Black Hole Weaponry/Columbia River Arms barrel users?

[SuperSneakySniper]

Hey guys,

I'm building out an AR15 receiver set and want a good quality 16 inch .223 Wylde Mid Length light (but not pencil) contour barrel.
I took a peek at the Faxon Gunner, but the accuracy reports from it seem mediocre at best, with reports of POI shift during longer strings. It's also a bit thinner than what I was looking for.

Then I came across the Black Hole Weaponry (now called Columbia River Arms) 3-Gun Nation barrel, and for $300 it seems like everything I want for a good price.

I just wanted to see if any of you guys had some experience with BHW/CRA AR barrels, I want to know what kind of accuracy to expect.

Are there any other barrels that fit the specs above for a $300 price tag? Anyone able to vouch for Faxon?

 

[mpncc]

In my personal experience it's seems hard to beat a bhw barrel for the price. I have 3 (.243, 6.5 grendel and a 223 wylde) all 3 shoot 1/2-3/4 with match factory and handloads. I don't string them fast but the polygonal rifling seems to shoot well without walking with the slow string groups I've put out.

 

[mpncc]

All 3 are hbar

 

[Dag34]

A while back I decided to try one...nothing ventured nothing gained right? I really liked I could spec the barrel out just the way I wanted. So I ordered a 18" 223 Wylde chamber 1:8 twist with their second to lightest contour and rifle length gas.

With Black Hills 77 MK262 ammo or the load with TMK's the gun would shoot under MOA all day.

The gun was originally built for three gun type competitions but has since fallen into a precision rifle role since 556 is fun to shoot and cheap. I let my buddy run that gun in a DMR match and it rocked. Even with the light contour we could not discern any noticeable POI shifts. He was so impressed by it he ordered one shortly after for his build and we have been equally impressed with his barrel.

I came across a decent deal on a Proof carbon barrel so I pulled the BHW barrel. So far, I want my BHW back on there although I have not given up testing the new barrel. The Proof is decent, the BHW is awesome.

 

[TonyTheTiger]

I have a BHW 22" 1:8 on a precision type AR and a Faxon Gunner 14.5 on a rifle I built my oldest son. The BHW has been good to excellent so far. I won't go as far as to say it's picky with its diet because I've only been feeding it 8208 and relatively new and untested bullets (70 RDF, 75 ELD, 77 TMK, 73 ELD), so within those fairly narrow parameters it's taken a little work to get it shooting.
The Faxon was chosen because my son was 9 when we built the rifle and low weight was the goal. I can't directly compare it to the BHW because the rifle has never had a magnified optic on it, much less shot anything better than 55gr FMJ's. The only groups it's shot have been for zeroing at 50yds, 3 shots typically group around .5", so MOA-ish. Again, not really a fair comparison though.

 

[SuperSneakySniper]

Great! Thank you guys for the input. I have much more confidence in going with BHW now. At least for my 3-gun AR, I think I'll look into the Faxon Gunner for a different purpose, perhaps a lightweight build like TonyTheTiger mentioned, that was another idea I was thinking about, coincidence he mentioned it.

 

[Dag34]

Just as a quick follow up for that 18 inch BHW barrel I mentioned above:

Black Hills 77 gr (mk262) avg velocity is 2737

IMI 77 gr ( 262 clone) avg velocity 2785

 

[346ci]

Another option that is cheaper and would shoot as good if not better, http://ar15performance.com/inc/sdetail/38007/42476

You can get them in 3R and 5/8-24 threads also if you have a 30 cal can.

 

[lennyo3034]

I had heard great things about them so I recommended one for a friend's precision AR. It is very ammo picky, basically it only likes FGMM. Even then, it does not hang with my krieger or another friend's shilen, although I wouldn't expect it to given the price point.

 

[ChadL]

I have a BHW in 6x6.8 and am very happy. I ordered mine when it was still BHW and not Columbia River Arms so I don't know if the order process has changed at all. When it was BHW the ordering process was super easy and got my barrel in the estimated lead time. I'd buy another BHW barrel.

 

[Forward543]

Ive got 2 bhw .308 barrels. A 20" standard and a 16" light. The standard shot as good as the shilen before it. The 16 " averages about 1 moa. I do have an ar15performance barrel. It shoots really well. 5/8 - 3/4 average with 75 bthp and 8208.
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[danatkins]

Have had 2 one on a spr in 223 wylde and the one I have on my 300blk pistol. Both sub moa. The 300 at 25 yards first 3 rounds looked like one ragged hole when I was sighting it in

Sent from my LG-H901 using Tapatalk

 

[Macht]

I had heard a lot of good things, so I picked one up for a little 14.5" AR. Maybe I need to try a different bullet, but I could not find a load for the 53gr V-Max that would shoot under MOA. A friend of mine picked one up as well and can't seem to go below 1 1/2 MOA with Barnes Varmint Grenades.

 

[Ripdog28]

When some say their group size, I wonder what sighting system they use. Aimpoint, 1-4, 5-25? Means a lot and would help if someone claims 2moa and uses a 2-4moa dot or a 1-4 scope. My BHW 308@16" just shot .650" groups with FGMM and Hornady 168TAP. With a 21x scope.

 

[Macht]

I was using a Bushnell DMR 3.5-21 on 21x. The friend I referenced was only using a 12x scope.

 

[impactaddict]

I have an 18" BHW in .308 - DPMS style. I've had it for a couple of years and I could never get the thing to shoot. No matter what I fed it from reloads (Lapua Brass, Varget, SMK 175) to match grade Hornady and Federal ammo, to cheap ammo. Nothing seemed to group better than 3". I was at my wits end. I've tried everything.

Enter the customer service department. I spoke with JP @ BHW/ColumbiaRiver and after explaining my situation, he told me to send the barrel in for evaluation. I had a shipping voucher in my inbox within minutes. When I called a week later to check on the progress, they informed my that they are shipping me a new barrel ASAP. I have been red tagged and shuffled to the front of the manufacturing line. They cited that JP was not happy with some rifling near the muzzle and (I believe) the throat wasn't quite right (i'm paraphrasing).

Keep in mind, this barrel is 2 years old and has a few hundred rounds down the tube. Hopefully I'll get the new barrel back in a couple more weeks and do some more testing. I'd be ecstatic with 1" @ 100 but i'm hoping for better than that. I know this doesn't exactly answer your question, but, I wanted to comment on the fact that their CS is on point.

 

[SuperSneakySniper]

Wow, that's great to hear! Thanks for all the input guys! I definitely have a lot more confidence going forward now.