FINALLY! It took them losing all their vendors. And it wasn't Bill A. holding out, it was his investor that had control and didn't understand anything about the firearms industry. They had some of the best vendors too... Satern made barrels for them, they even made a fluted stainless 14.5" with built in flash suppressor, REALLY nice, and only 1.1lb! I got one of the last barrels they made before they quit, a 20". Now I can get another one from them... Awesome. Before you think of me as an AA fanboy reading this, know I'm a self described AR fanboy in general I guess, this round (and his Beowulf) just iced the cake as it were.
This round performs in the field as it does on paper. As far as I'm concerned, Alexander Arms has done things to maximize the potential of this platform like no other, and they sell quality and accurate gear. I tested out the .50 Beowulf in 16" for them and for my unit and showed it off to the War College in a demonstration. Pretty awesome indeed, that round is spectacular and transforms the AR into a different beast altogether, like a high velocity and capacity AR based slug gun, with a 200m range and phenomenal accuracy (1-2MOA at 100m). Hits like a sledgehammer.
Now the Grendel... I just recently built mine "from scratch", meaning I assembled everything, every individual part. I got a 20" Satern barrel, also came with bolt; you really want a good quality barrel for this round and platform, so choose the maker carefully. I'd always wanted a Satern and here was a perfect opportunity. 14.5-24 inches is recommended. You don't gain a lot from adding length, so if you want short, get short; if you don't mind the length and want the velocity, get the 24". For me however, the 20" was just perfect for what I wanted to do: build the perfect SDM rifle I never had in the army.
So I got a matched upper and lower receiver, I used Aero Precision for this particular one, and matched them myself out of a bunch. I used DPMS parts for the upper and lower small parts (though now I've found JP Ent. is MUCH higher in quality for similar price and they sell a lower parts kit without the trigger, I'll use these from now on) and a JP Ent. "Tactical" bolt carrier. Finest bolt carrier I've ever used, and I'll stick with these in the future too, just the best I've ever seen --I could write a paragraph on it easily-- tight, slick, smooth with no machine marks, polished and treated. I used mil parts, an A2 buttstock and grip, and a Knights Arm. FF rail, the rifle length (these are really nice, I have them on a couple AR's and are my favorite rail tube). The flash suppressor is an AAC Blackout suppressor mount, it has absolutely zero flash at night (but twangs when it fires) and it has an adj. gas block, which is real nice to have on this paricular round, consider this highly. The trigger is a polished RRA 2 stage, as nice as the Geissele as far as I can tell once worked, and scoped with a TA01B ACOG, the .308 stadia version. The rifle cost around $1200 minus scope best I can tell, I already had the trigger, but it is one fine piece of equipment that you cannot buy built. I've already gotten sub-MOA groups with it using 100gr. AMAX handloads. I haven't worked up a whole lot of loads yet, only the 123gr. SMK and 100gr. AMAX, 120 BT up next. I get around 1MOA with the SMK and 1/2MOA with the 100gr. AMAX. I expect I'll eventually get 1/4MOA groupings from this rifle using the AMAX once the load is tailored, but I'm happy with 1/2MOA. There is a steel plate at my range, it is about the size of a skillet and at 200y. I can ring that plate rapid fire from the bipod, almost boringly. I can get it swinging pretty hard, nailing it on the backswing and getting it to swing back and forth violently. Worth mentioning is that the 5.56 won't do this. It'll ding it hard and swing the plate, but not like this, these are 100gr. bullets going 2800fps. Haven't been able to stretch its legs yet at 600m, but that'll come soon enough... I'd like to try it at 1000m too.
The Grendel, in just over 200 rounds, has already become my favorite round. This is my favorite rifle, and it is everything I wanted it to be, too bad I didn't have it in the army. The only things I'd do differently is use Noveske for the receivers, those are better, and the JP Ent. lower parts kit and foward assist assy. They make really great parts, period. I also would have put a better scope on it than the ACOG --this rifle could actually benefit from a quality 6x optic, although the ACOG is nice and having one laying around helps.
This is the best way to put together a Grendel for use as an SDM-R, so what you plan on using it for dictates the build (although mine is just a range rifle, I'm not in the army anymore but I still like messing with accurized battle and assault rifles, in particular SDM-Rifles). The cheapest? Well, I already have the gear to build AR's, and I built a rifle as good or better, in my opinion, as a rifle that sells for twice what I paid to build this one. You could go cheaper, just use mil spec parts, all standard stuff, and only splurge on the trigger and the barrel. I'd also free float this one no matter what --if no FF, I wouldn't be able to get 1/2MOA, when you have a rifle that shoots sub-MOA, things like that count more than when dealing with a 2-3MOA rifle.
If you don't have the gear to build AR's from parts, then I'd recommend getting a built lower in the style you like, a two stage trigger would be nice, and then get an upper from Alexander Arms. They run sales from time to time, sign up and be patient... Then get the one you desire, preferably free floating, definitely with a quality barrel. Cut rifling is prefered, but there are phenomenal button rifled barrels out there too.
Long winded, but I hope that helps some, that is my build and experience anyway. I can't say enough good about it. Awesome round indeed, a truly accurate and powerful round for this platform for sure. I use 26rd. mags, stainless, blue follower. I have them from two manufacturers, but they both have the same blue follower that says "6.5Grendel". I have no feeding problems at all, and the rifle as a whole is still breaking in really, just over 200rds.
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