Starting a parts list for my Grendel upper build

[GrendelFanatic]

I am starting to get a list of parts for my 6.5 Grendel build. This is going to be a deer rifle. 200 yds or less is what I am told the typical range here in TN is usually. Thoughts or suggestions on the list so far?

I wanted a 20? but can?t find one I like. So I am settling for the Diamondback for now.
Barrel: Diamondback 18? https://diamondbackfirearms.com/prod...ck-nitride-18/

Stripped upper: Either an Aero or a Anderson stripped slick side upper. The Aero has a dust cover, the Anderson does not.
Aero: https://www.aeroprecisionusa.com/ar1...receiver-no-fa
Anderson:

https://andersonmanufacturing.com/receiver-upper-am-9-no-forward-assist-or-dust-cover-anodized-blackd2-m100-a000.html

Toolcraft Bolt: https://www.armorally.com/shop/toolc...carrier-group/

Adjustable gas block: https://suparms.com/collections/adju...ct-impingement

And a decent M-lok free float tube. I like to keep it under $100. I don?t have that picked out yet.

I already have a mil spec charging handle that I will add a Yankee Hill Machine extended latch to.

Any thoughts? I?ll need a scope too. Maybe a 4x?

[Bigs28]

For 200 yards or less their isn't any reason to go over 16". I've never heard of diamondback barrels but if that's your price point then consider the 16" group buy available on this forum.

I have a superlative arms adjustable gas block and they work but my future ones will be from jp for $20 less.

[GrendelFanatic]

The Diamondback barrels have gotten really good reviews. They seem to be easily sub moa.

All I see for the JP is about $75.

I do know of this one: https://www.deltateamtactical.com/Da...ty_p_7355.html

[Bigs28]

Yes the jps are in the 70s which is 20ish less then the sa you posted. Just an idea to save a few bucks and jp is quality as well as sa.

[GrendelFanatic]

There is also the Seekins block which is supposed to work just as well as the Superlative block. The Seekins is $57 normally, lower on sale.

[A5BLASTER]

200 yards are less hunting a 16 inch are less length barrel will cover that just fine. A group buy barrel will save you some cash there.

Gas block go with wojetck. Cheaper and works just as good as the jp. I have had and used both.

Handguard. Go to joeboboutfitters and look for the matrix handguards. They should have a mlok in the length you want for well under 100 bucks.

Don't worrie about the extended charging handle latch. Just extra cost and extra stuff to get hung up on something.

I would skip on the tool craft bcg. Righttobeararms.com should have their stripped lowmass bcg on sale right now. Pick up a group buy bolt if there is some leavt. The other bcg parts can be picked at joeboboutfitters for dirt cheap as well.

While your at it pick up a reciver lapping tool. Lapp the reciver face so you will have a nice square lock up for the bolt.

Standard carbine buffer and buffer spring will work fine. Set it with wolf fmj's and you will be good to go.

Optic. 4 power will work so will a red dot and 3 power magnifier. I have the at3 red dot and magnifier on my 16 inch works good and has a good price as well.

Hope this helps OP.

[grayfox]

The thing you don't find out until it's too late on cheaper nitrided barrels is, if they didn't polish it well before the nitriding then all the defects are baked in at super-hardness and it's H**l to get it smooth. You're better off in the long run to get a better or even a really good barrel even if it's "just" SS. You will spend $100-200 trying to break it in to get that "submoa all-day-long" feeling.
There are the group buy barrels, faxon barrels, ballistic advantage barrels, for what I'd call a "good-value" barrel, or step up even from there a bit-- you won't be sorry.
For out to 200 yds Roger on the 16-er.
Don't fool yourself by going cheap-as-possible on the barrel.

Optics depends on the status of your eyesight, be honest about it. Again, spend some $$ on clear good optics, you can't hit what you can't see... and only fuzzy hits for what's fuzzy out there.

[GrendelFanatic]

200 yards are less hunting a 16 inch are less length barrel will cover that just fine. A group buy barrel will save you some cash there.

Gas block go with wojetck. Cheaper and works just as good as the jp. I have had and used both.

Handguard. Go to joeboboutfitters and look for the matrix handguards. They should have a mlok in the length you want for well under 100 bucks.

Don't worrie about the extended charging handle latch. Just extra cost and extra stuff to get hung up on something.

I would skip on the tool craft bcg. Righttobeararms.com should have their stripped lowmass bcg on sale right now. Pick up a group buy bolt if there is some leavt. The other bcg parts can be picked at joeboboutfitters for dirt cheap as well.

While your at it pick up a reciver lapping tool. Lapp the reciver face so you will have a nice square lock up for the bolt.

Standard carbine buffer and buffer spring will work fine. Set it with wolf fmj's and you will be good to go.

Optic. 4 power will work so will a red dot and 3 power magnifier. I have the at3 red dot and magnifier on my 16 inch works good and has a good price as well.

Hope this helps OP.

Alright, wojteck. Got it: https://www.at3tactical.com/products...roll-pin-combo

JoeBob seems to be out of M-lok. All that is coming up is Keymod! Run on AR parts, I suppose.

I don't know what you mean by "Pick up a group buy bolt if there is some leavt".

I am not opposed to the stripped low weight bolt carrier, but I am going to have to do some more research on the lightweight carrier before I take that plunge. And I see why you say to skip the Toolcraft bolt, it has a proprietary length firing pin.

I am NOT having any luck with Googlefu tonight!!! I can't find anything 6.5 Grendel tonight! It is going to cost $60+ for the 0.136" bolt, $8-10 for firing pin, $2 for the firing pin retainer, $8-10 for the cam pin, and whatever the RTB carrier cost seems to be $70-80 so I'll have at least $150+ in the bolt carrier group. I want some more info on the lightweight carriers before I choose one for my build.

I am planning to drop in onto my Adams Arms 5.56 lower. I like the red dot and magnifier option for optic.

Grayfox, I am glad you said that, (no disrespect) I chose the Diamondback based on the multiple positive (and sub-moa) reviews on the Diamondback barrel posted on here. IDK, why people are recommending them then. Looks like there aren't any 16" barrels left in the group by currently open. I'll have to wait for another one.

So basically, the only thing left I picked out was the Anderson upper. I believe it will be adequate, after lapping. Thank guys!!!

[A5BLASTER]

Alright, wojteck. Got it: https://www.at3tactical.com/products...roll-pin-combo

JoeBob seems to be out of M-lok. All that is coming up is Keymod! Run on AR parts, I suppose.

I don't know what you mean by "Pick up a group buy bolt if there is some leavt".

I am not opposed to the stripped low weight bolt carrier, but I am going to have to do some more research on the lightweight carrier before I take that plunge. And I see why you say to skip the Toolcraft bolt, it has a proprietary length firing pin.

I am NOT having any luck with Googlefu tonight!!! I can't find anything 6.5 Grendel tonight! It is going to cost $60+ for the 0.136" bolt, $8-10 for firing pin, $2 for the firing pin retainer, $8-10 for the cam pin, and whatever the RTB carrier cost seems to be $70-80 so I'll have at least $150+ in the bolt carrier group. I want some more info on the lightweight carriers before I choose one for my build.

I am planning to drop in onto my Adams Arms 5.56 lower. I like the red dot and magnifier option for optic.

Grayfox, I am glad you said that, (no disrespect) I chose the Diamondback based on the multiple positive (and sub-moa) reviews on the Diamondback barrel posted on here. IDK, why people are recommending them then. Looks like there aren't any 16" barrels left in the group by currently open. I'll have to wait for another one.

So basically, the only thing left I picked out was the Anderson upper. I believe it will be adequate, after lapping. Thank guys!!!

BFT the owner of the site does group buys for barrels and bolts. I think there might be a few group buy bolts leavt.

The righttobeararms lowmass bcg is gtg. I have one in my 16 inch grendel. It has a tad over 5000 rounds on it now. Weights the same as a high dollar JP lowmass bcg but normally you can pick it up stripped for 50 bucks.

AA should have some 16 inch barrels instock. Lil more money then the group buy barrels but should be a good shooter.

I have the 16 inch model that they stopped making and it flat out shoots. That's why when I found out they were going to stop making that model barrel. I bout 6 more and stashed them away.

I have a extra group buy bolt 30 bucks plus the cost to ship it's yours. Never been used.

The thing about adjustable gas is it's really a two part system. It works good and helps on its own but it is much better when paired with a lowmass bcg.

Hope this helps sir.

[Bigs28]

Not sure what 16" group buy you looked at but this one is still open which means their are some left.

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?17740-OPEN-MONSTER-16-Barrel-139-12-151

[GrendelFanatic]

BFT the owner of the site does group buys for barrels and bolts. I think there might be a few group buy bolts leavt.

The righttobeararms lowmass bcg is gtg. I have one in my 16 inch grendel. It has a tad over 5000 rounds on it now. Weights the same as a high dollar JP lowmass bcg but normally you can pick it up stripped for 50 bucks.

AA should have some 16 inch barrels instock. Lil more money then the group buy barrels but should be a good shooter.

I have the 16 inch model that they stopped making and it flat out shoots. That's why when I found out they were going to stop making that model barrel. I bout 6 more and stashed them away.

I have a extra group buy bolt 30 bucks plus the cost to ship it's yours. Never been used.

The thing about adjustable gas is it's really a two part system. It works good and helps on its own but it is much better when paired with a lowmass bcg.

Hope this helps sir.

Is the bolt you have a 0.136 recessed bolt?

[A5BLASTER]

Is the bolt you have a 0.136 recessed bolt?

Yep. All I use is sammi chambered barrels. So all my bolts have the .136 bolt face depth.

I'm in southwest Louisiana for the weekend busting some teal duck. But if you want it just shoot me a PM Sunday night are Monday and we can get it worked out.

Like I said it's one of my extras and has never been used.

[GrendelFanatic]

Yep. All I use is sammi chambered barrels. So all my bolts have the .136 bolt face depth.

I'm in southwest Louisiana for the weekend busting some teal duck. But if you want it just shoot me a PM Sunday night are Monday and we can get it worked out.

Like I said it's one of my extras and has never been used.

Cool! Righttobear had the stripped lightweight carrier on sale again today. Along with the Anderson lightweight upper. So I picked both those up. And a couple of small parts. I am planning to get that bolt but not this week. I am, unfortunately, on a budget.

[A5BLASTER]

Cool! Righttobear had the stripped lightweight carrier on sale again today. Along with the Anderson lightweight upper. So I picked both those up. And a couple of small parts. I am planning to get that bolt but not this week. I am, unfortunately, on a budget.

Hey no problem. Let me know when you ready for it. It's in the safe with all my extra bolts.

[1Shot]

For optics you might want to check out Primary Arms. They have some scopes designed just for ARs. I have two of these. One is on a 223 A4 set up and is 1-6 power the other is on one of my 6.5 Grendel's and is 1-8 power. These have a reticle called ACSS which consists of a 3/4 circle open at the bottom with a inverted V aiming point for inside 200 yards then it has lines under this for 300+ yards to use as a bullet drop compensator that you can light up at different brightness. The brightness settings allow you to set it so dem that at just about dark and latter you can see it and it not wash out your target. This is having the best of both worlds. Set it on 1 power and light up the reticle and you have a red dot but if you need more magnification you have it because you can't shoot what you can't see. The glass on these scopes is very good. Pay attention to what you are being told by most of these fellows because they like me have already been down that road and have learned from their experiences. It pays off in the end to just cry once and get what is known to work. Like has been said about barrels especially. You will get much better results from a better quality stainless barrel. With the less expensive, what ever barrel, you will have about as much in it in ammo and cleaning and aggravation getting them to settle down and shoot than you will with a barrel that cost more to start with but is of much better quality and will shoot right out of the gate. I also suggest that you get a good trigger in the 2.5 to 3.5 lb range. I have one CMC 2.5 lb and four POF 3.5 lb triggers and for the money you can not beat them and they come with locking trigger pins. Check out Joboboutfitters.com and Primary Arm s for best prices usually. I have two 6.5 Grendel's my first was, (I went the cheep way and learned my lessons) A 20" BCA complete upper on an Anderson lower I built. It was a disaster from the get go. Shot about $75 worth of ammo with numerous trips to the range, scope changes etc. and ended up having to send the upper back for a barrel change because it shot patterns not groups. After getting it back I had to put right at 100 rounds of ammo through it before it started to settle down and shoot. It is finicky about what it wants to shoot but I have found a couple loads that it will average sub MOA with and I killed a deer with it this past season at 111 yards with the 120 Speer Gold Dot and it did AWESOME. My second rifle I went with an 18" Oden Works barrel bolt combo built on Anderson upper and lower and it shot well right from day one. This will be my main deer rifle this season where I live in the mountains of TN were a normal shot is under 50 yards. Oh! If you will be handloading get a brass catcher for your rifle. One tip is if you have a dust cover open it BEFORE putting on the brass catcher. Sometimes it will catch on the brass catcher if you don't open it before and cause rifle malfunction.