Will AA offer a chrome-lined barrel/bolt kit?

[Pancho Villa]

Curious. I have an AR I'd like to convert, but would like a 16" chrome-lined barrel/bolt kit.

[ericv]

I am no expert but from several articles I have read people looking for great accuracy don't like chrome lined barrels. The fact that chroming is a float on process the thickness can't be fully controlled like actual machining. Just what I have read, we'll see what others have to say.

[ricsmall]

pancho, why do you want chrome lined? Just wondering

[Pancho Villa]

pancho, why do you want chrome lined? Just wondering

I recently had cause to liquidate my rifle collection (baby girl, and she is great, btw,) so as I went through a few months effectively dirt poor, paying all the hospital bills and so forth, I got to thinking about an idealized modern "general purpose" rifle.

I owned and operated a Steyr Scout before, the late, great Jeff Cooper's idea of an idealized GP rifle. I have to say I like it, and for a design that is coming up on 20 years old it was remarkably forward thinking (tube surrounding the barrel out to near the end, rail for a light, rail on top for mounting optics forward or back as far as you like, backup, folding irons, etc.,) but I believe the Scout has been passed up, mainly due to advancements in the AR-15 platform and bullet construction meaning that a .308 isn't necessarily the lightest, most efficient cartridge for general-purpose hunting, especially since the bigger end of things (moose) is not something I can hunt in the foreseeable future.

So the idea is a general purpose, fighting/hunting/plinking rifle. Accuracy is not super important in this case - 2moa is about the extent of my abilities under time pressure. Whatever it ends up being not-under-time-pressure is perfectly okay, since my target shooting is purely recreational, not serious.

In this case durability and lack of need for serious, regular maintenance are both must-haves. A chrome-lined barrel suits my needs far better than the SS ones that AA is currently putting out, both in terms of durability and barrel life (before the baby, I shot once a week. Want to get back to that soon.)

It may be that I'm barking up the wrong tree and a 6.5 Grendel carbine as a do-it-all-at-least-mildly-good rifle, but I'm willing to give it a shot. For that though I want a 16" chrome-lined barrel.

[Bill Alexander]

Looking at this option. We have CHF 16" chrome lined barrels we use to build tactical series rifles.

[Pancho Villa]

Thanks Bill. It is really gratifying to be able to post something here and have the originator of the cartridge/rifle respond.

I have been bouncing this idea around with friends and playing with ballistics, weight, etc., for over a year now. Every time I come back to an AR-15 chambered in an intermediate cartridge. Of the big three (.300BLK, 6.8SPC & 6.5 Grendel,) I keep coming back to 6.5 grendel due to the long history (mostly from looking at European impressions of 6.5 swede) of 6.5mm cartridges punching far above their theoretical weight limits, both in animals and (supposedly) people.

(Then again, there is a plausible meme out there that more moose have been taken with .30-30 than any other modern cartridge, so maybe we're just a bit obsessed with speed and size when we talk about taking big game.)

Anyway, with wolf chugging ever-forward (and hopefully some time reaching the finish line) on inexpensive steel-cased ammo, I finally settled on 6.5. I want it as light as possible, so the optic is a simple 1-4x, and am looking for free float tubes (looking at a Troy alpha battle rail, 15") and geiselle trigger. Light, a 2-point sling (one of those that doubles as a shooting sling) with a QD bipod for zeroing/longer-range target shooting, to be kept off otherwise. The whole arrangement should be pleasingly light, practical, and easily adaptable to to any task you can ask a rifle to do, other than specialty stuff like dangerous game and long, long range shooting.

I am hoping this can be my only (non-.22) rifle, with a similar one for the wife.

[ricsmall]

sounds like a good idea to me. keep us posted on the progress of your build.

[Drifter]

...I want a 16" chrome-lined barrel.

Here's a link to a leftover Sabre Defence 6.5 Grendel 16" chrome-lined barrel:

http://www.rainierarms.com/?page=shop/detail&product_id=1519

SB is kaput, so no more will become available...

FWIW, I had an 18" Grendel chrome-lined fluted SB that shot quite well.