Who actually uses the SAAMI reamer on AR barrels?

[LRRPF52]

This cloudy chamber BS might just drive me towards another caliber completely. I didnt think buying a barrel woukd be so difficult nor so expensive compared to other calibers. Sure they dont have the distance or performance that drew me to the grendel but I will not likely be fortunate enough to stretch this caliber's legs in my area.

Depending on what I hear from Mark this desire to build a grendel AR may be dead in the water for a while.

Every manufacturer has to deal with holding the reamer to a consistent spec on any caliber, especially in AR15's and AR10's that are being expected to shoot accurately. Any mag-fed rifle, for that matter, needs a certain throat design so you don't end up with too much jump to the lands.

I'm not sure where the perception of higher prices for the caliber is coming from. Lilja barrels cost what they do in any caliber, as do JP. Barrel quality, type, and features will drive the prices, not what reamer they used.

High-end barrels that shoot really well cost more. The cloudiness you see is something I and many others deal with on a regular basis with .308, .223, .260 Rem, .300 Win Mag, or any other caliber because certain critical components for manufacturing can be all over the map when comparing them to what the customer asked for.

Across the industry, especially in AR10's, we are seeing colossal abortions of chamber jobs, where cartridges will not even fit into chambers right off the bat. There simply is no way the barrels were made correctly. Guys are trying to piece together .308 AR's, and can't even chamber a round.

A lot of barrels will jam bullets into the rifling, so the bullet gets pulled if you try to clear the action, and powder dumps all over. It's just the way the industry has evolved. People want instant gratification, at the cheapest prices, with sub-MOA results, and now. Much of the media out there basically tells them they can expect this. You can have:

* Cheap
* Fast
* Quality

Pick one. I can tell you right now that Mark uses a SAAMI spec reamer on his 6.5 Grendel line, and he will make it with the reamer concentric to the bore, with true and concentric threads. His barrels, when mounted in a square and tight upper, will and have shot 1/2 MOA for me and other customers, even from lightweight builds, with quality ammunition that has tight ES.

One customer reported back that he's getting 1" 5rd groups at 200yds, and one of those rounds is opening the group to 1". The other 4 are all touching. To make a barrel like that takes attention to detail, patience, and know-how.

You will have the same battle to deal with in another caliber. Been there, done that, continue to see it. Pick a known quality machinist, barrel smith, rifle-builder, and pay him what he deserves, or settle for less. That's what it comes down to.