I see the Modern Military section, but I'm making a hunting rifle.

After much study and thought, my 6.5 Grendel is back in process.

I tried the 30 Remington AR in R-15, but was not pleased with the accuracy it produced. So, I sold the upper and the dies and brass - everything re the cartridge itself, but kept the lower.

Yesterday, I ordered a medium weight stainless fluted barrel, 20", 8.5" twist, chambered in 6.5 LBC. It comes with a matched bolt.

Last week I also ordered an upper receiver and bolt carrier group from LAR. It's the side charging forged receiver.

KB

You're going to love it! I beats the sox off the 308 at long range.

A friend just got an Armalite in 308, and it's very accurate. So, he will surely give me grief if my rifle is any less. That 308 he has is a carbine, and sweet handling. It would be perfect IMO as a hog whacker supreme, but maybe a bit overkill.

I always fancied the 6.5 Grendel. I have one in a bolt action and love it. Last season I got several deer with my Ruger bolt action 6.5 G and the cartridge performed perfectly. I can see it will be a good hog rifle too.

This barrel I orderd is a Satern cut rifled barrel. To me it's spendy, so it ought to be accurate.

I always like the looks and function of the side-charging type AR receivers. Since I'm new to this type rifle, I'm not imprinted on a particular feature, and no bad habits or preferences to break.

I am pretty excited about the platform though. It took me a long time to like the AR type rifles, and now that I've shot one a little, I suppose I'm hooked like all the rest. but I still insist that it's a hunting rifle, not tacticool. My lower receiver is camo to prove it.

There is something about the modular aspect of the rifle that's appealing. Assembling parts is fun. I like it that the platform is mostly mil-spec and thus offers some interchangability of parts.

This is more fun than messing with Mausers.

The upper receiver and carrier that I ordered is the one shown on this link. It's the right hand unit, with the forged receiver rather than billet. I figured that since my lower is forged, the forged upper would be the better choice. http://www.largrizzly.com/web/guest/ops-4-uppers

It's coming together nicely. I like the feel of it. I'm going to be waiting for the barrel for a while.

I couldn't resist, so I assembled it as far as I could go without tools, and just hand tightened the handguard. It's the std DPMS aluminum rifle length handguard. I like to keep things simple. Remember, this is a hunting rifle, not tacticool or tactifool.

The threads on the barrel nut and receiver and the handguard are very smooth and with very close tolerences. I can't believe how smooth everything fits together. When they say mil-spec, and close tolerence, they are telling the truth.

I really like the LAR reciever and bolt carrier. It's smooth. and I like the side charging handle.

The receiver fits the forged R-15 lower very well. The pins push in nicely, and they are snug, with no play or sloppiness in the fit between the upper and lower. Very nice fit.

I've got a really good feeling about this rifle working out very well.

I'm not worried at all about the color contrast, since I can send the parts that I want a different color to Birdsong and have it green Teflon coated or whatever color I want. For now I'm just concentrating on the assembly, and the exact parts that fill my fancy.