My Ballistic Advantage build

[biodsl]

Sweet rig! Looking forward to hearing how the BA barrel shoots.

[kcb38]

Sweet rig! Looking forward to hearing how the BA barrel shoots.

Thanks and believe me, I'm looking forward to seeing how the BA barrel shoots. That purchase was sort of a leap of faith. I'm kinda surprised about how little I've heard about these barrels since they came out, and that concerns me a bit. But like I said earlier, I have one of their barrels on a 5.56 middy that I built and I like it a lot. I hope this one shoots at least as well. If the rest of my parts ever come in I'll find out but until then I'm in a holding pattern.

[kcb38]

Finally got a chance to get this rifle to the range yesterday. Function wise it was great with Hornady Black and SST. Wolf, not so much. I have the gas block adjusted pretty much all the way open and the bolt won't reliably lock back on the last round. The bolt is ending up on top of the follower so I assume it's short stroking to some degree? I don't think it's cycling too fast because I started with the gas block closed and opened it up gradually. The problem was present from the beginning.

As far as the accuracy of the BA barrel, I was hoping for better but it's too early to pass the final judgement. I think I was a big part of the inconsistency I saw. At 100 yds shooting Hornady I was getting 2 shots in one hole and then one 2 inches away or worse. Wolf was laughable. My "groups" were around 4". I couldn't get comfortable though. The scope needed to be repositioned, the benches at my club are less than ergonomic and I think I just had too many distractions. I'm looking forward to getting her out again after working out these little issues.

[Kswhitetails]

We really do need a like button. Glad you're seeing action with it.

[bj139]

The barrel should get better as you fire more rounds.
They sell special bullets to firelap a barrel for the same reason.
Most people say about 100 rounds is necessary to get it smoother.
I think copper plated steel bimetallic bullets (Wolf )should polish faster but who knows.
I had a BCA barrel that was crappy at first and near 100 rounds through it I shot a .9 MOA five shot group with 85g HP handloads.

[Greyling]

See, I want one of those fluted ba barrels bad, or even one of the broup buy faxons, but the reported accuracy is not outstanding. 1-2 moa. About what the Bear Creek barrels are reporting as long as you dont get a bad one.

[Popeye212]

See, I want one of those fluted ba barrels bad, or even one of the broup buy faxons, but the reported accuracy is not outstanding. 1-2 moa. About what the Bear Creek barrels are reporting as long as you dont get a bad one.

After what I read about Bear Creek and it was few like you said you can get a lemon. Chances were a little high for me I ordered BA 20". Money no object would really like to try a Bartlein. Those keep coming up roses.

[kcb38]

We really do need a like button. Glad you're seeing action with it.

The barrel should get better as you fire more rounds.

That would be nice. If nothing else, I'm sure the groups will tighten up as I get everything adjusted to fit me better and get some more time behind the trigger.

See, I want one of those fluted ba barrels bad, or even one of the broup buy faxons, but the reported accuracy is not outstanding.

Don't put too much stock in my range report yet. It was the first time out with a new build, with lots of distractions and and iffy shooter behind the trigger. I have another BA barrel (in 5.56) that's like a frickin laser beam. I'm sure when I get more time on this rifle, I'll see better results. If not I have no doubt that BA would make it right.

I already have a few ideas about how to make my shooting position more comfortable and more steady, so I'm sure I'll be seeing better results.

[Popeye212]

How is that "budget" coming so far I'll add mine later it's still in progress.

[kcb38]

Haha, the "budget" was shot the minute I started this build. I look at it this way though, by shopping the sales and only buying stuff when there was a better than average discount, I "saved" between 750 and 800 bucks on this rifle. See? It's all a matter of perspective.

I haven't had a chance to get it back to the range to really evaluate its accuracy though. We got a ton of snow last week and I'm still cleaning up the damage from that. This weekend looks nice though so I'm hoping to shake some time loose to get out there. Hopefully I'll have better results this time. I really want to like this BA barrel...

[kcb38]

One thing I'm doing to try to tighten up the groups is attach a bag rider to my hand guard. I don't get good results shooting from a bipod on the bench (long story - working on that too). The PRS stock is good on a rear bag but the rounded hand guard doesn't help stability at all. I got the idea from this guy:

36295946184_7fd9335018_c.jpg

Here's a thread where he describes his build:
http://www.65creedmoor.com/index.php?topic=7886.0

Ultimately I will be shooting from the bipod but for bench shooting and evaluation I think this will be the best option for me.

[kcb38]

I finally managed to get this rifle back to the range today but there's no joy in Mudville (or Langhorne as the case may be) tonight. I did manage to adjust my gas block to solve the bolt over base issue I was having, so I have that going for me but... I still can't get this thing to group the way I hoped it would. I put about 120 combined rounds of Hornady American Gunner, Black and SST through it and the best I could reliably manage was about 1.5" groups. Most were well bigger than that. Not so much because of the occasional flyer, just bad grouping.

I have to attribute some of this to my shooting. I just don't seem to get comfortable behind this rifle like I do with my bolt guns. I can't seem to find a technique for holding it that yields consistent results. At first I used a bipod and a Protektor rear bag rest. I meant to bring a strip of wood to clamp to the bench to give me something to preload the bipod against but I left it home. I did the best I could without it but couldn't put consistent forward pressure on the rifle to utilize that technique. Then I switched to a mechanical front rest. The results were slightly better but still not what I'm looking for. I didn't get a chance to make the bag rider I described in my last post so I'm sure there's some improvement to be had in the stability of the setup, what with the fairly rounded handguard and all.

As far as the rifle itself, I'm very happy with the Hi Speed Match trigger and although I'm not in love with the Sightron S-Tac scope, it's really more than enough at the distances I'm shooting. I really paid attention to the details when I put this thing together so I don't think it's an issue with the build. I went over it to make sure everything is still tight and found no issues there. I am starting to wonder about the barrel though. It has a couple hundred rounds through it now and I'm going to give it a really good cleaning. I'll likely be using JB Bore paste to be as thorough as possible. I've read about a few new barrels that responded positively to a cleaning like that after a break in period. Hopefully this will be one of those cases.

Beyond that I'm not sure what to do. Maybe if the groups don't improve I'll try swapping out the scope with a known good one. That and work on my technique I guess. If I can't come to grips with that part of it I'll start a thread in the Marksmanship Training section.

[Popeye212]

I've gotten sub moa with 8208xbr and 123 smk but i think it will do better. Still trying different loads will let you know. I can tell you that barrel is not broken in yet. On the gas issue they ported to run in a Carbine length system.

[kcb38]

I can tell you that barrel is not broken in yet.

I'm definitely not giving up on it but you don't think it's broken in after 200 rounds? Not arguing, just asking. Most of my rifles have come around by now if they were going to.

On the gas issue they ported to run in a Carbine length system.

I don't remeber exactly what the measurement was on the port but I do recall it was a little on the small side for a RLGS. I was surprised to find that I actually had to close it down a little to get it to cycle properly.

[StoneHendge]

Do your groups tend to have more dispersion either horizontally or vertically? Horizontal can be an inconsistent (tight) grip if your not comfortable behind an AR.