Ballistic Advantage 6.5 CM barrels

[JimmyT]

Starting another AR 10 upper receiver build and going with 6.5 creedmoor this time.
Does anyone have experience with the Ballistic Advantage 18" barrel in 6.5CM?
Wanted to go a bit shorter so rifle won't be too long with a suppressor.
Any opinions are welcome....

 

[8up]

I got one, let me give you my take on it. Heavy profile, so do not expect it to be exactly lite. Accurate, yes with H4350 and shooting 123 Lapua. So, final load I decided was 42.5 H4350, and produces .5 MOA. I tested some with the heavier bullets in 139's, could not get them to group anything less than 1 MOA. I would like to shoot the heavies, but still need to develop in that area with it.

For the gas system, intermediate length was a pain to get working suppressed. Finally got a Superlative gas block to bleed the extra out to be just right. I am using a Omega on it, and now works darned good. It was cycling way to fast, causing the spent brass to bounce in receiver and not eject, but that is now taken care of.

I like it! Hope anyone else who has one chimes in with their experience, would like to know how they been running and with any different loads.

 

[JimmyT]

Have a adjustable gas block on the menu for this build! Thanks for the info!

 

[gnatmm]

Is anyone able to confirm that BA does not make a 18" 6.5 cm rifle length? Anyway 8up thanks for sharing this is really useful! Going down the same road in a few days...will share my outcome here hopefully soon

 

[Mute]

Is anyone able to confirm that BA does not make a 18" 6.5 cm rifle length? Anyway 8up thanks for sharing this is really useful! Going down the same road in a few days...will share my outcome here hopefully soon

BA only has one 18" 6.5 CM barrel and it uses a mid-length gas system.

 

[JimmyT]

The BA barrel has a bigger than normal gas block. Does BA make an adjustable gas block for this barrel?

 

[Txmxracer]

The BA barrel has a bigger than normal gas block. Does BA make an adjustable gas block for this barrel?

I am using a JP .936 adjustable gas block on mine.

 

[Mute]

BA only makes non-adjustable. There are a number of aftermarket adjustables that will fit a .875" journal. Superlative and PRI are two I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[JimmyT]

So far, for my build:

Lantac BCG
Aero Precision upper
Superlative Arms Adjustable Bleed off gas block
Troy 15" SDMR Rail
Ballistc Advantage 18" barrel

just need to pick up a charging handle, gas tube and muzzle device and I'm shooting!!

 

[Mute]

So far, for my build:

Lantac BCG
Aero Precision upper
Superlative Arms Adjustable Bleed off gas block
Troy 15" SDMR Rail
Ballistc Advantage 18" barrel

just need to pick up a charging handle, gas tube and muzzle device and I'm shooting!!

Looks like a great build. Hope you have great fun with this rifle.

 

[gnatmm]

Raptor ambi could the cherry on the cake...

 

[Scotts556]

Happy with my 22 inch BA 6.5 Creed. Hornady American gunner and Hornady black 140 hpbt was 1moa out the door and after about 30 rnds settled into .75 moa groups with a sub .5 moa group. From the first 40rnds. Next day I went out with the local long range club and was making hits at 1k and 1200 on 60% ipsc. Great value for the money .

 

[Triple D]

I've had good results out of my 22" BA 6.5creed. Shoots factory 140 and 147 eld-m's very well. I did have some copper buildup after 20-25 rounds that caused some pierced primers from being over pressure. After cleaning that and checking for buildup, I've had no issues on the last 70rds. I liked the barrel enough to pick up a spare 22" and also grabbed one of their 6.5 grendel offerings. The grendel hasn't disappointed either. These barrels outperform their price.

147's
https://i.imgur.com/rYS5iD6.jpg

140's- High round was on me
https://i.imgur.com/UlyFOmU.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/pFs1Kts.jpg

 

[Ericbc7]

All BA barrels 25% off at Monmouth
http://www.monmouthreloading.com/pr...els/?filtering=1&filter_caliber=6-5-creedmoor
the superlative arms adj block is very nice.

 

[AK4900PA]

All BA barrels 25% off at Monmouth
http://www.monmouthreloading.com/pr...els/?filtering=1&filter_caliber=6-5-creedmoor
the superlative arms adj block is very nice.

Got a 12.5" Grendel barrel for $199/shipped! Should be arriving Monday.

 

[JimmyT]

The sale started just after I completed the order for the barrel from JoeBobOutfitters.... oh well!
added a PRI Gas Buster charging handle, gas tube, and Rugged Muzzle device for my suppressor...

now on the Hurry up and wait until all the parts get her so I can assemble the upper!

 

[C. Stevens]

I have a 22" BA Barrel and NiB BCG. I haven't worked out the bugs yet. Brass won't extract properly. Not the barrels fault. Also the extractor is damaging my brass. It's so tight. I'll have to get a picture of the BCG. It has 2 springs and 2 O-rings. Anyone else have similar issues?

 

[C. Stevens]

I have a 22" BA Barrel and NiB BCG. I haven't worked out the bugs yet. Brass won't extract properly. Not the barrels fault. Also the extractor is damaging my brass. It's so tight. I'll have to get a picture of the BCG. It has 2 springs and 2 O-rings. Anyone else have similar issues?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[Triple D]

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

What load? Suppressed? Buffer system?

Rounds since cleaning? Mine had copper fouling that built up initially, which lead to damaged brass from the pressure spike. Cleaned and no issues with the brass since.

 

[C. Stevens]

New, rifle stock and buffer. 40rds through it now. Was oiled before use. The first 20rds or so I only had one in the mag. The rounds just kinda fall out. I suspect it's moving too fast but also when I depress the bolt catch to strip a round and chamber it, the bolt doesn't seat all the way. I remove the mag and pull back one more time to properly seat the bolt. I took out one of the O-rings and it chambered fine but still have extracting issues.

 

[C. Stevens]

One other thing I noticed is the spring tension on the ejector is very tight/stiff as well. It's almost like they knew the SR25 platform would likely be overgassed and tried to compensate for it.

 

[C. Stevens]

Sorry I didn't answer all your questions. Unsupressed, Hornady 143gr. The barrel shoots really well when I load one at a time to see what it'll do.

 

[shibbycomm]

I am experiencing the same exact issues as you have mentioned above in post #20. As of now I am in the process of troubleshooting the issue, I purchased a JP enhanced extractor, Tubbs flat wire spring and replaced all the weights in the buffer with tungsten. Hopefully a range trip this weekend to test

 

[C. Stevens]

Yeah that sucks. All the money thrown at it and gotta throw more to get it working properly. I've considered a kak heavy rifle buffer. Might just need to go for an adjustable block. My hesitation with that is my 16.5" slim handguard might be problematic

Please let us know what happens

 

[shibbycomm]

No adjustable gas block? Yep, need that for sure. I have one and I am trying to slow down the timing with stronger spring and heavier buffer.

 

[shibbycomm]

Just buy the tungsten buffer weights from KAK and replace them..no need to get a whole new buffer.

 

[C. Stevens]

Thanks for the tip on the weights. I'll look into it

 

[knuckleballz]

Is the problem with an aeroprecision nickel boron bcg? I had problems with one that had really tight gas rings on the bolt. I put different bolts in the nickel boron carrier and it would cycle fine. When I put the nickel boron bolt in other carriers it fit to tight to cycle. They send the bcg out to be nickelboron plated, which adds material to the surface, which changes clearances,

 

[Black max]

You might need to stone the corners of the extractor a little to get it to release the case, just a little radius where it hooks the rim. It's a pretty common occurance with 6.5cm brass.

 

[Triple D]

Is the problem with an aeroprecision nickel boron bcg? I had problems with one that had really tight gas rings on the bolt. I put different bolts in the nickel boron carrier and it would cycle fine. When I put the nickel boron bolt in other carriers it fit to tight to cycle. They send the bcg out to be nickelboron plated, which adds material to the surface, which changes clearances,

Was it the gas rings or the raised radius on the bolt body? I actually took mine out for a range session and begun to have very similar issues. Previously I hadn't had long sessions with it, but did shoot 15-30 rds per range session. Normally I clean after each session, at least the bolt, but didn't after my previous trip. I started having some issues where it wasn't going into battery during the last trip, so I adjusted the JP SCS prior to my trip Saturday for load development. After about 7 shots, suppressed, I had my first issue with it not going fully into battery. I'd get a "click", no firing, and have to manually extract the round. After about 12 more rounds, it became much harder to manually extract, so I called it a day.

Once home, I removed and disassembled the bolt. Prior to disassembly, I tried to move the bolt within the bcg. What I noticed was it was VERY tough to move. It appeared that the radius of the bolt was binding within the bcg due to carbon, and not a huge amount either.

I went ahead and removed 1 of the 2 extractor o-rings, but I have a feeling that the bolt itself is the culprit, or at least the vast majority since it functions fine when clean and there wasn't any real carbon or brass shavings on the extractor.

What really sucks is I had 2 loads that printed 3 shot groups at 300yds that would either be completely under a dime or partially covered by a dime when it functioned fine, but rounds 1 and 5 were fliers. Round 1 for both groups required rechambering twice for ignition. I wanted to start with a boom! Any hiccup with another round, which happened once with both groups, would be shot last. I'm not sure if the cases were marred a bit from extracting, if the mass of the bcg slamming them home to chamber caused changes in the seating depth, or I just lost focus, but it was very frustrating to have those issues with arguably my best groups ever with an AR at distance.

 

[Triple D]

[No message]

 

[C. Stevens]

@knuckleballs my BCG is NiB from Ballistic Advantage but as far as I know they are the same as AeroPrecision. BA was acquired by Aero.