Advise on 6.5 Grendel barrel

I am wanting to build a sporter weight 6.5'grendel bolt action. I know have everything but the barrel. I was wondering if anyone had any advise on a prefit barrel. I have used Shilen in the past with good results. Criterion doesn't have a 6.5 Grendel reamer. I have read good things about black hole weaponry savage barrels. I am also curious about the new x caliber barrels. If anyone has a black hole or x caliber I would love to hear your opinions. All of the above are pretty well equal in price so let me know what you think would make the best lightweight and accurate barrel.

I have to ask..........Why grendel instead of creedmoor which would feed and extract better as well as outperform the grendel?
Not to mention open up all sorts of barrel choices.

I won't be shooting long ranges that would dictate the creedmoor. I have several pieces of Grendel brass and dies and think the cartridge is a very accurate one.

Grendel is a great cartridge. Took my ar grendel to 1k last weekend and almost shot a perfect score in my match. Black hole makes great barrels that clean easy. Get it throated long and you will be able to reach 2800fps with the 123 class bullets.

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Try to get with Jim at Apache Gun Works his work is outstanding. He built me a very nice SS 18" modified sporter. I have had outstanding results with it shooting Hornady Factory ammo. 6.5 Grednel is very nice little cartridge. I built mine on a SF short action with a 223 mag. Feeds smooth with no jams.

This rifles has evolved many times but has always been accutate. I also debated on 6.5 Creed or 260 rem but my goal was shorter barrel and threaded for a can and Grendel was just perfect.

What kind of blanks does he use. I see he even offers the x caliber blanks. His site shows he is out now but I emailed him anyways.

X Caliber are his high ends. Mine is a Green Mountain blank. Don't let it fool you though, it will shoot. About half cost also.

When I was expanding my collections of Savages I went to Jim for all my barrels. 450 BM, 6.5 Creed, 223, 308, 6.5 Grendel.
All were GM blanks well before the XCalibers were offered. Everyone of them shot extremly well. I had a few AR barrels made up also and they were pretty accurate too.

I hear the XCalibers are a very nice piece though. My next barrel from him will be an XCailber blank in 30'06 for a modern spin on a classic hunting caliber.

^^^^ +1 Jim's reputation is well warranted. He has made me some great shooters out of Green Mountain blanks. 260AI, 450BM. I haven't tried his XCaliber yet, but he will certainly be making my next 6BR. Only tough decision will be whether it's really worth the extra cash over his GM blanks.

+2............

Any idea how much more the x caliber blank is. Tryin to see if it is worth the extra cost. My buddy has a x caliber barrel that I was impressed with. Not a savage though.

Basic GM's start at $180, X-Calibers Start around $300... so I would say $120 difference.

I say that b/c Jim's work/prices are the same no matter what blank he uses. In a sense, you are buying the blank, he is doing the work. He puts the same effort/work into any of them, so it doesn't matter to him which one he is working off of.. As far as I can tell, the only real difference between the high-ends and he lower ends is the quality of the lapping of the bores, etc. Unless you are looking for a barrel for serious competition, in all likelihood they are both better than what you can shoot. i.e. there's a lot that goes into building and shooting a competition grade rifle and the barrel is only one (albeit essential) element. The trigger, stock and action (lock, stock and barrel) scope, mounts, rests, etc. all work together to achieve almost miraculous results it the shooter is up to the task. The PERFECT barrel on a less than PERFECT stock, action, rest etc. is not going to live up to it's potential, so why bother? The truth is, the GM's are also better than they need to be for most applications. One advantage to the these high end barrels is they clean quicker. One or two quick swipes with a wet patch and they are good to go, compared to a 5-6 swipes and maybe a little more fussing with a lower end, non-hand-lapped barrel. Well, who the heck cares? A shooter in a timed event, I imagine. Is that you? It's not me. So, in my mind, the high end barrel blanks are awesome, but so are the lower end blanks, and spending good money for features that are never used is silly when the same money could be applied to better trigger, stock, an action job, etc. that will improve your shooting and the whole shooting experience.

One final example... It's like driving a Lamborghini to the rifle range instead of a Chevy and thinking it will improve your scores instead of replacing a $30 Tasco scope with $200 Leupold.

Thanks for the great post and information. I have had and saw great results with green mountain barrels. I have had one that wasn't good though. I will have to weigh out the price etc. I have a shilen sporter barrel in 6x45 that I put on a factory action and factory stock and it is one of my most accurate rifles. I think I lucked out there. I will wait on apache to get back and then decide from there. I would like to try an x caliber barrel some day just to try them out. So I don't know what I am going to do lol.

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Originally Posted by spook1

I am wanting to build a sporter weight 6.5'grendel bolt action. I know have everything but the barrel. I was wondering if anyone had any advise on a prefit barrel. I have used Shilen in the past with good results. Criterion doesn't have a 6.5 Grendel reamer. I have read good things about black hole weaponry savage barrels. I am also curious about the new x caliber barrels. If anyone has a black hole or x caliber I would love to hear your opinions. All of the above are pretty well equal in price so let me know what you think would make the best lightweight and accurate barrel.

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We don't have one now, but something tells me we will have a chambering reamer for the 6.5 Grendel available in the near future.