Youve gotten great advice in the above posts.
Ive built a handful of ARs. In my experience, the barrel is the difference in accuracy if you do your part. So my personal philosophy is to skimp where I can. Gas block, gas tube, lower parts kit, upper parts kit, act.
Id recommend a Geissele SSA-E trigger for hunting applications, I personally like the JoeBob Spartan billeted lower (seems to help the metal mags of the Grendel function better), and a decent rail. I like my BCM MCMR which can be found on sale for ~$150. Then it comes down to how much you want to spend on a barrel.
I will differ in that Ive had good results with a lower priced optic. I had a bad experience with the aero mounts, switched to Warne and no issues since. for glass, Vortex and primary arms (and many others) should be good to go. Again, I personally dont think one has to spend more than $200-$300 to get a decent optic that will hold zero.
I hunt at long distances. Rarely shoot deer under 200 yards in the open country we hunt. Shoot to 600 at my local range. I put my Grendel deer limit around 400 yards. I like the 129 gr ABLR. Been trying to go to a copper round, but Grendel velocities at those distances are problematic for copper expansion. Ive had inconsistent results with copper for Grendel hunting at distance. I went with a 20 barrel on my hunting rifle builds to extract all the velocity I can. As others have stated, longer barrel means more velocity which means more distance to still be able to effectively expand projectiles.
Ive shot deer with the 5.56. With that cartridge I limited myself (really it was my daughter) to 200 yard shots. The difference in effectiveness on deer between the Grendel and the 5.56 is vast. The Grendel knocks deer dead, at least in my experience. Its a huge difference between it and 5.56.
I have a 20 fluted Faxon that does alright. 1 MOA or a bit better. I have a fluted ballistic advantage DMR that is similar. Which one is better depends on the load. Both will shoot under 1 MOA with handloads after load development.
IMHO, with a Grendel at distance the atmospheric conditions will introduce more error than a 1 MOA rifle on most days. Again, I shoot to 600 yards, its crazy what a variable <5mph wind will do to a bullet. Again, its more than 1 MOA.
That said, there is certainly truth to the cost of ammo quickly catching up to the cost delta of a barrel. Ive own a Grendel barrel it took me 100+ rounds to find one that was sub MOA. Had I started with a lilja, Bartlein, or Kreiger Id probably have spent the same amount of $$$. The fancier barrels seem to be less choosy, nearly any load seems to work. So you wont shoot 100 rounds to find something sub MOA. Who knows, maybe you even get 1/4-1/2 MOA but I dont personally believe any barrel can shoot all loads under 1/2 MOA.
I like to keep a hunting rifle well under 7 lbs before a scope. A lot of the precision barrels are as heavy as a tank. I personally like to keep my barrel under 2 lbs for hunting. If you are just shooting at the range then the heavier the better.
Ive built a handful of ARs. In my experience, the barrel is the difference in accuracy if you do your part. So my personal philosophy is to skimp where I can. Gas block, gas tube, lower parts kit, upper parts kit, act.
Id recommend a Geissele SSA-E trigger for hunting applications, I personally like the JoeBob Spartan billeted lower (seems to help the metal mags of the Grendel function better), and a decent rail. I like my BCM MCMR which can be found on sale for ~$150. Then it comes down to how much you want to spend on a barrel.
I will differ in that Ive had good results with a lower priced optic. I had a bad experience with the aero mounts, switched to Warne and no issues since. for glass, Vortex and primary arms (and many others) should be good to go. Again, I personally dont think one has to spend more than $200-$300 to get a decent optic that will hold zero.
I hunt at long distances. Rarely shoot deer under 200 yards in the open country we hunt. Shoot to 600 at my local range. I put my Grendel deer limit around 400 yards. I like the 129 gr ABLR. Been trying to go to a copper round, but Grendel velocities at those distances are problematic for copper expansion. Ive had inconsistent results with copper for Grendel hunting at distance. I went with a 20 barrel on my hunting rifle builds to extract all the velocity I can. As others have stated, longer barrel means more velocity which means more distance to still be able to effectively expand projectiles.
Ive shot deer with the 5.56. With that cartridge I limited myself (really it was my daughter) to 200 yard shots. The difference in effectiveness on deer between the Grendel and the 5.56 is vast. The Grendel knocks deer dead, at least in my experience. Its a huge difference between it and 5.56.
I have a 20 fluted Faxon that does alright. 1 MOA or a bit better. I have a fluted ballistic advantage DMR that is similar. Which one is better depends on the load. Both will shoot under 1 MOA with handloads after load development.
IMHO, with a Grendel at distance the atmospheric conditions will introduce more error than a 1 MOA rifle on most days. Again, I shoot to 600 yards, its crazy what a variable <5mph wind will do to a bullet. Again, its more than 1 MOA.
That said, there is certainly truth to the cost of ammo quickly catching up to the cost delta of a barrel. Ive own a Grendel barrel it took me 100+ rounds to find one that was sub MOA. Had I started with a lilja, Bartlein, or Kreiger Id probably have spent the same amount of $$$. The fancier barrels seem to be less choosy, nearly any load seems to work. So you wont shoot 100 rounds to find something sub MOA. Who knows, maybe you even get 1/4-1/2 MOA but I dont personally believe any barrel can shoot all loads under 1/2 MOA.
I like to keep a hunting rifle well under 7 lbs before a scope. A lot of the precision barrels are as heavy as a tank. I personally like to keep my barrel under 2 lbs for hunting. If you are just shooting at the range then the heavier the better.