12" Monster or 12" Faxon? Budget hunting barrel build

[heartburn]

Good afternoon horde

Been a member here for a while but just started posting and would like some feedback on the above barrels and recommendations for which.

I've been shooting the 6.5g for a while but with some stamp approvals recently I am wanting to build a 12" with primary use as hunting rifle and range toy. I am at the point that barrel decision is all that is left and while I am currently leaning towards the sixfiveoutfitters Monster I am wondering what feedback and recommendations you all can provide. I have been through some of the threads in regard to both barrels in the forums just looking for that little bit of extra info before I make the purchase.

I hunt in the north Texas area in a lot of brush, typical sightline is around 100-125 yards so extreme distance on whitetail and hogs isn't a necessity.

Also have seen some crazy accuracy reports from the reloaders, any info that can be provided related to 6.5g reloading would be great.

Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.

[VASCAR2]

https://www.sixfiveoutfitters.com/product/monster-12/

[heartburn]

https://www.sixfiveoutfitters.com/product/monster-12/

Thanks for the reply and the feedback. I failed to mention in the original post I do have some green mountain experience with a couple of different calibers and have not had a bad experience.

[Arkhangel5]

Heartburn,

I have no experience with the Faxon brand, but can wholeheartedly recommend the Monster barrels from BFT. I have one in 12in that is a shooter.

I built mine around a Aero Prec upper with a Odin Works bcg, worked great right from the first shot. Very accurate for the shorty barrel.

It was built as a nite time short range hog hunter and has taken quite a few hogs.

I will say the only bullets I have put thru it are 120+ class, though I do want to try lighter, just havent gotten around to it.

This is an old vid I posted a while back showing how accurate it can be with 123gr bullets. I hunt with 120gr'ers.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SxLCpYtPa_fvKsGwjYbhDB1jn80N7Meg/view

I don't think you would be disappointed with a Monster barrel.

SY

[heartburn]

Thanks for the reply. I will probably be ordering one this week and am leaning to the monster at the moment. It will be installed into a BCM blem upper, SLR ION handguard, Toolcraft BCG and bolt and running a DA Sandman S. Little doubt this will be my goto rifle for anything game related once completed.

[LRRPF52]

[lazyengineer]

TBH, it's a 12" BBL for field hunting, so hard to mess this up. Get which ever one is on sale - JMHO. All else being equal, I lean towards Monster simply because it's spec'd by a Grendel focused enthuiest who will be more focused on the details of getting it right. I can't recall which of the 2 runs Wolf Steel better. But that's getting kind of Academic, now that that door has been closed.

[heartburn]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Looking forward to getting this one together and doing some hunting with it. Keep sharing any stories, pictures, range reports or field reports. I really felt that for the purpose either barrel would perform fine. I never frequent this forum but have seen a few reports here and there of the group buy barrels and seems in most cases both the faxon and the monster are pretty well regarded.

[VASCAR2]

[heartburn]

Great looking rigs, thanks for posting those.

Also thanks for those that have mentioned that round and weight. I haven't reloaded for the Grendel yet at all, will be looking to start that as well. My current Grendel rifle is more of just a hunting tool, never used as a range toy as the cost of even reloading ammo was higher than the 5.56. Shot enough rounds to function check the rifle, center scope and a handful of groups to gauge accuracy and that's about it. Looking forward to moving beyond that and rolling my own, doing some accuracy shooting and hopefully stretch it out to distances beyond my hunting length. Any info anyone can provide on reloading would be great. I've had hit and miss luck with 5.56/223 handloads in AR's in the past and beyond plinking ammo have never really tried to work up and accuracy load.

Got the barrel ordered. Now the wait begins to get it in. I have all of my other parts here and ready to go.

[peak98]

Got the barrel ordered. Now the wait begins to get it in.

[heartburn]

I ordered the monster from sixfiveoutfitters. Looking forward to hearing your results and hopefully posting some of my own soon.

[Tx264]

Hb.Excellent choice of parts.
When you assemble the rifle,put the barrel in the freezer for about 4hrs.
Wear a leather glove.Heat the upper with a heat gun.pull the barrel out of the freezer,slide it in.
Dead nut accurate hunting bullets to reload.
Look for 120gr nosler ballastic tips or Sierra pro hunters.90gr tnt.

[heartburn]

Hb.Excellent choice of parts.
When you assemble the rifle,put the barrel in the freezer for about 4hrs.
Wear a leather glove.Heat the upper with a heat gun.pull the barrel out of the freezer,slide it in.
Dead nut accurate hunting bullets to reload.
Look for 120gr nosler ballastic tips or Sierra pro hunters.90gr tnt.

Thanks for the feedback on this. Barrel showed up just now, probably won't get to work on it until this weekend. Hopefully posting some photos and range report info soon. Looking forward to finding some projectiles and giving it a shot. I have a good amount of H335 and Benchmark powder sitting, plenty of once shot factory brass to get started and I may even have some primers.


65Grendel_Parts by Heartburn, on Flickr

More pics of assembled rifle soon

[heartburn]

Upper assembled, pretty straightforward nothing to difficult. Everything is together and ready for function testing, sight in and hopefully some hunting this fall. Pics of it on a couple of different lowers for the pictures. One issue I do have is the adjustable gas block adjustment isn't easily accessible so will have to do adjustments with the handguard/rail removed.

KAC Lower:
Timney Calvin Elite trigger:
65Grendel_KAC by Heartburn, on Flickr

PSA Lower:
ELF Match trigger:
65Grendel_PSA1 by Heartburn, on Flickr

65Grendel_PSA2 by Heartburn, on Flickr


Hopefully some action shots, target shots and range report later this week or the weekend.

Thanks for all the feedback about the barrels and continue to reply with critiques, range reports, pics of your own and anything else that you can provide or add.