A Tale of a Colt 20” A2 Barrel

[Molon]

A Tale of a Colt 20” A2 Barrel







This Colt 20” A2 barrel started its life on a factory-built Colt 6551. This was a pre-ban rifle, but this barrel did not have one of those evil, havoc-wreaking bayonet lugs; it’s otherwise the same barrel found on the Colt M16A2 and M16A4 as well as “civilian” variants of those rifles. The barrel has a government profile, a chrome-lined NATO chamber and bore and a 1:7” twist.

I fired a couple hundred rounds through the barrel while zeroing, chronographing various loads and doing some informal shooting. I did not conduct a formal accuracy evaluation of the barrel at that point in time. After that, I replaced this barrel with a Colt M16A2 barrel with the attending evil bayonet lug to create my M16A2 clone.

This barrel sat on my parts shelf collecting dust for a while, until I decided to sell it. I ended up selling it on the equipment exchange of another website. Three months after the buyer received this barrel, he sent me a message demanding a full refund for the barrel claiming that the barrel was junk and that it was never going to shoot accurately. While I was under no obligation whatsoever to give the buyer a refund after having it in his possession for three months, I did so anyway, minus a “restocking fee.”

After the barrel was returned to me I decided to conduct a formal accuracy evaluation of the barrel. I installed the barrel on a Colt flat-top upper receiver and free-floated the barrel with a 12” KAC free-float hand-guard. I conducted the accuracy evaluation from a distance of 100 yards from my bench-rest set-up using my hand-loads topped with 55 grain Sierra BlitzKings.


This barrel turned in a 3-shot group at 100 yards with an extreme spread of 0.180”.
















This barrel produced a 5-shot group at 100 yards with an extreme spread of 0.516”.














A 10-shot group fired from this barrel at a distance of 100 yards had an extreme spread of 1.085”.















Six 10-shot groups fired in a row from this barrel at a distance of 100 yards had an average 10-shot group extreme spread of 1.35”. Not too shabby for a “junk” barrel and actually, as good as anyone could expect from a chrome-lined, NATO chambered government profile barrel.



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[DutyUse]

Haha I bet the buyer feels like a douche. And rightly so...

[Joelski]

"BLAME THE EQUIPMENT!"

Oh, but perhaps Douchey McDouche can't hit black on white from 30 yards?

Naaahhhhh. :D

[Slippers]

So the buyer was a terrible shot, basically. I guess he could have used crap ammo, too. But it's more entertaining the other way. :)

[alamo5000]

That seems very laughable. I see it every now and then myself. People go try to build these 'accurate' rifles with all this whiz bang stuff, then they go to wal mart and buy the cheapest ammo they can find to run in it.

Sometimes it's funny and other times those people are the biggest know it alls.

At the end of the day that guy didn't know what the hell he was doing. That much is proven.

[toolboxluis00200]

Wow that is some nice shoots

[Molon]

So the buyer was a terrible shot, basically. I guess he could have used crap ammo, too. But it's more entertaining the other way. :)

The truly funny thing is that he claimed that he never even shot the barrel. He was claiming that the barrel was junk and would never shoot accurately based on a bore-scoping of the barrel.


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[WHSmithIV]

I'm actually looking for a 20" barrel - with the evil bayonet lug but the sight could be changed. Is that barrel for sale?

[Dstrbdmedic167]

SMH... if its not in the classifieds it isn't for sale...

I don't comment on your post often Molon but I love them. Very thorough and scientific styling, which I like! Keep up the great work and thanks for combining all your post!