-
Having trouble using the site?
Contact support
Ballistic Advantage barrels?
- Thread starter cecztayl
- Start date
Dont fool with them right now. They are having tons of issues. Muzzle threading so bad that nothing will screw on, and bad chamber problems. Last weekend my friend brought his new barrel (.556) out to the house to shoot. The brass was scored badly. He had one case rupture. If you want to see pictures of the chamber message me your phone number or email. There are many threads on these problems right now on other forums. Ballistic advantage has not responded to him yet since his sunday email and cant get anyone on the phone. Lucky for him the place where he bought it from is refunding him plus his shipping costs.
Havent heard of these newer issues, it would be a shame if they were widespread. I've got several of their barrels and they have been fantastic. Great accuracy and good quality irregardless of the price.
This is news to me as well, I have several BA barrels as do others I know and no issues.
I had a BA 18" SPR 223 Wylde barrel and it was one of the most accurate and consistent MSR barrels I've ever owned, couldn't believe a sub $150 barrel sot like it did. I sold it because I have OCD issues with stuff not being used sitting around and I still regret getting rid of it.
I would have went with them for a Valkyrie barrel but unfortunately they weren't offering the twist or length I was wanting.
I had a BA 18" SPR 223 Wylde barrel and it was one of the most accurate and consistent MSR barrels I've ever owned, couldn't believe a sub $150 barrel sot like it did. I sold it because I have OCD issues with stuff not being used sitting around and I still regret getting rid of it.
I would have went with them for a Valkyrie barrel but unfortunately they weren't offering the twist or length I was wanting.
Here is the pick. Brand new barrel purchased a couple weeks ago (.223 wylde). This is a widespread problem at this point unfortunately. Same for the threading problem. Maybe its wore out equipment. The brass was trashed coming out of this barrel. One completely tore apart about a half inch above the rim. Every other piece of fired brass had the same cuts in them except they happened to hold together. I do not have a picture of the brass but if my buddy gets a pic to me then I will send that as well. Like I said earlier BA hasn't responded back to him yet. Order from a reputable dealer that will take care of you if you get a bad one because BA is hard to get ahold to.
He has an 18" heavier fluted barrel from them he purchased about a year ago and it shoots great.
Last edited:
In 6.5 Creedmoor, some seem to do pretty well but most BA barrels seem to be MOA shooters which is ok but you can do better.
Instead of trying to see if you get a good one, I think people should buy a 6.5 Creedmoor barrel with a better and more consistent reputation for accuracy.
I can't say much about other calibers but I like Aero Precision receivers a lot, I just can't get behind their barrels.
Instead of trying to see if you get a good one, I think people should buy a 6.5 Creedmoor barrel with a better and more consistent reputation for accuracy.
I can't say much about other calibers but I like Aero Precision receivers a lot, I just can't get behind their barrels.
Here is the pick. Brand new barrel purchased a couple weeks ago (.223 wylde). This is a widespread problem at this point unfortunately. Same for the threading problem. Maybe its wore out equipment. The brass was trashed coming out of this barrel. One completely tore apart about a half inch above the rim. Every other piece of fired brass had the same cuts in them except they happened to hold together. I do not have a picture of the brass but if my buddy gets a pic to me then I will send that as well. Like I said earlier BA hasn't responded back to him yet. Order from a reputable dealer that will take care of you if you get a bad one because BA is hard to get ahold to.
He has an 18" heavier fluted barrel from them he purchased about a year ago and it shoots great.
Define wide spread problem... this is news to many of us including myself. My hansen profile shoots great. I am not saying that you didn't get a lemon but i have heard very few bad reviews.
Wide spread is probably an over statement, but this is definately not a one off. Apparently BA has been having quality control problems as of late. I am not an AR guy by any means. My shooting buddy definately is and is a member of ar15.com and told me about the problems people have been having as of late. I mentioned these in a previous post. Like I said earlier, he has a fluted 18” barrel from them that he likes. I am just passing on information to the OP. I seen this lemon barrel first hand. It is completely unsafe to shoot. And i am also letting OP know that they havent been quick to get back to him. The vendor has taken care of him though. I have no skin in the game.
BA got back to my friend on Friday. They were willing to take the barrel back and take care of him. He let them know the vendor he purchased it from solved his problem. If you decide to go with them it seems like little risk.
Purchase an 18" fluted 308 barrel two weeks ago. Fit and finish very good. Functions flawlessly but only have 45 rounds through it. The feed ramps are really sharp. That's my only complaint so far. Probably won't be able to comment on accuracy until a few more outings. It's an open sight AR10 build so probably will not have a scope on it for a very long time.
I bought 2 barrels from them and have nothing but issues. 1st one was a Hansen barrel and they miss drilled gas block took almost a month to get it resolved. The 2nd one was a 16 carbine wylde barel and 2 weeks ago I sent it back because group size at 100yds was 3 to 4 inchs with hand reloads and even worse with black hills match. Talked to kyle and he said right after holiday 9-3-2018 he would get me one out because the barrel was bad and inferior were his words and now its almost 2 weeks later nothing, tried to call all day and kept getting message everyob=ne was on phone and leave a message and did. I also emailed Kyle again and still no word of when or anything.
Some of there barrels may be good but 2 for 2 were bad for my experience and there tech/customer service sucks.
Oh also he said he would get his team on it which I found funny considering there are only 6 employees there GEEZ.
I wouldn't buy anything from them again because they could care less after they get you money and Kyle just says anything but does very little to fix there problems in a timely manor.
I know it takes time to fix stuff but if you don't have a plain jane 16 inch wylde m4 carbine barrel in stock ready to ship and cant send it out within a week , that is just pathetic !!
Some of there barrels may be good but 2 for 2 were bad for my experience and there tech/customer service sucks.
Oh also he said he would get his team on it which I found funny considering there are only 6 employees there GEEZ.
I wouldn't buy anything from them again because they could care less after they get you money and Kyle just says anything but does very little to fix there problems in a timely manor.
I know it takes time to fix stuff but if you don't have a plain jane 16 inch wylde m4 carbine barrel in stock ready to ship and cant send it out within a week , that is just pathetic !!
I had a barrel with an issue on the accuracy. They wanted it back sent me a new one after break in around 80 rds. put up a .279 MOA. Very happy with the way it worked out took about 3 weeks turnaround.
I have a 14.5” 308 bbl from BA..pretty good little bbl..I built a compact hunting upper ..I did get it to shoot 1” MOA ..like the manufacture calims with, my reloads
I had a barrel with an issue on the accuracy. They wanted it back sent me a new one after break in around 80 rds. put up a .279 MOA. Very happy with the way it worked out took about 3 weeks turnaround.
That's kinda a long turn around if its a in stock barrel imo.
That's the way it should be, you pay for something and you get it.
That's kinda a long turn around if its a in stock barrel imo.
That's the way it should be, you pay for something and you get it.
After breaking the bbl in and, getting a good load to feed it..shot pretty well I just got the modern series coated bbl ..I hope they get the issues straighten out
Unless you are going Ultra-budget and want to spend like $150 on your barrel, there is no reason to fuck around with BA. They are budget barrels that are just above PSAs in quality. No one has ever shown one in 5.56 doing <1moa 5x5 consistently. Their "MOA Guarantee" is marketing BS, it is ONE THREE SHOT GROUP mag fed...
If you want accurate barrel that don't cost an arm and a leg there are so many better options: Larue, Criterion/ADM, Triarc, Rock Creek from Craddock, Criterions from CLE or Keystone, CRA/BHW, AR Performance, 16in Lothar Walther. All far better options, all between $200-300 or so.
If you want accurate barrel that don't cost an arm and a leg there are so many better options: Larue, Criterion/ADM, Triarc, Rock Creek from Craddock, Criterions from CLE or Keystone, CRA/BHW, AR Performance, 16in Lothar Walther. All far better options, all between $200-300 or so.
Agreed just ordered from CLE (Paul) and very happy with them so far
Very good point I agree..I got this bbl for $135 bucks so what the hell..I did fire lap this bbl ..but I had to work a little..your right about you get what you pay for my friend...just so much better to get a good bbl and be done with it
This. They do generally shoot well enough for carbine use and are often ported conservatively. My most recent one was very rough on the inside and the threads took a lot of work to install a quality muzzle brake. The bore picked up a large amount of copper fouling for the first 200 or so rounds.
Bore scoping it, the chamber and throat were cut rough, the port had a substantial bur, and there were some other imperfections in the barrel I have not seen with anything else. This was from their premium match line.
As mentioned, it does shoot well enough for most general use and I do not think the quality is out of line for what they cost at usual sale or add-to-cart prices.
There quality control is horrible out of 2 barrels 1 hansen ( miss drilled gas block wouldn't cycle ) and 2nd per kyle "Not up to our standards on premium" ( pretty bad when a low line barrel maker says his product is not up to there low standards which standards must be real LOW )
there junk and priced for junk.
there junk and priced for junk.
I have had good luck with BA barrels. I would say I have put together used about 10 for myself or friends and havent had a problem yet. At least they drill the gas ports a reasonable size as opposed to most of the budget barrels. All of mine have shot under moa. I dont consider them a premium barrel, but hard to beat for the money.
There are outliers in every manufacturer's production line. But claiming over and over again that a barrel maker is junk because you had a bad experience...especially since your experience is in the vast minority here kind of makes me want to dismiss your complaints as sour grapes. I get that you may have gotten a lemon, maybe two, but there are literally hundreds of reports across the internet to the contrary as well.
I own three BA barrels, a 8" 300 BO that shoots @1" pretty consistently, a 6.5 CM that shoots typically well below 1/2" and usually is closer to .3" and a new fluted 16" .223 Wylde that has been to the range once but shot close to 1/2" after break-in. Do they shoot like my JP barrels? NO. Do they shoot like a Kreiger? NO. But My expectations are in line with the price I paid for the product. Needless to say they make barrels that shoot very well and there are plenty of people that are very happy with their products.
Now if you had a bad CS experience, that's a little different. But I will say that Ballistic Advantage does a lot of manufacturing for other companies (Aero, DSG, etc.). Not every business can just stop everything right then and there to deal with every complaint that comes in the door. There's got to be a balance.
I've been in the customer service division all my life and believe if you have a customer who has a problem you deal with it immediately before it becomes a larger problem. That is just my mentality and the way I was taught to deal will it immediately !
Although I disagree in it being sour grapes,
I respect what you have said and I will say no more and let it go.
Last edited:
What makes it come across as sour grapes is the fact that since May you have a full 1/4 of the posts in this thread and they are all negative, and not necessarily constructive. Just my opinion here, but any value that you may have had in you initial post gets lost after seeing multiple negative posts simply declaring them as "junk". Just comes across as baseless and undermines any good info you may have put out initially. Again just my opinion here.
I haven't had your experience, so I'm speaking from the other side of the fence here, but FWIW most (not all) BA premium barrels are made with Douglas blanks. You may get better QC from a manufacturer like CLE or JP but the blanks aren't going to get measurably better...not for a gas gun at least. That's why I believe they are as good as you are going to get for the price, especially when you can usually find them on Gun Broker significantly discounted.
Last edited:
Just wanted to add this I've used several ba barrels in 308 and 223/556. Always had good luck /good customer service. All will shoot 1" @ 100 yards with handloads. However in their price range I agree there are better options. I built a 6.5 Creedmoor with a 16" WC barrel. I load tested it and was able to get the gun to do 1" but not much better. After shooting it for 3 months I emailed WC wondering if this was typical of their 6.5 Creedmoor barrels. I recieved a call back and after chatting they offered to take the barrel back and upgrade for free that's rite . I sent them a barrel that was 3 months old and had a slr/wc7 gas block mounted on it. I got back a heavier profile barrel I chose and a slr/wc8 gas block . At no extra charge . Not even shipping. This barrel shoots lights out to 600 yards which is as far as I have access. The customer service and barrel were so good I ordered a 308 20" barrel from WC 2 weeks ago. Yesterday without any break in I shot the best groups I've ever shot with a 308 using that barrel. Absolutely Amazing . Same price as a BA barrel but far superior in my experience.
Wilson Combat makes a fine barrel using Wilson (unrelated company) blanks; same blanks as JP if I recall. Actually for 5.56/223 I typically use a CHF barrel Like a DD or BCM. My precision gun has a JP, my MK18 a DD, and my M4 has a BCM. The 223 BA barrel is on my son's gun and I actually got for 2 reasons: Weight (very aggressive fluting) and cost (I only paid $180 on Gun Broker). If I was paying full price I would have likely gotten a DD CHF instead. Same thing for my 6.5 CM, I only paid like $185 for it. At a retail of $305 I would have spent an extra $100 and bought a Proof (non-CF obviously). But that's why I said "for the price". You can always find BA barrels for cheap on Gun Broker. Maybe not as cheap as a Bear Creek, but still cheap.
A lot of claims of 1moa in here with no pics. I've yet to see a BA barrel in 5.56 (what OP is talking about) do <1moa 5x5 consistently anywhere. You occasionally get even a fluke PSA barrel that will do 1moa 5x5, but it certainly isn' the average across the board, and the fact that we see none for BA says a lot.
Again, the only reason to buy a BA barrel is if you want to spend <$175 or so.
Again, the only reason to buy a BA barrel is if you want to spend <$175 or so.
You act like its so hard to find an AR barrel that shoots sub MOA. I've had chrome lined barrels that would even do it. No I don't have pictures, but I also don't have pictures of my PVA barrel shooting sub half moa either.
Any decent stainless 223 wylde barrel should shoot sub moa in a 5x5. Currently I have a $200 Green Mountain 20" fluted barrel that is sub MOA 5x5. If I still have that target I will post it here to prove it. I'll look tonight.
Now I do believe that if you want sub 3/4 MOA you are going to have to spend more than a BA barrel costs.
ETA: Here's my target. I circled the groups in question because I have shot new targets over top of this one. I had one called flyer in the bottom right group but even with that flyer it still averaged .83 MOA. Now I know this is not a BA barrel but it is a budget barrel like BA. I haven't done a 5x5 with my BA but it shoots every bit as good as this barrel does.
Last edited:
I have one of the Hanson ones on one of my carbines. It's a carbine, so not expecting crazy accuracy nor am I trying to shoot 600 yards with it or whatever.
The good news is that I found a load it likes and it shoots sub MOA; again, for a carbine that is basically a M193 thrower, that's fantastic. On the other hand, shooting anything else out of it, except those specific handloads couldn't get me under 2MOA even with a scope mounted, off a bipod with a rear bag.
I basically don't want to go through all the bullshit of having to pay someone to take the KAC handguard, MAMS and barrel off in an attempt to MAYBE do something about it.
The good news is that I found a load it likes and it shoots sub MOA; again, for a carbine that is basically a M193 thrower, that's fantastic. On the other hand, shooting anything else out of it, except those specific handloads couldn't get me under 2MOA even with a scope mounted, off a bipod with a rear bag.
I basically don't want to go through all the bullshit of having to pay someone to take the KAC handguard, MAMS and barrel off in an attempt to MAYBE do something about it.
I have a BA 16" midlength pencil barrel. It seems accurate enough. When I sighted it in with open sights it put 10rds of M193 into about 1.25" at 50yds. It is however the most OVER gassed barrel I've run across in quite awhile. I run a 9mm 5.5oz buffer in it and it still slings tula steel 15ft.
For reference I have a PSA 16" pencil barrel that won't run tula with a standard 3oz carbine buffer.
I doubt I'll ever own another BA barrel. Most carbine gas 16" barrels I've run across aren't as over gassed as this BA.
For reference I have a PSA 16" pencil barrel that won't run tula with a standard 3oz carbine buffer.
I doubt I'll ever own another BA barrel. Most carbine gas 16" barrels I've run across aren't as over gassed as this BA.
That alone is enough to ensure that I never buy one.
There is no reason to overgas a barrel like that.
I don’t care if it will shoot 1/4 MOA, if it’s that ridiculously overgassed, it’s a tomato stake as far as I’m concerned.
It probably should be a tomato stake but it seems reasonably accurate. I am curious what it would do with good ammo and some glass.
I may hunt down a cheap adjustable gas block for it at some point.
I may hunt down a cheap adjustable gas block for it at some point.
BHW barrels used to be all the rage in this price range, any reason they dont seem to be as popular anymore after becoming CRA?
I’ve noticed the same thing, not too many mentions of BHW barrels anymore. I’ve had a couple in the past that were fine.
I think they were pretty popular for a couple of their wildcat chamberings, the 243lbc and 6x6.8. I think some bad 6x6.8 barrels got some attention a year or two back over at Predatormasters forum. Also the Grendel forum faithful don’t like BHWs use of “type 2” .125 depth bolts on their Grendel’s and Grendel variants like the 243LBC.
Another thing is there’s now multiple other places to get barrels custom made or for in stock purchase in similar wildcat chamberings.
Last edited:
They were out of stock got one out of the next run. I checked when they told me they were out of stock and their vendors were out also.
Found my bore scope pictures. It was on an assembled upper and had been test fired. The rough throat, burred port, and some other artifacts are visible.
I still think they are a pretty good deal for what they usually cost. Usable barrels that shoot well enough for most carbine use up to action shooting matches and you won't be afraid to flog.
I still think they are a pretty good deal for what they usually cost. Usable barrels that shoot well enough for most carbine use up to action shooting matches and you won't be afraid to flog.
