Barrel nut is kind of nice to set head space where you want it. If you want the barrel nut permanent for easy barrel changes a dab of Loctite 672 will do the trick.
Unless you have a ton of free time I would box it up and sent it to MS processed brass. For less than a nickel a piece they will do it for you. If your fussy about a nice chamfer on the case mouth just run it through a Giraud and your good to go...
Hard to believe Larue barrels are that bad. I just ordered a couple of there 5.56 accuracy bundles to try. We shall see if they shoot better than a 18” Wylde psa barrel!
The quality of the blank would be fine. I highly doubt whoever chambers xcalibers barrels in house would do as good of job as woa or Cle. Send the xcaliber blank to keystone accuracy and I bet it would shoot pretty well.
If your paying cash buy a tractor slightly used. A couple years old with a couple hundred hours will save you 30-40 percent off new. The biggest reason is because most people that buy compacts are financing them and the dealer has great rates for new tractors. Massey Ferguson would be at the...
I have always thought 22” might be the sweet spot. I just ordered a WOA varmint 20” the other day. I have a Krieger 24” 7 twist varmint barrel currently that Keystone accuracy did for me. It shoots well but not any better than my 24” woa varmint. If your looking for accuracy I would forget...
Give cameraland a call on a Cronus BTR. https://cameralandny.com/shop/athlon-optics-cronus-btr-gen2-4-5-29x56-aprs6-ffp-ir-mil-uhd-210115/604908e0-2208-0139-abc0-00163e90e196?variation=2891641&query=Cronus
Tac22 and Geco semi auto are cheap enough and are pretty dang good quality wise compared to bulk crap. Otherwise federal automatch will work okay if your really poor. And no it won’t hurt your barrel.