Accuracy Evaluation of a Bravo Company 14.5” Barrel

[Molon]

Accuracy Evaluation of a Bravo Company 14.5” Barrel






The focus of this article is the cold hammer forged (BFH) version of Bravo Company’s 14.5” barrel with a mid-length gas system. As can be seen in the pic above, this barrel has a government profile. This is a chrome-lined, NATO chambered barrel with a 1:7” twist. Bravo Company states that these barrels have been high-pressure/magnetic particle tested according to the current mil-spec.

I conducted an accuracy (technically, precision) evaluation of the Bravo Company 14.5” BFH mid-length barrel following my usual protocol. This accuracy evaluation used statistically significant shot-group sizes and every single shot in a fired group was included in the measurements. There was absolutely no use of any Group Reduction Techniques (e.g. fliers, target movement, Butterfly Shots).

The shooting set-up will be described in detail below. As many of the significant variables as was practicable were controlled for. Pictures of shot-groups are posted for documentation.

All shooting was conducted from a concrete bench-rest from a distance of 100 yards (confirmed with a laser rangefinder.) The Bravo Company 14.5” barrel used in this evaluation was free-floated during testing using a Daniel Defense Omega free-float railed handguard. The free-float handguard of the rifle rested in a Sinclair Windage Benchrest, while the stock of the rifle rested in a Protektor bunny-ear rear bag. Sighting was accomplished via a Leupold VARI-X III set at 25X magnification and adjusted to be parallax-free at 100 yards. A mirage shade was attached to the objective-bell of the scope. Wind conditions on the shooting range were continuously monitored using a Wind Probe. The set-up was very similar to that pictured below.












For this evaluation, I used one of my standard match-grade hand-loads topped with Sierra 55 grain BlitzKings. When fired from my Krieger barreled AR-15s, this load has produced ½ MOA 10-shot groups at 100 yards.











Three, 10-shot groups were fired in a row from the Bravo Company 14.5” barrel from a distance of 100 yards with the resulting extreme spreads:

1.58”
1.96”
1.50”

for an average 10-shot group extreme spread of 1.68”. The three, 10-shot groups were over-layed on each other using RSI Shooting Lab to form a 30-shot composite group. The mean radius of the 30-shot composite group was 0.49”



The smallest 10-shot group . . .






The 30-shot composite group . . .





….

[alamo5000]

Thank you for posting this.

I think it puts to bed a lot of the discussions that are on here from time to time. Not that those discussions are a bad thing, but this shows an example of what can be done with CHF. It's a real world example of accuracy from a CHF barrel.

[toolboxluis00200]

very impressive nice review

[RiverRat]

Molon: thanks for the analysis and welcome to WEVO.

[GOST]

Very impressive review, thanks Molon.

[DutyUse]

Cool review


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[Former11B]

Thank you for posting this.

I think it puts to bed a lot of the discussions that are on here from time to time. Not that those discussions are a bad thing, but this shows an example of what can be done with CHF. It's a real world example of accuracy from a CHF barrel.

I have seen 14.5" barrels put rounds all day long on silhouettes at 600yds. Not shooting for groups, mind you, but "can I hit the bad guy from here" type shooting.


I agree with the crowd; the review was well written and I liked the location of hits printout of all 30 rounds

[nCarnage]

nice review

[Txfilmmaker]

Yes. Very impressive review.


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[Slippers]

We are very lucky to have Molon posting his tests and reviews here. I still reference a lot of his stuff on arf when I'm shopping for bullets or barrels, among other things.

[alamo5000]

I have seen 14.5" barrels put rounds all day long on silhouettes at 600yds. Not shooting for groups, mind you, but "can I hit the bad guy from here" type shooting.

That sounds like a lot of fun actually. I kinda wish I had more people to shoot with sometimes. Then again I don't have to go anywhere, wait in line, rent a lane, or put up with anybody's crap but mine

[Iraqgunz]

Molon,

Thanks for your informative posts about accuracy, barrels and ammunition. I miss your posts over on M4C.

[Eric]

Thanks for sharing that here. Out of curiosity, were you seeing much POI shift on the cold bore shot?

[GOST]

Molon,

Thanks for your informative posts about accuracy, barrels and ammunition. I miss your posts over on M4C.

Don't you be trying to steal our new member.

[voodoo_man]

Thanks for the post!

Can you post the actual data numbers (if you have them)

ambient temp
barrel temp - before/during/after
elevation
any pressure data you had

also how many rounds were through the barrel before time of testing?

If you don't have this data, no worries, just helps to get the math worked out.