Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles an education in chromed barrels!

Like barrels for bolt guns, with AR barrels, you generally get what you pay for.

Having said that, with "cheap" barrels you might get a shooter, & then you might not.

With a higher quality barrel from a maker with a good rep, consistency is the name of the game & when you buy a barrel from one of them, you can generally be assured of high, & reliable performance from all their barrels so it's not a crap shoot.

Building a gun is a personal thing & JackSchitt from Bumfucked Egypt can build the best gun in the world with the best components but it'll never be worth the cost of the components too most anyone else; a gun from Noveske or KAC or Larue costs up front, but guarantees a significant amount of resale value.

The best value on the market today for a reasonably priced high performance rifle at $1300 or so, might be Stag's 3G; it has a 410 SS Shaw barrel & a Gieselle 3G trigger, but they will only guarantee 1.5 MOA but Mallard Addict, here, has one & reports it to be a 1/2-3/4" gun.

Shaw is not Kreiger, for sure, but they make a decent & consistent product.

I would rather have seen the barrel made from 416 SS rather than 410 & I don't understand their logic for choosing 410, but that's a lot of gun for the money.

MM

speaking of...





sorry. this is the only thing i have to contribute

I was reading the interview again last night with John Noveske and he really skirted the issue of who's double chrome lined barrel he was using but it was built to his specs?

The SS barrels are different steel than what Pac Nor uses but they are built on Pac Nor's equipment by their employees after they clock out for Pac Nor.

Seems confusing enough to make one's head explode.

I know Colt makes their barrels and Colt Canada makes CHF barrels that are pretty good but getting one stamped Diameco would be difficult.

I'm still holding onto DD as the light weight chrome lined choice but after the 6.8 thread I'm considering trying one to see if more pigs die.

I do know out of the 3 Noveske SS barrels I've had, they are my first choice for an accurate shooter. Others may be more accurate but for an all around barrel that's gassed properly, needs little cleaning and shoots several loads well under MOA, I can't complain.

A good melonite barrel will last longer than chrome, and be very accurate.

I am pretty sure PSA, Spikes and Noveske have the same barrels...

spikes - These CHF barrels are made to the Mil-Spec for the M249 SAW.

Noveske - --1 in 7” Twist, M249 Machine Gun barrel steel and Chrome Lining (appx. 2 times as thick as an M4 or M16)

PSA --Barrel: 16" Mil-spec barrel steel, mid-length gas, A2 profile barrel, chambered in 5.56 NATO, with a 1/7 twist, chrome lined bore and M4 barrel extension made for us right here in Columbia SC by FN Manufacturing.

They are all made by FN.

The only question is who is selling the seconds, and who is selling the thirds.

the Noveske I had, was a MOA on most occasions with most loads after they replaced the first barrel...good people... Dogzapper bought one of those Gunsight carbines with 14.5 inch Noveske M249 barrel and he indicated to me that it was a MOA or better barrel.

I expect Noveske sells good barrels on my experience and DZ's, no personal experience with a spikes or PSA.

DD
Criterion or FN
sticks
stones
bones
Green Mtn. (based on Terry's report anyway)

Jimmy,

My daughter and I took out my Criterion this weekend.

First group at 100 went 7/16".

I do not believe those BCM barrels were Green Mtn. Everything I saw pointed to BCM sourcing from criterion for their SS barrels. Either way, I have owned one as well that shot great and most that own them are very pleased. His experience is a drop in the bucket.

The SS barrels are criterion,I know for a fact the BCM chrome lined barrels are not from criterion. I know because I asked criterion. There was discussion about green mtn/BCM chrome barrels on M4 carbine, at some point some industry experts jumped in and defended the GM barrels. I can remember people defending the Pinto, and I have friends that think Hillary was the best Secretary of State ever..

A fool and his money are soon parted...

I thought the member here who had so much trouble was with a SS BCM barrel?

Either way, my two BCM chrome lined barrels shoot great also. Right there with the FN and Colt. Not that that's a significant sample size, just goes to show that no matter where the blanks came from the barrels can still be accurate.

do you have the hammer forged or the standard BCM barrel?

Both standard.

I'm pretty sure TC1, was aware his was a sample size of 1 and he was just wanting a replacement. If he had gotten a replacement and it turned out all right, nothing bad would've been said but it's how BCM handled the situation that steered me and others away from Paul and his company.

It was a SS barrel. Bad parts pop up in every brand, it's something we deal with. Companies that don't stand behind their products need to be pointed out and avoided.

what do you mean by "good"? Then does Green mtn provide any barrels on a military contract to anyone anywhere, just curious is all?

I can post a couple of targets with a colt 6720 barrel and a DD barrel. I can post a target of a BO pistol I sold that shot "good". I had a MOA Noveske chromed barrel that shot MOA for 5, "good" means different things to different folks. Good to Formadilosus means 1.5-2.0 for 10 shots at 100 IIRC, good for me means about 1MOA or better for 5 shots, but the DD barrel will do about 1.5 with 10 Federal M193 if I take my time.

Me I would never spend $2200 on a green mtn barreled "jack" carbine, if it was an FN barreled or DD barreled gun I would come closer to thinking about it.

a fool and his money are soon parted...

I'm in the same boat as wareagle. My BCM standard CL barrel shoots "good". I hit the size of targets I'm aiming at, at the ranges I'm shooting at. I admit these are not quantifiable standards, but its the purpose the rifle serves for me. I don't have quality magnified optics on it and I only recently installed an ALG ACT trigger as an upgrade to the stock mil-spec trigger. This rifle is my personal weapon meant to imitate (to an extent) my work gun at my unit, so its my "tactical" training shooter. I've really only shot plinking grade ammo out of it, let alone work up a personalized load for it as I don't have reloading equipment nor the time to do it.

I'm quite certain the accuracy limiting factor on my barrel is this guy behind the rifle.

I will say that they should have done a better job for TC1. I've been a happy camper with my rifle, though.

I am thinking "good" means 2-3 inches at 100 yards, which is fine if your using a red dot sight. I see the utility in a barrel like that in the event that it is reasonably priced, still cannot see a $2300 carbine with a 2-3 MOA capable barrel on it, but that is just me.

Jimmy, I am fairly certain both the BCM barrels I own are capable of less than 2-3 MOA. With ball ammo 2-3 can be expected from almost any barrel though. I know I have gotten decent groups from the BCM barrels in the past. If I get a chance this weekend, I will shoot my 69gr SMK hand loads through both BCM barrels, a Colt, and an FN just to compare. I'll post the results here.

lets go 10 shot groups as 3 shot groups are non meaningful per the guru's.

I'll do 10 shot groups. I usually shoot at least 5 shots, 3 is just enough to confirm zero. 3 shot groups are insignificant for measuring accuracy IMO.