10-18-2018, 01:25 PM
bob4432 Wrote:I have come to the conclusion that a 16" Grendel, @ 1000yds @ 1600-1650ASL is just not really feasable (should have listened to the horde a bit earlier, but sometimes you have to learn even though people are already telling you what you are going to learn, but it will get me onto the road of a light recoil, decent distance shooting 16" rifle. After I get things ironed out, and learn what a lot of you already know, I will probably do a 6.5Creedmoor later for cross-pollination - same bullets (to a point), same primers, etc.
Question for optic - MRAD or MOA? What says the hoard? Should I stay around a $500 optic for this Grendel to get me into the 500-700 (optically)? Then do I offset better glass vs power? I could search all night, but what are you guys running in the optics department for those that are running a a 16" Grendel (more I have read, seems this is a bit of a strange setup just 16" for a 500-700yd Grendel, but the ballistic calculators show the numbers do work out. Can I ask anybody that is in the ~1600-1700ASL running a 16" running for optics?
Appreciate everything you guys have offered me in advice, hope to repay sooner rather than later.
Are the Faxon, BA & Green Mountain Barrels ~1MOA out to say 500-700yds? Or are the saying (BA) they are sub MOA just for the first 100yds? And then then things spread out?
I am kind of thinking I should get into reloading before spending $1500+ on an optic - not sure what is more important - have 5+ calibers, so plenty of calibers to keep the overall cost down and a decent amount of cross-pollinization, so even more savings. What says the horde?
Plan on building the Grendel upper / lower via a 80% lower + white upper, then have a friend anodize them for me (Aerospace Machine shop + 07/03FFL), so all is legal unless something got changes and I have to have anodizer send it to a local FFL?
Does my thought process sound like a good plan, considering I am wanting to stay @ 16" for the 6.5Grendel and am willing to deal with what that brings with it? Personally don't want a 24" barreled rifle, at least not unless I went bolt action and even then, probably stay 22" Max (weird quirk I guess I have), even when I move to the 6.5Creedmoor, plan on 22" Max, but a few nights plugging numbers into a ballistics calculator before that is figured out.
Thanks in advance for your assistance and need to get some sleep....
Bob
Bob:
You need to look through the Optics forum. Your question about optics and cost has been asked at least three times and the general question about magnification, MOA vs Mil, reticle patterns, etc has been asked at least ten times. You won't get the same answer ten times but you will be able to narrow your search for an optic down to two or three models. Get the optic that you are assured will work for your purpose. You won't find a 'General Purpose' optic that is good for everything so think about your use before buying.
For an optic, if it is a fixed magnification look at something with a 10 or 16X. If variable -- something with 10 and up to 20 or 24X.
There is no correlation between optic and barrel length. There is a correlation between optic quality and cost. The higher the quality, the higher the cost. $500.00 is going cheap.
You are right about barrel cost and quality and performance. Cheap barrels can be able to produce sub minute performance at 100 yards but that doesn't mean they will do the same past that range. Probably not so good at 300 and pretty bad past 300.
I am sure you can get the velocity you need for supersonic speeds at 700 yards with a 16 inch barrel. Get a cheap barrel and take the chance on its performance. Pretty simple. More important than the lower by far. Your lower won't play a huge role in the accuracy of your upper. Get one that fits and get a good trigger installed.
It will cost you a good $1500.00 to get completely set up handloading. With the price of the Hornady Grendel loadings of about .$80 per shot, it is the same cost as reloading and guys will normally buy once fired brass.
Finally, ballistics calculators these days are very accurate once you plug in very accurate numbers. Until you chronograph your ammo, you are not plugging in accurate numbers. Sometimes not even close to factory data.
LR55