I've bought a 24" 6.5 grendel barrel, because I'd head good things about it's down-range performance considering the OAL limitation.
Yes I've also heard that barrel length isn't all that closely tied to accuracy which is any sniper's goal, but making the bullet go faster will yield better downrange performance, which is also any sniper's goal … shoot them from as far away as humanly possible.
Excitedly gearing up for my journey into hot reloads for heavy bullets, I used my tools to measure the chamber … lands start at 2.175". Three quarters of the loads out there won't fit without shoving the bullet an eighth of an inch into the brass first … causing unreasonable pressure spikes, not to mention accuracy problems.
Heck, my BCA 7.62x39 accepts 2.5" rounds … I should be able to get 2500fps with a 150gr BTSP. … I think I'm less than $500 into that but I took a year buying parts, and as I need to amoritize the 50%-interest in the 80% jig across the four lowers I finished, there's an extra cost, bringing the stripped lower to over $50, $20 for LPK, $50 for a trigger, $15 for grip, $13 for carbine recoil kit plus $30 for the buttstock, $150 for the upper, and a few tries at getting a working side-charging carrier, so about $250-ish although half of that can/will be used elsewhere … $65 for the barrel, I somehow talked myself into $85 for the rail-height steel gas block, $11 or so for the gas tub and $15-ish for the muzzle device.
Whew, lad! that sub-$500 rifle cost me a bit more than I remembered … the grendel doesn't have a buttstock/guard, or gas block yet. So the 7.62 is the only AR I have right now.
It shoots pretty okay but the recoil causes EVERY SCREW to come loose, so my grip falls off about the time I realize my scope is useless, which is fine because the gas block has slid forward to cover the barrel's hole now, leaving me to mortar every round out as if it'd gotten stuck.
…no, I guess that's not my best choice for a sniper rifle. Anybody know where to get a good grendel barrel…?