Barrel Evaluation

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  • Rugerfan.64
    Warrior
    • May 2014
    • 213

    Barrel Evaluation

    Gents, I am at the point of evaluating barrels. I have read and poured through the forum and gleaned much information from it. I have read about the good barrels, the not so good barrels and the bad barrels. I have had to search and read through the google search for the site. I am exhausted from reading. I have probably missed a lot of information. What I am looking for are reviews, reports, with or without pictures. It would be helpful if all of these reviews were in one location. I guess what I am asking for is to relick this calf. Because I am sure the information is there but not in one central easy to find location. Like I said , I am at the point where I am about to make a decision on barrels. I am asking for reviews, range reports, opinions , specifics on barrels. Twist, chambering, length, accuracy. I wouldn't miss a chance to brag on my rifle if I had the chance, I am hoping you wont either. I wouldn't miss the chance to save someone else some grief if I had a bad experience with a barrel either. So if y'all will post up your reviews with your specific barrel. I for one would like to hear about your experience good or bad. It would be helpful to include load information as well. And thank you in advance for your input, it will help me make an informed purchase.
  • bwaites
    Moderator
    • Mar 2011
    • 4445

    #2
    Stop beating yourself up, call Mark at Precision Firearms, and ask him to send you the best barrel he has in your preferred length. I will promise anything he sends you will be happy with. If I were in your shoes, that's what I would do. In fact, I would probably just ask him to send me an upper with his best barrel in it and save myself the headaches associated with sorting out any issues I created building it! But if you want to build it, just buy the barrel from him and be done with the headache!

    Comment

    • 62flint
      Bloodstained
      • Mar 2012
      • 57

      #3
      I second the plug for Mark at precision firearms. He builds good stuff.

      Comment

      • Slappy
        Warrior
        • Feb 2014
        • 711

        #4
        Best advice I have heard!! Mine is a tack driver fo sure! BANG BANG!!

        Comment

        • cory
          Chieftain
          • Jun 2012
          • 2985

          #5
          Buy a 11.5" Lilja barrel with us! HAHA

          But seriously, bwaites gave you some great advice. You'll be happy with a barrel from Mark.
          "Those who sacrifice liberty for security, deserve neither." Benjamin Franklin

          Comment

          • LR1955
            Super Moderator
            • Mar 2011
            • 3355

            #6
            Originally posted by Rugerfan.64 View Post
            Gents, I am at the point of evaluating barrels. I have read and poured through the forum and gleaned much information from it. I have read about the good barrels, the not so good barrels and the bad barrels. I have had to search and read through the google search for the site. I am exhausted from reading. I have probably missed a lot of information. What I am looking for are reviews, reports, with or without pictures. It would be helpful if all of these reviews were in one location. I guess what I am asking for is to relick this calf. Because I am sure the information is there but not in one central easy to find location. Like I said , I am at the point where I am about to make a decision on barrels. I am asking for reviews, range reports, opinions , specifics on barrels. Twist, chambering, length, accuracy. I wouldn't miss a chance to brag on my rifle if I had the chance, I am hoping you wont either. I wouldn't miss the chance to save someone else some grief if I had a bad experience with a barrel either. So if y'all will post up your reviews with your specific barrel. I for one would like to hear about your experience good or bad. It would be helpful to include load information as well. And thank you in advance for your input, it will help me make an informed purchase.
            RF64

            If you have gone through the forum and gleaned much information from it, which barrel do you think is right for you?

            If you come out with a listing of the top three choices, others can make more specific comments that will help you a lot more than conflicting opinions.

            Start out with stating your primary use for the rifle and you may also save yourself a bunch of money while getting the barrel you want.

            Don't get bogged down in twist rate, cut or button rifling, or 'what load is the best'. State your needs and then your choices of barrels / lengths, and you will get good information.

            LR1955

            Comment

            • Klem
              Chieftain
              • Aug 2013
              • 3508

              #7
              The law of diminishing returns is at play with barrels. You can get a cheapy and unless you are in competition where the tightest group wins you will likely to be satisfied. Occassionally you get a dud but there's less chance of that the more you pay. Like most consumables really. And that's what you need to see barrels as, consumables. Buy them, use them and dispose of them when their accuracy falls below your definition of accurate.

              In F Class where I shoot we have a saying, 'The golden age' of a barrel. This is the first 300 rounds of a new quality barrel where that person has the most chance of winning competitions than anyone else. Then the barrel drops to reasonable relative accurate for another 3,000 rds, give or take the loads and caliber. Committed F Class shooters change their barrels annually at least. Spend enough time in that lurk and you end up with a bunch of still perfectly usable and reasonably accurate barrels in the safe but none of them will win any competitions.

              I will mirror the sentiment of others. For your AR, get a good stainless match drop-in barrel and if/when it doesn't meet your needs get another one. Like servicing a car. Don't worry that this will be the only barrel you will ever own. Swapping out barrels is pretty easy if you have never done it before and there are plenty of Youtube videos that tutorial this and we can advise here.

              Lilja is a supporter of this forum and a ready place for off-the-shelf best-quality barrels. Shilen also sells a couple of best-quality drop-in Grendel barrels. You can buy 6.5mm best-quality in un-profiled blanks from other reputable manufacturers like Kreiger, Archer, Tru-Flyte, Bartlein, to name a few but you will then need to get someone to profile and chamber with barrel extension etc. This will all cost time and money and if thinking this then a quality gunsmith like Precision Firearms has plenty of experience and advice here.

              Comment


              • #8
                I've had great barrels from Satern, Keriger, Douglass, PacNor, Wilson, Bartelin, Schnieder, Shilen, McGowen, Les Baer and Lilja. I've only had two bad barrels, an AA overwatch I bought as a complete upper from AA which I believe had a Shaw barrel, and a Lothar Walther I ordered as a custom barrel. I believe all manufacturers build great barrels and all have lemons, I'm sure the two bad ones I have owned were lemons built by manufacturers that also build great barrels.
                I typically go through 2-3 barrels a year on competition rifles. I've now pretty much settled on using only Kreiger barrels. They have been consistently the best in my opinion and maintain their accuracy over a much longer life span than the button rifled barrels, but the button rifled barrels are cheaper and can be just as accurate. The cost per shot works out to be about the same, so I just stick with the Kreiger and change less often. I have my own reamers and a smith that knows what he is doing, I buy the blank and have my smith profile, cut the gas ports and instal the extension if it's going on an AR, and chamber the barrel for me.
                Last edited by Guest; 08-04-2014, 01:07 PM.

                Comment

                • Klem
                  Chieftain
                  • Aug 2013
                  • 3508

                  #9
                  Agree with Stokes and will add that it sounds like he has had more experience in this than me.

                  My preferred barrel maker is also Krieger as they seem to be consistent across all the barrels I have come across; both mine and shooting buddies over the years.

                  Unfortunately Krieger do not currently offer drop-in Grendel barrels. They do however occasionally offer a run of 16" .223 Wylde AR drop-in barrel that sounds almost equivalent to the Lilja 16" .223W 'Navy' profile. Currently they are offering 16.5" Blackout drop-in's so maybe down the track the Grendel demand will be there.

                  Comment

                  • PrecisionFirearms
                    Warrior
                    • Apr 2011
                    • 767

                    #10
                    We ordered 40 6.5 Grendel barrels from Kreiger in 2012. Took 18 months to get them. In Feb this year I tried to order 50 more of them and they stated no interest in making more due to volume of 223 orders. They are making blanks for me and quoted me 11 months. Hopefully I see them in Nov. or Dec. We are also getting 20 barrels drop-in 24 inch in 223 Wylde.
                    "Precision - The Pinnacle of Perfection."

                    Comment

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