The extractor is key to Grendel, IMO. I accidentally ended up with a nice 18″ rifle gas Stag Arms upper in 6.5 Grendel – ordered 350 Legend and they mixed things up. It was so nice, I asked and they let me keep it. It came with a 5-round Duramag. I paired it with a nice Diamondback complete lower and ordered some AAC ammo. Went to zero and was getting good groups but various failures – to extract, to feed, weak ejection, and maimed brass necks. And failure to lock back on empty. I went through all buffer weights: H3, H2, H, carbine. Suspected that maybe the gas block was misaligned (mine is not adjustable). Was going to polish the chamber, modify mags, etc. Reading more on it I started realizing that the bolt, and especially extractor might be to blame. Sure enough, my generic brand extractors were sharp, creating “teeth” or “fangs” that are the downfall of larger rim cartridges like 6.5G. Yes, they were designated “6. Grendel Type II” bolts/extractors but they were sloppy. Ordered 2 bolts and 2 additional extractors from Grendel Hunter, to get the free shipping, and to have extras. Tried both: GH extractor in my generic bolt, and the complete GH bolt in my generic carrier. Both worked 100% – 4:30-ish ejection, no stoppages – all with unmodified Duramags, stock carbine buffer and spring. With the generic bolt I still saw a failure to lock back on empty, so I just went with the full GH bolt, and will just run them. 40 rounds in one session, no stoppages. When I compared them, it is very obvious that the Grendel Hunter extractors are very deliberately shaped and smoothed to avoid the “fangs” grabbing the rim and preventing a clean ejection. Very excited to confirm at long distances and take this out this fall for deer season! As for my generic sloppy bolts/extractors, I will try grinding them to shape and maybe testing them with some cheap steel case ammo, if I ever run into it �� If you don’t yet have a BCG for your Grendel, just order the whole thing from GH, or two. If you have a decent carrier, then just order a couple of bolts from GH, and a couple of extractors as spares. I believe it’s a great idea to have a complete spare BCG, not just extra small parts. Swapping in a BCG takes seconds. Swapping in a bolt takes minutes and risks losing small parts. Swapping an extractor takes a few more minutes, and you have to deal with the small spring/insert. Swapping ejectors in the field is unlikely, and it’s frustrating enough at the bench ��
