20" vs. 24"

[am4966]

Buy from Lilja direct, barrel 475.00, fluting 130.00, bolt 80.00 for a total of 685.00

[Lonehill]

I'm leaning pretty heavy toward the Shilen 20" for $464 on Midway's site, it's 750 gb so it'd be light enough without fluting and I know a guy to thread it. I've had a couple Rem 700's with Shilen barrels and couldn't have been happier. As for Lilja, not gonna spend $700 for a barrel. Also, there may be some confusion on which barrel I was referring to on Midway. They offer 2 different Satern cut rifle barrels in 20" and 24". These were the original 2 I was trying to decide between. I was of the understanding that these are GTG Saami spec true Grendel now. Wouldn't know b/c Satern will not return my e-mail about chamber spec. Midway also has the AR stoner which I believe is Liberty which is made by Satern. I have one of these in .223 Wylde and it isn't worth the powder to blow it hell. So I know what you mean ThatRandomGuy.

[jurassic]

I would love to have a Satern cut rifled barrel and have been waiting forever, but with that said the Lilja I got in several weeks is beautiful. I got the short one during the group buy, it's not a target rifle but it shoots 3/4 moa out to 250 yards and would probably do better, but I can't see well enough with 10X scope. Lilja really did step up though when they let us buy another barrel made with a different reamer. I have not built a weapon with it yet though, but I suspect it will be a tack driver.

[VASCAR2]

Several members of this forum have bought 6.5 Grendel Shilen 20" DCM profile barrels from Midway. I have not read of anyone not being satisfied with the Shilen barrel. I'm not capable of ringing out all the accuracy from my Shilen but it is easily MOA. When I was in Wyoming we were at 7200' ASL shooting at a steel plate at 880 yards. I hit the target on a cold bore shot off my bench using a bi-pod and rear bag. I hit the target 5 out of 5 shots widest point between two shot was about 10" but three rounds were into about 3" group. Previously I had shot out to 800 yards at 350' ASL with similar results.

I have not threaded the barrel on my Shilen as it is basically my target rifle and I don't like the extra noise of compensators.

Sure was cool seeing the steel target swing in the scope from the hit 1-2 seconds before hearing the clang.

[Lonehill]

VASCAR2, I wanted it threaded for a YHM 7.62 TI suppressor. This is one of the biggest reasons for going the 20" route. This will add 7.62" to overall length. I can't see why one would need a compensator on an AR under normal hunting conditions. I want to go quieter not louder!

[HOPSTER]

I just wanted to say I saw the Shilen from midway and it is beautiful, but there were score marks in the barrel adapter in front of the locking lugs.
Since the barrel tube had also taken a tumble during shipping when the box broke open, I thought maybe the marks were made from the bolt twisting around or getting knocked sideways (it ships with the bolt locked in chamber). So I returned it to Midway and will be getting a Lilja or Bartlien instead.
There are some complaints out there about quality control at Shilen, but in all fairness to them, my barrel could have been damaged in shipping.
I will never know how it shoots. It is definitely the most I would ever pay for a button rifled tube.

[jurassic]

I'll have to look at my Shilen, but I can almost guarantee the marks are from the bolt moving during shipping. And I agree with an earlier post, the packaging from Midway has gotten terrible.

[tango29]

In a nutshell:

Satern used to supply barrels to Alexander Arms. They no longer do.

They decided to use a Non-SAAMI reamer for their barrels, and a group buy here using that reamer showed mixed results.

They did not handle the subsequent issues to the satisfaction of some of the members here, thus leading to hard feelings.

The simple truth is that buyers should get what they expect to get. Anyone buying directly from a barrel maker should be sure that they are getting what they expect.

Couldn't have been said more eloquently and to the point about the Satern situation. Buy a barrel from Mark at Precision Firearms.