Left Hand 6.5 Grendel 24 " Barrel Help

[MIHeadShot]

I've been a long time shooter, and a long distance shooter.

Now I want to build my dream Rifle.
A 6.5 Left Hand Grendel with a 24" barrel.

I've been doing tons of home work but it's a bit overwhelming
when new at this.

I like the side assist charger that the newer receivers have
but right now just finding a left hand receiver would be a start.

Also I'm open to barrel manufactures. I'm not sold on any one company.
I want procession nail driving accuracy.

So any help I'm here to learn.
Thanks MIHeadShot

[Klem]

HS,

24" is a longish barrel for an AR15.

For top accuracy, Olympic barrel manufacturers would be the go. Krieger sells a drop-in Varmatch profile from 20" - 26" (you decide); 0.821 or even Bull 0.920" at the muzzle. Very heavy which will make it more stable on the bench. You can have them finish it or get your own gunsmith to do it.

Or Lilja has slimmer profile drop-ins.

Or you can buy a blank from Bartlein and have a precision gunsmith profile, chamber and crown it for you.

All three supply Olympic shooting teams with barrels.

Precision Firearms is well respected and can build an Olympic-grade shooter for you.

If you are a good shot then the barrel is a big influencer on accuracy. More importantly, the barrel limits your gun's precision. You cannot shoot better than the barrel will let you. Same with the repeatability of the scope. If you want top precision then you pay to play. Thankfully however, AR15's are not as expensive as other shooting disciplines.

As for left handed receivers and chargers I will let others chime in. I am a left-hander and shoot the normal receivers without issue but each to their own.

Barrel-Scope-Trigger, and the rest holds it together.

[Zeneffect]

Krieger will do a 28" actually. Come join the wild side, a fluted 28" varmatch krieger weighs about 6lbs (just the barrel)

I've seen left hand side charger upper receivers from Gibbz and bca before.

[easterneag]

Stag Arms and Bear Creek Arsenal have left handed receivers.

[MIHeadShot]

Great information. As a long time shooter you're right
on Barrel- trigger-scope.
But time on the range and many many rounds of ammo
when I was on the Army shooting team before I could
be a consistent shooter, but heck I thought I use to have to pay for ammo, lol
they're just handing me this stuff.

I'll look into the info you gave me, thanks

[MIHeadShot]

Appreciate the help and I'll keep you posted.
Won't be until late June before I start working on this
just doing my homework now.

[MIHeadShot]

A 28", so what kind of distance are we talking
from a 24"-28"
What are you shooting, as far as rounds.

I like the "wild side", so fill me in.
People wouldn't believe me when I told them
I could consistently hit targets out 600 meters
but this wasn't done in a day, and after leaving the Army
it would take a lot to get back to that form of shooting.

Thanks for the Information, will be searching now.

[VASCAR2]

Shooting at long distance means keeping the bullet stable (super sonic) and the ability to read the wind. Elevation above sea level makes a big difference in ballistics as the thicker air decelerates bullets faster at lower elevations. I was shooting in Wyoming at 7200’ at 1000 yards which was easier to do than 650’ ASL in the midwest.

Bullets with high ballistic coefficient are desired and the 123 Grain Lapua SCENAR, Sierra 123 grain Tipped Match King or Hornady 123 grain ELD-M bullets are popular. The 130 grain Berger Match BTHP used in Federal Gold Metal Match ammunition is another potential bullet choice. There is chronograph data in this forum for barrels lengths from 12” to 28” in 6.5 Grendel.

Maxim Firearms sell left hand bolts for the 6.5 Grendel AR-15.


http://www.maximfirearms.com/online-stor...left-hand/

[MIHeadShot]

Zeneffect. I went to Krieger this morning, they only (Stated) to work with JP bolts?
If I'm wrong or not understanding some, please let me know.
Thanks MIHS

[Zeneffect]

They headspace with JP bolts, so use a JP bolt if you don't want to ensure proper headspace yourself with a different brand. That's all they mean by it. If you have the go, no go, field gauges and non-jp branded bolt checks out ok then you are ok. they wrote this whole thing about jp being consistent so they use them so you don't have to send them your bolt to headspace to. Any quality bolt within spec should work just fine, there is nothing special abut the JP. As with any new build ensuring headspace is recommended (even if you use JP bolt)

You could use the maxim bolt Vascar mentioned with the krieger, just ensure the headspace is within spec (99% it will be, maxim is pretty good quality and uses same materials as the JP which is some special steel they use in f1 transmissions)

The go/no gauges run $40 each on brownells so potentially add $80 if you want your own gauge set to verify headspace with.

If you do decide to go with a krieger, expect a long wait time, spending money, and a very spartan package when it arrives. You will get a box with the barrel inside and an invoice. Not even a sticker....

[MIHeadShot]

Thanks Zeneffect Thought maybe the case.
Just want to be sure.

[Zeneffect]

For my 28" I'll be focusing on 123-140gr as my intended use is to knock over some fairly heavy steel at 500M. If I'm in the 900ftlbs+ ballpark on target I can finesse the rest of the way to score the point with a less than ideal set. Just about everything else I'll run one of the 22" grendels I have (criterion barrel) as 28" is a fairly impractical "real world" rifle.

[MIHeadShot]

Interesting. So give me your thoughts on the 28"
As far as long range hunting.
Yes I know were talking weight, but what is the knock down power
for a deer, antelope , or even an elk.
Would you say the 28" is more to bang metal or punch paper
and hunting would be better with a 24"

[dpete]

What ranges are you talking about when hunting? Sitting in a stand in the woods is very different than sitting on the edge of a wide open bean field.
A 16 or 18" barrel will more than cover any hunting scenario and be much easier to lug around.

[MIHeadShot]

Hi dpete, I'm not wondering nor caring about weight
far more, distance, accuracy and the power to take down an animal.

At this point I'm trying to learn what a 24", or a 28" barrel can do in all my ideal
situation's, or at least hopes at this time.

I'm not a fan of the short barrels either, as you can see from the posts were talking long barrels.

I pride myself as a shooter, so one day I might decide to put myself in a target shooting event, the next going out west and hunting for Mule deer and Antelope and Hunting yotes across the wide open come winter.

I'm soon to be 64, have hunted since I was 14, was a guide in Montana and Idaho, so my knowledge runs wide in hunting scenarios, terrain, flats and mountain regions.

[Zeneffect]

I never even considered my 28" for hunting application.
It's a steel ringer and hole punch, if I were to use grendel to go after mule deer and elk, I'd probably keep it within 300 yards and run in the 130gr class of bullet. Out of my 22" I can get the bergers moving at 2550fps which I feel should be sufficient to take down a mule deer.

28" varmatch is not a rifle to shoulder and fire, it's front heavy and weighs more than a couple of cinder blocks. For me, lugging it around wouldn't be a problem, but accurately firing it offhand would be a comical excersise in futility. I'm not built like a brick shit house.

[MIHeadShot]

What about a 24" Barrel?
I'm just not a fan of short barrels, but maybe with this I have something more to learn

[Klem]

HS

The difference between 24 and 28" is about 100fps.

Putting a 28" barrel on a fragile receiver like an AR15 using the smallest 6.5 calibre available is only because you can - not because it has any practical use. Hoping the longer barrel will make up for the limitations of the calibre does not make sense. It just makes the gun heavier for very little gain. The Law of Diminishing Returns has long since passed at 20" in an AR.

After 400M hunting becomes inhumane and a 18" will do anything you want within that range.

[MIHeadShot]

Thanks Klem, will I can't agree with your hunting distance unless you're referring to this round(6.5) , been to the other side personally, have seen longer shots as a guide in Montana and Idaho

[Zeneffect]

I have seen a lot longer shots as well, but they were done with a lot more caliber at the same time. Klem is dead on about practicality, I built mine for a single purpose in a single shooting position. For me a 22" is the practical limit with a brake and hbar profile barrel. Anything beyond that for soft targets is a negligible return on the additional cost, wait time, and weight. If I were to do a 24, it would be a bull barrel and no brake but I don't think that extra 30-50fps would get me much.