LR1955 Wrote:Amed:
Everyone wants a cheap, top end accurate, perfect for hunting, combat, self defense, and target work at 'long ranges'. It is not possible. And, I doubt you will get a top end precision upper for under $1500.00 anymore. You can get a good hunting grade upper for under $1000.00. It just won't be consistent enough at 600 meters to be competitive.
I have yet to know of any competitive shooter who is better than mediocre who also uses chrome lined barrels. They will not give the same consistency. And, unless you are doing IPSC or Three Gun where you are blasting thousands of rounds a month at very high rates of fire and where precision isn't as important as balance and speed, you will not wear out a Grendel chambered barrel any faster with one or the other.
Let me recommend you decide on the primary purpose of the rifle and look at the features needed for that purpose. You may also want to try to define 'precision', 'long range', and 'accuracy', too. It does help in making decisions.
LR1955
If by consistency you mean a chrome bore may be slightly less accurate I agree, but if you mean it's potential mechanical accuracy is inconsistent somehow (i.e. one moa today and two moa tomorrow) then I disagree.
Barrel life: You said-- "you will not wear out a Grendel chambered barrel any faster with one or the other." There I have to completely disagree. A chromed bore will always wear more slowly than a naked one, regardless of your shooting style. Most folks here won't ever shoot their barrels out, I'll agree to that, but there is a definite difference whether they will shoot enough to see it or not.
I have owned plenty of chromed barrels over the years that were easily more accurate than the average shooter. While a competitive target shooter may have enough skill to see the difference, a large number of "normal" folks wont.
A lot of Colt barrels will shoot 1 moa (or significantly better) with the right ammo. If the OP can consistently shoot "sub-moa" then I agree he should seek out the best tube he can if accuracy is to be his game. Otherwise I highly doubt he'd even notice the difference in normal shooting.
No offense Amedeo! I have no idea what your actual shooting skills are, just talking towards the center of the shooter's curve.
ETA: For example--- I'd be willing to bet that if we were to go to any gun show and grab any random twenty guys out of the line outside the door the majority of them couldn't actually shoot well enough to even detect the difference between a chrome bore or a Krieger. It'd be money sorely wasted. On the flip side, I'll also agree that the majority of them will never shoot enough to wear out their barrels either.
OP:
If you want hyper uber accurate and are willing to pay for it, then get a good match barrel upgrade from AA or whoever you order from.
On the flip side, if you aren't going to compete, money is an issue, and/or you plan on plinking a whole lot, then get a chrome bore and you'll likely be quite happy with it.