Barrel quality

jmccracken1214

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Ive been back and forth for 2 days now on a barrel for my new 223SPR build. Will be shot at matches out to 535 yards max. I decided against the grendel and 224V, just for the fact that 223 should be easier/cheaper to shoot or less likely to have mag related problems and still should be fine at these ranges.

I have a friend that has placed very high at these matches running a bear creak 24" barrel and shooting ppu 75 ammo. ($9.99 a box)

He's been in my ear all day to save money and get a bear creek barrel.... I've been eyeing the Ballistic Advantage 20" 223 wylde fluted, $270 shipped with their discount for me.. then found it for $181 online and grabbed it.

What say you guys, should I have saved $100 and got the bear creek barrel?
 
I have a friend that has a bear creek Grendel upper and it’s very accurate. Can’t speak to the .22 caliber barrels but he loves the Grendel upper
 
Probably not.
I’m very pleased with my McGowen custom designed, hand lapped, double fluted, bead blasted, threaded SS barrels for $180.
It’s a tack driver.
 
Earlier this year during Bear Creek’s ... aka Moore Machine Co ... barrel sale a guy I work with ordered a few for cheap builds. He was having trouble with one key holing and cycling. I looked at a a couple pieces of brass he wisely saved ... then checked out the chamber on the problem upper ... the idiots at Bear Creek had marked a .300BO barrel 5.56. I guess I am a barrel snob and believe there are a couple components in a barrel you do not skimp one and the barrel is in the top 2 ... you get what you pay for.

ETA: and the bore on the barrel was not concentric ... a big problem for any barrel much less a .300BO since people run muzzle devices that require a concentric bore especially suppressors.
 
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I cannot imagine that a $50 barrel is the equal of a $300 barrel on a consistent basis but even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then. I think in nearly everything, you get what you pay for.
 
You're probably giving up some degree of precision going with a cheaper barrel. Can you make an educated guess as to how much? Then can you make another guess as to 'does it make a difference in my score'?

You bought $100 worth of 'I don't have to guess'
 
I wouldn't buy a keychain that had any affiliation to Moore machine co.

If that was all my budget would allow, i'd look at Delton.

I like the Aero/BA stuff really well.
I personally avoid fluted barrels due to the cost and skill associated with CORRECTLY cutting the flutes.

There is a reason the high end barrel makers do not offer fluted barrels.
 
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Faxon, BA are middle tier. For serious quality Shilen, Lilja, WOA, Pac-Nor in that order

I don't know much about BA, so can't comment. Faxon I would not say is middle tier. I do love me some Shilen and Lilja and WOA. I would add Douglas to that list (def not cheap!). Krieger is nice, too.
 
I usually push Rainier for precision stuff. I wouldn’t buy any of the Bear Creek stuff, I know people say it’s different now but there was a lot guys d**k surfing Moore’s Machine when they were putting out barrels with half the rifling missing.
 
I don't know much about BA, so can't comment. Faxon I would not say is middle tier. I do love me some Shilen and Lilja and WOA. I would add Douglas to that list (def not cheap!). Krieger is nice, too.
I love my Faxon gunner. Not a Shilen. But yeah Douglas and Krieger are smaller companies and deserved to be up there with the other ones.
 
……..even cheaper barrels or factory barrels are occasionally very good...…. it's not the norm but it does happen. I think I was a poll a few years ago about what bench rest shooters most popular barrel was, and I think it was Bartlein, and I really think it was because they were the cheaper of the good barrels by $50 or so. But..... it was still a $300+ barrel.
 
I know on r/gundeals BCA has a reputation for being hit or miss. I don't think they get posted much at all anymore.
 
I have a Shilen .223 Savage pre fit the will shoot .5 MOA @1000 yards 5 shot groups.

Tom
 
My factory LWRC shoots nice, but the best SPR build I ever did used a Lothar Walter LW50 barrel


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
When it comes to barrels you are looking at the most important part of the system.

White Oak Armament is what I would get. I've pushed mine out to 850 yards, depending on the environment I can push it out to 900. 850-950 is the transonic zone.

Ballistic Advantage is the cheapest, money wise I would go.
 
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When it comes to barrels you are looking at the most important part of the system.

White Oak Armament is what I would get. I've pushed mine out to 850 yards, depending on the environment I can push it out to 900. 850-950 is the transonic zone.

Ballistic Advantage is the cheapest, money wise I would go.
I agree, I’ve had a white oak and it shot very well, I’ve also had all of my BA shoot well too. It’s my budget choice.

believe it or not, I bought a bear creek ar10 barrel years ago for like $95, 42gr varget and 168smk, never shot beyond 100 yards but man that thing was a freaking laser beam.
Getting more into bolt guns and long range shooting the last few years, I’ve learned that it usually doesn’t pay to cut corners.

his bear creek shoots so well and at 500 max, wasn’t sure how much it mattered. Doesn’t matter now as I’ve got all the parts ordered.
I have a prs stock, gas system, receivers... everything else is on the way
 
Good choice on the BA over the BCA.

For what it’s worth, I have a Noveske (Pac-Nor blank, cut by Noveske) that is the older variety from back when John was still alive. It is a phenomenal shooter with 77gr Nosler handloads using 8208.

I also have a BA Hanson-barreled Aero build that great and very consistent when I was running a scope on it but it has been relegated to bump-in-the-night duty with an EOtech.
 
BCA anything is hit or miss, I definitely wouldn’t suggest one for anything other than a range toy, if for any reason you will compete or use it to save your life, don’t bother.

I have a BCA upper and it took many months to get it running, it shoots MOA at 100 yards and I’d feel fine going after hogs or deer with it now, but if I ever go after dangerous game like bear, the BCA would stay at the house.

As an aside, I went with a Brownells Satern 5R 6.5 Grendel barrel and it has exceeded my expectations, so for the price they may be worth a look, my Faxon pencil 5.56 barrel has been perfect out to 500 yards even when hot, once it gets hot the groups open up due to the skinny profile but it stays minute of bad guy regardless, I have heard nothing but praise about BA barrels but I haven’t owned one personally.
 
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I agree, I’ve had a white oak and it shot very well, I’ve also had all of my BA shoot well too. It’s my budget choice.

believe it or not, I bought a bear creek ar10 barrel years ago for like $95, 42gr varget and 168smk, never shot beyond 100 yards but man that thing was a freaking laser beam.
Getting more into bolt guns and long range shooting the last few years, I’ve learned that it usually doesn’t pay to cut corners.

his bear creek shoots so well and at 500 max, wasn’t sure how much it mattered. Doesn’t matter now as I’ve got all the parts ordered.
I have a prs stock, gas system, receivers... everything else is on the way


I believe your regarding BCA. Just the consistency of material blank to finish part isn't there.
 
I recently installed a Ballistic Advantage nitride barrel on my AR10, and I’m extremely happy. It shoots moa even with PPU soft point. I think you did a good thing choosing the BA over the BCA.
 
Most folks are seeing around 3.5k rounds, on the average, through the WOA tubes. That's usually when accuracy starts to fall off on full-course matches, at the 600 yard line. I knew it was time to rebarrel when I was in the 10-ring at 600, but I was using ALL of the 10-ring to stay in the center. If you're shooting reduced matches, you can easily get 5k rounds through them and still see good accuracy.

If Triggernosis is going through a barrel a year, he's doing some heck-a-shootin! :cool:

I'm dying to try out one of the Bartlein ratchet service rifle barrels that WOA offers
 
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Most folks are seeing around 3.5k rounds, on the average, through the WOA tubes. That's usually when accuracy starts to fall off on full-course matches, at the 600 yard line. I knew it was time to rebarrel when I was in the 10-ring at 600, but I was using ALL of the 10-ring to stay in the center. If you're shooting reduced matches, you can easily get 5k rounds through them and still see good accuracy.

If Triggernosis is going through a barrel a year, he's doing some heck-a-shootin! :cool:

I'm dying to try out one of the Bartlein ratchet service rifle barrels that WOA offers
3500 223 rounds????
 
What caliber and how many rounds are you shooting a year?
.223 and anywhere from 2,000-2,500 rounds per year.
I talked to John Holliger, the owner of White Oak and a fellow service rifle shooter himself, one time about barrel life and he said to seriously keep an eye on things at anything past 2,500 rounds out of his Wilson barrels. So, I just change mine out every season.
Where White Oak excels, in my opinion, is his consistency of cutting chambers. I measure each of my chambers when I put on a new barrel and I've not had one yet that was more than .0015" different from the others.
 
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.223 and anywhere from 2,000-2,500 rounds per year.
I talked to John Holliger, the owner of White Oak and a fellow service rifle shooter himself, one time about barrel life and he said to seriously keep an eye on things at anything past 2,500 rounds out of his Wilson barrels. So, I just change mine out every season.
Where White Oak excels, in my opinion, is his consistency of cutting chambers. I measure each of my chambers when I put on a new barrel and I've not had one yet that was more than .0015" different from the others.
I thought 223 would have more barre life? 2500 is about average for a 6.5. Hell, I’ve seen 308’s with 7000+ and still shooting great
 
I thought 223 would have more barre life? 2500 is about average for a 6.5. Hell, I’ve seen 308’s with 7000+ and still shooting great
It may, but we are shooting hot loads and heavy 77-80 grain bullets. And at the Master and High-Master levels, we can't afford to give up any points due to a barrel deciding to schit the bed.
I burned out a .243 Win barrel on an F-class rifle one time in less than 1,000 rounds.
 
Bear in mind... it's not that the barrel is completely shot-out after 2500 rounds. It's just that the throat is getting long due to erosion and accuracy starts to fall off. As Triggernosis said... we can't afford to give up points in the HP game. We're striving to keep all our shots within a 1MOA circle at 200, 300 and 600 yards.

Here's a group that I shot in practice a couple weeks ago, rapid fire prone @ 300 yards. Aside from the fliers, the barrel still shoots well after 3,129 rounds.
QKppp5l.jpg


I've taken my "worn out" WOA barrels and sold them to folks who still can get another couple thousand rounds out of them. They'll still shoot well at 100/200 yards for the casual shooter.
 
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