Posts: 90
Threads: 21
Joined: Dec 2015
Curious what you all have had experience with.
If you could list barrel maker(length is irrelevant) and average group sizes followed by factory or handloads.
Not looking for recipes or as stated lengths. Just let us know if you are grouping well with said ammo etc...
If there is another thread like this let me know and I will bury this.
I'll start...
PSA barrel
1.5 factory groups
1 ti 1.25 hand loads
Posts: 45
Threads: 11
Joined: May 2020
My CBC industries kit gun shot under 1" right out of the box with Hornady 123 gr ELD-M ammo. Very impressive out of the box for any type rifle. I'm expecting the groups to tighten up the more it gets shot.
Posts: 212
Threads: 17
Joined: May 2014
Satern 24" from Brownells with matching bolt.
1-1 1/4 " with factory loads
as small as .268" for 3 rounds with my handloads, shot several 1/2" 5 shot groups with my reloads , very rarely over an inch during load work up .
Posts: 1,787
Threads: 49
Joined: Feb 2016
12" krieger 8 shot group at 0.67 moa with handloads. 5 shot groups under half moa
12" faxon group buy shoots 3/4 to 1moa with handloads and 123g hornady American gunner shoots right at an inch
Posts: 6,193
Threads: 170
Joined: Mar 2015
12.5 inch Citerion made by PF will do 5 under 1/2 at 100 yards with my 120 gold dot loads and 10 wolf fmj's at 1 1/2 inches plus will ring a 6 inch plate at 600 like it boring easy.
12 inch sixfivearms barrel will do my 120 gold dots at 100 5 shots at are just under 1/2 inch, shoots 10 wolf fmj's at 2 moa and can ring a 6 inch steel plate at 600 like it's easy.
My CZ varmint grendel will do 10 shots under 1 inch at 100 with both my 123 eld-m and 129 ablr loads and just this evening I put 20 out of 20 on a steel rams head at 500 yards. Will remember to get a pic of it tommorw when I go back.
This is what I expect out of my rifles with my handloads, if I build something and I can't match these barrels it's going down the road.
Posts: 259
Threads: 4
Joined: May 2015
Midway Shilen w/bolt 3/4"
Stoner/Liberty w/bolt 3/4"
AA/Shaw upper 1"
PF/Lilja upper 1/2"- 3/4"
All with handloads, none were broken in, all have at least 300 through them, 5 shot groups, 100 yards, all scoped. Factory, IDK. never used much in these.
Posts: 143
Threads: 11
Joined: Feb 2017
Mark @ PF Bartlein 20, hand loads 123 gr SMK , less than .5 @100 yds. If you want WOW contact Mark.
Will Favre
Posts: 1,397
Threads: 48
Joined: Jun 2019
Sub half inch groups W/24 Bartlein heavy barrel using 123g ELDM handloads. From Craddock Precision.
Posts: 184
Threads: 5
Joined: Dec 2018
20" Faxon Match Grade
1" factory
1/3" hand load
18" BCA 4150 Parkerized Heavy Straight Fluted Barrel
3" factory
24" BCA 4150 Parkerized Heavy Straight Fluted Barrel
4" factory
3.5" hand load
Posts: 33
Threads: 2
Joined: May 2020
Bca 18inch S/S complete upper (250 bucks) most all Ammo from Defender to GMM is 2-4 MOA but with Hornady black 123 eld-m 1moa avg. some groups under inch (.551 best )some groups just over. So I only have been shooting the 123 elds
Posts: 781
Threads: 29
Joined: Feb 2018
Only factory ammo I have ever shot was Horandy 123 SST.
First 6.5 Grendel was a complete upper from BCA 20" stainless fluted and it shot all over the place. 5" groups at best.
Sent it back for replacement. It took 60 to 70 rounds through the new barrel to get it to start shooting consistently with hand loads sub MOA. With the Hornady factory 123 SST 2 1/2".
Second rifle 18" Oden Works intermediate gas. I built this rifle from the ground up using Anderson upper and lower frame.
It would do 1 1/2 to 2" with factory Hornady 123 SST. With hand loads will average 1/2 MOA.
It turned out that neither of the barrels liked the 123 SST bullet no matter what load I tried. 120 Sierra Pro Hunter and Speer Gold Dot are what they REALLY like with IMR8208. I have not seriously fooled with other weight and makes of bullets mainly because I have too many irons in the fire. I just found a deer hunting load and quit fooling with others. Hope to do some tinkering with other bullets this year.
Posts: 33
Threads: 2
Joined: May 2020
My BCA hated the hornady SSTs. That was the worse round I tested they were about 6 moa. I found that to be crazy because the elds in the same weight (123) shoot great. Any reason for that ?
Posts: 285
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Joined: Feb 2018
06-04-2020, 06:08 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-04-2020, 06:14 PM by ported45.)
4 different BCA complete uppers. 3 had short throats, but would shoot handloads into 2-3" groups. They were replaced under warranty. Final BCA was correct throat, but would not do better than 5-7" with handloads and Hornady Black ELDM's. Finally just returned it for a refund. Only way I would have one of their uppers now was if they called me up and gave me one for free. That way I would not feel bad selling it for scrap if it did not turn out any better than before.
Had a Hardened Arms upper that would do 1/4-1/2 MOA with handloads.
Ended up getting rid of the HA upper because it was just not my cup of tea for a deer hunting rifle; got a Ruger Predator Grendel instead. Still working on finalizing my handload for it, but looking like 1/4 MOA or less will be the final result.
