MRA barrel review

Hornychief said:
Why did you get thing thing when you have an slr and etc?
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Hmmmm interesting question... pretty hard to narrow it down to just one but let's see:

A: because I didn't have one?

B: because I like different things?

C: because I wanted a cheaper "beater" gun?

D: because I still had space in my gun room?

E: because Liberals don't like it?

F: because the wife said NO!?

G : because there's no better way to spend a tax refund?

H: because life is good?

I: because of all of the above?


I'm going to have to go with I, all of the above. Lol..
 
I also got an MRA barrel from a TNA mystery box. 10.5" flutes. At first glance it was beautiful and I loved it. Then I put it together and realized that my barrel was similar to the OPs. Fluters were slightly out of line to the barrel extension and once set in the receiver was visibly off axis. Further, the gas hole was also out of line slightly. Not so much that a slight twost in the gas tube couldnt handle and not so much that the gas block contacted the inside of the free float handguard. With the hand guard installed both issues are invisible and forgiveable.

Then I tried to shoot it. The 'chatter' if thats what you call it, in the chamber was so bad cases wouldnt extract, and when removed manually were excessively marked as they were essentially fireformed into the rough chamber. I didnt notice how bad the chamber was until after I shone a light in it and it was the worst chamber Ive ever seen.

TNA was excellent, took the barrel back and polished the chamber incredibly well, and returned it quite quickly, after which it ran great.

Not sure whats going on with the production process, but from the internet it seems its a very dull/damaged reemer. The sad part is their QA process isn't catching.

I never contacted MRA directly so I can't speak to how they would have handled differently, but TNA made good on their warranty so no issues there.

The MRA mlok handguard/rail was top notch, beautiful fit and finish, installed perfectly and worked with all the MLOK accessories that I needed to install.

If I ever buy an MRA barrel again, it will not be without being able to physically inspect it first.

Cant speak to accuracy cause Ive never shot the gun fir tight groups.
 
jiffx2781 said:
Hmmmm interesting question... pretty hard to narrow it down to just one but let's see:

A: because I didn't have one?

B: because I like different things?

C: because I wanted a cheaper "beater" gun?

D: because I still had space in my gun room?

E: because Liberals don't like it?

F: because the wife said NO!?

G : because there's no better way to spend a tax refund?

H: because life is good?

I: because of all of the above?


I'm going to have to go with I, all of the above. Lol..
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Lol love the answer! Maybe one day my will be the same
 
I'm curious how well the barrels hold up. As the round counts get high please get back to us. The MRA barrels aren't cheap so I'm not impressed with what I have read so far.
 
Went out again today. Maybe I’ll post pictures later but honestly not even worth it. Looking at groups is like reading tea leaves. Here’s what I’ve tested

Federal 62gr Powrshok - 2.5”
Hornady Match 75gr hpbt- 4”
Federal Gold Medal Match- 4.5”

Handloads
Camp to 55gr, h335 and DD4064 - 3” average
Nosler Varmagedon 55gr , h335 - 3.5”
Hornady 73gr eldm, Varget- 1.25” this one may have been a miracle considering the other groups

There were some groups that were so bad (in the 6” range) that I’m almost embarrassed about. My 16” AR won’t shoot over 2” so this has been a pretty sad experience.

So ya pretty brutal... could it be chalked up to being a piston gun over di? Maybe, could the gas block be contacting the hand guard when fired? Maybe. I don’t know, I guess the moa guarantee got my hopes up and it’s just not possible with this gun or perhaps I got a lemon.
 
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fellers88 said:
Went out again today. Maybe I’ll post pictures later but honestly not even worth it. Looking at groups is like reading tea leaves. Here’s what I’ve tested

Federal 62gr Powrshok - 2.5”
Hornady Match 75gr hpbt- 4”
Federal Gold Medal Match- 4.5”

Handloads
Camp to 55gr, h335 and DD4064 - 3” average
Nosler Varmagedon 55gr , h335 - 3.5”
Hornady 73gr eldm, Varget- 1.25” this one may have been a miracle considering the other groups

So ya pretty brutal... could it be chalked up to being a piston gun over di? Maybe, could the gas block be contacting the hand guard when fired? Maybe. I don’t know, I guess the moa guarantee got my hopes up and it’s just not possible with this gun or perhaps I got a lemon.
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No, I got my WK180 to shoot decent groups with the factory barrel.
 
I put a Timney trigger in mine. The factory trigger was the worst I've ever used. Don't know if the trigger has anything to do with the groups you are getting or not but it is a possibility.

Or you lucked out and got a s#!tty barrel.

Hopefully you get it sorted out. It should shoot MUCH better than that.
 
fellers88 said:
Went out again today. Maybe I’ll post pictures later but honestly not even worth it. Looking at groups is like reading tea leaves. Here’s what I’ve tested

Federal 62gr Powrshok - 2.5”
Hornady Match 75gr hpbt- 4”
Federal Gold Medal Match- 4.5”

Handloads
Camp to 55gr, h335 and DD4064 - 3” average
Nosler Varmagedon 55gr , h335 - 3.5”
Hornady 73gr eldm, Varget- 1.25” this one may have been a miracle considering the other groups

So ya pretty brutal... could it be chalked up to being a piston gun over di? Maybe, could the gas block be contacting the hand guard when fired? Maybe. I don’t know, I guess the moa guarantee got my hopes up and it’s just not possible with this gun or perhaps I got a lemon.
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I had a cheap CNA barrel and an 8 lb ish milspec trigger that shot better than that.
My money is on the barrel being shat.
 
Yep, that’s where my money is.

I’m going to see if I can relieve some material on the inside on the hand guard where it might be touching to rule that out. I’ll also load up some more of the 73hr eldms that did well to see if that wasn’t a fluke.

That being said my email has already been sent to MRA that I want them to take care of this. Hopefully I’m not given the run around and charged shipping both ways to deal with this. Really I shouldn’t be paying anything extra to get a replacement after this debacle.
 
jiffx2781 said:
I put a Timney trigger in mine. The factory trigger was the worst I've ever used. Don't know if the trigger has anything to do with the groups you are getting or not but it is a possibility.

Or you lucked out and got a s#!tty barrel.

Hopefully you get it sorted out. It should shoot MUCH better than that.
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Lol I remember commenting on that and people dog piling on me
 
fellers88 said:
Diegocn- how many rounds deep are you? Did your groups shrink after break in? I’m maybe 50 rounds in with 55gr bullets. Maybe I need to try something heavier. Will be grabbing some factory loads to play with this weekend.
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I shot about 50 round of factory bulk for break in before I started testing my hand loads.
AE factory bulk shoot about 2.5" at 100, best group was 1.1 moa with Hornady 68 gr bthp and varget in 24 grain range.
My load for the original barrel using Campro 55 grain with H335 was pathetic at around 5" (worse than old barrel).
To add, I was using a 1-4 scope, not really suited for precision work IMO. With a 10x scope I think group will be slightly tighter. But still the groups reflects the barrel's potential.

It seems to me my MRA barrel is picky on what bullet goes through it. My Mossberg mvp in 223 is similar, shoots less than 1 moa with 60 grain vmax, but hates almost everything else I put through it.

Originally Posted by Hornychief
Any difference in weight?
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Mine wk is an early serial with set screw and cross pin version. Old barrel weights 894 gram. MRA barrel weights 969 gram. MRA is about 75 gram heavier than the original barrel, but it's also a medium profile barrel.
 
Cameron SS said:
I also got an MRA barrel from a TNA mystery box. 10.5" flutes. At first glance it was beautiful and I loved it. Then I put it together and realized that my barrel was similar to the OPs. Fluters were slightly out of line to the barrel extension and once set in the receiver was visibly off axis. Further, the gas hole was also out of line slightly. Not so much that a slight twost in the gas tube couldnt handle and not so much that the gas block contacted the inside of the free float handguard. With the hand guard installed both issues are invisible and forgiveable.

Then I tried to shoot it. The 'chatter' if thats what you call it, in the chamber was so bad cases wouldnt extract, and when removed manually were excessively marked as they were essentially fireformed into the rough chamber. I didnt notice how bad the chamber was until after I shone a light in it and it was the worst chamber Ive ever seen.

TNA was excellent, took the barrel back and polished the chamber incredibly well, and returned it quite quickly, after which it ran great.

Not sure whats going on with the production process, but from the internet it seems its a very dull/damaged reemer. The sad part is their QA process isn't catching.

I never contacted MRA directly so I can't speak to how they would have handled differently, but TNA made good on their warranty so no issues there.

The MRA mlok handguard/rail was top notch, beautiful fit and finish, installed perfectly and worked with all the MLOK accessories that I needed to install.

If I ever buy an MRA barrel again, it will not be without being able to physically inspect it first.

Cant speak to accuracy cause Ive never shot the gun fir tight groups.
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We have had a few with rough chambers. We had a bad batch of 10.5" barrels where the reamer was at the end of its life and we missed it on final inspection. We have fixed or replaced all of these as per our lifetime warranty whenever the issue was raised with us.

As for the flutes not aligning with the index pin, it is difficult to do this since the flutes are cut before the barrel is assembled or the gas port is drilled. This mis-alignment does not affect performance but I do understand some people find it unsightly.
 
fellers88 said:
Yep, that’s where my money is.

I’m going to see if I can relieve some material on the inside on the hand guard where it might be touching to rule that out. I’ll also load up some more of the 73hr eldms that did well to see if that wasn’t a fluke.

That being said my email has already been sent to MRA that I want them to take care of this. Hopefully I’m not given the run around and charged shipping both ways to deal with this. Really I shouldn’t be paying anything extra to get a replacement after this debacle.
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We will reply to your email soon. Just trying to ship all the orders after the holiday rush. I apologize that we have not replied yet.
 
griffin86 said:
He said it was from the salts in the chamber. :rolleyes: I even bore scoped it

rjwgDo8.jpg
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If we proposed that there were salts in the chamber, how can we claim it was your fault?

We use a salt bath nitride process and sometimes the salts are not completely washed out of the chamber and/or bore. It does not happen often but we are human and sometimes things get missed. I thought this might be a possible cause.

Rough chambers have radial marks from chips being fused to the reamer and scoring the chamber wall. Your brass do not have any radial marks so this is not the case in your situation.
 
We have produced several thousand barrels now. If our product was truly as terrible as some have suggested or assumed, there would most certainly be many poor reviews here and elsewhere.

Yes, we have shipped some lemons but our return rate is less than 1%. I feel this is a very good record. We are a small company doing the best we can.

When there has been a concern raised with us and we have determined there was a material or manufacturing defect, we have stood by our lifetime warranty.
 
Here's what my MRA (IBI) fluted Grendel barrel shoots like:

P2TFPWR.jpg


I brushed the barrel with a bronze brush around 50 times and then radially brushed the chamber with a .50 brush for around 50 turns to get it cleaned up and now it shoots like a bolt rifle.
 
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