I FINNALY got to talk with the warranty person at BCA this morning and she emailed me a UPS pickup ticket. I boxed up the upper and took it to the UPS office and sent it back to them. Warranty person said that it usually took a week after they received to fix and ship back. We will see. But in the meantime I jumped in with both feet in the 6.5 Grendel pool. Last night I ordered from joeboboutdoors.com their 18" Odenworks barrel package which is less than the cost of the barrel and BCG separately. Package contains barrel, CBG, tunable gas block and gas tube. Also ordered an Anderson stripped upper and the upper parts and other things I did not have to build uppers. I also ordered from StingrUSA a 15" VYPR float tube. Just got notification that all is shipped and on the way.
Caved in to the craving for a 6.5 Grendel.
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MudRunner2005
Well-Known Member
I have a few OdinWorks keymod bipod adapters on mine... They're very high-quality. I have also heard good things about their barrels.
Keep us updated, and if you have any questions about building an AR upper, feel free to PM me. I've built quite a few. Also, 2 products I will not build one without, are Loctite C5-A copper anti-seize for the barrel nut threads, and Rocksett for the gas block set screws. Be sure you have a good inch-pound and foot-pound torque wrenches as well. A Wheeler FAT Wrench works good for inch-pound stuff and you can use it on your optics and rifles.
Keep us updated, and if you have any questions about building an AR upper, feel free to PM me. I've built quite a few. Also, 2 products I will not build one without, are Loctite C5-A copper anti-seize for the barrel nut threads, and Rocksett for the gas block set screws. Be sure you have a good inch-pound and foot-pound torque wrenches as well. A Wheeler FAT Wrench works good for inch-pound stuff and you can use it on your optics and rifles.
Ckgworks
Well-Known Member
The bug has bit you! I was bit as well, and now have three! I think you will like your Odin barrel, one of my uppers is built with the same kit you ordered, mine easily kept Odins 1 MOA guarantee, and now is rebuilt into primarily close range deer gun. I had settled in on 120 gr. Amax as they shot better for me than the 123gr. I ordered 2 Satern barrels at Christmas, one 16" for a youth hunting rifle, and one 20" cut rifled....so far the 20" Satern is kicking my butt on getting a load that shoots as good as I think a cut rifled barrel should. I suspect the Grendel II chamber likes something different than the Odin, and I'm going to AR comp with 123gr and see what that does. (120 gr amax seats way to deep for me to try) If I can't pull a load together, you will probably see a new post asking for help!
Greg Duerr
Well-Known Member
Been looking at the CZ 527 in the 6.5 Grendel for my wife.................Ive had several 527's over the years and all shot under 1inch and all kinds of groups at .6 and under. 22 Hornets, 17 Hornets and now the 17 Remington. I would guess with quality time spent at the reloading bench the Grendel will shoot great. All my CZ's had sweet spots with Bullet Seating Depth.
MudRunner2005
Well-Known Member
You should check out the new Ruger American Predator in 6.5 Grendel. It has a 1:8 twist threaded CHF barrel, and uses 6.5G AR mags... For the $450 price tag, I think I'm going to have to get one once I get a new job...
CZ builds a very nice rifle, but from what I've seen, CZ's QC has gone downhill the last couple years. They no longer even rule the bolt-action .22LR market in accuracy, from recent tests I've seen conducted. I'd be leery of spending more for the CZ over the Ruger option. Just personal opinion.
https://ruger.com/products/americanRiflePredator/specSheets/26922.html
Thanks Mudrunner. I ordered some Aroshell (Sp?) mil-speck lube for the barrel nut when I ordered the parts. I have a inch pound wrench and will be picking up a foot pound from Harborfreight tomorrow. They have them on sale and I have a 20% off coupon. Thanks for the offer to give guidance in my build. I have already done a lot of research and watched numerous YouTube videos. I have already built a few lowers and done a good deal of gunsmith work over the past 40 or so years. It is also in my family line that if we can find someone to show us how to do most anything or get the information from a book etc. we can do it. As with most anything having the right tools is 90% of any job so I have either made or are in the process of getting what I need to do the job. Just this past Friday I made a lower front hinge pin detent installing tool and it works great. I had already made me a mag well holding block from a piece of composite decking material that works great. I ordered one of the clam shell upper vice holding blocks but I have a plan in my mind of how to make one of the upper holding blocks that you place pins through the front and rear hinge pin parts of the upper and place in a vice just to hold the upper steady while installing the dust cover and forward assist.
Aoudad shooter1975
Well-Known Member
I have 2 a gas gun we built...shoots super--also have one in a TC encore with a 18 in SS barrel...love this little round...
MudRunner2005
Well-Known Member
I have a PRI upper vise block that is VERY similar to the upper block you are describing. It works great. The Geisselle Reaction Rod works good, as well.
https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-...-m16-upper-receiver-vise-block-prod27411.aspx
https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-...l-tools/ar-15-m16-reaction-rod-prod55168.aspx
All my stuff had been delivered by Friday afternoon so after supper last night after running the sweeper and a few other things helping my wife clean the house I headed down to my basement work shop about 6:30. I took my time and put everything together and was done cleaning up and replacing tools to their places by 9:30. I will mount my scope today. It looks like it is going to be a while before I can get to the range to try it out. Weather man says that here in the mountains of TN for a week or more March is going to be having PMS. Rain, wind, turn much colder and most likely snow. My shooting range is on top of a mountain out a dirt and gravel road that leads to the end of the world. I want a calm warm and dry day when I go to the range because I will be there a while. I will have to tune the Odenworks tunable gas block while I break in the barrel. They suggest shoot 5 clean and do this for 20 rounds.
I have not heard anything from BCA on my upper I sent back to them last Monday. I do know by the tracking number that since we are only about 275 miles apart they received it the next day. When I talked to the warranty person she sad that turn around was usually a week after they receive product.
I have not heard anything from BCA on my upper I sent back to them last Monday. I do know by the tracking number that since we are only about 275 miles apart they received it the next day. When I talked to the warranty person she sad that turn around was usually a week after they receive product.
I received my upper back from BCA today. There was no explanation as to or if they found what the problem with it was. They just put a new barrel on the receiver and sent it to me. The barrel looks much better than the other one. The other barrel did have some chatter marks that I could see on the end of the muzzle when shinning a light through the flash hider. No doubt the crown was bad or out of square. This new barrels muzzle looks smooth and sharp at the crown. It will be a little bit before I can get to the range to shoot it and my new rifle I built due to bad weather. I am also going to load a few rounds with some middle of the road loads to help with the break in of the barrels. I will post my results.
Well it stopped raining for a day and got warm but the wind was blowing a constant 15-20 mph with 25+ gust. I could not stand it any longer I had to go to the range and shoot my new rifle and the BCA. The OdenWorks 18" barrel build IS A SHOOTER. Even with the hurricane blowing and cleaning after every 5th shot and counting the first shot clean bore shot the groups were not over 1 1/2" with the worst loads. Most were under 3/4". I can't wait to do some serious load work up and shoot on a good day. The BCA is another story. It shot factory Hornady 123 SST to start off into 4" which is better than the first barrel it had. The more I shot it the better it got but still 2 1/2 to 3" was about it with the Hornady 123 SST. I had two rounds left from 3 different loads I was shooting in the OdenWorks and I shot them in the BCA and those with the 123 SSTs did not shoot very well either. BUT I do not know if it was a fluke or not but two rounds with 120 Sierra Pro Hunter cut each other. This same load put 3 in .600" out of the OdenWorks. The BCA also put two 120 Nos BTs within 1" of each other. The OdenWorks put 3 of these into 1.010". I will load up some more 120 Pro Hunters and 120 BTs in a work up and hit the range on the next good day I can get to the range. I really think that the BCA just does not like the 123 SST bullet. But I also have been seeing on different forums that the BCA barrels need 50m to 100 round through them before they start to shoot better. So we will see. If I can't get the BCA barrel to shoot I will just get another OdenWorks barrel 20" and stick on it.
Riflehunter1776
Well-Known Member
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finally got out to shoot the newly built grendel today. Mega Arms mkm upper and rail, faxon 18" 5r bbl, Geissele ssa trigger, standard lower, brand new hornady brass and the cheapest bullets I could find anywhere. consistent 1/2" groups at 100. very happy with the results.
Today was a great weather day and I got to go to the range. I got the Bear Creek Arsenal 20" shooting a bit better today. Found out that it just HATES 123 SST bullets weather factory ammo or handloads. It is taking a liking to 120 Sierra Pro Hunters. With 28.5 grs IMR 8208 it is shooting a group that averages 1 1/2" 5 shots at 100 yards. The more I shoot it the better it is shooting. I have about 60 rounds down it now. My Oden Works barrel build is a tack driver. I found a load today with 120 Sierra Pro Hunter, Hornady case, CCI 450, 28.5 grs IMR 8208, COAL 2.250 and I used a Lee Factory Crimp. Average velocity is 2532 fps with ES 38 SD 14 . The first 2 shots cut each other but I got in the trigger a bit and pulled shot 3 out to the left a little bit then I put shots 4 and 5 in the same bullet hole as shot 2. The 5 shot group measured outside to outside .924 - .264 = .638 Four of the shots measured outside to outside .408 - .264= .144 I think this should work for deer out to 300 yards.
2Five7
Well-Known Member
It looks like 1.5" at 100 is an acceptable group for this platform/caliber? I've not starting handloading for mine yet. I'd be tickled with just under 1" with factory ammo.
