Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Pleasantly surprised by Model 1 barrel performance.

I decided to put together a AR upper with a bunch of parts I had on hand but I needed a barrel. Since this was a parts upper I wasn't going to put 3-4 hundred into a quality barrel. So I did a little looking around on the different forums and found a 16', 9 twist, model 1 stainless barrel with 200 rounds or so on it for 100.00 to my door. I did a little research on the barrel and read mixed reviews so my expectations weren't to high, as long as it held MOA of coyote out to 300 yards or so I would be pleased. I loaded up some 53gr Sierra MK's over 25grs of Benchmark and took the upper for a test drive.

I was more than impressed, it never shot a 5 shot group over 2" at 300 yards and bellow is a picture of the days best group at 300 yards, this was shot off a bipod with a rear bag.

I purchased a Model One upper before i started building my own and it groups every hand load i tried under a inch and a couple of loads just under 1/2 inch. Great uppers for the money.

I still wouldn't trust them day in and out to be good, that being said I"ve yet to see one recently that didn't shoot around moa or usually just a hair less with the right ammo. ARs don't seem to be picky though.

Worst one I had is when they had another name many years ago and it was still about 2 inches at 100...

last barrel I had from them is a shotgun....Russ

Most often than not, it's the monkey on the trigger.

Sure, that's why you see so many top shooters using bottom rung junk.

wouldn't buy a model one for my match rifles for sure....

Can't argue that, but "top shooters" get stuff in the mail (for free) that most of us typically can't afford.

my model 1 sales 24" s.s. fluted heavy barrel is outstanding !
5 rounds each of varget under 60 gr. v max's.

Don't think it was the monkey on the trigger, just a bad barrel. By the looks of your groups you either got a good one. Russ

I won't say I was a 'top" shooter, but I damn sure wasn't all that bad. No one ever offered me anything free. But then I didn't go out milking it and looking for free either. I shot the best I could get, and wouldn't have used less if given to me, like the sluts out there that make shows, write columns etc... not all them mind you, but the larry weishuhn types...

Rost, I'm talkin' about the "action" shooter types that wear the "bass-fisherman" shirts and get followed around by TV cameras. A lot of 'em are salaried (Rob Leatham) and paid to promote a product (Springfield XD). They also get a lot of stuff for free just because people want to be able to say so and so uses my stuff.

I can see your point Take a knee, but those action shooters don't really fret about accuracy like the bench rest guys that measure wins by the smallest backer target.

Accuracy can be had in the oddest places but for money spent to gain it, it is best spent on a sure thing rather than hoping you're "pleasantly surprised" by a cheaper barrel maker.

People read enough good reviews on the net about a product, they tend to take it as fact. They don't get the full story sometimes that only one load shoots or it did it just once but... The internet is a salesman's best friend and no one wants to say they wasted their money.

Not saying you can't get an outstanding gun, barrel or whizbang accessory for a song but I have chased the bargain bins long enough to know quality products come at a price. Lay out 10 Krieger barrels vs 10 Mod 1 sales barrels, take an aggegate group size from each brand and see where the winner sides.

Yes, I'm an AR snob but I've earned the title by trying to beat the odds.

There's a lot of truth in that statement.

Did anyone happen to notice in my original post, that it was a parts upper. hence the low cost barrel that I was pleasantly surprised by it's accuracy. You couldn't pay me enough to put it up against one of my Noveske or my White Oak match barrels. But for 100.00 bucks shipped and to serve the purpose of bouncing across wheat field with me in the cab of the truck . I'll take this barrel/ upper combo over many factory AR's I've owned or own any day ;-) Luck of the draw I guess. Either way Mr. Wiley Coyote should benefit from this package. :-)

Smack, I agree 100%. On rare occasions accuracy forgets to look at the price tag



"Pleasantly surprised" is a good thing no matter what the subject.

Lot of truth in all the opinions here...

Nuff so that when I do some not demanding guns, I'll look at model one first... for a cheap MOA barrel with reloads... if it doesn't do it, I'll sell it to recover some green, and put a real barrel on if needed....

I've done more than a bit of damage with the nephews 7.62x39 Mod One barrel, well coyotes, hogs and javelina so far have not faired well....

Ya I noticed it and also noticed you telling another member something about a "monkey on the trigger" somehow I took that to mean you thought he was the problem and it couldn't have been his mod 1 sales barrel...

I guess it's all how you read into it, it was ment in a light ribbing the guy manor. I'll clarify that in any future posts or threads that I know you may be involved.

Whatever, at least now you don't have to waste your money on premium barrels.