman

WOW, I should of posted this under trouble shooting, Iam new here less than aweek, and I just read all the short throat threads. This is crazy, all the different barrels and chambers. I've had custom barrels put on bolt guns for 30 years by several different gunsmiths and never had a problem when seating any bullet to specs. Oh well I'll see what AA says today, I can tell you now their cs is very busy, thanks so much. Iam pleased with the rifle seeing that I was able to exceed my accuracy expectations with facory ammo. I have all the reloading stuff, so I guess its time to get started. Flagman

[VASCAR2]

I found the Brownells to have the shortest OAL to lands or end of throat of 5 manufactures barrels. Is that the one you had a round get stuck the Brownells?

The barrel my reloads would not function was the Lothar Walther. The Chamber on the Brownell's 6.5 Grendel measured very close to the Grendel barrels made by Shilen and my J&T. Considering my two barrels had a few 100 rounds through them the Brownell's barrel appeared to be in spec.

It seemed like the .295 neck/throat on the L/W barrel needed most of the the bullets to be seated deeper than my two barrels with AA chamber.

[Tedward]

Tedward, its an AA lower and I assume AA upper as it came in an AA case with their instruction book and paperwork. I did find another thread with an identical problem by another manufacturer or barrel maker, Ill probably have to send it back for repair, flagman

If you can send it back to the seller or AA for a look that is good.

What I meant about the upper, was it engraved like the attached picture? AA always engraves the Uppers so there isn't a question of which upper you have in hand.

AA Grendel Broken Bolt.jpg

[Flagman]

Spent a couple of hours measuring bullets and seating depths with the Sinclair tools I havent used for 5 years, Iam glad i kept them. The AA barnes 120 Tsx are being crammed into my rifleing .010 this bullet is 1.25" long and they seat it 1/2" into the case, I suspect its a compressed load. The AA 123 Scenar ammo is off the lands .024, and I shot a 5 shot 100 yd group at 3/4" ctc, good I think for factory amo, the loaded rounds are 2.2645 oal. My intention is to shoot the 100 gr TTSX with pa load with XbR 8208 and I'll be at the lands with an oal of 2.234. Iam curious how this compare with other members chambers and what your opinion is as to recutting the throat, flagman

[SHORT-N-SASSY]

An immediate determination as to the specific manufacturer of the barrel in question, please!

[Flagman]

Tedward, yes it is an AA upper, I looked and saw the stamp, I missed it before. Short-n-sassy, are all Grendel barrels stamped by manufacturer? Is there a way to determine the barrel manufacturer without removing the hand grip? I read on here you should apply some heat and have a strap wrench etc, I won't attempt this without having confidence I will not damage the grip or rifle. Iam calling AA in the am to discuss the situation and hopefully get the barrel makers name, Ill let you know. My gunsmith said he can recut the throat in amatter of minutes without removing the barrel. He said to determine the bullet(s) I want to shoot and provide him a fireformed case with bullet set to length and he will recut throat to match, flagman