04-23-2017, 05:56 PM
StoneHendge Wrote:I am about to give up on my 18" AR Stoner Grendel barrel which is exactly like the Satern Liberty, so I'd bet a lot of money it is a Satern. It gets 5/8" at 100 yds with factory Amax but I can't find a handload that does better and I've been wasting too much time and $ trying to find it. I have one load that might show some promise, but if it doesn't work, Lilja is getting a call (I have a monolithic upper so I'm restricted to a mid length gas system).
I can't speak about their Grendel barrels, but Odin barrels are at your price point. I have their 18" 22 Nosier barrel and it shoots 77 grain factory ammo between 1/2" and 3/4". I've gotten several 1/4" 3 shot groups with a 75 grain Berger VLD. Customer service is outstanding and they will let you upgrade to an clamp on adjustable gas block from the included "tunable" gas block. Odin blocks are by far the easiest to install since they seat against the shoulder and have alignment notches on both the barrel and the block.
Those AR-Stoner barrels are probably comparable if they are not made by Liberty/Satern. The ones on midway now are 264LBC and I didn't see anything about their headspacing. 5/8" groups with factory ammo doesn't sound so bad though. Does it shoot under 1MOA at further ranges? It is a bummer that you are having trouble developing a handload. I am looking forward to that and would find it really discouraging if all my barrel would shoot was the first thing I put through it.
There are quite a few barrel options at my price range. I would consider this to be the "$300-400 w/ bolt" range. Odin, Criterion by PF, BHW, Wilson Arms through JSE, Satern by Liberty, Faxon, AR performance, DEZ, McGowen, X-caliber and I'm sure there is more. Some of these guys have some negative reviews online and warnings and some don't. I have yet to read a negative remark about anything PF makes (owned by Mark who patrons these forums
) or BHW. But that's a huge accomplishment and not a standard. The Brownell's choice is totally not sexy. In comparison, PF's Criterion barrel might be the most accurate of the bunch and BHW boasts a FPS bump. BHW said on the phone that their rifling promotes an increase of velocity by 10% or roughly 2" of more barrel length. And, that was a really cool feature to me since I want a shorter barrel. Some adjustable gas blocks have been correlated with a velocity increase and I think it would be interesting to see the two together in attempts to increase velocity. But, 264LBC has also questionable reputation with steel case ammo and that is not something I can accept right now. The difference in cost of ammo between $.87 hornady and $.23 wolf is over $300 at 500 rounds.