12-15-2014, 12:22 AM
BjornF16 Wrote:^^^^ THIS ^^^^^ I didn't really care until the brouhaha over GII and the crazy claims about velocity, etc. Once SAAMI was official and AA relinquished control of "Grendel", I believe there was an increase in "issues", some of them safety related; some reliability. (This validates AA's approach of closely controlling the spec and reamers).
Of course I would buy the 264LBC directly from Les Baer. I would not, however, buy it from some low budget operation or a company who has demonstrated QC issues or lack of honesty about their previous product.
(But before I would buy the 264LBC from Les Baer, I would buy a true Grendel from a reputable manufacturer like Precision Firearms).
Exactly!
Which is why I always recommend someone get a very high quality barrel made by a reputable manufacturer.
As for guys getting suckered by some BS about high velocity due to short throating, guess they learned their lesson the hard way.
If anyone had come to the forum saying that they were to buy a barrel deliberately short throated because the manufacturer claimed it would produce much higher velocities, we could have tried to talk them out of it or at least have explained what they are getting into.
By itself, short throating isn't that dangerous if a guy understands handloading. Remember that a Palma Chamber is 'short throated' in .308 terms.
I can see a Grendel short throated if all a guy wanted to shoot were some 85 grain bullets and the throat was still cut with some leade for those short bullets. Or if he understood how to handload properly for such a condition.
You can go too short which is apparently what happened somewhere along the line. I recall more than one guy on the forum who had short throated barrels they got on uppers bought from AA. It happens periodically. It happened to me but not a Grendel and the company was highly respected for barrels. It happens sometimes and will happen more often if you have no clue who made your barrel.
It took us months to find out who made the AR Stoner barrel because the company making them didn't want to reveal their name. Same with 'Liberty' barrels. I can't comprehend someone buying a barrel without knowing who made it! Hell, at least Shaw admitted they made the barrels that were mostly used by Alexander when he kicked this thing off. And Shaw was proud of their product which I respect greatly. But I won't buy a Shaw, either.
So, I will let this one die unless I smell Kool Aid on someones post.