02-22-2016, 03:04 PM
Kilco Wrote:Does shilen use a SAMMI spec chamber with their barrels? I've been hunting around and can't seem to get a definite answer..
Kilco, the answer seems to be no, but it might as well be.
When I asked the question last year, a Shilen rep told me: "We do not adhere to SAAMI Specs, we through our research and testing require tighter bores and grooves." After a little more back and forth, he sent me a reamer drawing from Pacific Tool and Gauge, labeled 6.5 Grendel and dated 12/19/05 (pre-SAAMI). I later found a picture of a JGS reamer dated 9/25/04 that appeared to have been done for Alexander Arms with a comment that says "... Rework throat to double taper." The dimensions of the JGS reamer and the PTG reamer appear to me to be identical and they are very, very close to the SAAMI spec drawing. I found a couple of length tolerances that looked to be relaxed by a few thousands for the SAAMI spec.
My own interpretation of all this is that Shilen uses a reamer that was specified by Alexander Arms to be the proprietary 6.5 Grendel chamber before the SAAMI specification was published.
FWIW, I came up with this by looking at a reamer drawing from Shilen and then surfing the web. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can chime in to confirm or refute.