Posts: 15
Threads: 2
Joined: Aug 2019
A little background. New member here, but I?ve enjoyed the information that I?ve found here and it pushed me towards the Grendel for my latest deer gun.
I had a diamondback that wasn?t doing anything so I converted it into a shoestring budget 6.5. By shoestring I mean BCA bcg and BCA 16? barrel. I have a whopping $120 plus shipping in Bear Creek parts on a $400 AR. I also put Nikon scope mounts and an old Leupold vx3 2.5-8 scope I had laying around. A 10 round C products mag finished it up.
I fired it for the first time today and this was my takeaway:
-Way more ?bang? than .223 or .300 blk
-Perfect cycling with a half loaded 10 round mag
-Growing excitement for deer season to get here to tag a buck with it!
I?m not sure what my accuracy will be with a crunchy factory trigger and the cheapest barrel on earth, but I plan to find out soon. I?m not a range guy so this gun won?t see thousands of rounds under my ownership, but if the barrel is ?huntable? accurate I might upgrade the trigger. Thoughts?
Posts: 15
Threads: 2
Joined: Aug 2019
Not sure why all punctuation is replaced by ???
Posts: 314
Threads: 32
Joined: Jul 2017
Here is a inexpensive route for trigger upgrade;
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1003365284
A lot of my ARs have match triggers, but several have JP Enterprises triggers and they work great.
Posts: 1,787
Threads: 49
Joined: Feb 2016
For the price, i don't see any reason not to have at least a larue trigger.
Posts: 6,193
Threads: 170
Joined: Mar 2015
Joeboboutfitters has a reduced spring kit and trigger tension screw setup you can buy for dirt cheap that will make your standard trigger feel much better.
That's if you don't want to pony up the cash for a better trigger.
My personal choice is the ssa-e but I hear enough good stuff about the Larue mbt that I would say get that of your budget can't cover the ssa-e.
I'm not going to comment on the BCA barrel other then to say good luck.
Posts: 162
Threads: 3
Joined: Jan 2019
buckpasser Wrote:Not sure why all punctuation is replaced by ???
My browser (Firefox) on my iPad does this with apostrophe or quotes.
OP, best of luck filling your tag. I?ll bet you will. Come back with stories!
...and welcome!
Posts: 15
Threads: 2
Joined: Aug 2019
DDRanch Wrote:Here is a inexpensive route for trigger upgrade;https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1003365284
A lot of my ARs have match triggers, but several have JP Enterprises triggers and they work great.
Thank you, that would definitely not knock me out of my position of cheapest gun owner on the forum!
Posts: 15
Threads: 2
Joined: Aug 2019
A5BLASTER Wrote:Joeboboutfitters has a reduced spring kit and trigger tension screw setup you can buy for dirt cheap that will make your standard trigger feel much better.
That's if you don't want to pony up the cash for a better trigger.
My personal choice is the ssa-e but I hear enough good stuff about the Larue mbt that I would say get that of your budget can't cover the ssa-e.
I'm not going to comment on the BCA barrel other then to say good luck.
I hear you on the barrel. I didn?t apply any loctite between the receiver and barrel during install as I read many do to improve accuracy a bit. My hope was to explore the effects of this round on deer at very reasonable ranges this year. I have thoroughly enjoyed taking deer with my blackout build, and am hopeful an AR in Grendel may be my retirement setup. If the caliber does what I hope it will, I?ll likely upgrade into a more permanent weapon at some point. I guess I have some hope that this rig will be more accurate than the cost would suggest. We shall see.
Posts: 15
Threads: 2
Joined: Aug 2019
Growler Wrote:My browser (Firefox) on my iPad does this with apostrophe or quotes.
OP, best of luck filling your tag. I?ll bet you will. Come back with stories!
...and welcome!
Thank you. I?ll update this thread with accuracy results and I certainly hope to provide some success stories.
Posts: 772
Threads: 44
Joined: Nov 2017
My BCA Grendel barrel was very accurate and took a number of game. I probably should have kept it since they seem to be few and far between. Also $80 for a sub-MOA barrel is a steal if you get lucky enough to get a good one. But I wanted a bolt gun after bouncing brass off the sides of the blind and back into my lap. So it got replaced with a Howa. I hope that your barrel is from the same batch as mine.
Engineer, FFL and Pastor
Posts: 217
Threads: 1
Joined: Aug 2016
Welcome to the club. I got started with a similarly cheap Anderson Grendel barrel because I wanted to dip my toes in the water. Turns out, the water is fine!
I really enjoyed the authoritative "gong" of smacking steel at 300+ yards versus the wimpy "ping" of 5.56. Now I've got another 6.5G upper with a ~ $200 Alexander Arms 18" barrel that's even better, and I'm hoping to take it out on my first real hunt (other than dove) soon.
Posts: 15
Threads: 2
Joined: Aug 2019
I used the .300 blk primarily for lung and heart shots. Im hopeful that the Grendel will be better for the same shot and a CNS high shoulder capable weapon as well. Am I correct in this thinking? Most shots 60 to 120 yards with 200 being a maximum.
Posts: 6,193
Threads: 170
Joined: Mar 2015
buckpasser Wrote:I used the .300 blk primarily for lung and heart shots. Im hopeful that the Grendel will be better for the same shot and a CNS high shoulder capable weapon as well. Am I correct in this thinking? Most shots 60 to 120 yards with 200 being a maximum.
The grendel will work fine on cns shots at your ranges.
Posts: 3
Threads: 1
Joined: Jun 2019
I have been very happy with my LaRue MBT-2S straight bow trigger on my Grendel, I can also recommend the CMC triggers but I would take the Larue over the CMC.
If you want to reduce the recoil look at the Surefire procomp 762, they run about $50 but they do a great job at reducing recoil and keeping the muzzle down.
Posts: 1,918
Threads: 79
Joined: Oct 2016
Passer, here.
https://www.larue.com/category/parts-acc.../triggers/
You're welcome. You won't beat it, or even get close at the same money. Period. Three options now, curved two stage, flat two stage, and either in single. Good luck.
Do it, you won't be dissapointed. If you are, let me know, I'll buy it from you and pay shipping.
Nothing kills the incentive of men faster than a healthy sense of entitlement. Nothing kills entitlement faster than a healthy sense of achievement.
Posts: 15
Threads: 2
Joined: Aug 2019
I roughed it in in the yard then shot at 100 today at work. On some shooting bags I hit the paper dead level but eight inches left. Let cool and adjusted scope. Hit one inch right of target and same elevation. After work I shot again from the yard at 100 on a crappy table and shot four rounds in a decent group. I can?t say that any rounds really hit outside of my 8x scope view expectations. I will get in the lead sled tomorrow hopefully and find out more. I was shooting the ELD-M black ammo 123 grain so far. I feel good about getting it into the game with what I have. Trigger is God awful with 2 rough spots before ignition though.
Posts: 772
Threads: 44
Joined: Nov 2017
The Grendel can do heart, lung, CNS shots on deer and bear all day long at 200 yards.
Engineer, FFL and Pastor
Posts: 15
Threads: 2
Joined: Aug 2019
The latest update is in on the budget gun. The BCA barrel must not be complete junk. On the lead sled at 100 yards I got a just over 1 inch group with the ELTM 123s and touching holes with the Fusion 120 grain while cooling for a while between shots. Also for hunting I won?t need to adjust for either of these rounds but obviously I will start with the Fusions. I did encounter the first issue tonight though. I stove piped a Hornady round for the first time. I don?t really know why or what caused it but I?ve been loading between two and five rounds into the mag with no problems until then. Should I be concerned?
Posts: 989
Threads: 64
Joined: Feb 2019
buckpasser Wrote:The latest update is in on the budget gun. The BCA barrel must not be complete junk. On the lead sled at 100 yards I got a just over 1 inch group with the ELTM 123s and touching holes with the Fusion 120 grain while cooling for a while between shots. Also for hunting I won?t need to adjust for either of these rounds but obviously I will start with the Fusions. I did encounter the first issue tonight though. I stove piped a Hornady round for the first time. I don?t really know why or what caused it but I?ve been loading between two and five rounds into the mag with no problems until then. Should I be concerned?
Yes.
Somewhat.
For me it was the ruining expensive ammo that was concerning. I had cut too much off the ejector spring in order to keep dent's off the brass.
After putting in a new ejector spring I followed forum members advise and use a piece of Velcro on the deflector and no more stove pipes or deep brass dents.
Using a good lube and plenty of it may fix it. Another forum tip was to use synthetic motor oil on/in the bolt and that seems to let my BCA rifle to shoot longer without problems from carbon fouling retarding the bolt.
Sound like your BCA is a winner! Post some pics of those great results!
Posts: 15
Threads: 2
Joined: Aug 2019
Thank you to everyone on the advice. I will definitely upgrade the trigger to the Larue at some point. My daughter spent time in the hospital last year for a serious illness so I?m not overrun with money at this time. Also, I will try to lube everything up for possible elimination of the cycling issues.
One final question I have is how do I post pics? I?m using an iPhone. I didnt photograph the target but it is still hanging up so I can if I get there before a big rain. Thanks
