AA shilen barrel?

[dark_glide]

Starting to look more seriously into getting my grendel upper and I saw that AA sells a Shilen barrel option on some of the uppers. What is it, who makes it and is it any good?

[RStewart]

Shilen makes Shilen barrels.

http://www.shilen.com/

[bwaites]

Shilen barrels are widely recognized as a being of very high quality. They are a top of the heap barrel, and according to 6mmBR they still produce the lions share of benchrest rifle barrels.

[dark_glide]

Good to know, just was wondering if the were worth the extra money to get. Thanks everyone

[jkingrph]

I have one of the AA Overwatch uppers with the Shilen barrel. A couple of years ago I had to wait a while to get that option. It's quite accurate for me, I do have another 24" upper that I built myself with a standard AA barrel, and using an Adams Arms piston unit vs the direct impingment of the Alexander Arms upper, so we may be comparing apples to oranges, but the better barrel does have a slight edge in the accuracy dept. Both are using Leupold AR scopes set at about the same magnification.

In my opinion go the best quality you can afford, then maybe a bit beyond and you will never regret it. If you are like me you cannot judge the quality of a barrel by looking at in and only can go on the reputation of the maker.

[davidj]

I have a 19.5" (AA) Shilen barrel. It shoots better than I (can).

[Rambozo]

The two Shilens I've had experience with came with a flaw. In both cases, it was radial scoring at the muzzle. They were different barrels, and a fair amount of time between them. Shilen was quick to correct the problems though, and offered super service. In both cases the barrel was back by the end of the next week. They service their barrels, whether they are new, used, shot or not. If there is a flaw, they aren't at all bothered by fixing it. So while the barrels I experienced had flaws, I would happily buy another. I'm happy with how my .308 Shilen ended up shooting. I can't speak for how well the other barrel shoots (6br). A guy at my club has a Shilen barrel in .260, which did not have the problems I experienced.

I also have a LW in 6.5CSS, which shoots quite well. So I wouldn't at all hesitate to buy another one of those. The chamber is different, and it seems to be a little more picky, but it groups well. My brother has a LW on his Savage, though I haven't spent enough time with it to really comment, though initial shooting shows a lot of promise.

[davidj]

The two Shilens I've had experience with came with a flaw. In both cases, it was radial scoring at the muzzle.

Sorry, I am not quite sure what that means. Can you elaborate?

[Rambozo]

Sorry, I am not quite sure what that means. Can you elaborate?

I know this is old, but I missed this. There were scratches at the muzzle, as if caused by a pilot or something.

[OLd Man]

I just got a 24" Shilen and had to upgrade the trigger to keep up with it. It can shoot a lot better than me.