Not working with grendel - TRYBE Defense Milspec Complete 6.5 Grendel Bolt Carrier Group (BCG) (Type 2 Bolt Face)

I have a nice Stag Arms Pursuit 15 upper in 6.5 Grendel. It's an 18" barrel with rifle length gas system. Purchased as complete upper and paired with a complete premium Diamondback lower, their "Diamond" line. Very nice. Using AAC 123 gr ammo, brass casings, never used steel.

Being completely new to Grendel, when I started having issues, I thought it was the upper, maybe not enough gas, or way too much. Even spoke to Stag Arms, who were willing to help, but it took me a while to get back out to the range to test more, so that was on hold for a few months.

After reading up on this issue online, I started suspecting the bolt, and especially the extractor. I purchased two of these Trybe Defense complete BCG's with 6.5 Grendel bolts, and both of those were not functioning - failures to extract, ejection issues, double feeds, bent casing neck, etc. I also tried swapping in a Cryptic 6.5 Grendel extractor from Optics Planet - same issues. I've tried buffer weights from H3 all the way down to stock carbine buffer 3 oz (suspecting that maybe there's too much gas - sometimes that can look like not enough gas).

After learning that Grendel extractors need to have a certain geometry, especially to avoid having "claws" or "fangs" (sharp corners) that grab onto the rim and prevent smooth ejection, I ordered two complete bolts from Grendel Hunter. Ran 40 rounds of the same ammo flawlessly, with different magazines. The Trybe carriers themselves work just fine, it was only the bolt and extractor. I also tried just the Grendel Hunter extractor in this Trybe bolt and it was running, but failed to lock back on empty mag, so I gave up on them for now.

Trybe Defense BCG's seem to run fine in 556 and 308, I got them as spares and tested them, they run well for me. I've tested these carriers with a few different 556 bolts - Trybe Nickel Boron and others. But calibers like Grendel require someone with attention to detail to manufacture them. There's no mil spec for them and someone needs to really know what they're doing.

Comparing closely these extractors to the ones I got from Grendel Hunter, it's not just the way the corners are rounded, it's also the width of the groove where the rim of the casing fits. I am well past returns on these, but I got them on sale and that price was worth it for just the carriers, which are fine. Firing pins, cotter pins, cam pins are all functional and serviceable.

I did try dremeling one of the Trybe extractors to smooth out the "fangs" (corners) without altering the rest of the dimensions. That didn't work for me so far, it stopped even trying to extract, leaving the empty case in the chamber. I might experiment later, just out of curiosity, but now that I have a functional BCG, I wanted to focus on using it, not on DIY projects. Maybe if I come across some cheap steel case ammo, I'll get back to these. Thankfully there's enough time before deer season. Excited to use my new Grendel, which I also got from Optics Planet, btw.

Overall I'm not too disappointed but honestly, it's better not to offer a product than to offer a half-arsed untested version. This "outsourced Quality Control" cost me several boxes of 6.5 Grendel ammo, targets, and range fees, along with frustration. Had I known of Grendel Hunter at the time, I would've just ordered a complete BCG from them with a backup bolt/extractor, and would've been better off.

I have several Trybe Defense (Optics Planet house brand) items - BCG's, charging handles, overall they're a good value when on sale. So I am not trying to completely poopoo the "brand".

Optics Planet shipped one of the two BCG's in just a plastic bag with no padding. Someone in the shipping department has a penchant for packing heavy items unpadded. I contacted them and sent it back for replacement, just to bring it to their attention. A few orders later I don't think they've fully resolved this issue - you can see it in comments/reviews a lot. Even Amazon isn't that bad with packing/padding.