Liberty barrel evaluation and repair by Precision Firearms

[SHORT-N-SASSY]

. . . To be honest this experience has kind of ruined the Grendel for me. This was my first rifle in the caliber and i'm really considering washing my hands of it and going with a .308 AR now.

mccuistion,

Don't do it!

The 6.5mm Grendel, in a short, compact package, will do everything the 1950's (old bag) .308 will do, with half the recoil, and leave it in the dust, at extended ranges. Don't pay the price for one barrel maker's negligence!

Personally, I'm hurtin' right now. I was just beginning to bond with my 6.5mm Grendel-chambered Bullpup'ed Half-As AR. That short time with it convinced me of what I had envisioned for some time: the 6.5mm Grendel, with its high efficiency, light recoil and low muzzle blast signature, represents the ideal choice for a 21st Century light-weight, compact multi-purpose weapon.

Give up the source of the pain: the barrel maker. Don't give up the sweet ecstasy!

[45r]

I wouldn't give up on the Grendel.
I shot mine again today and no pressure signs with my handloads.
I shot 123 SST's seated to factory spec of 2.245 and they went 2465 fps over 31.1 grains CFE.
They went 10 fps slower than some I loaded to 2.233 with 30.8 grains CFE.
85 grain sierras loaded 1/2 grain under max load of H-322 went 2775 fps.
Both shot around 3/4 inch at 50 yards with a fuzzy holosight in bright sun and lots of wind.
I've shot some half inch groups with it and one went 1/3 inch.
The tight throat thing went away on my barrel.

[mccuistion]

This is one of the things that has bothered me on the rare occasion that someone gets a lemon, has problems, and just walks away, then shares that experience with others, when so many of us have been enjoying the downrange benefits of this great cartridge for years and years without issue.

Hang in there and we will help you get this sorted out. I personally don't have a warm and fuzzy about customers being left with an additional financial burden of having to send their barrel in to be reamed correctly in order to shoot SAAMI factory ammunition.

If it was JUST the barrel issue I would write it off and buy a lilja or BHW or something of the like but the issue list keeps growing.... First, I had intentions to convert 7.62x39 brass and had a hell of a time... after troubleshooting, the solution was to grind down the face of my resizing die to allow enough of a case shoulder bump to chamber. Then once I got some real grendel brass I found out that none of my 25rd mags will function with over 15-17 rounds in them. Finally, with this chamber debacle my experiences make me feel like the cartridge as a whole isn't as refined as it has been made out to be. I don't mean to say i'm not willing to trouble shoot and resolve issues but I feel like i'm a product guinea pig right now. YMMV though, I was just told that most of the early issues had been ironed out.

The idea of sending my barrel to someone other than the manufacturer to FIX it and having a several month turn around is just very frustrating to me, plus after shipping and the $75 i'll be over what a Lilja would have cost. I am going to get it fixed and try to have a fresh start but I can definitely tell you one thing....Saturn will never receive business from me or anyone I regularly shoot with again. (I have no problem paying return shipping but the way it was...or wasn't, handled is what upset me. I'm STILL waiting for an email back from them regarding if the fix is SAAMI spec)

[PrecisionFirearms]

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?7973-Of-Reamers-Chambers-and-Real-World-measurements&p=88767&viewfull=1#post88767

Mark Hostetter
Precision Firearms

[nincomp]

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showt...ll=1#post88767

Mark Hostetter
Precision Firearms

Mark, do all of the affected barrels have the same problem? I am afraid that I couldn't see what was going on with your borescope pictures.* Have you painted the cutting edges of the reamer with dykem to see if there are any spots that were larger than the SAAMI specs?

OOPS My math was wrong I ran through the numbers last night and found that the transition from the neck to the lead is 45 degrees NOT 30 degrees. (my first set of calculations was wrong)


* They looked kinda like the ultrasound pictures of my son when my wife was pregnant. Every time the doctor pointed to something on the picture, I nodded wisely. In reality, couldn't make out a damn thing.

[heinz57grendel]

My grendel is in pieces. I pulled my satern non liberty cut rifled barrel out of the upper and have sent it to mark at precision to have the throat finished reamed to spec. Anyone have a good rifle length or extended length handguard they would like to part with?

[Torf]

Just wanted to send a public thanks to Mark Hostetter for the great job he did on my 18" Liberty pipe. Couldn't be happier with his service and the price was lower than I would have imagined. Thanks for all you do for the community, Mark!

[hydrotech]

Torf, I have been off the forum for a couple months. I was wondering how long the turnaround time was to send your barrel to Mark and then get it back.