Ultimate Liteweight Precision Grendel Build

[StoneHendge]

I'm very happy with my brigand arms handguard. And their 12" is actually 12.75"

I'm not very fond of that barrel nut system. Had it on my old factory Anderson 223 upper with 24" bull barrel which shot way better than any $150 barrel should, but when that upper became my 6x45, it wasn't shooting as well as I thought it should. I broke it down a few times to realign everything convinced that vibration was going up the gas tube to the block. I finally gave up and bought an ALG. Went from just under MOA to 1/2 to 5/8 with the same load. Maybe it's just me, but I never felt I had it as aligned as it should have been.

[fixin]

Well, I hope you enjoy your .223 BSF!! My grendel BSF is due to arrive sometime tomorrow. I am quite excited for it considering the mysteriousness and lack of reviews they have. I know from doing my own research the .223 barrels are gaining quite the following

[StoneHendge]

BSF - IIRC swiss cheeses their CF wrap for cooling.

Mmmmm..... Swiss Cheese. Makes me think of a Rueben. Which makes me think of Rubin & Cherise on an absolutely perfect Colorado afternoon. Perfect name for this build. He will be Rubin to start and become Cherise when I swap and put a tactical optic on it. Or should it be Cherise and Ruby Claire? [please let there be one person out there who gets that!]

With all the Faxon Heads in the horde, how come no one ever brought up the Faxon Streamlight Carbon Fiber? Just ordered the 15" from Brownells. 8 oz including barrel nut (upgradable to Ti nut to save 1/2 oz). Slightly lighter than the 13.5" Lithium Aluminum V Seven, big enough to not have to worry about a 0.936 gas block fitting underneath but not overly wide. Flat where the M-lok slots are so no worries about trying to stabilize a round tube on a barrier. Not cheap but not really more than other options out there. And Brownells has $50 off $400 today so I added an LPK and V Seven Charging Handle so done deal. And since its Brownells, if the handguard doesn't work for whatever reason, back she goes.

fixin, I can't see why their Grendel would shoot any different than their 223s. Except for maybe a little less CF dampening due to the bigger bang and slightly lighter contour

But this is a Grendel forum. Back to your regularly scheduled programming. I'll circle back when Rubin's done for closure and a BSF report.

[fixin]

Oh no, I wasn't comparing, I was complimenting. I'm glad I'm not the only one taking the plunge on such a relatively out-of-spotlight company.

[StoneHendge]

Oh no, I wasn't comparing, I was complimenting. I'm glad I'm not the only one taking the plunge on such a relatively out-of-spotlight company.

Your taking a bigger plunge than me! My plunge was when I bought my Proof CF 6.5 CM barrel last year. I took a lot of sitting behind my desk with the curser over "Place Order" before I finally clicked it. But now that I am totally sold on the stiffness and vibration dampening characteristics of CF, it wasn't too hard -especially with the sale price and now that some reviews are out there.

The thing your going to like the most is how well it will likely shoot factory ammo. And how well it will shoot the "off node" charges when you do load development. You may get shotgun groups from those, but it will be like it is through a really tight choke. I don't think OBT is the be all and end all, but it is a factor and CF goes a long way towards significantly mitigating the impact of vibration on accuracy (as well as mitigating barrel whip). I admit that I didn't understand their design when they first came out, but it now it obviously makes sense to me. I'm not expecting it to cool like a Proof, but it won't run into the problems there are with Christenson's CF acting as an insulator and keeping the heat in.

[Sticks]

Faxon's doing a CF barrel now? Did not know, but I am not in the market for a barrel. I have three (...five if you count the 5.56s I never shoot) with a lot of life left in the barrels.

[BluntForceTrauma]

I think he means Faxon's CF handguards.

[StoneHendge]

BFT is correct. A 15" barrel weighing 8 oz would probably require a CF wrapped titanium core the thickness of aluminum foil!

[jonny rotton]

i just purchased the 2a upper and lower set. and a titanium muzzle device. wow, they are costly!!! but i want a very lightweight 12" grendel pistol. i will try both a
x-caliber barrel and a mcgowan barrel and choose the one that shoots the best and the lightest. hope they are both the same. lol i also have a sb3a on order.
should be one lightweight shooter.

[Randy99CL]

i just purchased the 2a upper and lower set. and a titanium muzzle device. wow, they are costly!!!

Why use a muzzle device at all? Thread protectors are cheap, light and send the blast downrange.

[jonny rotton]

it only weighs 1.2 oz and i like to do a lot of fast shooting. it will hold the muzzle down and maybe cut the flash down too.

[StoneHendge]

i just purchased the 2a upper and lower set. and a titanium muzzle device. wow, they are costly!!! but i want a very lightweight 12" grendel pistol. i will try both a
x-caliber barrel and a mcgowan barrel and choose the one that shoots the best and the lightest. hope they are both the same. lol i also have a sb3a on order.
should be one lightweight shooter.

Yeah, I think I'm going to end up with a V Seven Furion since it's the only ti muzzle device that will really work with a bull barrel. I may try to see if the VG 6 Epsilon on my 1:9 223 will work first, but I think it will look real silly. I'd be willing to "spend" the extra 1.5 oz or so given how well it works. And then wait to see if they do another run of the ti Epsilons - those were like $160!

But if the X-caliber and McGowen shoot the same, you're going to have to try a BHW to see if it's better!

Randy, I like to watch my impacts - and with a dialed in 223 with a good compensator, it is "watching", not "seeing"

[Bigs28]

The gen1 balios weighs less than the gen2 so i ordered that.

[Trueblue]

If it is not to much trouble, could you give an updated itemized build list of what you ended up with.

[jonny rotton]

x-caliber and mcgowan are local companies. so is proof, fulkor, and several other manufacturers are all located in the flathead valley of montana. we have a few inside sources that are helpful in getting quality parts. i will get my shorty with the balios 2 receivers and x-caliber barrel assembled and tested this week.