My Ballistic Advantage build

[A5BLASTER]

I get what he's saying about a one time 1/4" group and I agree with him. That's why I discount 3 shot groups as well. I always shoot 5 or 10 shot groups to get a better idea of what the rifle will do on average. That seems like a much more realistic evaluation of the rifle to me. I guess I'm just spoiled by the groups I've been getting with my bolt guns in .308 and 6.5CM. A 1.25" group by comparison looks huge until you measure it. I get a little carried away when I see guys posting up tight groups here too. I have to remember that no one posts up pics of crappy groups, lol.

I built this rifle with hopes of being able to hit 1 moa steel targets out to 430 yards, with hopes of stretching it farther in the future. My initial results made it look like that wasn't going to happen, but with good ammo and good shooting on my part I think I'll get there. If I can't get the kind of consistent performance I'm looking for with premium ammo or handloads, maybe I'll look into putting a different barrel on it. For now I'm going to keep plugging away with it and continue to improve my shooting. Hopefully I can tighten it up a bit, even if it is just for my own personal satisfaction (or bragging rights ).

Hey that's not true, I don't post many pics of groups but when I do I show them all and most are bad lmao.

Since coming to this fourm and getting into the grendel I will admit I have come to be anal about my groups, but I love that I have this never ending drive to improve my skill set and try more and more to reach that 1 hole 5 shot group.

Might never get there but man is it fun burning powder, more so when the guys I shoot with all slinging 300 win mag or 308 or 6.5 creedmoor and my lil grendel is still making hits as far as they can and farther then a few of them can.

[kcb38]

qwJdF00.jpg xgM6bJB.jpg lm2zHI7.jpg

[Popeye212]

I also believe that it takes a little practice to shoot an AR accurately. I have a BA barrel also, but I handload. The more I looked at the groups the more I saw the shooter and the load at fault rather than the barrel. She does seem to love Sierra 120 MK's. Today I put 5 Horn 123 SST's in to check zero. Danged if she didn't throw a 3/4 group. Had resigned that 1-1 1/2 was the best she could do with the SST. I can take my Rem. 700 plop it down on the bench and shoot sub moa no problem with Federal Premium go figure. Then again the gun will only shoot as good as what you put in it.

[biodsl]

I also believe that it takes a little practice to shoot an AR accurately. I have a BA barrel also, but I handload. The more I looked at the groups the more I saw the shooter and the load at fault rather than the barrel. She does seem to love Sierra 120 MK's. Today I put 5 Horn 123 SST's in to check zero. Danged if she didn't throw a 3/4 group. Had resigned that 1-1 1/2 was the best she could do with the SST. I can take my Rem. 700 plop it down on the bench and shoot sub moa no problem with Federal Premium go figure. Then again the gun will only shoot as good as what you put in it.

About 5 years ago I was struggling to make an AR15 shoot well. I too had a Rem 700 that seems to effortlessly lay down good groups when shooting Federal GMM. For some reason I sold it and just focused on my Grendel and my S&W AR15-22. Today anything but an AR feels foreign to me. My 22" BHW upper fits me best. I have a Nightforce scope mount that is only 1.14 inches high. I lay my cheek on the rifle stock and my eye just falls into place. The rifle fits and is totally familiar to me now. It reflects in my shooting.

Hand me a conventional rifle stock now and it feels like a 2x4.

[Popeye212]

Hand me a conventional rifle stock now and it feels like a 2x4.[/QUOTE]

Funny you should mention that. Exactly how she felt since I hadn't shot her in a while (Rem 700 .270).

[kcb38]

I finally decided to open up the gas port on my BA barrel. It was about 0.083 so I busted out the 3/32 drill bit and went to town. I was worried about getting a burr in the bore but everything came out smooth. I'm trying to pass this stuff on to my son so I had him help me out. While we were working on it he asked if he could shoot it, so I had him come with me to function check it. He went 10 for 10 on steel at 200. In the past he's had issues with loud noises so this was a big deal, especially since there was a bunch of guys there banging away today, each one with a brake that was louder than the next, haha. This is a quick vid of him behind the rifle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zgCdILmFVg&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR06bUv_eWukJuiuHzlwyDIg-0oKWBK8t_hE25dXV4dcFbvus_wVZfCQFIY

[Londerko]

[kcb38]

Thanks, I really enjoy sharing this stuff with him. Keeps him away from the video games for a while too, which is nice. BA is notorious for undersized ports on their Grendel barrels. Mine measured about 0.010 smaller than spec and it would not reliably hold the bolt open on the last round with Wolf. I've been living with it because it functioned pretty well with better ammo but I knew it wasn't right. It bugged me long enough that I finally decided to do something about it.

[Londerko]

[kcb38]

I never did chrono this rifle so I wouldn't have anything to compare to. BA has said that their small gas ports are "part of their recipe", whatever that means. I don't know if they were looking for a few more fps but I can't imagine any gain in that department would be worth the cycling issues it causes.

[Londerko]

[kcb38]

Yours is a BA? If so, what kind of accuracy are you getting from it?

[Londerko]

[kcb38]

That's a little tighter than what I'm seeing but I have to admit, my shooting could be better. I'll be hand loading for it shortly so I'm hoping to see some improvement there too. I can't wait for it to warm up a little so I can spend some more time with it.

[Londerko]