Barrel thread.

[aklaunch]

HI guys,

The intent of this thread is not to get told which barrel to buy, but to hear personal favorites and to get educated more on types of barrels steels and manufacturing processes.

Next year I will be in the market for a longer super accurate barrel.

At the moment i am looking at:

LW 50
Rock Creek
JP
Krieger
Shilen
Les Baer

[Paulo_Santos]

Do some research and choose wisely for precision barrels. There are companies that try to trick guys with using terms like match grade or similar terms. You generally get what you pay. Also pay attention to the chamber. Getting a true match barrel with a 5.56 chamber would make no sense. They need to match. Match barrel with match chamber. There are even some chambers that are designed to be accurate with certain bullets, generally the Sierra 77 GR SMK. Also keep in mind that most match barrels will not last more than a couple of thousand rounds before the accuracy starts to diminish.

[chazthebiker]

Also keep in mind that most match barrels will not last more than a couple of thousand rounds before the accuracy starts to diminish.

Really Paulo? I did not know this. Why is that? My WOA SS 6.8 SPC is supposed to be a match barrel... Please say it isn't so! A couple of thousand rounds? Live and learn I guess. I figured a match barrel was simply made to tighter tolerances that a regular barrel but with the same steels. Reading this nearly broke my heart. :>) Back to the drawing board!

Well, no carbine classes for me then. I'll spend the money on a safe for the queens instead.

[chazthebiker]

RATS! RATS! RATS! GOSH DANG IT! Shoulda bought the cheap barrels! What about my Noveske SS Barrels?

[John Hwang]

Most of the Stainless match barrels can still shoot sub-MOA after 10,000 rounds of semi-auto fire. Degrade after a few thousand rounds yes but not to 2 MOA after 2 thousand rounds. It has a lot to do with heat as well. As Paulo mentioned, you usually get what you pay for. There are many high end match barrels you mentioned and most of those you mentioned will do very well for you. Chamber, matched bolt & twist rates are all something you should consider as well.

I have experience with
Shilen
Krieger
PacNor
JP

[Paulo_Santos]

Really Paulo? I did not know this. Why is that? My WOA SS 6.8 SPC is supposed to be a match barrel... Please say it isn't so! A couple of thousand rounds? Live and learn I guess. I figured a match barrel was simply made to tighter tolerances that a regular barrel but with the same steels. Reading this nearly broke my heart. :>) Back to the drawing board!

Well, no carbine classes for me then. I'll spend the money on a safe for the queens instead.

The loss of accuracy I was referring to was benchrest accuracy. Guys who rely on every last .00001" will notice a loss of accuracy after 2-3K rounds with the real match barrels. For most shooting, Match barrels will be accurate enough for at least 10K rounds. It also depends on how you shoot them. Taking a Match barrel to a carbine class will degrade the accuracy much faster than if you sit there at the range, shooting one round every minute.

[chazthebiker]

OK. Whew! That helps me feel better. Thanks guys.

[brit]

I wish I had recorded more data to differentiate between the two, but I have owned a mike rock 16" stainless 1/8 midlength fluted barrel chambered in 5.56 and I thought it was a pretty decent barrel. Then, I bought a noveske N4 light 16" mid-length that actually shot tighter groups than my rock. I used FGMM 69g bthp and Hornady 75g bthp for group shooting at 100 yards. 10 shot groups.

In ideal conditions, the rock barrel averaged around 1.25", the noveske averages around 1"