Grendel FTE Problem

[tango29]

I purchased a 6.5 Grendel 24 inch barrel an a hard use bolt
And installed them in a Mega Arms billet upper. Rifle began to
Fail to extract fired shells. *I changed the buffer spring and
Buffer. both were rifle length. I then looked at at the hard use
Bolt. I discovered that the extractor on the bolt was not extracting and
Releasing the spent shell. **I tried the bolt from a 50 Beowulf upper
I purchased for GDS Enterprises in Austin, Texas. *The rifle
Then began to extract and eject the case correctly.

I then took the rifle to a gunsmith and he indicated that the
Extractor was not working correctly and that I needed to put
An extractor rebuild kit into the bolt.

I received this barrel and bolt on May 23rd, 2013.

I waited almost six months for this barrel and bolt and based on
Alexander Arms reputation , I expected better quality.

I spent 490 USD on products from Alexander Arms
And expect better quality and customer support. Alexander Arms
Expresses to not ship orders unless they pass Bill Alexander
Quality standards. Well I can guaranty that the quality control
On this Grendel Hard use bolt was not upto anyone's idea
Of quality control.

[Spurrious]

Did it develop the FTE problem or did it fail from round one?

Did you ever determine what failed? Broken spring? Frozen pin? Malformed extractor claw?

[BigBluePup]

High pressure hand loads maybe?

[Dogue]

Have you contacted AA about the extractor issue, and what was their response?

In all manufacturing some things are going to slip through, and in todays climate where gun mfgs are running 24/7 I'm certain a few minor things (like an extractor) might not meet spec and could get through inspection. How the mfg deals with the issue is what's important.

[tango29]

Grendel FTE

Have you contacted AA about the extractor issue, and what was their response?

In all manufacturing some things are going to slip through, and in todays climate where gun mfgs are running 24/7 I'm certain a few minor things (like an extractor) might not meet spec and could get through inspection. How the mfg deals with the issue is what's important.

Started out sending email to AA asking about gas port size and received response from
Steven Albert at AA saying their products are to industry specs. Provideded a build list
Of the Grendel and received response fro Steven Albert that tried to divert blame from
AA products. I had not even asked anything more than what the gas port size was.
I figured AA would have some idea what the problem could be and point me in the right direction. sorry to say that AA customer support sucks. Did some research on line
And did the following. FTE started from round one.

1. Disassembled and started over on upper
2. reinstalled barrel
3. Reinstalled and lined up Adams arms GP system and gas bloc with gas port
4. Disassembled bolt and smoothed edges on extractor claw
5. Tried three differen weight buffers
6 tried three different rifle length buffer springs
7. Used AA factory ammo

Posted on various forums and received advice on different things to try.
Sent another email to AA tech support and never received response.


Pulled bolt from 50 Beowulf upper. Put bolt in Grendel, took 5 shots with no failures.
Disassembled grendle bolt filed down sharp edges on extractor replaced bolt fired
5 shots with no failures.

Ended up being the extractor causing the problem.
Called AA about issue and they told me the problem was the sharp edges
On the extractor and that I could fix it myself or send it in

You know I waited six months for my grendle barrel and bolt and received something that did not work. If you order from. AA they tell you that they don't let anything out the door
Unless it passes Bill Alexanders quality standards. Well if the AA qc standard is what I
Received then it leaves a lot to be desired. AA should have offered to send a replacement
Bolt with a return box for my bolt. I guess Bill Alexander's idea of customer support
Is to tell me I can fix it my self and that there are forums that tell you how too fix the shar p edges.

[Tedward]

That does suck and atleast you had the ability to repair the bolt. I have been looking for a new bolt and can't find any now. Any ideas anyone??

[babaganoush]

Makes me kinda glad that I bailed on a back-ordered hard use bolt (waited 4 months) and got a .264 LBC Bolt from Les Baer in under four days.

Works flawlessly.