11-03-2018, 04:23 PM
Got a call back from Dave Kiff at PTG a couple of weeks ago, after I'd spoken with one of his sales gals about what 22 Grendel reamers they typically grind. The one that Dave sent a reamer print for has a .256" neck dia, and .110" freebore, which I'm thinking would work well for use with the new 88gr Hornady & the Berger & JLK 90 VLDs & LRBTs I have on hand. Not interested in doing this on an AR15; still have a nice 22 PDK on a 24" Krieger 1-8tw AR15 bbl. If I do it at all, it'll be for a Howa Mini, and probably with a 1-7tw bbl. I've had very good 1000yd accuracy out of a couple of 26" Krieger 1-7tw sendero contour bbls in 223AI with Berger 90VLDs running 2850fps; with the velocity potential of a 22 Grendel, I'm confident that a 7-tw bbl would give the stability needed for any of the bullets mentioned above. I used a Bartlein #2B sporter on a Mini in 20 Tactical, with a muzzle dia of .630" at 24" and have another Bartlein #3B which is .707" an inch back from the muzzle. A #3B would be about a half-pound lighter than a Rem sendero when finished at 24" - don't really want to hang anything heavier than that on a Mini action, as I'm after something considerably lighter than all the 13-14lb comp rifles sitting in the safe. The #2B's .630" muzzle is plenty big enough to turn down for a TBAC 1/2-28 brake or flash suppressor/mount for my Ultra 7 suppressor; going with a 22" finished length would make the rifle a little more maneuverable & easy to carry, but I don't want to give up too much velocity. The more I think about this project, the more I want to get a bbl blank coming from Bartlein or Krieger. Can probably get the reamer from PTG in a couple of weeks, but unless I can find a blank in the correct contour somewhere, it'll probably be 6 months before I'll get a bbl from either Bartlein or Krieger.