09-22-2017, 09:50 PM
My life has been a void for the last month. Sleeplessness. Restlessness. Emptyness. And then it dawned on me. When I finished my Cream Smore, I did not have an AR project in the works for the first time in a very long time. No parts to research, no online price shopping and no anticipation of brown boxes arriving on my doorstep. Do I need another one? Hell no! Do I want another one? Well maybe more than one. Which is where the fix arrives. I have a love / hate relationship with my 18 Stoner / Satern barreled Grendel. Im currenly back in love as I have it shooting sub MOA with 120 gr Scenar Ls @ 2540 and an SD of 10 with only 30.6 gr of CFE. But given the history of our relationship, I know that love will once again ebb. The plan was always to rebarrel her, but that never got me as excited as it should since I am restricted to an MLGS by her monolithic upper. The solution start anew. In this day and age where a person can decide they identify with another gender, Gigi can undergo caliber transformation. And so for nothing more than the cost of a rack barrel, muzzle device, Vortex Venom and an ATF stamp from Uncle Sam, she can be reborn as a 10.5 300 BLK SBR. Very appropriate for the spunky little girl that she is.
My Proof Research 6.5CM barrel has me completely impressed. From the weight to the thermal properties to the fact that I have not been able to get it to shoot anything WORSE than MOA. Once I start playing with jump, I think Ill have it doing 140 gr RDFs under ½ MOA at 2690 fps with IMR 4451. If that development doesnt take me where I think it will go, I was actually able to find 10 lbs of H4350 (which is currently about as easy to find as Varget was 2 years ago). And then I saw that Proof now has an 18 RLGS heavy contour Grendel barrel on their website. Its not at any of their distributors yet, but its on their website. And if the 20 tips the scales at the 34 oz like Rainiers website says, the 18er should be at least no more than 32 oz. Are there lighter barrels out there? For sure. But nothing that would even come close to the combination of its accuracy, long range capability and accuracy after long strings of fire from the guardtower as the zombies crash the prison gate. The closest apple would be a JP 18er with a thermal dissipator at 35 oz for a LIGHT contour barrel or a fluted Lilja 319 18er at 34.5 oz.
And so thus was born the idea to build the Ultimate Liteweight Precision Grendel . The goal is not to build the lightest rifle possible. The goal is to build the lightest possible rifle that will be capable of consistently shooting 1000 yards (conditions permitting) and perhaps beyond at my elevation. Functionality and usability will be important. Reliability will be important. At times, aesthetics will be important. I still dont know if it will be an 18 or 20. My Proof CM barrel is fast Im interested to see if this is common. Or another way to look at it would be as a Precision Rifle capable of carbine duty. Sticks seems to think that a carbine can be 20 so I might hold him too it!
This will be a long term project involving much research, opinion seeking and price shopping. It will be dependent upon funds flow. It will be dependent upon buying parts during the predictable sales. Some parts may be jumped on when good deals are in the works (the first part ordered is a prime example and the receivers will soon be the subject of another thread). My best guess is it will be a 6 to 9 month endeavor for the base rifle. There may be additional time involved to have someone cerakote it digital desert camo. After that, it will be on to scope and bipod (it can share my Atlas and use the Bushnell Elite 3-12x44 on my current 18er to start).
As of today, assuming a 20 Proof barrel is indeed 34 oz, my guess is it will tip the scales at a hair under 6 lbs unloaded (with the 20) and without optic/bipod; and right around 8 lbs with a 100% usable long range optic (with an mil based xmas tree capable of precise reticle based holdovers at 1000 yards in moderate wind) and bipod. It may perhaps get closer to 7.5 lbs if an ultralight bipod solution out there doesnt compromise performance and the dollar/krone holds steady. I dont see a need to set a target for weight or to be under a certain watermark. A pound is simply a unit of measurement and picking a specific weight to be under would target something that is essentially arbitrary and driven by how the underlying unit is defined. It might also lead to compromises that I shouldnt make. And some lightweight options might get extremely expensive for the weight reduction benefits they offer. And I just dont want to go with some of the magnesium or lithium alloy options. Im going to stick with tried and true aluminum, titanium, carbon fiber and (gasp) maybe even steel.
I can look at some of the sub 5lb rifles out there and see exactly where the extra pound comes from primarily the barrel and the stock, plus a tad extra from the SCS. The barrel is nonnegotiable. The stock may be -that is a discussion for another day. But cheek weld, balance and ability to securely ride a sand bag are important functional requirements.
Posted below is a running list parts purchased, parts that are nonnegotiable and parts I am thinking about and that might be on the top of the list today. This can then be updated as it moves along. Any and all comments and critiques are welcome, but please recognize that we all have differing aesthetic tastes. Ill initiate threads for certain key parts so that they might not get buried here.
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My Proof Research 6.5CM barrel has me completely impressed. From the weight to the thermal properties to the fact that I have not been able to get it to shoot anything WORSE than MOA. Once I start playing with jump, I think Ill have it doing 140 gr RDFs under ½ MOA at 2690 fps with IMR 4451. If that development doesnt take me where I think it will go, I was actually able to find 10 lbs of H4350 (which is currently about as easy to find as Varget was 2 years ago). And then I saw that Proof now has an 18 RLGS heavy contour Grendel barrel on their website. Its not at any of their distributors yet, but its on their website. And if the 20 tips the scales at the 34 oz like Rainiers website says, the 18er should be at least no more than 32 oz. Are there lighter barrels out there? For sure. But nothing that would even come close to the combination of its accuracy, long range capability and accuracy after long strings of fire from the guardtower as the zombies crash the prison gate. The closest apple would be a JP 18er with a thermal dissipator at 35 oz for a LIGHT contour barrel or a fluted Lilja 319 18er at 34.5 oz.
And so thus was born the idea to build the Ultimate Liteweight Precision Grendel . The goal is not to build the lightest rifle possible. The goal is to build the lightest possible rifle that will be capable of consistently shooting 1000 yards (conditions permitting) and perhaps beyond at my elevation. Functionality and usability will be important. Reliability will be important. At times, aesthetics will be important. I still dont know if it will be an 18 or 20. My Proof CM barrel is fast Im interested to see if this is common. Or another way to look at it would be as a Precision Rifle capable of carbine duty. Sticks seems to think that a carbine can be 20 so I might hold him too it!
This will be a long term project involving much research, opinion seeking and price shopping. It will be dependent upon funds flow. It will be dependent upon buying parts during the predictable sales. Some parts may be jumped on when good deals are in the works (the first part ordered is a prime example and the receivers will soon be the subject of another thread). My best guess is it will be a 6 to 9 month endeavor for the base rifle. There may be additional time involved to have someone cerakote it digital desert camo. After that, it will be on to scope and bipod (it can share my Atlas and use the Bushnell Elite 3-12x44 on my current 18er to start).
As of today, assuming a 20 Proof barrel is indeed 34 oz, my guess is it will tip the scales at a hair under 6 lbs unloaded (with the 20) and without optic/bipod; and right around 8 lbs with a 100% usable long range optic (with an mil based xmas tree capable of precise reticle based holdovers at 1000 yards in moderate wind) and bipod. It may perhaps get closer to 7.5 lbs if an ultralight bipod solution out there doesnt compromise performance and the dollar/krone holds steady. I dont see a need to set a target for weight or to be under a certain watermark. A pound is simply a unit of measurement and picking a specific weight to be under would target something that is essentially arbitrary and driven by how the underlying unit is defined. It might also lead to compromises that I shouldnt make. And some lightweight options might get extremely expensive for the weight reduction benefits they offer. And I just dont want to go with some of the magnesium or lithium alloy options. Im going to stick with tried and true aluminum, titanium, carbon fiber and (gasp) maybe even steel.
I can look at some of the sub 5lb rifles out there and see exactly where the extra pound comes from primarily the barrel and the stock, plus a tad extra from the SCS. The barrel is nonnegotiable. The stock may be -that is a discussion for another day. But cheek weld, balance and ability to securely ride a sand bag are important functional requirements.
Posted below is a running list parts purchased, parts that are nonnegotiable and parts I am thinking about and that might be on the top of the list today. This can then be updated as it moves along. Any and all comments and critiques are welcome, but please recognize that we all have differing aesthetic tastes. Ill initiate threads for certain key parts so that they might not get buried here.
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Let's go Brandon!