Best drop in AR10 barrel?

[jda2631]

I have an armalite AR10. I've had it for about 10 years, used it mainly as a hunting rifle so wanted to keep it light weight. But I recently bought another gun, with a 16" barrel, that I'll be using for hunting, and want to turn the armalite into more of a target gun. What is the best drop in barrel for accuracy? I'd really like it to be drop in so I don't have to deal with getting a blank to a gunsmith.

Are the JP with the matched bolt's worth it for $600? What profile should I be looking at, to be able to shoot a good bit before the barrel heats and I have to let it cool? weight isn't a huge issue, but don't really want a full bull on there either.

 

[hlee]

I have a JP 6.5 Grendel barrel and matched bolt, and I think they are well worth the money, but...

AR10s are not as plug and play as AR15s. You have to be concerned about armalite vs DPMS/SR25 pattern barrels, bolts, etc. Just make sure you know what you are buying. So long as JP sells what you need, I don’t think you can go wrong with their barrels.

 

[longshot2000]

JP barrels are good. I want to say that Lothar Walthar makes the JP barrel. I read something recently, and whoever it is, it was a respectable blank. JP has earned a good reputation in the .308 bolts. I don't use them, but I have heard a lot of good things. I agree with HLee, very important to get the bolt head-spaced with .308. It is not the barrel that you have to worry about in non-standard .308, as much as the extension and head-spacing match. Your barrel nut will remain.

 

[Firemn260]

I have a JP light contour 18" 308 barrel with a matched hp bolt. It is a rifle length gas system. I believe it was money well spent for my AP m5e1 build. My first 5 shot group was somewhere near 3/4 inch. I wish I knew how to resize pics because I would show you the target as proof. Give JP a call and see if they can get you worked out. They were very helpful when I was building mine. If your worried about the barrel heating up get there thermal dissipater. I have heard it works well.

 

[BCP]

Needs to be armalite pattern, not sure you can put a DPMS barrel on an Armalite upper with an Armalite bolt.

Rainier used to carry them, don't know that they still do.

Most drop ins I see are DPMS pattern.

 

[Bigjake83]

Or you can get a custom-made Barrel to your exact specifications for Contour, weight and length from Compass Lake Engineering for $495 and they use Bartlein....

 

[stwcattle]

I would give JP a call. Their 22'' med contour barrel might be what you looking for.

 

[padom]

Best within what criteria? Best bang for your buck? Best you can buy regardless of price?

The BEST barrel you can buy is going to be a cut rifled Bartlein, Kreiger, Rock, Muller, etc... that a smith spins up and puts on a barrel extension for you to drop into your gun. Many of us have this done all the time by Patriot Valley Arms, Keystone Accuracy, Compass Lake just to name a few I have done work with.

 

[scharfschutze762]

I built one with a 20 incher JP .308 barrel few years ago. This particular barrel is up there in my opinion with any barrel in a 308 gasser in accuracy..Speed wise the the kreiger and rock was a little bit faster maybe because the tighter bore. I wouldnt do another one because I dont care for their slow twist rates. Go custom barrel in a faster twist

 

[scharfschutze762]

I built one with a 20 incher JP .308 barrel few years ago. This particular barrel is up there in my opinion with any barrel in a 308 gasser in accuracy..Speed wise the the kreiger and rock was a little bit faster maybe because the tighter bore. I wouldnt do another one because I dont care for their slow twist rates. Go custom barrel in a faster twist

JP in my opinion is the best off the shelf non custom barrel you can buy. Wilson Arms is the best budget 308 off the shelf barrel in my opinion.

^^^^^^^^ My post was edited by the MOD and the second paragraph was not written by me.

 

[padom]

My bad. I hit edit instead of quote. Fixed. a simple PM is all it takes. No need to have a heart attack

 

[padom]

I built one with a 20 incher JP .308 barrel few years ago. This particular barrel is up there in my opinion with any barrel in a 308 gasser in accuracy..Speed wise the the kreiger and rock was a little bit faster maybe because the tighter bore. I wouldnt do another one because I dont care for their slow twist rates. Go custom barrel in a faster twist

JP in my opinion is the best off the shelf non custom barrel you can buy. Wilson Arms is the best budget 308 off the shelf barrel in my opinion.

 

[diverdon]

http://www.compasslake.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=59

These have a good reputation.

 

[scharfschutze762]

Thanks. I can take my tinfoil hat off now.

 

[scharfschutze762]

FYI Ive since used two X Caliber 5r 308 barrels after the JP. I feel both the X-Caliber barrels are superior to the JP in overall performance especially past 5-600 yards. one was a 9 and other a 8 twist barrel.

 

[padom]

FYI Ive since used two X Caliber 5r 308 barrels after the JP. I feel both the X-Caliber barrels are superior to the JP in overall performance especially past 5-600 yards. one was a 9 and other a 8 twist barrel.

an 8 or 9 twist 308 AR10 drop in X caliber barrel?

 

[scharfschutze762]

Yes sir. An 8 and 9 twist 5R drop in ar10 barrel from X- Caliber barrels.. Three barrels from them and they have been great so far. Always been a cut rifled fan but these have been pretty damn good.

these guys
http://www.x-caliber.net/

I heard they broke off from Lilja and started their own Co. Thats what ive heard at least.

 

[padom]

Yes sir. An 8 and 9 twist 5R drop in ar10 barrel from X- Caliber barrels.. Three barrels from them and they have been great so far. Always been a cut rifled fan but these have been pretty damn good.

these guys
http://www.x-caliber.net/

I heard they broke off from Lilja and started their own Co. Thats what ive heard at least.

I know who x caliber is.. they only sell DPMS/LR308 style semi barrels...the op is looking for a drop in Armalite pattern barrel

 

[scharfschutze762]

Theyve done armalite barrels including mine and im nobody special. But yes its what their site says. And I guess it wouldnt qualify as an off the rack barrel

 

[Desert_Racer]

Have Krieger make one for you. Its worth the wait.

 

[McNamara0851]

I have used craddock precision for a while now. Customer service is great. Good group of guys in the shop. They'll do it up however you want and come recommended by Bartlein Barrels. Their contact info is on their website. [video]www.craddockprecision.com[/video].

I know it's apples to oranges, but here's the only pictures I have on my new phone. I feel like they're a pretty good representation of the quality of work the shop turns out. I'll have to dig around and see if I can find a few groups I've shot through his 6.5 and .308 barrels.

100 yards and 660 with Prime 77gr out of a 18" 223 Wylde.

It's been my experience that if you're going through the trouble to re barrel anything that it's better to spend the time and money to do it full assed the first go around.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jda2631]

Thank you all for the info! JP barrels will work with armalite, fyi, I talked to someone there about it. you basically have to change out the whole bcg, but will work. I'm going to look into the x-caliber barrels. Talk to them and see how their prices will be making it armalite pattern. The whole point of this is I want to buy a drop in barrel, I do not want to buy a blank and have to get a smith to chamber it, thread it, etc.

The x-products offer super fast twist rates, down to 1-6" for 30 cal. For a 308, shooting heavier bullets 168-178 most likely. which twist rate, from a 22" barrel should i go for? The jp's are all 1-11.25". Would a 1-7 or 1-8 help with the heavy bullets?

 

[Bigjake83]

The x-products offer super fast twist rates, down to 1-6" for 30 cal. For a 308, shooting heavier bullets 168-178 most likely. which twist rate, from a 22" barrel should i go for? The jp's are all 1-11.25". Would a 1-7 or 1-8 help with the heavy bullets?

No.... You are seriously over thinking this a 1-10 twist is preferable for the 175SMK and 185 Jugs.

Also you need to start doing your own independent research instead of relying on others, if you would have done this you would know that JP has 18"-20" / 1-10 twist barrels in heavy, medium, and light weight on sale for $479!!

 

[jda2631]

No.... You are seriously over thinking this a 1-10 twist is preferable for the 175SMK and 185 Jugs.

Also you need to start doing your own independent research instead of relying on others, if you would have done this you would know that JP has 18"-20" / 1-10 twist barrels in heavy, medium, and light weight on sale for $479!!

I was looking for opinions from people who have used different drop in barrels. JP doesn't list a 308 barrel with 1-10" twist on their website, and as of today and when i first posted this all of their 308 barrels (all have 1-11.25") are listed at $599. So I'm not sure where you are finding that information.

 

[padom]

First search of JP 308 1-10 takes me to JP's clearance page which lists a bunch of 308 1-10 barrels at sale prices...

click Clearance at the top

https://www.jprifles.com/1.4.1_barrel.php

 

[scharfschutze762]

Just to throw out there I heard Lothar Walther makes drop in barrels for the Armalite also and they use to be standard on the early production guns.

 

[Bigjake83]

I was looking for opinions from people who have used different drop in barrels. JP doesn't list a 308 barrel with 1-10" twist on their website, and as of today and when i first posted this all of their 308 barrels (all have 1-11.25") are listed at $599. So I'm not sure where you are finding that information.

 

[jda2631]

If you look at jp's webpage under barrels those are not listed as production barrels anywhere. I apologize that I didn't know there was a clearance page. I was just trying to get some opinions from different people, no reason to be a jerk about it.