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Thread: Custom Barrels?

  1. #1
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    Custom Barrels?

    Does anyone know who does the manufacturing of the Rainier Ultra Match barrels?

    I'm not trying to steal any trade secrets but I was going to see if they would make me a custom barrel.

  2. #2
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    Pretty sure it's Shilen or else Criterion, depending on what era you bought one.

    Lot of custom barrel makers out there for the precision game. Shilen, Compass Lake, Krieger, Craddock Precision (using Criterion blanks), etc.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Default.mp3 View Post
    Pretty sure it's Shilen or else Criterion, depending on what era you bought one.

    Lot of custom barrel makers out there for the precision game. Shilen, Compass Lake, Krieger, Craddock Precision (using Criterion blanks), etc.
    I'm kind of in new territory to be honest. I've never bought a custom barrel so I'm not familiar with lots of the names involved (ie who to trust) with my three to six months wait.

    Lots of places have really long wait times now but I guess it comes with the territory.

    What I want is a 22" or 24" 6mm ARC barrel with a 1:7 twist rate. I see some manufacturers doing rifle length gas and others doing rifle+1 or rifle+2 gas systems.

    Ballistic Advantage made some for Brownells but it looks like they are not going to do more for right now.

    The 6ARC got brought out during the most crazy year in history so they are snowed under with other orders. Also the lack of components for 6ARC has had a lot of people holding off for now. I know I certainly held off precisely because of that so it's kind of just a weird time.

    Anyway I would buy an off the shelf barrel if I can find what I want but it doesn't look like that's quite available just yet.

    Something like a 22" ultra match with a 1/7 twist in 6ARC is what I want.

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    I went ahead and got in line and ordered a custom barrel from mcgowan barrels.

    I figured I might as well get in line now because everyone else is on backorder anyway. Plus I can sort my barrel like I want it.

    Specs below:

    24" 6mm ARC barrel
    416R with 6 flutes
    Modified Hbar contour with a .750 gas block.
    Rifle gas system
    1:7 6 groove twist because I want the option to shoot heavies like 115 grain bullets from berger or dtac or whoever.
    It will have a matte finish like bead blasted or whatever.

    In about April I will have my barrel. Other than the optic I'm almost good to go.

    I'm figuring with some loads hopefully I will get up to 1600+ yards with it which should be doable.

    I went ahead and opted for the longer barrel (vs 22") just because more horsepower is better.

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    Pretty solid choice. I haven't commented on this but I've been following. I might have leaned towards the Criterion / Craddock or Compass Lake option but I really have nothing to back that up.

    I'm a little surprised you went with a small frame caliber but I suspect you'll have a lot of fun with that build and caliber. I was going to say that a bolt action would probably suit your needs better but a gasser is fun and I'd rather put my money towards platforms folks are trying to ban.

    I'm putting my .260 Remington barrel back on an upper for my Aero M5 so I can play around more with the 6.5 bullets.

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    Quote Originally Posted by BoilerUp View Post
    Pretty solid choice. I haven't commented on this but I've been following. I might have leaned towards the Criterion / Craddock or Compass Lake option but I really have nothing to back that up.

    I'm a little surprised you went with a small frame caliber but I suspect you'll have a lot of fun with that build and caliber. I was going to say that a bolt action would probably suit your needs better but a gasser is fun and I'd rather put my money towards platforms folks are trying to ban.

    I'm putting my .260 Remington barrel back on an upper for my Aero M5 so I can play around more with the 6.5 bullets.
    I didn't go with any other barrel manufacturers because of wait times. The next closest one had a 16 to 18 week lead time whereas mcgowan told me 10 weeks. I had to kind of triangulate between wait time and perceived better barrels (by some).

    From all my reading mcgowan is no slouch so they won the coin toss.

    The other things I be wanted to do is get a large frame AR probably in 6.5 cm. But I might reserve the bigger calibers for my future foray into the bolt world. Undecided on that yet.

    The main thing is I want my guns to be able to do vastly different things. Having 10 different matching 18" 10/22 rifles makes little sense to me but having a large variety of capability in the arsenal is something else.

    With this cartridge though I have quite a bit of range capability but still in the small frame. Plus overall shooting costs are substantially cheaper. For a little bit more per round than quality .223 ammo I can shoot out to 1600 yards with this guy. That to me is brilliant. Long term cost of shooting, new capabilities, and a pretty low cost of entry are all attractive. That scratches a lot of itches for me.

    Having a light recoiling gun in a small frame with the capability to reach 1500 to 1600 yards is pretty unique.

    To me for what I plan on using it for it makes more sense than building a whole new large frame build in 6.5 or 308.

    Plus considering that I reload everything I will be able (in general) to shoot the 6ARC for just a little bit more per round than a quality 5.56 round while still getting in on 308 turf.

    I kind of look at it like I am able to stuff a lot of 308 performance into a small frame rifle.

    Yes it has a little less energy on target but all other things considered it has a farther range and can be shot for half as much money in a platform that is a little over half the weight of the large frame equivalent.

    It's definitely different and that's good.

  7. #7
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    6 ARC to 1776 yards out of a 24" gas gun. Impact on a 24" square on the second shot.


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