06-22-2021, 04:23 PM
16" barrels are more than enough, the beauty of these 6.5's is their efficiency gained to the high bc/sd's of 6.5 bullets...so you do more for less powder burned. And slower speed cartridges don't need a lot of barrel length to remain efficient. I only hunt and have 7 head of big game on grendels now including a moose. We've used 16" ruger american ranch to 20" howa, to 24" cz...no difference. Average shot distance so far has been 151 yards and 4.3 yard average recovery distance. So remove any concern over the 16" barrel, it's actually what i prefer now most.
you can put an MDT chassis on ruger or howa and then you have adjustable length of pull using a typical 6-7 position buffer tube and say a magpul ctr butt stock, but they will be a bit heavier going this route, the offset is heavier just reduces recoil even more, i now have 3 rugers for myself and my two boys, in mdt chassis, they are approx. 8 1/4 lbs scoped but we address weight all the way through, strike industries buffer tube 3.8 oz, magpul moe-k grip 1.8 oz, magpul ctr butt stock (yes i could shave a few ounces with mission first battlelink minimalist but i don't like open hook buttstock for prone shooting and left hand support on the buttstock, need the full triangle of the magpul buttstock, also like the adjustment of magpul better), remove factory picatinny rail(approx. 2.5 oz) and use talley lightweight rings instead which direct mount to action and 1" low talleys only weigh about 2 oz, typical 1" tube lightweight scope such as leupolds or what i'm using now is trijicon accupoint 3-9x40 at 13.4 oz but fixed leupold 6x36 would be only 9.5 oz (i have one also).
lots of ways now to build a grendel how you'd like, the ruger option likely most affordable, they have become my fav platform, i had them all, there's still a custom howa project in works but it will cost 3 times your budget because the only thing good on them is the action/barrel, everything else needs to go, rugers need nothing, cz's benefit from wearing in, some polishing, bedding etc. but not totally necessary...rugers are the most gunsmith free option imo
you can put an MDT chassis on ruger or howa and then you have adjustable length of pull using a typical 6-7 position buffer tube and say a magpul ctr butt stock, but they will be a bit heavier going this route, the offset is heavier just reduces recoil even more, i now have 3 rugers for myself and my two boys, in mdt chassis, they are approx. 8 1/4 lbs scoped but we address weight all the way through, strike industries buffer tube 3.8 oz, magpul moe-k grip 1.8 oz, magpul ctr butt stock (yes i could shave a few ounces with mission first battlelink minimalist but i don't like open hook buttstock for prone shooting and left hand support on the buttstock, need the full triangle of the magpul buttstock, also like the adjustment of magpul better), remove factory picatinny rail(approx. 2.5 oz) and use talley lightweight rings instead which direct mount to action and 1" low talleys only weigh about 2 oz, typical 1" tube lightweight scope such as leupolds or what i'm using now is trijicon accupoint 3-9x40 at 13.4 oz but fixed leupold 6x36 would be only 9.5 oz (i have one also).
lots of ways now to build a grendel how you'd like, the ruger option likely most affordable, they have become my fav platform, i had them all, there's still a custom howa project in works but it will cost 3 times your budget because the only thing good on them is the action/barrel, everything else needs to go, rugers need nothing, cz's benefit from wearing in, some polishing, bedding etc. but not totally necessary...rugers are the most gunsmith free option imo