Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Best precision barrels. Name them.

Powder valley has 77 Sierra OTM right now. Along with 75gr hornady BTHP. I bought some hornady 75gr bthp with cannelure. I bought the 69 OTM month ago when powder valley had them in stock.

The 69's are my favorite. 77's seem to shoot very well in my rifles too. 75gr Hornady bthp are pickier for some reason..

Those 75 hornady shoot very very well out my 224 Valkyrie. I never shot any 10 shot groups but I shot a bunch of 5 shot groups and I use them instead of the 80 ELD-M that my daughter uses.

So do you guys dont shoot 10 or 20 shot groups in comp. I bought 1000 75gr hornadies last year when they were dirt cheap. I thought you had a load for them in your 223.

The vast majority of the above mentioned AR barrels are not made by the mentioned names.

Well of course we shoot 20 shot strings in competition you silly goose. I’m talking about shooting your black rifle challenge I never shot that with mine or daughters Valkyrie. I do have one for the 75 hornady.

There's a good reason to shoot 10 shot groups. You get a better idea of a loads actual accuracy potential and better idea of actual zero. I don't just soot 10 shot groups though. Yesterday I was working on some loads for my old swedish mauser for our military rifle shoot. Just about got a secondary option ready for the shoot:


Either of these loads will suffice. Going up against guys running modified CMP M1's and Swiss K31's. The boys from Vancouver do well for themselves, lawyers and such, so laying down $4,000.00 for a built M1 Garand is nothing for them. We had a hell of a good bowling pin shoot today. Just getting back from that. I haven't shot my pistol since the last bowling pin shoot we had. Well over 8 months ago. Shooting guns is not always about 10 shot groups, but to me, its always about accuracy and how well you hit your target. I know there are a ton of guys that don't feel that way. I hear them every time I go to the range. Those guys must make a lot more money than I do because they shoot far more than I do and often times in full auto mode. I was taught about fundamentals of marksmanship from the time I was old enough to hold a gun. Guys that have a problem with that, need to get a life and learn how to shoot.. When they come to my club, they get a good education...

What I did last year far as load development was good enough for my daughter to get NRA Master designation for mid range prone AR tactical class.. This year hopefully she becomes a high master. I’m hoping to make Master. She shot well enough Rost said he like to work with her some.. the funny thing my kid only shoots during these matches.. She goes to the range every now and then to shoot with me..

That's a little disingenuous: as you well know, Shilen, Bartlein, Rock Creek, Criterion, Douglas, Lilja & Wilson (not Wilson Combat) at least, are all prime barrel manufacturers in that they drill, ream & rifle barrels.

Craddock, CLE & WOA machine blanks from some of those people.

No idea what Ballistic Advantage (owned by Aero Precision) does.

I didn't go back & list any other machine shops that just finish someone rifled blank, besides, all that really matters is the overall quality of the finished product regardless of how it gets to that final configuration.

MM

Scheels in Reno had a bunch of them last time I was there (February). They were a little spendy, but not as much as a local shop here wanted for them.



That's awesome man. I had one of my daughters shooting with me as well. The first time she shot a couple of my AR's she impressed me. My boy is living in Scotland right now. He used to shoot trap with me a lot when he was young. One of my best memories was a fathers day shoot we went to and we walked away with $180.00 and prizes.

This is from BA's website:

"We believe it is our responsibility to honor the blank’s full potential during the entire manufacturing process, thus producing one of the best finished barrels available in the industry".

So that sounds like they finish blanks, but this is from a recent interview with the founder and now minority owner:

https://www.tacretailer.com/business/interview-ballistic-advantage

Archer - What is next for Ballistic Advantage?

Wainio – Well, a lot of plans were a bit derailed this year with COVID for the move to our new facilities. We have really attempted to aggressively build our capabilities, blanking, profiling, finishing, improved processes, but some of that expansion has to wait.

We have been in multiple facilities over the years, and we were really looking forward to getting under one roof.

Thats good info. Sounds like they have a pretty good game plan to get all their production under one roof. This covid schidt has everything screwed up. A friend and I were talking yesterday about things being hard to find. Funny thing he brought up was ammo boxes. The green MTM type boxes I use as well. He said he went to 3 different stores looking for a certain one. I went through the same chidt a few months ago and got pretty perturbed, not finding the boxes for 223 rem ammo (100 round boxes, seen below):


I then went on ebay and they wanted $12.00+ for the sum biotches. Those are only $3.99 at the store, when they have them. Then a month later when my local bi-mart had some, I bought all they had. Which was 4 or 5. Anyway, I told my buddy that I think all the people staying home because of covid, must be buying chidt and selling it on ebay for ridiculous amounts of money. A lot of companies are also using covid as an excuse for poor production rates. You look at most websites and everything is on backorder or unavailable. I do more business with companies that have things in stock. Recently bought a 6x45 barrel and it shoots well enough, but was from a company that is not well known. They had the exact barrel I wanted in stock. 20" stainless medium weight (not truck axle heavy) non threaded barrel. Also the reason I bought from Windham Weaponry again. Those guys have treated me real well and their barrels are very good. Well, heading out to get my new BCM upper and lower set. I'll start working on that today. Maybe even throw one of my other barrels on it until my new WW VEX barrel comes in.

Scotland?? Wow I bet he’s having a great time!

BSA,
Can't speak for everyone, but covid isn't an excuse.
It's a reality.

I work in a manufacturing plant, cardboard tubes used for to wind paper on, and common cardboard boxes we have custom sized used to be a couple day
lead time. Now it's weeks. Had an order for coated fiberglass material to
be delivered in February, we had enough material for 30% of it.
Ordered more, to be delivered a couple weeks ago, still waiting.
Meanwhile, another order for that product has gone late.

Resins we order are often held up due to component availability.
Most of the issues come from imported items.
No idea why the paper products are delayed, they are domestic.

As you know , the quality is in the blank, then the other folks can keep the quality or screw them up.

A no name, but I'm thinking it's going to kick some azz.. Just sayin

Lawrence Where did you buy it from?

I have some thoughts on AR barrel accuracy. As has been said, you start with a good blank, then the barrel smith has to do their job. I like Holliger because I know how picky he is and how capable he is with machinery. He's always thinking about how he can do things better.
Random learnings from conversations;
John told me the path to a bug hole shooting AR is to put a high quality slow twist barrel on it and shoot benchrest bullets...back then he was chambering Krieger, Pac-Nor and Shilen. These days he also does Bartlein. He threw out some numbers from his last sessions that made me think about it for a brief moment...but at that point in time, I was obsessesed with throwing long javelins at long distances out of the AR.

Bill Wylde shot one of his AR's in a registered benchrest match and nearly won one of the Ag's...or did he actually win? ...I'll have to ask grandpa Yoda next time I speak with him. The Organization banned semi auto's after that. Knowing his proclivities, I would guess it was a Obermeyer or Krieger pipe.

John Feamster wrote one of the first books on AR accuracy. IIRC, Jeff rated a mention in that book. He shot some tiny groups with his AR's. I'll have to give it another read to see who made the barrels. Jeff you're thinking of BlackStar who put out Lothar Walther blanks that they electropolished. You also forgot to mention your experience with Gary Schneider.



What I like about WOA is that they'll tell you who made the barrel you're buying (and he charges a fair price). BTW, I'm pretty sure Craddock is Paul Craddock who used to work for Holliger. I guess he decided he had his own ideas about AR smithing. Looks like one of them is a different pricing model. I also like CLE. Frank White is straight shooting literally and figuratively. I've had a few of his barrels. I even have a Douglas one that shoots OK.

I don't know Holliger at all, other than by reputation, but I've talked to several of his people there over the years & they have always been excellent to deal with; their service & pricing are very good.

I'm not competing outside of club shoots or barnyard type stuff, so I just buy his lapped, Wilson barrels, mostly SPR's, & for my purposes they are fine, always being under or right at MOA for 10 shots & they clean up nicely & don't foul much either.

I've also bought several barrels from Paul Craddock, talked to him numerous times & he even remembered me from doing business at WOA when he was there. I buy his Rock Creek barrels & he will make them any way I like to have them contoured, he is personally involved & very hands on & the barrels I've gotten from him seem to be just a tad better than what I get from WOA with the polishing on the feed ramps a little better, but that's splitting hairs. His problem is that he's gotten very, very busy with OEM business & his lead times are just too long right now; last barrel I bought was delivered last fall, & it was a 14+ week delivery. He moved from Illinois to Tennessee about a year & a half or so ago & has a lot of business, so I don't know how long he will be able to maintain much personal service.

Holliger is likely in a similar position as his business has also grown.

As for CLE, they are also great to work with, though I have never dealt with or spoken to Frank White, have a great line of blanks to choose from & will also make it how you want it.................they actually sent me barrel prints of contours that they had available so I could actually see the finished contour before buying & their QA is 2nd to none.

I probably cannot shoot the difference between a Bartlein barrel & a Wilson or a Rock Creek or Douglas or Criterion, so I don't see the need for the extra cost for my uses, but if I wanted a Bartlein, which right now, I think is top of the heap, I'd buy it from any of those 3 machinists & it would be an easy , no-brainer, decision.

I also have to acknowledge that the barrels I've gotten from Rainier in their Ultra Match MOD 2 version are very, very good, & I've gotten a couple at very good prices before the crisis started. But you cannot specify anything special as all the configurations are fixed. Supposedly, they switched from Shilen blanks to Criterion, but I don't have positive confirmation on that.

MM

For an AR?

Why 223 chambering???????????? Instead of Wylde?

(But I forgot, you like low velocity loadings. LOL)

Wyndham Weaponry?

MM