Group Buy barrels any good?

[lazyengineer]

Throat deeper dive examiniation.
Doing a rotation around the throat, in about 7 images.

[lazyengineer]

Difficult to be sure, but at some places it seems like the lands go all the way to the beginning of the breach, and some maybe not as fully.
[Edit - I looked anew with a better bore-scope, and the throat does look more uniform than some of these earlier photos suggest]

Overall, for a sub $200 BBL, this doesn't really look bad. I wouldn't call this super premium (tool chatter, eroding maloniting), and I'm not so sure the lands in the throat are all starting perfectly. I don't think it's impossible for this barrel to shoot near 1 MOA, though I will say, right now for me, I only get there with 90 gr TNTs.

[FRB6.5]

I recently got one of the Teslong rigid bore scopes. Need to give my 12" GM barrel a good scrub and have a look. Thanks for posting the pics.

[Kswhitetails]

LE- get it dirty, and clean the carbon only. Don't take it back to metal. I'm curious to see what it looks like after 100 rounds or so after a couple patches. I'm speculating the copper will fill in the voids in the surface and smooth that up nicely. I think that's why I usually see a 30-50 fps jump at between 50-100 rounds.

[grayfox]

My theory: Smoothness, as in lowering the friction internally, is what I think happens -- whether it's copper filling in low spots or abrading/ablating high spots or rough patches, that 50-100 smooths out the interior.

[olde sarge]

Jorge0272, I am only able to speak for the Original Faxon 20" group buy but mine shoots 3/4 to 1-1/4inch groups with factory 123gr ammo with me behind the controls. I am sure the rifle would do better with someone else shooting it and not this 70 yr old, shakey assed, half blind old fart driving it. I have been completely satisfied with the barrel which seems to be getting better as I shoot it (6 boxes of Hornady 123gr SST down the tube). Has been a great hog rifle with the count nearing 50. Lost 1 hog and from what I have seen with the others shot can only be blamed on the shooter. Hope some further shooting will improve your results.

[Jorge0272]

Going to need to take a month off and won't be able to check anything out. In the process of moving and everything is getting packed up.
As soon as I get settled in, I will be taking the uppers apart and re-torquing everything to the specs given by A5Blaster. Maybe even do the adjustable gas block, even thought I hate those things.
Clean everything up really good, then get some factory Hornady Gunner and see what it can do. If it shoots good, great. Then keep shooting the gunner for a few hundred rounds then work up a load. If not, trash the barrels and get the Criterion barrels.
Only really looking for ~1MOA accuracy at 100 yards, so not looking for crazy accuracy at 1000 yards. I am sure I will be able to work things out.
Thank you all for the help. I will be back to this post to update my findings.
(Just FYI, I want to say it was probably my reloads. 31.2 of CFE223 with the 120gr ELDs and 2.260)

[A.D.D. AR]

Good luck with "the move", that can be very stressful.
I agree, if you find "the sweet spot" (seating depth) for the 120 ELD's, you will see a marked improvement. Don't give up on your barrels just yet!
-mike

[Jorge0272]

Thanks. Already purchased a bunch of the 123s. Going to work up a load later on after shooting the factory rounds. Looking forward to working this out.

[A.D.D. AR]

Good deal. I'll bet you'll find the 123's are less picky on COL, and they have a better BC to boot. And it will be sweet if you find a factory load that shoots well for you, so if you don't have time to reload, problem solved.
I wish you success.
-mike

[lazyengineer]

Took mine back to the range this weekend. It shot OK, but not amazing. 5-shot groups ranged from 1.3 - 2.4 MOA, depending on the load. Seemed to like the Sierra 107's best, with all tested 107 loads averaging under 2 MOA. and getting down to 1.5 or even less MOA seemed to work.

I will say today I saw that sometimes when switching from a load with one brand bullet and powder, to another brand bullet and powder, the first couple of shots can be just wild, before it resettled back down. I don't know why, that seemed odd to me. It seemed to quite like Wolf Steel today, grouping 2.0 MOA with it. First shot was a perfect bullseye, and second shot almost touched the first. I was kind of amazed at that.

Has about 250 or so rounds through it now. The barrel is ok (ish), not great; not terrible. I'm tempted to just pound half a case of Wolf Steel through it and erode it down. Would I buy it again? Eh - I don't know; it's a lot of BBL for the money.

[Hollis]

There have been times where my Group Buy barrel has shot the Wolf rather well also.

[BluntForceTrauma]

LE, is this shooting with or without the flash hider, or did you try it both ways?

[LRRPF52]

My buddy just sent me some pics of 10rd groups out of the 12" Faxon Group Buy barrel I used for his build.

These are with the 107gr SMK on 8208XBR using the NightForce NX8, with one of the hash marks used for aiming vs the large center dot:

[lazyengineer]

LE, is this shooting with or without the flash hider, or did you try it both ways?

An A2 flash hider, low torque mounted (enough torque that it doesn't rotate or wobble). I've tried different muzzle devices (Gamma) and different torque, but no effect.

[sbowhuntr]

Took my 20" gbb out this weekend. Shooting 90g varmmaggedon with H335 and cci 450 and it was great!! 5 shot groups @100y average 3/4"-7/8" and that's with a 10-20mph winds gusting all over the place. I havent tried any other bullets as this is a dedicated coyote gun so no need to explore other bullets.

[Constitutionalist]

Took my 20" gbb out this weekend. Shooting 90g varmmaggedon with H335 and cci 450 and it was great!! 5 shot groups @100y average 3/4"-7/8" and that's with a 10-20mph winds gusting all over the place. I havent tried any other bullets as this is a dedicated coyote gun so no need to explore other bullets.

Sbowhunter,

Mind if I ask your charge and overall cartridge length? I just picked up some of 90gr Varm's and plan to start working up a load.

Thanks!

John

[sbowhuntr]

Sbowhunter,

Mind if I ask your charge and overall cartridge length? I just picked up some of 90gr Varm's and plan to start working up a load.

Thanks!

John

John,
Hornady brass 90g Nosler Varms 30.7g H-335 cci 450 primer 2.245 coal. You might have to play with coal in your barrel but this load performs great in 2 of my grendels.

[Constitutionalist]

Thanks! I appreciate the info!

[RobUrban]

I have a 20" green mountain group buy that I have been able to get most bullets at or just over minute of angle at 100yards. My barrel really likes the 130 RDF, and seems to like 8208 xbr and ar comp for powder. I had pretty poor results with CFE-223 in my barrel overall.