School me on what barrel to buy.

[Patt08]

So I am almost done gathering the parts for my first AR build. I have a Carbine tube installed, so want to keep my rifle Carbineish.

I went with the Vltor MUR-1A upper, and I have decided to go with a 14.5" barrel, .223. I wont be going to the states to shoot, so length does not matter and I already have a 10.3" and 16" AR.

Basically I am sort of at a loss choosing a barrel. I will mostly just be doing casual range sessions, often from a bench and am interested in squeezing as much accuracy as possible out of my rifle. Let me say firstly I do not have a problem paying for a high quality barrel, if the improvement is evident. Money isn't really an issue. I am going 1/7 or 1/8 twist.

1.) Should I look for something in .223 Wylde?
2.) Should I look for a match grade barrel?
3.) Barrel profile- Mid or standard?
4.) Will the 14.5" barrel lose much accuracy/velocity vs the 16" barrel?


I see the DD barrels are around $400, Theres a Rainier 16" Match barrel at $400, Noveske around $600 etc. Are the Noveske barrels worth the extra $$? Any input greatly appreciated, thanks!!

Edit: Should also add i don't run cheap ammo through my rifles, and never buy 5.56 stuff.

 

[mellows]

14.5 is a great barrel length. I was recently on the hunt for a new barrel and I find DD barrels are great for the price point. Noveske makes a strong barrel I've heard but no personal experience with them.

I'd go with a heavier profile myself.

 

[copeland]

DD for that affordable cold hammer forge finish.

 

[rdavidson]

I would yes noveske is worth the extra cash.
If I was to build another ar I would build a .223 Wylde

 

[Trinimon]

DD gets my vote. Best bang for the buck for quality and accuracy. If you have the money for a Noveske, have at it.

 

[Pr589]

Why not go for a Krieger? Saw some at Tacord and wish I'd gone this direction rather than my Rainier Ultramatch.

The Kriegers that I saw had a heavy barrel profile near the chamber and then slimmed down to a mid or standard weight further out. Made a lot of sense compared to a straighter profile.

 

[Trinimon]

Why not go for a Krieger? Saw some at Tacord and wish I'd gone this direction rather than my Rainier Ultramatch.

The Kriegers that I saw had a heavy barrel profile near the chamber and then slimmed down to a mid or standard weight further out. Made a lot of sense compared to a straighter profile.

Huh, didn't know TacOrd was making their own AR barrels as well. Cool!

 

[copeland]

Thing is krieger is cryo'd I believe, which still doesnt match chf. Its always going to come down to opinion as every manufacturing process has pros and cons...

Sako chf there barrels also.

 

[TRG-42]

IMO , if you are just running and gunning with a 1x red dot etc not sure if you would really see the benefit of some of the match barrels out there

If that is the case for you then, you can't go wrong with a DD CHF for price and availability

Noveske

I probably use more Noveske than any other barrel, but having said that, at the end of the day they are button rifled barrels ( using his tooling at Pac Nor ) vs high end cut rifle

I have used couple of the Noveske SPR barrels and they are outstanding

I recently put together a 10.5 Noveske and hard pressed to see the advantage of the Noveske for fun gun

Also, be careful shopping , since the Noveske N4 barrel is not considered match since its CHF with very heavy chrome bore ( they use the FN spec for M249 chrome lining )

The N4 profile is super light as well

Rainier

If you are going through the wait of importing Rainier , you can go wrong with a Ultramatch ( Shilen blank, ratchet rifled with button ) . I like the Select barrels made by Black Hole Weaponry since I find them easy to clean due to polygon bore . I prefer to go to the Ultramatch unless budget constraints , where I go Select

Krieger

You need to be careful since for years ( no separate company ) , Criterion ( OEM division of Krieger , that button rifles ) has been synonymous with Krieger barrels

Therefore lots of Criterion barrels were sold as Krieger Criterion

These are nothing like a true Krieger single point cut rifle barrel

Way you tell is Kriegers tend to be half the cost . A Krieger cut rifle AR barrel are over $700 , which is now getting silly

Criterion makes good barrels, but so do lots of other people

Other Cut Rifle

Satern makes awesome cut rifle barrels but are harder to get here . They also make button rifle barrels under "Liberty"

Bartlein makes outstanding barrels but harder to find here



Since you mention that you do want to bench shoot the gun and have best accuracy, then for a 14.5 length, you should look at the Rainier Ultramatch

You won't give up accuracy vs 16" with a good barrel . I doubt the paper / steel you are shooting at would notice the velocity loss

Another good choice is Rainier occasionally has barrels made with Rock Creek blanks with 5R rifling . It shows in stock now , so not sure if CTC can snag it for you

IF you have the $$ buy the Noveske . Don't forget, it comes with a pinned Vltor gas block, so not that much more $

If you want a Kriger / Satern etc in 14.5 you will wait a long time since not off the shelf for them

 

[Pr589]

If you are going through the wait of importing Rainier , you can go wrong with a Ultramatch ( Shilen blank, ratchet rifled with button ).

TRG has some good advice but I have to say that before you buy a Rainier, take a look at the reaming of the chamber in the extension. My Ultramatch barrel as well as its replacement both look like they were reamed with a Dremel and required polishing before rounds would extract reliably. The barrel has not been a great bench performer (went though load development with 5 powders and 5 bullets at ~1.5 MOA best average group) but is more than adequate for run-and-gun which is how I primarily use it.

See a picture of the chamber below. The original barrel as well as the warranty replacement were of similar quality. Fired brass had visible striations (fine lines) around the circumference.

 

[haun0002]

As far as barrel construction,

14.5" requirement by you,
I'd go with a mid length gas system, and a medium or gorvernemnt profile.

As far as chamberings, I personally have a 5.56mm chamber and it shoots very well. (DD 18" S2V) .223 wylde seems to have good things going for it however.

Barrel lining/coating: Chrome lining is fine, some people will say otherwise. A quality Chrome lined barrel will shot up to MOA with good ammo, and sometimes better. Expect 1.5MOA reliably. If you find something Nitrided, even better. A stainless match barrel will probably be even better at that, but at that point, Who cares haha. As far as Im concerned a MOA ar15 is about the best that you'll ever need. But thats me.

Coatings, materials, and manufacture techniques will have an impact on barrel life as well.

ALL IN ALL, Daniel Defense is pretty damn good. That being said, so are many other manufactures.

IF I were you, Id buy a gov't profile 14.5" mid length DD barrel. again, thats me.

 

[Mystic Precision]

Give me a PM or email.

Can offer match barrels from McGowen, Shilen and Krieger.

Currently started testing a Mcgowen match barrel made up to my specs. Shooting very well.

Jerry

 

[Patt08]

I usually run a 1-6 or sometimes a 3-9 on my AR's. Seems like lots of options to choose from. I think I am starting to lean towards a .223 Wydle chambering. DD seems like a good deal though, but I also look at it if I am going to spend $425 on a barrel, what is another 1-200$ to get a higher quality one.

 

[TRG-42]

TRG has some good advice but I have to say that before you buy a Rainier, take a look at the reaming of the chamber in the extension. My Ultramatch barrel as well as its replacement both look like they were reamed with a Dremel and required polishing before rounds would extract reliably. The barrel has not been a great bench performer (went though load development with 5 powders and 5 bullets at ~1.5 MOA best average group) but is more than adequate for run-and-gun which is how I primarily use it.

See a picture of the chamber below. The original barrel as well as the warranty replacement were of similar quality. Fired brass had visible striations (fine lines) around the circumference.

Holy crap .....that's pretty bad ! Are they going to refund your money ? Surprised the replacement was also a dud .

I have never had a Rainier barrel that had a chamber like that

Did you speak to Rainier directly about this ?

 

[Pr589]

I usually run a 1-6 or sometimes a 3-9 on my AR's. Seems like lots of options to choose from. I think I am starting to lean towards a .223 Wydle chambering. DD seems like a good deal though, but I also look at it if I am going to spend $425 on a barrel, what is another 1-200$ to get a higher quality one.

I agree with you. It sounds like you have other ARs that can be used for action shooting so why not go with a DMR/SPR build where accuracy is the point...after all, you've already spent big on a nice rigid upper. If this is also your conclusion, getting a stainless match barrel seems the ticket. You'll easily get bored with 1.5" groups at 100 (acceptable performance for chrome-lined or DD barrels) if you're shooting from a bench when others using cheap bolt-actions are getting 0.7 MOA or better.

p.s. I'd go with an 16" or 18" heavy or medium weight, stainless or nitrided barrel in a 1x7 or 1x8 twist, chambered in 223 Wylde. Chrome lined is great for high-volume shoot and scoot games but for accuracy, you're taking your chances.

 

[Pr589]

Holy crap .....that's pretty bad ! Are they going to refund your money ? Surprised the replacement was also a dud .

I have never had a Rainier barrel that had a chamber like that

Did you speak to Rainier directly about this ?

I spoke to Rainier, primarily about not getting the barrel to shoot - they say the Ultra-match's are sub-MOA barrels. I put close to 500 rounds downrange looking for a node that got me sub-MOA and could not find it. Casey at TacOrd borescoped the barrel to see if it was defective but the pipe itself looked good. The chamber however... One issue was that I had had the chamber lapped because of the extraction issues which voided the warranty, prior to contacting Rainier. They were really good in replacing the barrel despite the lapping but I'm still not thrilled.

The replacement barrel that Rainier sent (which is in the pic) was as bad as the first and still didn't shoot (at least not as well as they led one to expect). I fortunately took a pic of the brand-new chamber (which I hadn't done with the original). Rainier stopped responding to communication when asked about the quality of the chamber and shown this pic. I guess they considered me one of those customer who was never going to be happy.

 

[Patt08]

I kind of thought about doing an 18-20" build, but I already bought the carbine buffer kit(spikes tactical). I am brand new to this, so I am thinking that sort of limits me to a 16" barrel or less does it not?

I could be convinced to do a 16" barrel, but figured since I already have a 16" AR I would try to do something different and 14.5" seems to be good for what I would be using it for. I will only really be shooting out to 100 yards the majority of the times, and I am aware of the limitations with a shorter barrel. I just figured I would try to get the best performance possible out of the build I am doing I went spikes tactical with my lower, and buffer kit.

I should also add that if at all possible I would like to go with something I can get my hands on relatively quickly ( like under 2 months) which sort of limits me as well.

I agree with you. It sounds like you have other ARs that can be used for action shooting so why not go with a DMR/SPR build where accuracy is the point...after all, you've already spent big on a nice rigid upper. If this is also your conclusion, getting a stainless match barrel seems the ticket. You'll easily get bored with 1.5" groups at 100 (acceptable performance for chrome-lined or DD barrels) if you're shooting from a bench when others using cheap bolt-actions are getting 0.7 MOA or better.

p.s. I'd go with an 16" or 18" heavy or medium weight, stainless or nitrided barrel in a 1x7 or 1x8 twist, chambered in 223 Wylde. Chrome lined is great for high-volume shoot and scoot games but for accuracy, you're taking your chances.

 

[IvoB]

note to self stay away from Rainer

 

[Trinimon]

TRG has some good advice but I have to say that before you buy a Rainier, take a look at the reaming of the chamber in the extension. My Ultramatch barrel as well as its replacement both look like they were reamed with a Dremel and required polishing before rounds would extract reliably. The barrel has not been a great bench performer (went though load development with 5 powders and 5 bullets at ~1.5 MOA best average group) but is more than adequate for run-and-gun which is how I primarily use it.

See a picture of the chamber below. The original barrel as well as the warranty replacement were of similar quality. Fired brass had visible striations (fine lines) around the circumference.

Holy chits! They guarantee sub-moa out of their barrels. I was "this" close last summer in buying one but thankfully now, they were always sold out. Glad I ended up with the DD.

 

[haun0002]

I kind of thought about doing an 18-20" build, but I already bought the carbine buffer kit(spikes tactical). I am brand new to this, so I am thinking that sort of limits me to a 16" barrel or less does it not?

I could be convinced to do a 16" barrel, but figured since I already have a 16" AR I would try to do something different and 14.5" seems to be good for what I would be using it for. I will only really be shooting out to 100 yards the majority of the times, and I am aware of the limitations with a shorter barrel. I just figured I would try to get the best performance possible out of the build I am doing I went spikes tactical with my lower, and buffer kit.

I should also add that if at all possible I would like to go with something I can get my hands on relatively quickly ( like under 2 months) which sort of limits me as well.

If you have a 16", don't bother with a 14.5. Also, the trap of "what's another 1-200$" is a dangerous one. be careful. If you aren't paying attention you'll end up with a sweet gun that cost you way to much. My only advice is be practical.

I have an DD 18" S2W barrel that groups about 1-2 MOA with my eotech. Im sure if I had a scope, I could get that down to around 1 consistently. Maybe less. That being said, that is a heavy (by weight) barrel. 32Oz. If i were to buy again, I would get something with a medium profile, perhaps with some fluting. I really liked the 18" medcon Rainier arms barrels for the profile and weight.

My second upper in the works is a 12.5" chrome lined DD barrel. Nice contrast to the 18". Some people on here will tell you that accuracy is everything. My thoughts are that most quality barrels will out perform the marksman. Honestly, given the construction of the DD barrels, I will probably never need to replace them over my lifetime. Well at least before I'm 40 . The same cannot be said for most stainless barrels out there. Any match grade barrel will wear out faster than a quality chrome lined barrel (there are A LOT of variables at play in this statement, but generally it is true).