07-29-2020, 03:58 AM
stubshaft Wrote:Determining the accuracy expectations that will suit YOUR needs is critical to insuring your satisfaction in your build. What do you want your AR to do? Hunt? Competition? Plinking? How accurate do yo need it, 2 MOA?, 1 MOA? less? Where I live factory ammo for a Grendel is virtually non-existent or prohibitively expensive so my only recourse is to handload and tailor my loads to the gun. I have been able to get mass produced barrels to consistently shoot .5 MOA groups and have had medium priced barrels under .25 MOA. If someone is insistent on shooting nothing but factory ammo it would behoove them to buy the most expensive barrel that has proven itself to be accurate with similar ammo. If you handload then you may try a mass-produced barrel and find an accurate load. I will say that I have tweaked some cheap barrels by hand lapping them and usually bed them with SS shim stock and Loktite 640.
The bottom line is that you need to decide what you want, then work to accomplish it. Just screwing a Bartlein or Lilja in an upper is not going to magically going to give you a great rifle and only being able to afford a CBC or BA barrel in not going to produce a junker.
That's totally correct. It won't magically make someone a expert marksmen. But it will give that someone a way better chance their gun won't be a turd.
Old saying is still true. Only rich men can afford cheap barrels.
At the end of the day, the price point and quality of a barrel must be based off it's desired mission.
If all I want is a cheap, basic profiled 16 inch with mid length gas to blast wolf fmj's at the range and take deer/hog hunting for say under 200 yards. I'm not going to buy a 600 dollar custom barrel.
But if I want a tack driving custom made 16 inch that resist heat dispersion on groups for longer strings and that will fill a mid range hunting role and mid to long range range gun. I'm not going to buy a 80 dollar BCA for the mission at hand.