ARC Shouldered BarLoc review

[Darkhorse1]

Here's my 20 rounds worth.

M5 Mausingfield
Brux 1:8 twist 6.5 Creedmoor (Saami chamber), 21" long #4 contour
Shouldered Barloc
SRT Arms magnum Ti suppressor
147gr Hornady factory match ammo
100yd indoor tunnel off bags

First I fired a 6 round group (lost count and fired an extra round). Then I removed the barrel and replaced it via sharpie index lines on either side of the stock show-line. Torqued the barloc hand tight with an allen wrench (sorry, no torque wrench here). Fired a 4 shot group. Removed and replaced the barrel, and fired the final 5-shot group on the right side of the target. POA for all three was the center of the square.

Then I put 1 mil left on the scope, and fired the remaining 5 rounds with variable torque on the barloc screw (same POA). The first round was with just enough torque to prevent the barrel from spinning freely. From there I gave each successive shot what I presumed to be about 1/5th increase to a "normal" final torque value (5th shot).

View attachment 6918693

So it would seem that variable torque may slightly change POI, but it doesn't seem drastic in my case. I attribute the POI shift from the removing of the barrel more to indexing of threads/parts than torque value. Changing torque doesn't appear to help accuracy any-- not sure if #2 is a flier or not. About 0.5 mil spread, center to center of the 3 groups.

Apologize if this has been answered previously. If you have an an existing shouldered barrel (tikka action) and want to use the Barloc on that gun,for switch barrel,would anything need to be done to the existing barrel, and would there be new specs needed for new barrels moving forward, or would I just be able to have the same smith spin up several barrels and be good to go?

 

[Ledzep]

The shoulder has to be pushed forward .585" according to ARC's specs.

That said, my un-torqued Barloc is .595" thick. .585" allowance means you have to torque the barrel into the barloc a little to get it to head space. I cut my last barrel with a .595 allowance and it headspaces right as it makes contact with the un-torqued barloc. YMMV

 

[ForgeValley]

Update, June 29th:

I've approved production specifications for PTL090K and a number of new PTLs with different torque settings, to further expand our PTL product line. Production will start early next week.

When I have PTL090K units in stock, I'll inform all interested SH members by e-mail.

Thanks very much,

Boris
Borka Tools

@kortik

How are these coming along?

 

[kortik]

ETA is 9-12 weeks from now.

 

[kortik]

ETA is now reduced to 4-5 weeks from now.

 

[kortik]

PTL090Ks are now back in stock.

http://www.shooterstools.com/Pages/PTL/ptlkits.html#PTL090K

Because of very large amount of pending orders we have to send out this week, shipping of PTL090K orders may be delayed for an additional couple of business days compared to our normal shipping speed of 1-2 business days upon receipt of the payment. However, feel free to order any time, including this week.

Boris
Borka Tools

 

[Sierra770]

PTL090Ks are now back in stock.

http://www.shooterstools.com/Pages/PTL/ptlkits.html#PTL090K

Because of very large amount of pending orders we have to send out this week, shipping of PTL090K orders may be delayed for an additional couple of business days compared to our normal shipping speed of 1-2 business days upon receipt of the payment. However, feel free to order any time, including this week.

Boris
Borka Tools

Ordered. Thanks for doing this.

 

[J-Ham]

Same... Love when a company responds immediately to what customers are looking for... Just had a similar experience with the good folks at Patriot Holsters

Thanks Boris, looking forward to getting these PTL's.

 

[kortik]

All paid orders for PTL095K were shipped today.

As far as I know a couple of things about torque tools market for firearms applications, as of today, only Borka Tools offers reasonably priced 90 inch-lbs. precision torque limiter. If you want one, I suggest you get it before the middle of September. Then, I'm not exactly sure when we'll have another batch of these tools. Current batch, which we're selling right now, arrived ahead of quoted lead time, which is not a "normal" occurrence.

Boris
Borka Tools

 

[Sierra770]

Thanks. I received my tracking number today. This is going to pair nicely with my EFK.

 

[Sierra770]

I received mine today. Thanks for shipping out so quickly.

 

[Dooby]

I just put in an order for 2 PTL090K (90 in/lbs). the 90in/lb is for the ARC Barloc right? not the 95in/lb?

I'm gonna be running a shouldered barrel with clamp barloc only, no barrel nut

 

[J-Ham]

Correct.

 

[leftyk82]

How are the shouldered barloc setups working for ya'll? I'm still waiting on a barrel.

 

[Ledzep]

I've kept my 6.5 Creedmoor barrel on for the last 2-3 months now without changing anything and have maintained zero, nothing unusual to report.

 

[CMP70306]

So I was looking at utilizing a prefit barrel and since I have a shouldered barloc I was wondering if anyone has considered rock setting a standard savage barrel nut in place as a false shoulder and using a shouldered barloc to avoid having to crank down the barloc nut under a scope?

 

[Ledzep]

You will need
1) A longer than normal threaded section of the barrel shank, or
2) A modified Savage nut that will likely only have 3-4 threads of engagement left

for it to fit.

 

[flyer]

Yeah, I want to Loktite a Barloc barrel nut on which will work but adding the shoulder Barloc piece to the stack is going to probably screw up the (pre)fit.

 

[Ledzep]

I know this is 'against' the recommended procedure, but if it were me, I would rockset/loctite the ARC barrel nut so that it was a hand-tight fit on a GO-Gauge before tightening the Barloc. Basically set it so when you screw the barrel in and it just makes contact with the Barloc is where it would be GO or GO+.001". Then tighten the Barloc down. IMO (and it's worth what you paid for it) that setup will hold zero and work just fine without using the wrench to tighten the nut first.

 

[hereinaz]

Yeah, I want to Loktite a Barloc barrel nut on which will work but adding the shoulder Barloc piece to the stack is going to probably screw up the (pre)fit.

If you have a barloc nut, why are you needing to add any shouldered bit to the stack?

 

[Ledzep]

If you have a barloc nut, why are you needing to add any shouldered bit to the stack?

The ARC savage nut comes with a wrench and the instructions say to torque the nut into the barloc until the gap in the top is wide enough to fit the wrench in the gap... So he's trying to use a square savage nut against a 'shouldered' barloc to avoid having to torque it to fit the wrench in the gap...

I mean you can do what you want, YMMV, etc. etc... but like I said above, I'd just run the ARC nut to where it touches the Barloc, headspace the barrel, and loctite it there. The Barloc will expand ~.0010" or so and will still lock barrels in place this way. I was shooting .6-.7" 10-shot groups with a barrel installed this way and won a local match so I don't think it will affect accuracy. Again, it's against the recommendations from ARC so YMMV. I don't see why it'd be a problem, but I don't see everything every time.

 

[hereinaz]

The ARC savage nut comes with a wrench and the instructions say to torque the nut into the barloc until the gap in the top is wide enough to fit the wrench in the gap... So he's trying to use a square savage nut against a 'shouldered' barloc to avoid having to torque it to fit the wrench in the gap...

I mean you can do what you want, YMMV, etc. etc... but like I said above, I'd just run the ARC nut to where it touches the Barloc, headspace the barrel, and loctite it there. The Barloc will expand ~.0010" or so and will still lock barrels in place this way. I was shooting .6-.7" 10-shot groups with a barrel installed this way and won a local match so I don't think it will affect accuracy. Again, it's against the recommendations from ARC so YMMV. I don't see why it'd be a problem, but I don't see everything every time.

Thanks for thr info. I guess I am not seeing it. The shouldered barloc comes with the coned "washer". Is he leaving that out?

I have three barlocs. And, yes, even without opening the gap per ARC, you can tighten it sufficiently. It is still gonna close and press agsinst the cones to preload the threads. Doesn't take much to keep a barrel on, even handtight barrels can shoot.

 

[Winny94]

I installed this barloc on a PVA shouldered prefit. There is zero gap in the collar unlike the barrel nut version. Does this look correct to all that have experience with it? It is torqued to 90in/lb

 

[.30kal]

I installed this barloc on a PVA shouldered prefit. There is zero gap in the collar unlike the barrel nut version. Does this look correct to all that have experience with it? It is torqued to 90in/lb

Yes, mine came out the same

 

[Darkhorse1]

I installed this barloc on a PVA shouldered prefit. There is zero gap in the collar unlike the barrel nut version. Does this look correct to all that have experience with it? It is torqued to 90in/lb

Curious as I’ve got one coming at some point. Did you have to headspace or simply twist till it’s tight and do the Barloc torque?

 

[Ledzep]

Same here (all the way shut). I screwed it down on a resized case and there was a small gap between the barrel shoulder and barloc. Tightening the barloc removed the gap and made the barrel tight.

 

[Winny94]

Curious as I’ve got one coming at some point. Did you have to headspace or simply twist till it’s tight and do the Barloc torque?

I used a go gauge. With the barrel screwed down onto the go guage, the Barloc was loose. I tightened the barloc screw to 90in/lb and the barrel seems tight, but it's odd the the process would vary so much vs the barrel nut version. (On the barrel nut version, you set headspace, then tightened the barrel until the barloc collar spread to certain distance, then torqued the screw).

 

[Lonestar1027]

I talked to Josh about it a while back. No gap is fine, just verify with a go gauge and you'll be set.

 

[.30kal]

Finally got my Nucleus/PVA shouldered Pre-Fit out, shot a .75 MOA group of 10 rds of Prime after zeroing at 200. Found Prime to shoot better than Hornady 140 factory. However, my “house load” (140 ELD, Prime Brass 42.2 grr of H4350) shot better. No FTFs or light primer strikes (I cleaned my bolt assembly as recommended first). One thing I was a little surprised about was how slow my PVA barrel was shooting. My house load runs 2728 through my 22” Fix and 2775 through my 24” bartlein, but was only 2754 through my 26” PVA. Hornady 140 was 2648, which is 50 FPS slower than what I get through my 22” JP barreled gas gun.

 

[SPAK]

Finally got my Nucleus/PVA shouldered Pre-Fit out, shot a .75 MOA group of 10 rds of Prime after zeroing at 200. Found Prime to shoot better than Hornady 140 factory. However, my “house load” (140 ELD, Prime Brass 42.2 grr of H4350) shot better. No FTFs or light primer strikes (I cleaned my bolt assembly as recommended first). One thing I was a little surprised about was how slow my PVA barrel was shooting. My house load runs 2728 through my 22” Fix and 2775 through my 24” bartlein, but was only 2754 through my 26” PVA. Hornady 140 was 2648, which is 50 FPS slower than what I get through my 22” JP barreled gas gun.

How many rounds do you have through the barrel? You might see it pick up some more speed after it settles in.

 

[.30kal]

How many rounds do you have through the barrel? You might see it pick up some more speed after it settles in.

115 now, tested the last 10 to see if it sped up and it didn’t. I’ll give it until 200 to get closer to 2800 FPS, which is what I was expecting. I’m also going to try and increase my charge in some Lapua brass to see if I can increase the velocity without loss in accuracy and SD.

 

[Ledzep]

Try rl26 if you want more speed. 47-48gr

 

[NICETRY]

Talking with guys at ARC today you should have a gap of 0.060 when the screw is torqued or roughly 1/16”.
I have been fighting an issue with a POI shift I believe is due to the barloc. My gunsmith plans to rework barrel so it will shoulder up like a normal barreled action and see if that fixes the issue. But I get an occasional 1.5 mil vertical shift that has been a pain to narrow down. My barloc had very little gap in it and believe it was not loadeding threads enough causing the POI to shift when rifle set down on a barricade aggressively or travel to and from matches. I’ll see if it’s fixed after this weekend but have eliminated all other possible culprits so far.

 

[Winny94]

Talking with guys at ARC today you should have a gap of 0.060 when the screw is torqued or roughly 1/16”.
I have been fighting an issue with a POI shift I believe is due to the barloc. My gunsmith plans to rework barrel so it will shoulder up like a normal barreled action and see if that fixes the issue. But I get an occasional 1.5 mil vertical shift that has been a pain to narrow down. My barloc had very little gap in it and believe it was not loadeding threads enough causing the POI to shift when rifle set down on a barricade aggressively or travel to and from matches. I’ll see if it’s fixed after this weekend but have eliminated all other possible culprits so far.

Following.
It doesn't make sense to me the barrel nut version required so much preload and the shouldered version wouldn't require similar. When my barrel was screwed in to the correct headspace, there was zero preload (barloc collar spun freely)

 

[Darkhorse1]

Following.
It doesn't make sense to me the barrel nut version required so much preload and the shouldered version wouldn't require similar. When my barrel was screwed in to the correct headspace, there was zero preload (barloc collar spun freely)

 

[Lonestar1027]

I reached out to Josh back in September about this and here are his responses:

In regards to my Barloc freespinning prior to applying torque to the Barloc Screw --

"That is a perfect fit for the BarLoc.
It should freespin until you put torque on the screw. Otherwise you're going to get a binding condition that will skew where the barrel is pointing during lockup. You want it to close down to a c-hair shy of closing the gap at 65+ inlb, if the gap closes at 90 that's still OK.
When I tested it for accuracy I found that you want it to be slightly loose and freespinning without torque but on the GO gauge for best performance. It seems to "settle" when being torqued up better. That's based on only 4 different test barrels but it made a slight difference, which is why we cut them to be nominal to about 0.002" loose, which is what yours appears to be on your receiver.

"Nominal" gap doesn't say much, you need something but you can tighten it down until it closes and still have ample preload applied to the barrel "



Anyways, I hope this helps clear up any confusion or provides insight into why it was cut that way from PVA.

 

[Dooby]

I installed this barloc on a PVA shouldered prefit. There is zero gap in the collar unlike the barrel nut version. Does this look correct to all that have experience with it? It is torqued to 90in/lb

Thanks @Winny94. Can we also get a photo with a side view?

Were there two rings (Shoulder barreled side and Action/recoil lug side)?
I can see the ring between the barrel shoulder and barloc from your photo. But how about on the action/recoil lug side?

thanks!

 

[Winny94]

Thanks @Winny94. Can we also get a photo with a side view?

Were there two rings (Shoulder barreled side and Action/recoil lug side)?
I can see the ring between the barrel shoulder and barloc from your photo. But how about on the action/recoil lug side?

thanks!

its the barloc specific recoil lug