10-29-2021, 08:11 PM
EG,
i am working on a light weight longer barreled upper. waiting on rings as i discovered lighter weight setup than what i was originally using for mount and scope. back to story, the tube is a 20" RLGS 4150 Nitride Faxon Gunner profile 1-8 twist. a "rack grade" barrel. it was the longest lightest one i could get at the time. among several factory loads and handloads worst was 2.5 MOA and best was 1/2 MOA. I think with budget barrels, or some call them rack grade barrels, it's a dice roll if you get a hummer or a bummer. I'm sure with a Brux or Kreiger they will turn out great. i wanted a hunting AR that didn't weight 18lbs. like some of the match ARs do. that faxon gunner profile looks pretty skinny, yet, with the right load, and there can be lots of time and components to find that one or more "right load(s)", it groups as well as i can shoot it. I too met a competitor that bought 10 blanks at a time (he had his own lathe & tooling setup) and would fit and chamber them all and then go group each one. he kept the ones that would group, and recycled the ones that wouldn't. he was shooting enough each weekend that he went through 2 to 3 barrels a year. So even with high end blanks (what he was buying) not all are hummers, but most were. He averaged about 87% hummers. My light weight upper is no match rifle, but, for hunting coyotes and deer out to ranges I will use the 6.5 Grendel to, it shoots acceptably and I am the limiting factor, not the rig. if i had bought and had fitted a Brux, i'm sure the # of factory and handloads that would go under 1MOA would have been LOTS higher, perhaps even all the combinations I have tried so far. but i have enough successful combinations that it meets the intent for me. you may have similar results if you work with what you have before springing for a new tube. Of course if you decide to go for a match grade barrel right off, there's no problem there either, and the odds of success are much higher. i enjoy tinkering with rifles and handloads and finding the right combination, for me, is part of the fun. Others don't have the time or tinkering interest and want to go straight to great, and the odds favor a top tier barrel by a wide margin for that group of folks. good luck, i'm sure you'll get it sorted out.
-tdbru
i am working on a light weight longer barreled upper. waiting on rings as i discovered lighter weight setup than what i was originally using for mount and scope. back to story, the tube is a 20" RLGS 4150 Nitride Faxon Gunner profile 1-8 twist. a "rack grade" barrel. it was the longest lightest one i could get at the time. among several factory loads and handloads worst was 2.5 MOA and best was 1/2 MOA. I think with budget barrels, or some call them rack grade barrels, it's a dice roll if you get a hummer or a bummer. I'm sure with a Brux or Kreiger they will turn out great. i wanted a hunting AR that didn't weight 18lbs. like some of the match ARs do. that faxon gunner profile looks pretty skinny, yet, with the right load, and there can be lots of time and components to find that one or more "right load(s)", it groups as well as i can shoot it. I too met a competitor that bought 10 blanks at a time (he had his own lathe & tooling setup) and would fit and chamber them all and then go group each one. he kept the ones that would group, and recycled the ones that wouldn't. he was shooting enough each weekend that he went through 2 to 3 barrels a year. So even with high end blanks (what he was buying) not all are hummers, but most were. He averaged about 87% hummers. My light weight upper is no match rifle, but, for hunting coyotes and deer out to ranges I will use the 6.5 Grendel to, it shoots acceptably and I am the limiting factor, not the rig. if i had bought and had fitted a Brux, i'm sure the # of factory and handloads that would go under 1MOA would have been LOTS higher, perhaps even all the combinations I have tried so far. but i have enough successful combinations that it meets the intent for me. you may have similar results if you work with what you have before springing for a new tube. Of course if you decide to go for a match grade barrel right off, there's no problem there either, and the odds of success are much higher. i enjoy tinkering with rifles and handloads and finding the right combination, for me, is part of the fun. Others don't have the time or tinkering interest and want to go straight to great, and the odds favor a top tier barrel by a wide margin for that group of folks. good luck, i'm sure you'll get it sorted out.
-tdbru