First full AR build.

[Cdat19k]

Several years ago there was group buy on this forum with Satern barrels. The chambers were out of spec and Satern basically blamed the problem on the 6.5 Grendel design to save face. The whole thing was a big debacle and really hurt Satern’s reputation on this forum. I have been around a couple of Brownell’s Satern/Liberty barrels. Both had short chambers and had to large a gas port for an 18” barrel (way over gassed). The Grendel II chamber has a traditional tapered throat instead of the compound throat design accepted by SAAMI. Satern says their chamber has a long free bore to accept long bullets. Grendel Hunter uppers get good reviews but it is luck of the draw with any rack grade barrel. The difference in accuracy will vary more from barrel to barrel than the difference of the actual chamber throat if both chambers are in spec (IMHO).

I have two Faxon Group buy barrels 16” & 18” and I’m satisfied with both. I have no experience with the Faxon gunner profile barrel. Any light weight barrel will probably heat up faster and are probably a design compromise. For shooting hogs and firing up to 20 rounds I doubt I could tell the difference in accuracy between a Gunner barrel profile barrel 16” barrel and my heavy profile J&T 16” 6.5 Grendel barrel. I might notice the difference in weight of the rifle if I carried it for hours. The Faxon gunner is probably a decent hunting barrel but it is designed to be light weight and not so much a general purpose do everything well barrel. It really boils down to how your going to use your rifle and what you want.

Great info! Looks like ill take grendel hunter out of the running. Also looks like ill be doing a bunch more research on barrels lol. I won't lie, it will mainly be a plinking rifle that will also be used for hunting. Ill take a couple oz heavier barrel for heat reduction vs weight reduction.