Ballistic Advantage 9mm barrels

[mustangfreek]

Looks like some more 9mm barrels to the game. From small to 16 " barrels from ballistic advantage..




http://ballisticadvantage.com/shop/b...eid=9869c45329

[SINNER]

I just ordered a few of these the other day. Hard to beat their intro pricing.

[RiverRat]

Here's one of those times where I reluctantly feel I must pass on observations of inferior quality, even though Ballistic Advantage was very forthcoming and helpful in trying to address the problem. One-off problems can be easily forgiven when properly addressed, but from what I've seen this is a widespread issue.

I purchased one of these when Schuyler was running a sale a couple of months ago. Here is a macro shot of the index pin and barrel taper.



The index pin is obviously flawed from improper pressing.

BA promptly drop-shipped a replacement. But the second barrel doesn't seat in any of my uppers either. Alignment is better and the fit is closer to correct, but the pin is still deformed.

It looks like the cause is either a soft index pin or excessive force in seating. When pressed into the barrel extension, the top edge of the pin mushrooms. I wonder if this is operation occurs in-house for this design (the extension is part of the machined barrel), where the pin would be already pressed into outsourced extensions. Regardless of who performs this operation, it is out of spec on both samples I received. Instead of messing around with a second return on a barrel at this price point (and with little confidence that barrel #3 would be in spec), I'll just hit it with a file to reduce the upper circumference enough to seat.

I also recommend cleaning the barrel (inside and out) with your normal choice in CLP. Both of my samples threw a lot of reddish material on initial cleaning (and I mean a LOT compared to every other barrel I've purchased) - and you can see evidence of corrosion in the attached photo. The machining on these barrels has very prominent ridges, so it might be possible that the valleys in those ridges weren't completely cleaned before QPQ.

I've liked all of the Performance Series barrels I've purchased, but their budget 9mm offering isn't showing anywhere near the quality I've seen from the Performance line.

[Pyzik]

I was coming to say how nice that LW 8" looked but ^^^^ that sucks.

[SINNER]

No big deal if the index pin is deformed. I'll either replace it or knock it down flush and drill a new one in. No gas port gives you that luxury.

[mustangfreek]

I purchased the 8" barrel from Schuyler also and no problems with mine, atleast like you had, fits good in a couple different uppers i tried, and has a nice finish,gonna take me a few to get it together..

I just ordered a few of these the other day. Hard to beat their intro pricing.

Nice!!!