Barrel for Toolcraft BCG

[CamwiseGamgee]

[mdram]

not a knock, just a note/fyi
the toolcraft bolt uses a special firing pin. do not swap the pin with a standard ar pin, or change the bolt to a diff .136 bolt


if a 16" will work for you try this

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?15973-OPEN-65G-MONSTER-16-Barrel-Buy-167-12S-amp-H

[Bigs28]

You can look at odin as well for your price point. If you can wait a month their are usually good sales during 4th of July promotions.

For under your budget you can check the group buys to see if their are any faxon barrels left.

Also if your shot distances are shorter you can easily use 12 and 16 inch barrels for hunting.

[VASCAR2]

I think AR Performance uses a hybrid proprietary bolt. The Toolcraft bolt has a .136 bolt face so should match many 6.5 Grendel barrel chambered to use .136 Grendel bolt. I have two of the Faxon group buy barrels which I really like. Hard to beat the price of the Faxon GB barrels.

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?15973-OPEN-65G-MONSTER-16-Barrel-Buy-167-12S-amp-H

[Popeye212]

What VASCAR said I Have NiB Toolcraft mated with a Ballistics Advantage barrel. BA is specified as Type II

[grayfox]

+1 on the other guys...
The BCG won't have any impact on SAAMI or LBC chambers, only that it is for a barrel that headspaces with a 0.136 bolt-face depth. That's what the bcg nomenclature is telling you.
The mid-level value and good-quality ones like BA and Faxon... Odin, or go the higher end route with Lilja, Krieger, Larue, etc.
One thing I would recommend is don't go the cheap-o route, you wind up throwing $$ away.
First build should stay with known mfr-performers...
just my $0.02, and welcome aboard!

[1Shot]

Since you already have you BCG I would go with a Faxon barrel and if 16" will work for you get the group buy. I have an Oden Works 18" that is really nice but they come with CBG and tunable gas block and mine was a intermediate length gas port so it came with the gas tube also and ran $400 from Joboboutdoors.com I think they are a little over $400 now. Joebob also has POF 3.5 lb triggers for $139 and it comes with KNS anti rotation pins. This is a straight trigger but I really like it because it lengthens the reach to the trigger a bit which I need for good form in shooting. Like has been said DON'T GO CHEAP-O ON YOUR BARREL meaning stay away from Bear Creek Arsenal produced barrels and uppers. I ended up with a descent shooting rifle (not in the class with the Oden Works) but had to send the BCA upper back and have it replaced and deal with a bunch of frustration and loss of money in ammo and range trips. I pays to just cry once and get good quality stuff the first time.

[bob4432]

not a knock, just a note/fyi
the toolcraft bolt uses a special firing pin. do not swap the pin with a standard ar pin, or change the bolt to a diff .136 bolt

Can I ask what is the firing pin difference? Would like to keep as many parts common as possible. What bolts use the same standard AR-15 firing pin, preferably close to the same price point & specs (obviously being AR-15 standard) in 9310, qpq, etc.
Thanks,
Bob

[grayfox]

I got this confused last time but hopefully I have it straight now.
Toolcraft kept its Grendel bolt at a "standard" 556 length, so the 0.011" extra face depth meant they had to cut their firing pins shorter by the same.

Keep the toolcraft Grendel bolt together with its toolcraft FP. The Grendel bolt ("original" bolt) has the 0.011" deeper face cut (0.136" deep bolt face) from 556 depth so they lengthened it (ie, the bolt) by the same, so it can use a standard 556 FP. If you measure your 556 pins and the toolcraft Grendel pin you will see the TC pin is shorter. Likewise the TC Grendel bolt is shorter than the Grendel bolt.

If you keep the 2 TC pieces paired they should function just fine for you, just not be interchangeable with other non-TC combos.

BCGs are swappable no problem.

That 0.011 difference can mean a too-long pin and thus pierced primers and therefore, troubles. Or a too-short pin and no ignition.

[bob4432]

I got this confused last time but hopefully I have it straight now.
Toolcraft kept its Grendel bolt at a "standard" 556 length, so the 0.011" extra face depth meant they had to cut their firing pins shorter by the same.

Keep the toolcraft Grendel bolt together with its toolcraft FP. The Grendel bolt ("original" bolt) has the 0.011" deeper face cut (0.136" deep bolt face) from 556 depth so they lengthened it (ie, the bolt) by the same, so it can use a standard 556 FP. If you measure your 556 pins and the toolcraft Grendel pin you will see the TC pin is shorter. Likewise the TC Grendel bolt is shorter than the Grendel bolt.

If you keep the 2 TC pieces paired they should function just fine for you, just not be interchangeable with other non-TC combos.

BCGs are swappable no problem.

That 0.011 difference can mean a too-long pin and thus pierced primers and therefore, troubles. Or a too-short pin and no ignition.

Out of curiosity, do you know if using a shorter FP is the norm? I would personally get rid of the TC bolts that need the 'special' FP, as I would like to just stock 1 type of FP, even if it means paying a bit more (something that IMHO shouldn't need to worry about, especially in the field if a broken bolt, then all kinds of problems ensue) my problem is that I have kept all my extra FPs together, and honestly do not remember noticing a difference because I ASSumed (I am totally the ASS in this situation, not you and me, and I appreciate the heads up) the FPs would be the same so now I will need to go through them and pair them up. I can pick up the TC 5.56 BCGs w/ a 9310 bolt and have a good price for just a carrier, and an extra 5.56 bolt (I shoot that too), so no problem and no waste, but I guess my question is what QUALITY, reasonably priced Bolt uses a standard FP w/ the .136 bolt face. I cannot believe these little things keep creeping up on me after all the reading I have done on the Grendel. I can see it from the manf standpoint as it is much cheaper (I assume, that word again) to just make a shorter FP than modify the bolt.
Any chance you (or anybody else) may know of known brands of bolts (preferrably qpq) that take the standard FP? Luckily, so far, no broken bolts (especially in the field) . I have also noticed FPs made of a lot of different materials anymore....from TC
Again, thanks for the heads up and any additional info would be greatly appreciated.

[grayfox]

From my experience any Grendel bolt other than Toolcraft that also has the 0.136" depth bolt face will use the normal 556 firing pin. I have on hand the Monster bolt (from the group buy section) - which is a great deal, I have 6.5 grendel bolt/bcg's from joebob, ... can't think right now of others, but as long as it's a 0.136" depth bolt you should be gtg.

Look at the monster ones in the Group Buy section, if they are still going on then that's your best bet.
Other grendl mfrs should specify if they have 0.136 bolt face depths, that's your clue that you're ok. Except toolcraft.
My TC pair is just a standby in the drawer... I use all normal bolts and std FPs.

[bob4432]

From my experience any Grendel bolt other than Toolcraft that also has the 0.136" depth bolt face will use the normal 556 firing pin. I have on hand the Monster bolt (from the group buy section) - which is a great deal, I have 6.5 grendel bolt/bcg's from joebob, ... can't think right now of others, but as long as it's a 0.136" depth bolt you should be gtg.

Look at the monster ones in the Group Buy section, if they are still going on then that's your best bet.
Other grendl mfrs should specify if they have 0.136 bolt face depths, that's your clue that you're ok. Except toolcraft.
My TC pair is just a standby in the drawer... I use all normal bolts and std FPs.

Thanks for the info and will look at the group buy. I do not know how I missed this. After a quick google search, there were thread dating back to 2012 and older where people where having issues w/ primers and low and behold some of them turned out to be the FP issue.
Thanks again

[Kswhitetails]

Out of curiosity, do you know if using a shorter FP is the norm? I would personally get rid of the TC bolts that need the 'special' FP,.

Bill designed the Grendel bolt to be .011 longer, enabling folks to keep one pin for all, as you are wanting to do. Generally, this is a thing folks stumble upon after figuring out why their parts seem different "in the field". Keep an eye out for BFT's next group buy Monster Bolts. They are specced as they should be, .011 longer than the standard 5.56 bolt, to enable use of the one FP when switching bolts.

[bob4432]

Bill designed the Grendel bolt to be .011 longer, enabling folks to keep one pin for all, as you are wanting to do. Generally, this is a thing folks stumble upon after figuring out why their parts seem different "in the field". Keep an eye out for BFT's next group buy Monster Bolts. They are specced as they should be, .011 longer than the standard 5.56 bolt, to enable use of the one FP when switching bolts.

surprised these things are still cropping up, especially from a company like TC.
I went ahead and sent BFT the money hoping there may be 1 more left (fingers crossed).

[VASCAR2]

To my knowledge this first showed up with Odin Works 6.5 Grendel barrels/bolts with pierced primers. Odin Works, Toolcraft, Brownell’s and LaRue Tactical all use the shorter firing pin with .011 shorter bolt. Whether any of these companies sourced the bolts from the same manufacturer is unknown. Many times this information is not made public because of NDA.