I have a very accurate 20in Grendel built with an AA stainless barrel/bolt but now I'm thinking about building a 16in carbine with an eye toward total reliability. If steel cased ammo ever comes around (or even if it doesn't) a chrome bore is a must. J&T offer a barrel at a pretty good price. Anyone with experience with their products?
As an aside, there was a fella on the old forum who kept talking about a "major" mag manufacturer soon to produce great mags for the 6.5. Hear anything about that?
Thanks for any info
Alex
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Alex I have a 16" J & T chrome moley barrel I'm very pleased with. From the little accuracy shooting I've done the barrel is way more accurate than I am. I shot some 1 inch groups @ 100 yards with factory Hornady 123 grain A-Max. I shot 1 group of 123 A-Max off a Caldwell rifle rest at 100 yards and it was one ragged 5 shot hole. I believe my barrel was made by Shaw and the fit and finish on my AR 6.5 Grendel was comparable to my RRA 5.56 uppers. For the money I'm well pleased with my 16" barrel. I hope to shoot some longer distance once the weather breaks. Its typical March here, very windy so I'm waiting for a calmer day. I think J&T\Double Star have very good customer service. I'm thinking about buying a longer barrel in 6.5 Grendel and I'll probably buy another J&T. My upper has been totally reliable using factory and reloaded ammo. I've mostly used the 5, 10 and 17 round C products mags but tested the 25 round mag and they all functioned just like my 5.56 mags and are GTG. With the limited testing I'd say my J&T barrel is comparable to my RRA heavy barrel mid length 16" 5.56. Considering I bought this figuring it to be a rack grade barrel I'm satisfied. I actually bought the upper assembled and put it on a Double Star lower with Double Star 6 position collapsible stock and RRA NM lower parts kit.
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The J&T kits use Shaw barrels for the standard rifles and Wilson Air Gauged for the Bull Barrels. My brother and I each built a Grendel from a J&T kit, and have been very pleased. My bull barrel is consistently capable of 1/2 MOA if I do my part, and my brother's A2 type has been sub-moa.
You won't win any prestige awards with the J&T kits from the name brand crowds, but they are solid kits, use licensed Grendel barrels & bolts, and use decent quality components. Mostly mil-spec as far as that type thing goes, except for 4140 barrels unless you specify 4150, and commercial buffer tubes unless you specific mil-spec. And good people to deal with.
You can upgrade them with LMT, DD, and similar components for the price difference as well.
All that said, if all you want is a barrel / bolt combo, I'd buy one of the 65grendel.com offerings from John. Supports the site, and you get a stainless barrel AA barrel for what J&T would charge for a standard steel. I built a 16" using one, and I'm very pleased... I recently shot some 50 yard sub-moa 5 shot groups from sandbags with open sights when dialing it in!!! I have not tried longer range yet with glass, but based on how it's shooting to date I'm very confident it will be sub-moa at 100-200 yards. Not bad for a 16" barrel w/o free float, etc. The only nit I have with my web deal is that the barrel is not rollmarked 6.5 Grendel anywhere. Don't know if that was an error or what, but I had already built the rifle before I realized it. The photos do show roll-marks, so it might have been a fluke.
